(09-01-2026 04:42 AM)schmolik Wrote: (08-31-2026 11:31 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote: (08-31-2026 03:28 PM)schmolik Wrote: This is what I expected
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FOX could be missing out on a potential 1 vs. 2 matchup although that likely requires both to stay undefeated all the way to November 7, a tough task.
FOX really should've taken both and passed on Oklahoma/Michigan based on preseason AP/Coaches rankings although certainly Oklahoma and Michigan historically are better than Oregon.
There is more in the Athletic article as quoted in the FBSchedules.com link:
https://fbschedules.com/fox-cbs-lock-in-...026-slate/
"Although trades can take place, generally Fox has five of the top 11 picks and the other networks have three selections apiece. Fox also chooses for FS1 while NBC picks for its Peacock streaming service. The networks often draft for a weekend’s pecking order rather than a specific game, which allows them to make their final selection for a given weekend 12 days before kickoff.
Big Ten Network, of which Fox owns 61 percent, is considered its own entity during the draft. Every Big Ten school must appear twice on BTN, including once during conference action.
There are a few restrictions, however. Fox cannot air a West Coast kickoff at noon ET. Michigan, Penn State, Ohio State and Iowa are exempted from hosting games on Fridays. With all three networks likely to select a game involving the Buckeyes or Wolverines, neither will participate on Friday nights."
This gives us more information about Friday night restrictions (Iowa included) and this explains why Purdue has any Friday night games at all. I have a feeling Indiana and Oregon will be the next to say no the more successful they get.
I would say as long as Oregon and Ohio State both are in the top 10, Oregon-Ohio State should be CBS's most watched regular season Big Ten game since they started Big Ten coverage. NBC's record is Ohio State-Oregon in 2024 which had 9.6 million (https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/college...-season/).
Eh - Oregon has been successful for quite a long time and they really haven’t had much issue with playing on non-Saturday dates or different times. They’re actually great for a conference with TV flexibility in that regard where they’re not always whining (e.g. Ohio State whining that they need to play so many 12 pm ET games… except that when it actually would make more revenue to play Michigan-Ohio State later in the day, that happens to be the one game that MUST be at 12 pm ET). Indiana is obviously a hot brand now, but let’s simmer down in thinking that they have even Wisconsin/Michigan State-level influence in imposing restitutions on when they’ll play, much less Michigan/Ohio State.
Media partners are going to have limited tolerance for many scheduling restrictions beyond the very obvious “West Coast game shouldn’t start at 9 am local time” restriction. I actually think it’s good for the Big Ten because it forces big Oregon and USC home games to NBC and CBS to spread the wealth around more. I get Michigan and Ohio State not wanting to *host* Friday night games, but I think they’re going to start playing a road game on Friday night each year in the next TV deal (because someone like Amazon is going to pay a LOT for it).
If I'm a school and I can guarantee I'll be on FOX, CBS, or NBC every Saturday other than the required BTN games I'll tell the networks no Friday games. The reason our Illinois welcomes the Friday night games is look at our Nebraska-Illinois game this year? That weekend has Oregon-Ohio State, Penn State-Washington, and Michigan State-Michigan, not to mention NBC is already committed to Miami-Notre Dame. If Illinois insisted on Saturday there's a pretty good chance we're on BTN or FS1. By going to Friday we get a national audience on FOX. There's a reason the top schools don't play Fridays, they know they'll play most if not all of their games on Saturdays on the OTA networks.
Last year Oregon had their Friday night game vs. Minnesota, their BTN conference game vs. Rutgers, and an FS1 game vs. Wisconsin. All six of their other Big Ten games were Saturday games on FOX, CBS, and NBC. Even if Oregon said no Friday games and the Minnesota game gets dumped to FS1 or BTN, six out of nine games on the Big Three is still pretty good. Indiana actually had two Big Ten games Peacock'ed (a totally different issue), their usual BTN game, and played Purdue as a Black Friday game. They still had five Saturday OTA games. Illinois last year surprisingly didn't play a Friday night game on FOX, they played a Friday Night game Week 1 on Peacock (Labor Day weekend). They got five OTA games although two weren't in the "main" slots (they played Rutgers on NBC at noon and Northwestern on FOX in prime time with the Rutgers game going against Penn State-Ohio State on FOX).
