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2021 College Football TV Ratings Thread
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schmolik Offline
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Exclamation 2021 College Football TV Ratings Thread
Tracking most watched games of the season and any ratings news.

Updated 12/7/21

Games with 5 Million or More Viewers (Changed because LSU/Alabama got "Exactly" 5 Million:):

Ohio State at Michigan, 11/27, noon, FOX, 15.893M!!!!
SEC Championship: Alabama vs Georgia at Atlanta, 12/4, 4pm, CBS, 15.277M
Big Ten Championship: Iowa vs. Michigan at Indianapolis, 12/4, 8pm, FOX, 11.658M
Alabama at Auburn, 11/27, 3:30pm, CBS, 10.369M
Michigan at Michigan State, 10/30, noon, FOX, 9.289M
Georgia vs. Clemson at Charlotte, 9/4, 7:30pm, ABC, 8.863M
Alabama at Texas A&M, 10/9, 8pm, CBS, 8.334M
Big 12 Championship, Baylor vs. Oklahoma State at Arlington, 12/4, noon, ABC, 8.021M
Alabama at Florida, 9/18, 3:30pm, CBS, 7.863M
Notre Dame at Florida State, 9/5 (Sun), 7:30pm, ABC, 7.751M
Oregon at Ohio State, 9/11, noon, FOX, 7.730M
Auburn at Penn State, 9/18. 7:30pm, ABC, 7.606M
Army vs. Navy at East Rutherford, 12/11, 3pm, CBS, 7.57M
Penn State at Ohio State, 10/30, 7:30pm, ABC, 7.051M
Penn State at Iowa, 10/9, 4pm, FOX, 6.904M
Oklahoma at Oklahoma State, 11/27, 7:30pm, ABC, 6.486M
Kentucky at Georgia, 10/16, 3:30pm, CBS, 6.369M
Ohio State at Minnesota, 9/2 (Thur), 8pm, FOX, 6.295M
Georgia vs. Florida at Jacksonville, 10/30, 3:30pm, CBS, 6.120M
Michigan at Penn State, 11/13, noon, ABC, 5.942M
Oklahoma vs. Texas at Dallas, 10/9, noon, ABC, 5.940M
Georgia at Tennessee, 11/13, 3:30pm, CBS, 5.781M
Alabama vs. Miami at Atlanta, 9/4, 3:30pm, ABC, 5.674M
Arkansas at Alabama, 11/20, 3:30pm, CBS, 5.464M
Penn State at Wisconsin, 9/4, noon, FOX, 5.409M
Notre Dame vs. Wisconsin at Chicago, 9/25, noon, FOX, 5.369M
Ohio State at Nebraska, noon, 11/6, FOX, 5.328M
Michigan State at Ohio State, 11/20, noon, ABC, 5.287M
Wisconsin at Minnesota, 11/27, 4pm, FOX, 5.049M
LSU at Alabama, 11/6, 7pm, ESPN, 5.000M

Total: 28
By Network: ABC: 10, FOX: 10, CBS 9, ESPN: 1
By TimeSlot: Sat Noon: 10, Sat MidAfternoon: 11, Sat PrimeTime: 7, Not Saturday: 2
By Conference Teams: Big Ten: 12.5, SEC: 10.5, B12: 3, ACC: 1.5, ND: 1, Army/Navy, P12: 0.5
By Team: Alabama: 7, Ohio State: 6, Penn State: 5, Georgia: 5, Michigan: 4, Wisconsin: 3, Michigan State: 2, Florida: 2, Notre Dame: 2, Oklahoma: 2, Oklahoma State: 2, Iowa: 2, Auburn: 2

Season Rankings (Sports Media Watch): https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/college...v-ratings/
Showbuzz Daily Thread: https://showbuzzdaily.com/articles/the-s...-tvratings (Source for Sports Media Watch, occasionally come out quicker)
(This post was last modified: 12-14-2021 03:55 PM by schmolik.)
09-05-2021 12:27 PM
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schmolik Offline
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RE: 2021 College Football TV Ratings Thread
First bit of ratings news:

https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2021/09...-audience/

[Image: c2VydmljZT1pbWFnZXMmc3JjPWh0dHBzJTNBJTJG...ZjVk.q.png]

Eight of FOX's top ten most watched games are Big 10 games (well they are all Ohio State games). The top three are all Ohio State vs. Michigan followed by two Penn State/Ohio State games. Ironically, since FOX's Big Ten's contract started, Michigan/Penn State has not been on FOX (ABC in 2017, 2019, and 2020, ESPN in 2018). Over six million on a Thursday night is pretty impressive.

