I'm just trying to gather what a week in college football may look like in a couple of years, say in October. Here's what I understand right now.

Saturdays

ABC 12:00 ET ACC (possibly Big 12?; AAC gets a few guaranteed games on Saturdays each year, usually in this time slot)
ABC 3:30 ET SEC exclusively
ABC 8:00 ET ACC, possibly Big 12 or Pac-12. Is SEC an option?

Fox 12:00 ET B1G exclusively
Fox 3:30 ET Possibly Big 12 or Pac-12? Technically the MW is possible. Maybe even C-USA depending on negotiations.
Fox Evenings... I'm going to assume Baseball in October, possibly some CFB in September and November

CBS 12:00 ET Golf or something
CBS 3:30 ET B1G exclusively
CBS Evenings... TV show

NBC 12:00 ET... whatever they have now, golf I guess
NBC 3:00 ET Notre Dame when they're at home
NBC 8:00 ET B1G exclusively

ESPN 12:00 PM SEC, ACC, possibly Big 12, AAC, or technically SBC or MAC. C-USA from time to time if they get an ESPN deal.
ESPN 3:30 ET Same as above, except with the Pac possibly mixed in.
ESPN 7:00 ET SEC most typically. Could be ACC, possibly Big 12 or Pac-12, occasionally AAC, Sun Belt, or MAC (or C-USA sometimes if they get a deal.)
ESPN 10:30 ET Possibly Pac-12

ESPN2 All four time slots same description as above

ESPNU All four time slots same description as above, but with more SBC, MAC. Possibly C-USA.

FS1 12:00 ET B1G? Possibly the Big 12? Maybe non-CFB.
FS1 3:30 ET B1G, plus possibly the MW, Pac-12, or Big 12. C-USA possible.
FS1 7:00 ET Same as FS1 3:30 ET
FS1 10:30 ET MW or possibly Pac-12

CBSSN 12:00 ET Probably C-USA, maybe the MAC.
CBSSN 3:30 ET MAC or possibly C-USA[/b]
CBSSN 7:00 ET MAC, C-USA, or MW
CBSSN 10:30 ET MW

NFLN Random time slots MAC and/or Sun Belt, maybe C-USA

Streaming Services on Saturdays

Paramount Plus 3:30 ET Simulcast of B1G on CBS
ESPN+ for all kinds of time slots ACC, SEC, AAC, SBC, MAC, possibly Big 12/Pac-12/C-USA.

Amazon Prime, AppleTV, others in random time slots Possibly west coast in a further expanded B1G, possibly Big 12/Pac-12/C-USA.

Other Nights of the Week

Tuesdays and Wednesdays in October Some Sun Belt on ESPN/2/U
Tuesdays and Wednesdays in November Lots of MAC on ESPN/2/U.
Thursdays on ESPN/2/UMost any conference with an ESPN contract possible.
Fridays on ESPN/2/U Same as Thursdays, with a bent towards the AAC and ACC

Thursdays and Fridays on FS1 MW, possibly C-USA, possibly Big 12 or Pac-12. Is the B1G possible?

Thursdays and Fridays on CBSSN MW, MAC, possibly C-USA, Pac, or Big 12

Please provide corrections, clarity, or comments. This is off memory alone.

EDIT: I forgot the conference networks: BTN. SECN, ACCN, and Pac12Network (if that one remains in business).

If I have this mostly correct, the Pac-12 and Big 12's only non-streaming options really are ESPN and Fox. NBCSSN is gone. CBSSN and NFLN are not widely viewed; there's a reason those networks are more for G5 than P5.

I suppose the Big 12 technically could snag an exclusive 12:00 ET NBC or CBS spot, but those spots may be reserved with other things like golf or NASCAR :shrugs:, and even if not, they would likely be way, way below what even their competitors are getting.

Pac-12 has nowhere to go but Fox and/or ESPN with their time slot limitations. They should strive for an evening over the air window on Fox at 7 PM and/or 10:30 PM.

(10-08-2022 08:22 AM)Michael in Raleigh Wrote:  I'm just trying to gather what a week in college football may look like in a couple of years, say in October. Here's what I understand right now.

Saturdays

ABC 12:00 ET ACC (possibly Big 12?; AAC gets a few guaranteed games on Saturdays each year, usually in this time slot)
ABC 3:30 ET SEC exclusively
ABC 8:00 ET ACC, possibly Big 12 or Pac-12. Is SEC an option?

Please provide corrections, clarity, or comments. This is off memory alone.

Not only is the SEC an option I wouldn't be surprised if they get most of the prime time games.

