Thread for announcements and speculation about locations for College Gameday and FOX Big Noon Kickoff (in most cases the "Big Nooner") as well as guest pickers for College Gameday. I have a separate thread for signs: https://csnbbs.com/thread-976401.html

College Gameday:
Sept. 2: South Carolina vs North Carolina at Charlotte
Sept. 9: Texas at Alabama, Tuscaloosa
Sept. 16: Colorado State at Colorado, Boulder

Big Noon Saturday:
Sept. 2: Colorado at TCU, Fort Worth
Sept. 9: Nebraska at Colorado, Boulder
Sept. 16: Colorado State at Colorado, Boulder (Not FOX Game)

Gameday for this week?

Official Big Nooners:
Sept. 16: Penn State at Illinois (Big Noon Kickoff coming to Champaign???)
Nov. 11: Michigan at Penn State (I'd have to believe they are coming to Happy Valley)
Nov. 25: Ohio State at Michigan (One or both of the schools would have to lose at least three or four games before FOX would even consider not going to Ann Arbor for this game).

According to Brett McMurphy (https://twitter.com/Brett_McMurphy/statu...2168524800)
Sept. 23: Oklahoma at Cincinnati
Sept. 30: Michigan at Nebraska
Oct. 14: Ohio State at Purdue

Also according to McMurphy, games likely NOT "Big Nooners" (NBC Saturday Night Games) (https://twitter.com/Brett_McMurphy/statu...7237438477)

Sept 23 Maryland at Mich St 3:30 pm
Sept 30 Illinois at Purdue 7:30 pm
Oct 7 Purdue at Iowa 7:30 pm
Oct 14 Iowa at Wisconsin 3:30 pm
Oct 21 Minnesota at Iowa 3:30 pm
Oct 21 Michigan at Mich St 7:30 pm
Oct 28 Ohio St at Wisconsin 7:30 pm
Nov 4 Purdue at Michigan 7:30 pm
Nov 11 Maryland at Nebraska 3:30 pm
Nov 11 Mich St at Ohio St 7:30 pm (Official)
Nov. 18 Nebraska at Wisconsin 7:30 pm
Nov 24 Penn St vs Mich St (Ford Field) 7:30 pm (Official)

Strong possibility:
Oct. 21: Penn State at Ohio State (Assuming UM-MSU is on NBC)

(09-07-2023 06:44 PM)schmolik Wrote:  Official Big Nooners:
Sept. 16: Penn State at Illinois (Big Noon Kickoff coming to Champaign???)
Nov. 11: Michigan at Penn State (I'd have to believe they are coming to Happy Valley)
Nov. 25: Ohio State at Michigan (One or both of the schools would have to lose at least three or four games before FOX would even consider not going to Ann Arbor for this game).

According to Brett McMurphy (https://twitter.com/Brett_McMurphy/statu...2168524800)
Sept. 23: Oklahoma at Cincinnati
Sept. 30: Michigan at Nebraska
Oct. 14: Ohio State at Purdue

Also according to McMurphy, games likely NOT "Big Nooners" (NBC Saturday Night Games) (https://twitter.com/Brett_McMurphy/statu...7237438477)

Sept 23 Maryland at Mich St 3:30 pm
Sept 30 Illinois at Purdue 7:30 pm
Oct 7 Purdue at Iowa 7:30 pm
Oct 14 Iowa at Wisconsin 3:30 pm
Oct 21 Minnesota at Iowa 3:30 pm
Oct 21 Michigan at Mich St 7:30 pm
Oct 28 Ohio St at Wisconsin 7:30 pm
Nov 4 Purdue at Michigan 7:30 pm
Nov 11 Maryland at Nebraska 3:30 pm
Nov 11 Mich St at Ohio St 7:30 pm (Official)
Nov. 18 Nebraska at Wisconsin 7:30 pm
Nov 24 Penn St vs Mich St (Ford Field) 7:30 pm (Official)

Strong possibility:
Oct. 21: Penn State at Ohio State (Assuming UM-MSU is on NBC)

Oct. 7 is Texas-Oklahoma and there's a 50-50 chance FOX has that game.

ABC game this season

Thank you for the tip Glenn360.