If this doesn't get FOX to want to pay the Big Ten big time in the future, nothing will.

This ends the Schmolik Big Ten cheerleading portion of this ratings' news post.
09-05-2021 12:37 PM
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RE: 2021 College Football TV Ratings Thread
(09-05-2021 12:37 PM)schmolik Wrote:  First bit of ratings news:

https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2021/09...-audience/

[Image: c2VydmljZT1pbWFnZXMmc3JjPWh0dHBzJTNBJTJG...ZjVk.q.png]

Eight of FOX's top ten most watched games are Big 10 games (well they are all Ohio State games). The top three are all Ohio State vs. Michigan followed by two Penn State/Ohio State games. Ironically, since FOX's Big Ten's contract started, Michigan/Penn State has not been on FOX (ABC in 2017, 2019, and 2020, ESPN in 2018). Over six million on a Thursday night is pretty impressive.

If this doesn't get FOX to want to pay the Big Ten big time in the future, nothing will.

This ends the Schmolik Big Ten cheerleading portion of this ratings' news post.

If Michigan had been good, you would have seen a bunch of Michigan games up there too.
09-05-2021 02:13 PM
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schmolik Offline
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RE: 2021 College Football TV Ratings Thread
(09-05-2021 02:13 PM)bullet Wrote:  If Michigan had been good, you would have seen a bunch of Michigan games up there too.

Obviously the three Michigan/Ohio State games top the list (The Big Ten's contract with FOX started in 2017 and Michigan/Ohio State was a COVID-19 casualty in 2020). Michigan/Penn State wasn't on FOX in any of the four seasons during the contract.

Michigan's FOX games (OSU games excluded):

2017:
at Purdue (9/23, 4:30pm):3.521M
Minnesota (11/4, 8:30pm): 2.850M
at Wisconsin (11/18, noon): 5.226M

2018:
at Northwestern (9/29, 4:45pm): 3.618M
Michigan State (10/20, noon): 5.416M

2019:
Army (9/7, noon): 4.72M
at Wisconsin (9/21, noon): 4.73M
Iowa (10/5, noon): 5.02M
Michigan State (11/16, noon): 3.94M

Michigan/Penn State games on ABC:
2017: (10/21, 7:30pm) 6.954M
2019: 6.66M

I would expect a drop off from the ABC numbers if FOX got a Michigan/Penn State game since FOX would likely air the game at noon vs. prime time. Also, ABC aired Michigan State at Michigan in prime time on 10/7/17 and got 6.508M (vs. 5.416M on FOX on 10/20/18 noon and 3.94M on 11/16/19 noon). They also aired Wisconsin at Michigan in prime time on 10/13/2018 and got 6.038M (vs. 5.226M on 11/18/17 and 4.73M on 9/21/19).

On the other hand, Ohio State/Penn State wasn't affected by FOX vs. ABC. When ABC had OSU/PSU it actually had lower ratings than FOX (9.141M on 9/29/18 in prime time vs. 9.87M on 10/28/17, 3:30pm and 9.43M on 11/23/19, noon)