In Week 2, ESPN beat ABC in viewership when they showed the SEC (Kentucky-Florida) and ABC showed the Pac 12 (USC-Stanford). It was 4.33M to 2.96M.

In Week 3, ESPN also beat ABC with an SEC doubleheader (Mississippi State-LSU and Miami-Texas A&M, 3.06M and 3.41M) to Michigan State-Washington, 2.79M).

In Weeks 1 and 4, ABC won but with Big Ten hosted games (Notre Dame-Ohio State and Wisconsin-Ohio State), games they won't have access to next year. Last week NC State-Clemson (4.98M) legitimately beat out LSU-Auburn (2.79M) but that is an Auburn team that is certainly down and a top 10 ACC matchup that got a Gameday bounce.

Last year, ESPN won the primetime window in viewership four times. CBS won once (obviously with an SEC matchup), and ABC won eight times. Of the eight times ABC won the primetime window, four were Big Ten hosted games (Washington-Michigan, Auburn-Penn State, Indiana-Penn State, and Penn State-Ohio State) and one was hosted by future SEC member Oklahoma.

In most cases the SEC will draw higher ratings than the ACC. Keep in mind the prime time ESPN games are often the SEC's #2 games and have a cable disadvantage vs. the ABC games. ABC promised the SEC the 3:30pm slot but they also love SNF and would love to prop up SNF as much as possible and what better way to do so than the SEC? The Iron Bowl and Georgia-Florida probably aren't going to prime time but if you're ABC why wouldn't you air Georgia-Alabama or LSU-Alabama on SNF (especially in Baton Rouge when their fans would want it in prime time)? There are only so many ACC games that will get in the 5 million range (and if Clemson and Florida State aren't good that number drops). There's only a handful of Alabama SEC games that won't get 5 million viewers if on ABC in prime time.

I expect a ton of SEC games on SNF. If I'm the SEC, I'd consider trading the 3:30pm weekly slot for SNF as long as I keep the Iron Bowl and Georgia-Florida at 3:30pm and Texas-Oklahoma at noon and get a prime time game each of those weeks. If I'm the SEC, I'm more scared of CBS at 3:30pm than I am of the Big Ten in prime time because the SEC is well established in college football while the Big Ten has just had Notre Dame in the last few decades. If CBS can prop up the SEC, they can prop up the Big Ten. And ABC SNF is the more established brand. The SEC and SNF would be a better partnership IMO.

Or why can't the SEC get two ABC exclusive slots each week? The Big Ten will get three OTA slots a week in 2024. If the SEC can't get the prime time each week, why not the noon slot? I realize the SEC has already signed their deal but there's always renegotiations and they haven't figured out their conference schedule in the future. Have they even decided on 8 or 9 games, divisions or no divisions, etc?

(10-08-2022 08:37 AM)Michael in Raleigh Wrote:  If I have this mostly correct, the Pac-12 and Big 12's only non-streaming options really are ESPN and Fox. NBCSSN is gone. CBSSN and NFLN are not widely viewed; there's a reason those networks are more for G5 than P5.

I suppose the Big 12 technically could snag an exclusive 12:00 ET NBC or CBS spot, but those spots may be reserved with other things like golf or NASCAR :shrugs:, and even if not, they would likely be way, way below what even their competitors are getting.

Pac-12 has nowhere to go but Fox and/or ESPN with their time slot limitations. They should strive for an evening over the air window on Fox at 7 PM and/or 10:30 PM.

In other words, it’s the same as always.

NBC has Premier League soccer 12-2 pm

I'll go with:

ABC: noon: ACC, 3:30 and 7:30: SEC, some flexibility other than 3:30
FOX: noon: Big Ten, 3:30: some Pac 12/Big 12, no prime time games
CBS: 3:30: Big Ten
NBC: Prime Time: Big Ten (They haven't locked in a time yet, I would try for 7, beat ABC to the punch, end it earlier)

Assuming Notre Dame renews and wants prime time games, CBS and NBC trade slots those weeks. This allows CBS to still have the occasional prime time games.

ESPN: Same as ABC. This allows more flexibility for the SEC and ACC to schedule games at the beginning of the season, which is something the SEC said when they signed their contract. They had suggested they would schedule games in windows at the beginning of the season, for example a game like Auburn-Georgia would be scheduled at 3:30pm and Texas A&M-Alabama in prime time. ESPN can "plan" for those games to be ABC games but if they don't do well they shift them to ESPN and move the "backup" games to ABC.

http://www.lsufootball.net/tvschedule.htm