updated with Week 4 getting 2 games on the list...

tomorrow will be interesting with Ohio St/Penn St and Stanford/Notre Dame going on at the same time. I suspect both will make the top 10....

Ohio St/Penn St #1 game of the year so far.

Stanford/Notre Dame bombed. Only 5th best game of the weekend.....

this upcoming weekend should have some games with real shots to join the list
Texas vs Oklahoma
LSU @ Florida
Notre Dame @ Virginia Tech(basically unopposed on a Saturday night- sure there's Washington/UCLA- like i said- basically unopposed)

(10-04-2018 10:34 AM)stever20 Wrote:  Ohio St/Penn St #1 game of the year so far.

Stanford/Notre Dame bombed. Only 5th best game of the weekend.....

this upcoming weekend should have some games with real shots to join the list
Texas vs Oklahoma
LSU @ Florida
Notre Dame @ Virginia Tech(basically unopposed on a Saturday night- sure there's Washington/UCLA- like i said- basically unopposed)

1 thing I should say with Notre Dame/Virginia Tech tomorrow- while it is pretty much unopposed from a football standpoint, it will be going up against Yankees/Red Sox LDS. In other words, pretty stiff competition.

Intrigued by how badly rated the USC Texas game was. That would have been unthinkable last decade.

(10-04-2018 10:34 AM)stever20 Wrote:  Ohio St/Penn St #1 game of the year so far.

Stanford/Notre Dame bombed. Only 5th best game of the weekend.....

this upcoming weekend should have some games with real shots to join the list
Texas vs Oklahoma
LSU @ Florida
Notre Dame @ Virginia Tech(basically unopposed on a Saturday night- sure there's Washington/UCLA- like i said- basically unopposed)

ND's contract with NBC guarantees that all of their homes games are on national tv. But on the minus side it limits the maximum viewership ND games can get. I don't think the ND games on NBC are going to draw the viewership that late night ESPN games will. Watching a game on NBC simply does not have the same excitement that watching a game on ESPN does. Plus NBC doesn't promote ND games as much as ESPN promotes their games.

(10-05-2018 03:22 PM)Poster Wrote:  ND's contract with NBC guarantees that all of their homes games are on national tv. But on the minus side it limits the maximum viewership ND games can get. I don't think the ND games on NBC are going to draw the viewership that late night ESPN games will. Watching a game on NBC simply does not have the same excitement that watching a game on ESPN does. Plus NBC doesn't promote ND games as much as ESPN promotes their games.

ESPN's promotion of games on ESPN channels is probably worth somewhere between 50 percent more and twice as many viewers, just because NBC and Fox really lag behind in promotion of "their" games.

But, ND's advantages with NBC are that NBC gets at most two night games a year, and the others start at ND's preferred start time, whereas ESPN gets control of start times and can make teams start home games at 11 am or 8 pm if they want. Even better, ND's home start times are set at the start of the season rather than only 6 or 12 days in advance, giving ND's ticket buyers certainty that fans of other teams don't get.

If it means ND gets a little less money from NBC than they could otherwise get, it's no big deal to them, because ND's annual athletic department revenue is more than $130 million.

(10-05-2018 04:00 PM)Wedge Wrote:  

(10-05-2018 03:22 PM)Poster Wrote:  ND's contract with NBC guarantees that all of their homes games are on national tv. But on the minus side it limits the maximum viewership ND games can get. I don't think the ND games on NBC are going to draw the viewership that late night ESPN games will. Watching a game on NBC simply does not have the same excitement that watching a game on ESPN does. Plus NBC doesn't promote ND games as much as ESPN promotes their games.

ESPN's promotion of games on ESPN channels is probably worth somewhere between 50 percent more and twice as many viewers, just because NBC and Fox really lag behind in promotion of "their" games.

But, ND's advantages with NBC are that NBC gets at most two night games a year, and the others start at ND's preferred start time, whereas ESPN gets control of start times and can make teams start home games at 11 am or 8 pm if they want. Even better, ND's home start times are set at the start of the season rather than only 6 or 12 days in advance, giving ND's ticket buyers certainty that fans of other teams don't get.

If it means ND gets a little less money from NBC than they could otherwise get, it's no big deal to them, because ND's annual athletic department revenue is more than $130 million.

The NBC contract was/is important to ND for several reasons:

1) Every home game is nationally televised over the air, and

2) It is the vehicle that helps ND football stay independent.

Looks like Texas-OU and LSU-Florida made it in the top 10. I’ll let Stever update the OP.

updated for week 6.....