I would think if Michigan would top the 6 million mark for a FOX game other than vs. Ohio State it would probably be vs. Penn State. Wisconsin and Michigan State also got 6 million viewers on ABC but not on FOX. The 9/21/19 Michigan/Wisconsin game was just too early in the season. I'm not sure why the 11/18/19 Michigan/Wisconsin game couldn't make it to 6M. Maybe this is the year FOX gets UM/PSU and it's late in the year in the heart of football season.
09-05-2021 04:36 PM
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Maize Offline
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RE: 2021 College Football TV Ratings Thread
09-06-2021 03:24 PM
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RE: 2021 College Football TV Ratings Thread
(09-06-2021 07:49 PM)TerryD Wrote:  [Image: E-oENN-XMAMc4eA?format=jpg&name=medium]

was a bit surprised that this was so low. Was thinking it'd be up somewhat close to the ND/Texas game a few years ago that got over 10 million.
09-06-2021 07:54 PM
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RE: 2021 College Football TV Ratings Thread
Low? Ratings in just about every sport has been on a huge decline lately (the Olympics were down 42 percent this summer). This one college game had about half the audience of an average Olympics audience in the U.S.

And it's not like Florida State was very highly regarded coming into the season.

I'd say ABC is probably thrilled with that audience.
09-06-2021 08:29 PM
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stever20 Offline
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RE: 2021 College Football TV Ratings Thread
(09-06-2021 08:29 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  Low? Ratings in just about every sport has been on a huge decline lately (the Olympics were down 42 percent this summer). This one college game had about half the audience of an average Olympics audience in the U.S.

And it's not like Florida State was very highly regarded coming into the season.

I'd say ABC is probably thrilled with that audience.

compared to what some of the other games have gotten this year, it's pretty low.
09-06-2021 08:46 PM
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RE: 2021 College Football TV Ratings Thread
(09-06-2021 08:46 PM)stever20 Wrote:  
(09-06-2021 08:29 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  Low? Ratings in just about every sport has been on a huge decline lately (the Olympics were down 42 percent this summer). This one college game had about half the audience of an average Olympics audience in the U.S.

And it's not like Florida State was very highly regarded coming into the season.

I'd say ABC is probably thrilled with that audience.

compared to what some of the other games have gotten this year, it's pretty low.

Which ones?

I believe that it greatly outperformed Alabama/Miami and was just slightly below Georgia/Clemson.

Here are the viewership numbers for this past weekend, lifted from Hokie Mark's blog:

"Saturday
3:30 PM, Miami vs Alabama (Atlanta): 5.03 million viewers

8:00 PM, Georgia vs Clemson (Charlotte): 7.74 million

Sunday
7:30 PM , Notre Dame at Florida State: 7.1 million

By contrast, Saturday night's Fox game (LSU at UCLA, 8:30 PM) drew 2.43 million viewers."

https://accfootballrx.blogspot.com/


It drew more fans than any opening Sunday night game but one....ever.

ABC is happy, even if you are not.
(This post was last modified: 09-07-2021 05:48 AM by TerryD.)
09-07-2021 05:44 AM
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RE: 2021 College Football TV Ratings Thread
(09-06-2021 07:54 PM)stever20 Wrote:  
(09-06-2021 07:49 PM)TerryD Wrote:  [Image: E-oENN-XMAMc4eA?format=jpg&name=medium]

was a bit surprised that this was so low. Was thinking it'd be up somewhat close to the ND/Texas game a few years ago that got over 10 million.

IMO, these numbers are pretty good, especially considering that FSU was unranked.
09-07-2021 06:19 AM
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RE: 2021 College Football TV Ratings Thread
(09-05-2021 12:37 PM)schmolik Wrote:  First bit of ratings news:

https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2021/09...-audience/

[Image: c2VydmljZT1pbWFnZXMmc3JjPWh0dHBzJTNBJTJG...ZjVk.q.png]

Eight of FOX's top ten most watched games are Big 10 games (well they are all Ohio State games). The top three are all Ohio State vs. Michigan followed by two Penn State/Ohio State games. Ironically, since FOX's Big Ten's contract started, Michigan/Penn State has not been on FOX (ABC in 2017, 2019, and 2020, ESPN in 2018). Over six million on a Thursday night is pretty impressive.

If this doesn't get FOX to want to pay the Big Ten big time in the future, nothing will.