Gameday:

Sept. 16: Pitt-WV (Backyard Brawl) is the SNF game on ABC but West Virginia lost to Penn State. Tenn-UF is the ESPN Saturday Night game but Florida lost to Utah. Colorado hosts Colorado State in the late night ESPN game. Deion is obviously a huge story after their big win and FOX got huge ratings but CSU is not exactly the biggest opponent and Colorado hosts USC on Sept. 30 in an obvious Gameday game. Duke also had a huge win over Clemson. They host Northwestern, also not the most attractive opponent. But Colorado and Duke are big stories after Week 1 and there aren't that many other big games available. Gameday last visited Boulder on September 14, 1996! Gameday has NEVER been to Duke, in fact Duke has never been the road team for a Gameday game! Duke travels to Florida State but hosts Notre Dame this year.

Sept. 23: Florida State at Clemson would have been the obvious choice before Duke beat them. Ohio State at Notre Dame is on NBC but it's featuring two coaches poll top 10 teams, ESPN would find it hard to justify passing on it. Clemson would really have to convince us they rebounded the next two weeks to justify ESPN going to Clemson over South Bend.

Sept. 30: USC at Colorado and Notre Dame at Duke are this week. Assuming Gameday goes to either Boulder or Durham on Sept. 16, the other city likely becomes the favorite on Sept. 30. I don't know whether ABC, ESPN, or FOX has USC at Colorado but ESPN likely knows and if USC-Colorado is on FOX they might decide to go to Colorado on Sept. 16 when ESPN has the game while if ABC/ESPN has it they can wait until Sept. 30. Also, Colorado travels to Oregon Sept. 23 and they have a decent chance of losing that week, Duke travels to UConn, they have a better chance of winning. Notre Dame hosts Ohio State and while they have a good chance of winning they also have a good chance of losing.

Oct. 7: The Red River Rivalry is always a popular Gameday location. Florida State is expected to have a big season and they don't have many big home games, Virginia Tech on this day could be as good a chance as Gameday will get to visit Tallahassee. Texas A&M has to get past this Saturday's road trip to Miami as well as a game vs. Arkansas in Arlington but if they're undefeated vs. Alabama then Gameday will go to College Station even if CBS gets the game.

Oct. 14: Oregon at Washington looks to be in the lead now. If Syracuse is still good, this is another opportunity to go to Florida State.

Oct. 21: Tennessee at Alabama and Penn State at Ohio State. Neither game will likely be on ABC but last year Gameday chose Ala-Tenn over Penn State at Michigan and they no longer have the rights to the Big Ten while they do have the rights to the SEC. Gameday of course will be in Tuscaloosa this Saturday so that might swing them going to Columbus.

Oct. 28: Utah is the reigning Pac 12 champ and they host Oregon and they will play for the last time in Pac 12 play. Utah plays at USC the previous week so there's a good chance they will be coming off a loss but it's still a fairly big matchup. Keep an eye on Wisconsin if they are undefeated or close to undefeated as they host Ohio State.

Nov. 4: Staying in the Pac 12 is Washington-USC although this matchup will continue in the Big 10. LSU at Alabama is also this week but it would be at least a second and possibly a third trip to Tuscaloosa this season. The last Bedlam game in Stillwater is this week and that could be a possibility if both Oklahoma teams are good.

Nov. 11: Michigan at Penn State is the obvious choice now. If ESPN is looking for an ESPN/ABC game instead, here's one that would be surprising, Duke at North Carolina! There's also a few Pac 12 games, USC at Oregon and Utah at Washington. Florida State host Miami if Miami is still good this week.

Nov. 18: Seems like they are saving this week for Georgia at Tennessee. Gameday was last at Oregon State (Corvallis) in 2010. Oregon State is ranked this year. The best home game for Oregon State is likely this week vs. Washington (the only other ranked team they host is Utah and it's a Friday night game).

Nov. 25: Likely Ohio State at Michigan, Ann Arbor. Hopefully my Penn State will beat one or both but if not you could see 11-0 vs. 11-0.

I expect them to hit Boulder and there's a good chance they go to Durham for the first time. I don't think Boulder will be the only Pac 12 school Gameday will travel to, they did go 13-0 last week and there could be some big games that might meet for the last time. I also think Tallahassee is a strong possibility, the question is which game?

Big Turd?

FOX's Big Noon Kickoff Show will broadcast from Boulder next week even though Colorado State at Colorado will air on ESPN next week. Gus Johnson announced this during the Colorado game. I believe it's the first time FOX has broadcast from a non FOX game location.

https://www.thechampaignroom.com/2023/9/...aa-big-ten

Gameday will also broadcast from Boulder next Saturday.