This weekend could have-
Georgia/LSU
Wisconsin/Michigan

Another big Big Ten game on ABC. For all the talk about Fox being the home of the Big Ten- it's really far more 50/50 than anyone wants to act like.

Both of those games did make the top 10.....

looking ahead to this weekend-
Michigan/Michigan St noon on Fox probably is the only good shot at a big rating. But it's at noon which might cut back viewership some..

up to 5.5 million viewers to just get on the top 10 now.

Hard to believe Ohio State at Purdue is the ABC Saturday night game.

(10-18-2018 02:15 PM)Hokie4Skins Wrote:  Hard to believe Ohio State at Purdue is the ABC Saturday night game.

this is a bad week schedule wise.

Only game they could possibly have chosen was Clemson/NC State. And hate to say it- but Ohio St/Purdue would draw more there than Clemson/NC State.

(10-18-2018 02:15 PM)Hokie4Skins Wrote:  Hard to believe Ohio State at Purdue is the ABC Saturday night game.

Don’t sleep on Purdue with Jeff Brohm and Rondale Moore (3-3 with 3 losses by 7 points) but I agree not selecting NC State/Clemson for the nightcap was puzzling.

(10-05-2018 03:22 PM)Poster Wrote:  

(10-04-2018 10:34 AM)stever20 Wrote:  Ohio St/Penn St #1 game of the year so far.

Stanford/Notre Dame bombed. Only 5th best game of the weekend.....

this upcoming weekend should have some games with real shots to join the list
Texas vs Oklahoma
LSU @ Florida
Notre Dame @ Virginia Tech(basically unopposed on a Saturday night- sure there's Washington/UCLA- like i said- basically unopposed)

ND's contract with NBC guarantees that all of their homes games are on national tv. But on the minus side it limits the maximum viewership ND games can get. I don't think the ND games on NBC are going to draw the viewership that late night ESPN games will. Watching a game on NBC simply does not have the same excitement that watching a game on ESPN does. Plus NBC doesn't promote ND games as much as ESPN promotes their games.

I agree with you. This is where I think that the American can find a niche with NBC by basically allowing them to create a full day of promotions for Notre Dame by opening with an AAC game and creating an all day platform of pregame conversation and even pre/postgame shows to hype up their premier Notre Dame evening games during the primetime evening windows. Having an entire day of hype and build up for them is always going to be better than just switching over to their games from some infomercials.

(10-18-2018 11:08 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  

(10-18-2018 02:15 PM)Hokie4Skins Wrote:  Hard to believe Ohio State at Purdue is the ABC Saturday night game.

Don’t sleep on Purdue with Jeff Brohm and Rondale Moore (3-3 with 3 losses by 7 points) but I agree not selecting NC State/Clemson for the nightcap was puzzling.

Ohio State is just a bigger name and draw.

(10-19-2018 04:27 AM)Tigersmoke4 Wrote:  

(10-05-2018 03:22 PM)Poster Wrote:  

(10-04-2018 10:34 AM)stever20 Wrote:  Ohio St/Penn St #1 game of the year so far.

Stanford/Notre Dame bombed. Only 5th best game of the weekend.....

this upcoming weekend should have some games with real shots to join the list
Texas vs Oklahoma
LSU @ Florida
Notre Dame @ Virginia Tech(basically unopposed on a Saturday night- sure there's Washington/UCLA- like i said- basically unopposed)

ND's contract with NBC guarantees that all of their homes games are on national tv. But on the minus side it limits the maximum viewership ND games can get. I don't think the ND games on NBC are going to draw the viewership that late night ESPN games will. Watching a game on NBC simply does not have the same excitement that watching a game on ESPN does. Plus NBC doesn't promote ND games as much as ESPN promotes their games.

I agree with you. This is where I think that the American can find a niche with NBC by basically allowing them to create a full day of promotions for Notre Dame by opening with an AAC game and creating an all day platform of pregame conversation and even pre/postgame shows to hype up their premier Notre Dame evening games during the primetime evening windows. Having an entire day of hype and build up for them is always going to be better than just switching over to their games from some infomercials.

ND doesn't really like prime time home games.

The administration doesn't like the extended drinking at tailgates, etc...

Most ND home games are in the afternoon.

ND played Michigan and Stanford at night only because NBC made them.

They much prefer a two thirty p.m. kickoff.

(10-20-2018 07:23 AM)TerryD Wrote:  

(10-19-2018 04:27 AM)Tigersmoke4 Wrote:  

(10-05-2018 03:22 PM)Poster Wrote:  

(10-04-2018 10:34 AM)stever20 Wrote:  Ohio St/Penn St #1 game of the year so far.