This ends the Schmolik Big Ten cheerleading portion of this ratings' news post.
This is an example of why I think it will be really close which league gets the better per school payout between the B1G and SEC. Right now, the B1G makes more than the SEC, and the B1G is due to get even more than it is already getting because it will be up for new media contracts in a few short years... The SEC needed to expand to *catch up* to the B1G.

**Credit to Frank the Tank. I'm virtually plagiarizing him right now.
09-07-2021 09:09 AM
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RE: 2021 College Football TV Ratings Thread
(09-07-2021 09:09 AM)Michael in Raleigh Wrote:  This is an example of why I think it will be really close which league gets the better per school payout between the B1G and SEC. Right now, the B1G makes more than the SEC, and the B1G is due to get even more than it is already getting because it will be up for new media contracts in a few short years... The SEC needed to expand to *catch up* to the B1G.

**Credit to Frank the Tank. I'm virtually plagiarizing him right now.

Well, I think that "naturally", the SEC should - without TX and OU - be making more than the B1G. As popular as the B1G is, IIRC, the SEC is even moreso, gets better football TV ratings than the B1G.

IMO, the reason the B1G makes more media money than the SEC - considerably more - right now is because the B1G signed smarter deals in the late 2000s than did the SEC. The 2006-2007 deals that Delany signed, which were for shorter terms and included B1G equity ownership with the creation of the BTN, was a smarter deal than the 2008 deal that the SEC made with ESPN, which was an all-in deal and for a much longer term - IIRC, 15 years compared to the six-year deals the B1G has been signing. That has allowed the B1G to retain ownership and to capitalize on the ever-escalating rise in football rights value, while the SEC has basically been owned by ESPN since 2008 and will be so for the next 12-15 years.

So IMO, while the B1G does make more, and could very well continue to make more than the SEC does after it signs its new 2023 deal even with the new SEC 2023 deal for its old CBS rights, it isn't because the B1G is fundamentally more valuable.

The SEC, even without Texas and OU, is fundamentally more valuable than the B1G. It just signed dumber deals. The bargaining table is just very important. You can fail to realize what you are worth, or realize more than you are worth, with bad or good bargaining.
(This post was last modified: 09-07-2021 09:29 AM by quo vadis.)
09-07-2021 09:24 AM
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RE: 2021 College Football TV Ratings Thread
The SEC was grossly underpaid for their CBS contract ($55M/yr). That should be corrected in their next ESPN contract (>$300M/yr?)

Objectively if ESPN were the only bidder they would tell the Big 10 that they should not get the same for first tier rights as the SEC since their TV ratings are below the SEC and that's not including Texas and Oklahoma. The thing working in the Big 10's favor is FOX loves the Big 10 (as witnessed by their rankings list above). If they want it bad enough, they will give the Big 10 a lot of money. If both FOX and ESPN want full 1st tier rights, it could become a bidding war. CBS could be a factor but I suspect at some price they'll drop out and if CBS gets full Big 10 rights the Big 10 won't top the SEC in 1st tier rights.
09-07-2021 02:03 PM
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RE: 2021 College Football TV Ratings Thread
(09-07-2021 09:24 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  
(09-07-2021 09:09 AM)Michael in Raleigh Wrote:  This is an example of why I think it will be really close which league gets the better per school payout between the B1G and SEC. Right now, the B1G makes more than the SEC, and the B1G is due to get even more than it is already getting because it will be up for new media contracts in a few short years... The SEC needed to expand to *catch up* to the B1G.

**Credit to Frank the Tank. I'm virtually plagiarizing him right now.

Well, I think that "naturally", the SEC should - without TX and OU - be making more than the B1G. As popular as the B1G is, IIRC, the SEC is even moreso, gets better football TV ratings than the B1G.

IMO, the reason the B1G makes more media money than the SEC - considerably more - right now is because the B1G signed smarter deals in the late 2000s than did the SEC. The 2006-2007 deals that Delany signed, which were for shorter terms and included B1G equity ownership with the creation of the BTN, was a smarter deal than the 2008 deal that the SEC made with ESPN, which was an all-in deal and for a much longer term - IIRC, 15 years compared to the six-year deals the B1G has been signing. That has allowed the B1G to retain ownership and to capitalize on the ever-escalating rise in football rights value, while the SEC has basically been owned by ESPN since 2008 and will be so for the next 12-15 years.