I would now put Durham in the lead for Gameday on Sept. 30, especially if Notre Dame beats Ohio State.

No chance of North Dakota State @ South Dakota State in November for ESPN Gameday? Both teams could be undefeated in an FCS Championship rematch.

(09-07-2023 08:13 PM)CardinalJim Wrote:  Big Turd?

Currently watching NBC and they have the announcers sitting further apart, lol. I'm curios to see if they stay this way to avoid the "Turd".

(09-09-2023 05:54 PM)AuzGrams Wrote:  No chance of North Dakota State @ South Dakota State in November for ESPN Gameday? Both teams could be undefeated in an FCS Championship rematch.

On one hand, they have done the game before (2019). On the other hand, they have done the game before, and at South Dakota State. Had North Dakota State hosted, I would give them a better chance. November 4 doesn't have as big games now. If LSU loses a few games before Tuscaloosa, the Pac 12 beats themselves up, and Oklahoma and Oklahoma State aren't as good by then, it could happen. It is the last Bedlam with the two in the Big 12 and there is no guarantee now the teams will play each other beyond this season, that might convince them to go to Stillwater.

(09-09-2023 06:28 PM)cubucks Wrote:  

(09-07-2023 08:13 PM)CardinalJim Wrote:  Big Turd?

Currently watching NBC and they have the announcers sitting further apart, lol. I'm curios to see if they stay this way to avoid the "Turd".

I would expect them to be doing that on purpose. Much easier to do that than change a graphic.

Champaign Urbana's perspective on the decision for FOX's pregame to not go to Illinois Saturday:
https://www.news-gazette.com/news/fox-ca...31b3b.html

"Fox’s top announcing team — Gus Johnson and Joel Klatt — will still make the trip to Champaign for the network’s national broadcast of Saturday’s Illinois-Penn State Big Ten opener at 11 a.m.

But the pregame show crew of host Rob Stone and panelists Urban Meyer, Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart won’t accompany them, sticking with what Klatt on Saturday called the “biggest story” in sports — “Coach Prime” and the unbeaten Buffaloes.

Illinois had promoted the network’s planned appearance since early August, calling on fans to flood Grange Grove for the two-hour show’s inaugural visit leading up to the “Orange Out” game against Penn State.

Since debuting in 2019, the show has been to 10 Big Ten campuses — Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue and Wisconsin — but never to Illinois."

As an Illinois alum, I am disappointed in FOX Big Noon Kickoff not going to Illinois. I was looking forward to the publicity and the spotlight in addition to being the "Big Nooner" (supposedly Gus Johnson is still scheduled to call the game at this time). From a business standpoint, I do understand that if Illinois is not performing that FOX needs to do what's best for them although I remember Indiana sucked last year and still hosted them, why did FOX not pull Gameday from them? And if FOX wanted to screw Illinois, why not go to one of their other games to draw an audience to their games rather than to a place they were just at and to a game that's going to air on ESPN? FOX's other games this upcoming Saturday will be hosted by Ohio State and Houston. Ohio State is hosting Western Kentucky and OSU almost certainly will get another "Big Nooner". Houston likely has never hosted a FOX game before, it is Houston's first Big 12 conference game and it is vs. TCU, a former SWC opponent. If Big Noon Kickoff goes there, can you imagine how big that will be for the school? Next Saturday's another prime time games are Pittsburgh-West Virginia on ABC, Syracuse-Purdue on NBC, and Tennessee-Florida on ESPN. Why not give TCU-Houston a push to help their ratings?

Did FOX not know Gameday is going to Boulder this week? The fact that Gameday is going to Boulder makes this decision look really stupid. With all respect to FOX, Gameday is the bigger show, if you are Colorado and FOX was just there last week and ESPN hasn't been to Colorado since 1996, are you going to show up to Gameday or FOX? Don't forget the game will be on ESPN. At least when Gameday and FOX both broadcast from Michigan-Ohio State, FOX can say the game airs on FOX.