For schools like Illinois it gives them exposure with not as much competition and on FOX. Then again Illinois not only got two Big Nooners last year (USC and OSU) but hosted them. Eventually there is a diminishing returns effect and the benefits don't outweight the hassle on the school. Where that point is can certainly be debated. We know a few schools that have drawn the line and the fact that Iowa has drawn the line at least when it comes to home games is telling. Iowa was quoted in saying it but there might be more that might not be saying it out loud. And just because Illinois volunteered this year doesn't mean they'll want to every year. If the Big Ten Friday night FOX games were as big sellers as people think they are, there is absolutely no reason Purdue should ever play in one. In their 1-11 2024 season Purdue had TWO Friday night games on FOX! Over in the SEC, not one school will play one outside of the first two weeks, Black Friday, and Missouri traveling to Kansas. You don't think ESPN wouldn't love to even have Mississippi State play Arkansas on a Friday night? Probably better than half of the ACC games. I'm kidding. I think.
You don’t have to convince me that Ohio State wants all Saturday games on a major OTA network, but not too many 12 pm ET games, but also not too many prime time games and definitely no prime time home games in November, but the Michigan game HAS to be played at 12 pm ET. Every school wants their own perfect schedule however that is defined in their own minds.
That is not my argument. My point is that a separate Friday Night Football package *is* the next frontier for the Big Ten and every other conference (including the SEC once their ESPN contract ends). It’s the equivalent of Thursday Night Football for the NFL - they initially treated it for random matchups and rarely put marquee brands there, but now it’s a core product where they will legitimately put any matchup and brand there and frankly go out of their way to do it. Amazon now pays over $1 billion per year for what used to be the NFL’s filler content because the NFL no longer treats it as filler content.
Now, the NFL actually *intentionally* puts their best brands in new time slots. The Dallas Cowboys are the most valuable sports team in the entire *world*. You know what happens when the NFL releases its schedule every year and they’re in every single imaginable time slot on every single network at some point? Jerry Jones says, “Thank you sir! May I have another!”
Who goes to the first Friday night game in Brazil on a rocky field that will knock out at least one marquee starting QB for weeks all to be shown on glorious streaming-only Peacock? The NFL doesn’t put Jags vs. Titans, but rather Packers vs. Eagles with two of the biggest fan bases in the league.
When Christmas falls on a Tuesday, does the NFL say, “Man, Christmas Day is played on Tuesday this year. We ought to just skip having games that day.” Heck no! They sell those games to Netflix for a ridiculous amount of money. Then, they don’t put some random team, but instead put the Chiefs there at the very height of their Pat Mahomes/Travis Kelce/Taylor Swift popularity. Oh, and the NFL is angry that the CFP started that same year and is playing the first round on the December Saturday that the NFL has been playing on for many years, so the NFL decides to send that very same Chiefs team to also play on THAT day with only 3 days off before that Christmas game!
That’s the point. Traveling NFL fans almost universally want just regular plain old Sunday afternoon games just as much as traveling college football fans just want regular plain old Saturday games. However, the NFL figured out that (a) there’s a limitation on how much that they can make in media revenue out of 3 time slots on Sunday, (b) adding revenue means adding non-Sunday TV windows (which they started with Monday Night Football long ago), and © they couldn’t just keep selling random second tier or third tier content on their non-traditional Sunday time slots and expect to garner maximum media revenue. Every team in the league from the Cowboys and Chiefs down to the Jags and Titans understands that and they all buy in.
Ultimately, that is needs to happen in the Big Ten, SEC, and every other conference. College football is protected BY LAW from NFL competition on Friday nights for almost the entire season. Any other rational entity would be riding a protected time window to sell their product like Zorro and do everything that can to exploit it. I think the Big Ten is actually starting to figure that out and some others in college football are starting to, too.
And before people inevitably say, “Maybe they’re just willing to take less TV money to avoid Friday games,” even OHIO STATE has an athletic department deficit! We have the Big Ten that almost sold a literal conference spot to private equity and LSU is planning to sell equity in their separately set up athletic department LLC! How about instead of selling to private equity to raise money, you can simply play a Friday night game or two? Heck, we’ll even still make you feel special, Ohio State, where you never have to actually host those games and can play them on the road?
Because it’s not like these schools even have a choice when private equity enters the picture. Do you know what a private equity firm that invests in your entity says if you try to argue, “We could make more TV money by selling a massive Friday Night package to Amazon, but we don’t want to play one or two road games per season on Friday”? That private equity firm will turn around and direct you to walk back and sign that Friday night contract and possibly sue you for breaching fiduciary responsibilities and their investment terms if you don’t. That’s the whole M.O. of private equity where they’re going to wring every single cent of revenue and cut every single possible penny of expense because their reason for existence is to try to generate a return that will exceed what they’d get from just parking that money in a Vanguard S&P 500 Index fund.
This is all coming even for the biggest brands. Adapt or die.
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2026 Football Game Time Speculation/Announcements Thread
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