So IMO, while the B1G does make more, and could very well continue to make more than the SEC does after it signs its new 2023 deal even with the new SEC 2023 deal for its old CBS rights, it isn't because the B1G is fundamentally more valuable.

The SEC, even without Texas and OU, is fundamentally more valuable than the B1G. It just signed dumber deals. The bargaining table is just very important. You can fail to realize what you are worth, or realize more than you are worth, with bad or good bargaining.

Well said. Does anyone have insight as to why the SEC choose longer deals, with a single media partner, while also failing to negotiate any equity in the SEC Network? A 9 game conference slate in the B1G also provides more match ups to sell to broadcast partners. Those four decisions seem to be the main reasons the B1G has made more and appears poised to continue to make more (if the projections in Forbes and The Athletic are believed).

I think the question of which conference is "worth more" is complicated. The B1G as a whole has almost 190,000 more students than the SEC. Even with the additions of Texas and Oklahoma, the B1G will still have something like 115k more students a year than the SEC. More students means more alumni, and thus a larger addressable market although you could argue they aren't as fervent college football fans as SEC fans. If the question is which football conference should be worth more, I think it's the SEC without question. Their failure to maximize their value is one that's always confused me. Why make it rain for ESPN without ensuring you're fully compensated?
09-07-2021 02:08 PM
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RE: 2021 College Football TV Ratings Thread
SportsMediaWatch articles:

Georgia vs. Clemson: https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2021/09...ama-miami/

"Georgia-Clemson averaged 8.0 million viewers on ABC’s season-opening edition of Saturday Night Football, per Nielsen fast-nationals — the largest opening weekend college football audience in four years (2017 Alabama-FSU: 12.34M)."

"Already this season, two games have averaged at least six million viewers. Ohio State-Minnesota averaged 6.30 million on FOX Thursday, the largest opening Thursday college football audience on record. Last season, it took until mid-October before any game averaged six million viewers, much less eight million."

Week 1: https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2021/09...-dame-fsu/

"Five college football games averaged at least five million viewers during week one of the season, the most in the opening week since 2016 (also five). "
09-08-2021 01:58 PM
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RE: 2021 College Football TV Ratings Thread
Big 12 TV Ratings Update:

(All in Millions)
Louisiana at Texas: 2.879 (FOX 4:30p)
Oklahoma at Tulane: 2.526 (ABC noon)

West Virginia at Maryland: 1.350 (ESPN 3:30p)
Stanford vs. Kansas State at Arlington: 0.312 (FS1 noon)

Obviously Texas and Oklahoma were OTA and West Virginia and Kansas State were on cable. But West Virginia and Kansas State played P5 opponents while Texas and Oklahoma played G5's and ESPN is pretty close to ABC or FOX in terms of availability. Texas and Oklahoma doubled West Virginia's viewership and unless there's more UL or Tulane fans than I think those schools did it mostly by themselves while WV's viewership included Maryland's fans. Stanford/Kansas State? It's one week but that's not going to help KSU get into any other conference. The AAC wouldn't want that viewership.
09-08-2021 02:08 PM
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RE: 2021 College Football TV Ratings Thread
Anyone know the UCF-Boise game ratings? Just curious. I expect the 3 hour lightning delay really hurt viewership.
09-08-2021 02:21 PM
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RE: 2021 College Football TV Ratings Thread
(09-08-2021 02:21 PM)Jugnaut Wrote:  Anyone know the UCF-Boise game ratings? Just curious. I expect the 3 hour lightning delay really hurt viewership.

https://www.blackandgoldbanneret.com/202...start-espn
09-08-2021 02:28 PM
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RE: 2021 College Football TV Ratings Thread
(09-07-2021 02:08 PM)bgwisc Wrote:  
(09-07-2021 09:24 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  
(09-07-2021 09:09 AM)Michael in Raleigh Wrote:  This is an example of why I think it will be really close which league gets the better per school payout between the B1G and SEC. Right now, the B1G makes more than the SEC, and the B1G is due to get even more than it is already getting because it will be up for new media contracts in a few short years... The SEC needed to expand to *catch up* to the B1G.