I've said it doesn't have to make sense if it makes CENTS. This move doesn't make cents either. You take away from Illinois and you're not helping Colorado either, they're all on the Gameday bandwagon this week. You might have hurt Penn State-Illinois's ratings. If anyone actually watches FOX's pregame and sees two hours from Boulder, they'd have less reason to stick around for PSU-Illinois than if it aired from Illinois. Yes, Gameday does originate from non ESPN or ABC locations too but they are a bigger franchise at the time and can afford to. FOX's pregame is called "Big Noon" Kickoff, it is meant to plug their noon games. If they want to just be a regular pregame show, fans will just watch Gameday instead. But Big Noon Kickoff originated from TEN (out of 14) Big 10 schools since its inception. I guarantee College Gameday hasn't. It's probably been to Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State far more often than Gameday has since it started. If FOX just wants to be a Gameday ripoff, it's going to be done in a few years. It needs to have a specific audience. Obviously I want FOX to promote the Big Ten but if they want to form a relationship with a few Big 12 schools and it helps them, they should do it. The one thing FOX shouldn't be doing now? Promoting ESPN. ESPN can promote FOX because they're still so far ahead and not going to Ohio State-Michigan isn't going to stop fans from watching it. You can't say that about Colorado State-Colorado.

(09-11-2023 06:09 AM)schmolik Wrote:  Champaign Urbana's perspective on the decision for FOX's pregame to not go to Illinois Saturday:
https://www.news-gazette.com/news/fox-ca...31b3b.html

"Fox’s top announcing team — Gus Johnson and Joel Klatt — will still make the trip to Champaign for the network’s national broadcast of Saturday’s Illinois-Penn State Big Ten opener at 11 a.m.

But the pregame show crew of host Rob Stone and panelists Urban Meyer, Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart won’t accompany them, sticking with what Klatt on Saturday called the “biggest story” in sports — “Coach Prime” and the unbeaten Buffaloes.

Illinois had promoted the network’s planned appearance since early August, calling on fans to flood Grange Grove for the two-hour show’s inaugural visit leading up to the “Orange Out” game against Penn State.

Since debuting in 2019, the show has been to 10 Big Ten campuses — Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue and Wisconsin — but never to Illinois."

As an Illinois alum, I am disappointed in FOX Big Noon Kickoff not going to Illinois. I was looking forward to the publicity and the spotlight in addition to being the "Big Nooner" (supposedly Gus Johnson is still scheduled to call the game at this time). From a business standpoint, I do understand that if Illinois is not performing that FOX needs to do what's best for them although I remember Indiana sucked last year and still hosted them, why did FOX not pull Gameday from them? And if FOX wanted to screw Illinois, why not go to one of their other games to draw an audience to their games rather than to a place they were just at and to a game that's going to air on ESPN? FOX's other games this upcoming Saturday will be hosted by Ohio State and Houston. Ohio State is hosting Western Kentucky and OSU almost certainly will get another "Big Nooner". Houston likely has never hosted a FOX game before, it is Houston's first Big 12 conference game and it is vs. TCU, a former SWC opponent. If Big Noon Kickoff goes there, can you imagine how big that will be for the school? Next Saturday's another prime time games are Pittsburgh-West Virginia on ABC, Syracuse-Purdue on NBC, and Tennessee-Florida on ESPN. Why not give TCU-Houston a push to help their ratings?

Did FOX not know Gameday is going to Boulder this week? The fact that Gameday is going to Boulder makes this decision look really stupid. With all respect to FOX, Gameday is the bigger show, if you are Colorado and FOX was just there last week and ESPN hasn't been to Colorado since 1996, are you going to show up to Gameday or FOX? Don't forget the game will be on ESPN. At least when Gameday and FOX both broadcast from Michigan-Ohio State, FOX can say the game airs on FOX.

I've said it doesn't have to make sense if it makes CENTS. This move doesn't make cents either. You take away from Illinois and you're not helping Colorado either, they're all on the Gameday bandwagon this week. You might have hurt Penn State-Illinois's ratings. If anyone actually watches FOX's pregame and sees two hours from Boulder, they'd have less reason to stick around for PSU-Illinois than if it aired from Illinois. Yes, Gameday does originate from non ESPN or ABC locations too but they are a bigger franchise at the time and can afford to. FOX's pregame is called "Big Noon" Kickoff, it is meant to plug their noon games. If they want to just be a regular pregame show, fans will just watch Gameday instead. But Big Noon Kickoff originated from TEN (out of 14) Big 10 schools since its inception. I guarantee College Gameday hasn't. It's probably been to Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State far more often than Gameday has since it started. If FOX just wants to be a Gameday ripoff, it's going to be done in a few years. It needs to have a specific audience. Obviously I want FOX to promote the Big Ten but if they want to form a relationship with a few Big 12 schools and it helps them, they should do it. The one thing FOX shouldn't be doing now? Promoting ESPN. ESPN can promote FOX because they're still so far ahead and not going to Ohio State-Michigan isn't going to stop fans from watching it. You can't say that about Colorado State-Colorado.

