While few showed up in Detroit to watch the MACC, the TV audience was about 1.7M homes.

This is the 3rd really nice ratings bonanza for ESPN this year with the BSU/CMU and Navy/BSU games all doing very well. BSU/CMU was 1.6M homes also.

These are very big numbers for ESPN2.

Hope this helps when the MAC and ESPN renegotiate the TV deal which I assume will be done in '09 (correct me if I'm wrong).

http://mac-sports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?D...ID=3630921

How many more years is the MAC committed to playing the MACC at Ford Field? I think it's time to re-visit playing at the site of the higher seed. Yeah, I know that the weather can be cruddy, but playing in front of 12K on national TV is really a bummer in that NFL venue. Tulsa hosted the C-USA championship...only had 22K on hand but it looked pretty good on TV and they had a lively atmosphere for the game.

Maybe allowing 2 weeks between the last scheduled game and the MACC would give more time to promote and allow fans to make arrangements to attend. Just a thought.

It does make it difficult to make plans to drive or fly. How much rent do we pay for that one game? Does the MAC lose money on this game? Would you expect 20k plus at a MAC venue.... I am not sure you would have gotten that.

Ball State would have drawn more than 20,000 for the MACC. Nearly 24,000 were in attendance on a bitterly cold Tuesday night for the final game of the season against WMU when students were on Thanksgiving break. A MACC game on a Friday night with school in session would have attracted 25,000 or more, easily.

Arrohead Wrote:Maybe allowing 2 weeks between the last scheduled game and the MACC would give more time to promote and allow fans to make arrangements to attend. Just a thought.

Good suggestion.

The football season has pushed back into Dec (e.g., Dec 5) so it would be possible that one of the bye weeks could the Thanksgiving weekend.

Does the MAC favor that????? OR does the MAC want "Black Friday" as a TV day (even if the crowds are dinky).

The only other thing I can think is that with MULTIPE bowl bids the MAC would like to keep teams playing AS LATE AS POSSIBLE especially as TWO bowl games (GMAC and International) are into January.

The Big Ten was hurt by finishing their season in mid-November while the SEC teams played on two weeks later.

emu steve Wrote:

Arrohead Wrote:Maybe allowing 2 weeks between the last scheduled game and the MACC would give more time to promote and allow fans to make arrangements to attend. Just a thought.

Good suggestion.



The football season has pushed back into Dec (e.g., Dec 5) so it would be possible that one of the bye weeks could the Thanksgiving weekend.

Does the MAC favor that????? OR does the MAC want "Black Friday" as a TV day (even if the crowds are dinky).

The only other thing I can think is that with MULTIPE bowl bids the MAC would like to keep teams playing AS LATE AS POSSIBLE especially as TWO bowl games (GMAC and International) are into January.

The Big Ten was hurt by finishing their season in mid-November while the SEC teams played on two weeks later.

At least 2 of the top MAC teams would be playing late in the MACC game. CMU, UB, BSU, WMU, & NIU all lost in the last week of the schedule or MACC game.

1.7 million homes nationwide tuned into a game hardly anybody involved with went to see in person? I find that number a bit high.

Polish Hammer Wrote:1.7 million homes nationwide tuned into a game hardly anybody involved with went to see in person? I find that number a bit high.

Not a Nielsen expert, but I think they figure every viewer watching =50K. It's impossible to know the true number, factor in people that leave the TV and aren't watching, and a group of guys watching at a bar on a single set.

But regardless of how accurate is, these numbers are how the networks set ad revenue. So even if only 100 people were really watching, they will charge as if 1.7 million were. That means the MAC might have more pull in its next TV contract, meaning more $$$.

Arrohead Wrote:Maybe allowing 2 weeks between the last scheduled game and the MACC would give more time to promote and allow fans to make arrangements to attend. Just a thought.

Two weeks is too much. How about moving it 1 day...to a Saturday. And as far as making arrangements to attend, I have already made mine. I will be in Detroit in December 2009 to watch CMU play someone from MAC East.

Just curious, does anybody have TV ratings from the other conference championships?

thanksjim Wrote:Just curious, does anybody have TV ratings from the other conference championships?

ACC
Virginia Tech's win over Boston College drew a 2.9 overnight rating on ABC Saturday afternoon, down 31% from a 4.2 for last year's title game involving the same two teams, and the lowest rating ever in the young history of the ACC Championship Game.
ACC Championship Ratings

SEC
CBS Sports national coverage of the SEC Championship game between Florida and Alabama on Saturday, Dec. 6 (4-7:30 p.m., ET), which earned an overnight metered market rating/share of 10.4/21, was up +73% from last year's 6.0/12 for the SEC Championship featuring LSU and Tennessee.
SEC Championship Ratings

Big XII
Oklahoma's blowout victory over Missouri, which helped the Sooners clinch a spot in the championship game, drew a 5.9 overnight rating on ABC Saturday night, down 19% from a 7.3 for the same match-up in the title game a year ago.
Big XII Championship Game Ratings

haven't seen any numbers on the C-USA Championship Game

ucbearcat4ever Wrote:

thanksjim Wrote:Just curious, does anybody have TV ratings from the other conference championships?