**Credit to Frank the Tank. I'm virtually plagiarizing him right now.

Well, I think that "naturally", the SEC should - without TX and OU - be making more than the B1G. As popular as the B1G is, IIRC, the SEC is even moreso, gets better football TV ratings than the B1G.

IMO, the reason the B1G makes more media money than the SEC - considerably more - right now is because the B1G signed smarter deals in the late 2000s than did the SEC. The 2006-2007 deals that Delany signed, which were for shorter terms and included B1G equity ownership with the creation of the BTN, was a smarter deal than the 2008 deal that the SEC made with ESPN, which was an all-in deal and for a much longer term - IIRC, 15 years compared to the six-year deals the B1G has been signing. That has allowed the B1G to retain ownership and to capitalize on the ever-escalating rise in football rights value, while the SEC has basically been owned by ESPN since 2008 and will be so for the next 12-15 years.

So IMO, while the B1G does make more, and could very well continue to make more than the SEC does after it signs its new 2023 deal even with the new SEC 2023 deal for its old CBS rights, it isn't because the B1G is fundamentally more valuable.

The SEC, even without Texas and OU, is fundamentally more valuable than the B1G. It just signed dumber deals. The bargaining table is just very important. You can fail to realize what you are worth, or realize more than you are worth, with bad or good bargaining.

Well said. Does anyone have insight as to why the SEC choose longer deals, with a single media partner, while also failing to negotiate any equity in the SEC Network? A 9 game conference slate in the B1G also provides more match ups to sell to broadcast partners. Those four decisions seem to be the main reasons the B1G has made more and appears poised to continue to make more (if the projections in Forbes and The Athletic are believed).

I think the question of which conference is "worth more" is complicated. The B1G as a whole has almost 190,000 more students than the SEC. Even with the additions of Texas and Oklahoma, the B1G will still have something like 115k more students a year than the SEC. More students means more alumni, and thus a larger addressable market although you could argue they aren't as fervent college football fans as SEC fans. If the question is which football conference should be worth more, I think it's the SEC without question. Their failure to maximize their value is one that's always confused me. Why make it rain for ESPN without ensuring you're fully compensated?
SEC and ACC bet on long term security. So did the Big 12 and Pac (12 years) Only the Big 10 did shorter deals.

Not taking equity may have been ESPN's idea. Or it may have been a smart play given the decline in cable. The Pac has had a disaster keeping all the equity.

If you look at TV ratings, clearly the SEC is "worth" more. Big 10 has some really big games, but doesn't have the consistency across the lineup. Someone did an average of all the conferences a few years back and while these aren't the exact numbers, it was something like SEC 3.0, Big 10 1.9, Big 12/ACC 1.4, Pac 1.1.
09-08-2021 07:55 PM
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RE: 2021 College Football TV Ratings Thread
(09-08-2021 02:08 PM)schmolik Wrote:  Big 12 TV Ratings Update:

(All in Millions)
Louisiana at Texas: 2.879 (FOX 4:30p)
Oklahoma at Tulane: 2.526 (ABC noon)

West Virginia at Maryland: 1.350 (ESPN 3:30p)
Stanford vs. Kansas State at Arlington: 0.312 (FS1 noon)

Obviously Texas and Oklahoma were OTA and West Virginia and Kansas State were on cable. But West Virginia and Kansas State played P5 opponents while Texas and Oklahoma played G5's and ESPN is pretty close to ABC or FOX in terms of availability. Texas and Oklahoma doubled West Virginia's viewership and unless there's more UL or Tulane fans than I think those schools did it mostly by themselves while WV's viewership included Maryland's fans. Stanford/Kansas State? It's one week but that's not going to help KSU get into any other conference. The AAC wouldn't want that viewership.

It was FS1. Those ratings are always low, similar to ESPNU.
09-08-2021 07:58 PM
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