Stanford/Notre Dame bombed. Only 5th best game of the weekend.....

this upcoming weekend should have some games with real shots to join the list
Texas vs Oklahoma
LSU @ Florida
Notre Dame @ Virginia Tech(basically unopposed on a Saturday night- sure there's Washington/UCLA- like i said- basically unopposed)

ND's contract with NBC guarantees that all of their homes games are on national tv. But on the minus side it limits the maximum viewership ND games can get. I don't think the ND games on NBC are going to draw the viewership that late night ESPN games will. Watching a game on NBC simply does not have the same excitement that watching a game on ESPN does. Plus NBC doesn't promote ND games as much as ESPN promotes their games.

I agree with you. This is where I think that the American can find a niche with NBC by basically allowing them to create a full day of promotions for Notre Dame by opening with an AAC game and creating an all day platform of pregame conversation and even pre/postgame shows to hype up their premier Notre Dame evening games during the primetime evening windows. Having an entire day of hype and build up for them is always going to be better than just switching over to their games from some infomercials.

ND doesn't really like prime time home games.

The administration doesn't like the extended drinking at tailgates, etc...

Most ND home games are in the afternoon.

ND played Michigan and Stanford at night only because NBC made them.

They much prefer a two thirty p.m. kickoff.

Great. However the premise is the same by having an 11:00 am AAC game to promo the heck out of there upcoming Notre Dame game, that could be followed by a pre/post game in studio show that can go into a complete breakdown and analysis of their upcoming Notre Dame game. Hey that's how the mouse does it.

(10-20-2018 07:23 AM)TerryD Wrote:  

(10-19-2018 04:27 AM)Tigersmoke4 Wrote:  

(10-05-2018 03:22 PM)Poster Wrote:  

(10-04-2018 10:34 AM)stever20 Wrote:  Ohio St/Penn St #1 game of the year so far.

Stanford/Notre Dame bombed. Only 5th best game of the weekend.....

this upcoming weekend should have some games with real shots to join the list
Texas vs Oklahoma
LSU @ Florida
Notre Dame @ Virginia Tech(basically unopposed on a Saturday night- sure there's Washington/UCLA- like i said- basically unopposed)

ND's contract with NBC guarantees that all of their homes games are on national tv. But on the minus side it limits the maximum viewership ND games can get. I don't think the ND games on NBC are going to draw the viewership that late night ESPN games will. Watching a game on NBC simply does not have the same excitement that watching a game on ESPN does. Plus NBC doesn't promote ND games as much as ESPN promotes their games.

I agree with you. This is where I think that the American can find a niche with NBC by basically allowing them to create a full day of promotions for Notre Dame by opening with an AAC game and creating an all day platform of pregame conversation and even pre/postgame shows to hype up their premier Notre Dame evening games during the primetime evening windows. Having an entire day of hype and build up for them is always going to be better than just switching over to their games from some infomercials.

ND doesn't really like prime time home games.

The administration doesn't like the extended drinking at tailgates, etc...

Most ND home games are in the afternoon.

ND played Michigan and Stanford at night only because NBC made them.

They much prefer a two thirty p.m. kickoff.

And FSU will be a 730 pm kickoff as well.... Of the 6 games this year at Notre Dame- 3 will be 730pm kickoffs. Pretty big change from years past IMO. Will be interesting to see if that continues to go forward.

well, Ohio St/Purdue did get a good number 6.292 million..... top game of the weekend. #5 game of the year.....

Big Ten with a really good year this year so far with 5 games on the list. 3 conference games- all 3 on ABC. Yet Fox is paying 50 million more.... They better hope Michigan/Ohio St is huge.....

(10-24-2018 11:32 AM)stever20 Wrote:  Big Ten with a really good year this year so far with 5 games on the list. 3 conference games- all 3 on ABC. Yet Fox is paying 50 million more.... They better hope Michigan/Ohio St is huge.....

Fox is really paying more just for the Big Ten CCG and the right to select Michigan-Ohio State every year. Last season, the Big Ten CCG was the 3rd most watched CFB game before the bowls, and Michigan-Ohio State was 5th, so Fox probably feels they're getting their money's worth for paying extra.

Another TV ratings item from last week might be not good news for conferences hoping for big increases in their next TV deal. ESPN's most watched program last Saturday wasn't a CFB game, it was an NBA game -- in the first week of the NBA season -- that started at 10:30 pm Eastern time.