ACC
Virginia Tech's win over Boston College drew a 2.9 overnight rating on ABC Saturday afternoon, down 31% from a 4.2 for last year's title game involving the same two teams, and the lowest rating ever in the young history of the ACC Championship Game.
ACC Championship Ratings

SEC
CBS Sports national coverage of the SEC Championship game between Florida and Alabama on Saturday, Dec. 6 (4-7:30 p.m., ET), which earned an overnight metered market rating/share of 10.4/21, was up +73% from last year's 6.0/12 for the SEC Championship featuring LSU and Tennessee.
SEC Championship Ratings

Big XII
Oklahoma's blowout victory over Missouri, which helped the Sooners clinch a spot in the championship game, drew a 5.9 overnight rating on ABC Saturday night, down 19% from a 7.3 for the same match-up in the title game a year ago.
Big XII Championship Game Ratings

haven't seen any numbers on the C-USA Championship Game

I wonder what numbers our championship game would have gotten if it was on ABC. Everyone gets that channel who has a TV, unlike ESPN.

There aren't many people that don't have cable anymore.

The fact that the MAC continues to get higher ratings is a plus for future TV contracts. I still do not understand why Fox Sports Ohio and/or SportsTime Ohio do not get a decent TV deal going to televise more Ohip MAC teams games considering they makeup nearly half of the MAC.

OZoner Wrote:There aren't many people that don't have cable anymore.

Agreed. It is almost 2009. If 75% of Americans have steady Internet access then I would think well over 90% have cable or satellite.

I don't know for sure.. but dont think the Mac has any one playing on the other channels.. so that # may be a bit skewed.. CUSA was playing same time as a couple of other games.. as were some of the other champ games.

goodknightfl Wrote:I don't know for sure.. but dont think the Mac has any one playing on the other channels.. so that # may be a bit skewed.. CUSA was playing same time as a couple of other games.. as were some of the other champ games.

Exactly.

The MAC previously had their MACC on Thursday which was GREAT for ESPN (it filled a hole in their programming).

Akron/NIU drew flies to the MACC and it was believed that fans would not drive LONG distances during the week. (makes sense).

MAC/ESPN assumed Friday would be better for fans, and it would be the ONLY FB game on.

So what happens?

Fans still do not drive 5 or 10 hours for the game (that's bad) BUT fans stay home and watch it on TV (that's good).

Quite frankly, in the area of TV, sports leagues and teams are more interested in TV then some folks staying home because of bad weather, etc.

I maintain and still maintain that the MAC (and ESPN) are willing to see smaller crowds if it means more television and better ratings (or why else would we have mid-week games in the middle of November?).

Yes, the MACC could be played at 1:00pm on a Saturday and the crowd would be larger and the television audience would be down dramatically.

I still maintain that all of the national TV is helping good MAC teams recruit the South much, much better then in the 90s (when we had little TV).

emu steve Wrote:

goodknightfl Wrote:I don't know for sure.. but dont think the Mac has any one playing on the other channels.. so that # may be a bit skewed.. CUSA was playing same time as a couple of other games.. as were some of the other champ games.

Exactly.

The MAC previously had their MACC on Thursday which was GREAT for ESPN (it filled a hole in their programming).

Akron/NIU drew flies to the MACC and it was believed that fans would not drive LONG distances during the week. (makes sense).

MAC/ESPN assumed Friday would be better for fans, and it would be the ONLY FB game on.

So what happens?

Fans still do not drive 5 or 10 hours for the game (that's bad) BUT fans stay home and watch it on TV (that's good).

Quite frankly, in the area of TV, sports leagues and teams are more interested in TV then some folks staying home because of bad weather, etc.

I maintain and still maintain that the MAC (and ESPN) are willing to see smaller crowds if it means more television and better ratings (or why else would we have mid-week games in the middle of November?).

Yes, the MACC could be played at 1:00pm on a Saturday and the crowd would be larger and the television audience would be down dramatically.

I still maintain that all of the national TV is helping good MAC teams recruit the South much, much better then in the 90s (when we had little TV).

The game was during finals week at NIU. I had a final at 5 pm that day so there was no way i could make it to the MACC. The same could be said for many other NIU students. The MAC needs to tell ESPN to put the game on Saturday so we can get better attendances.

epasnoopy Wrote:The game was during finals week at NIU. I had a final at 5 pm that day so there was no way i could make it to the MACC. The same could be said for many other NIU students. The MAC needs to tell ESPN to put the game on Saturday so we can get better attendances.

I hope that was one reason for moving the game to Friday evening.