On this point, this is a weird misperception that a lot of Big Ten fans have (and I’m a Big Ten fan).

GameDay has been to 11 Big Ten campuses - the only ones that they haven’t been to are Illinois, Rutgers and Maryland. Ohio State has hosted the most GameDay appearances and it’s not particularly close: they’ve hosted 22 times, Alabama is at #2 at 17, and then no one else has more than 13. Michigan is in the top 5 having hosted 12 times. The Ohio State-Penn State game is tied with Alabama-LSU for the most common GameDay matchup at 11 times. GameDay is actually quite fair in going to wherever is legitimately looking like the major story of the week in college football regardless of what network the game is on. (It’s also a strategy for ESPN to get the residual and marketing halo of the biggest game that is on a competing network - e.g. stories all week will talk about ESPN GameDay coming to down even though the game is on Fox/CBS/NBC.)

In any event, as an Illinois alum, I’m also personally miffed that Fox stiffed us (as it appears that this is the first time Fox has ever decided to go to the site of an ESPN game and it happens to cancel a pre-planned trip to Champaign), but from a business perspective, I get it. Deion Sanders is the biggest story in college football right now. We have one of the most fairweather football fan bases in the P4 at Illinois and the escape against Toledo along with a really poor game at Kansas means that it’s not going to be a really festive crowd. We’re not going to get ANY benefit of the doubt from the TV networks. Our team has to show that it’s worthy to our fans before we can expect national TV networks to care about us. Couple that with the enigma of Deion Sanders and this is what happens. The only ones complaining about this Big Noon Kickoff move are Illinois fans like us. No one else cares - they just want more Deion.

(09-07-2023 06:16 PM)schmolik Wrote:  Big Noon Saturday:
Sept. 2: Colorado at TCU, Fort Worth
Sept. 9: Nebraska at Colorado, Boulder
Sept. 16: Colorado State at Colorado, Boulder (Not FOX Game)

Would it be cynical to suggest FOX is making a concerted effort to "show support" for the Pac-12 this fall?

Or is this simply quid pro quo for CU getting the realignment dominoes falling two months ago?

(09-11-2023 07:12 AM)PeteTheChop Wrote:  

(09-07-2023 06:16 PM)schmolik Wrote:  Big Noon Saturday:
Sept. 2: Colorado at TCU, Fort Worth
Sept. 9: Nebraska at Colorado, Boulder
Sept. 16: Colorado State at Colorado, Boulder (Not FOX Game)

Would it be cynical to suggest FOX is making a concerted effort to "show support" for the Pac-12 this fall?

Or is this simply quid pro quo for CU getting the realignment dominoes falling two months ago?

We don’t need any conspiracy theories here.

This is about Deion, Deion, Deion.

He’s a megastar and the biggest story in the sport.

The largest potential source of growth for college football viewers is from NFL fans that don’t currently watch college football and they all know Deion. Every network wants to ride that train in any way possible.

When I said Gameday hasn't gone to Big 10 campuses, I meant since FOX Big Noon Kickoff has started.

In this article (https://www.offtackleempire.com/2023/9/1...illinois), Gameday hasn't been to Purdue since 2004 and Iowa (Iowa!) since 2006 (source: Wikipedia). Purdue I can understand but Iowa? Penn State-Iowa recently was a pretty big game I recall, where was Gameday? That's the key with FOX, they've gone to games ESPN doesn't go to.

You can say this is about Deion. Let's go with that premise. What's next? Should FOX Big Noon Saturday start going to the "Game of the Week" every week in the future? Should they go to SEC games? If they do that, what separates FOX's pregame show from College Gameday? If both ESPN and FOX go to the same "Game of the Week" every week, most weeks ESPN will draw the bigger crowd. The way FOX can build an audience in general is to go to locations ESPN isn't and to highlight games ESPN isn't. The best thing they can do is highlight THEIR games. ESPN does highlight other networks' games but they are usually big games. Deion is a big story but Colorado State-Colorado is a rather poor game. FOX going there only helps ESPN. By contrast, if ESPN goes to Ohio State-Michigan for Gameday, are they really helping FOX? People are going to watch that game whether Gameday is there or not. That's the case for 95% of the non ESPN/ABC games Gameday goes to. If FOX goes to Tennesse/Alabama this year, they're probably not going to drastically increase their viewership, fans will likely watch that game anyway. But Colorado State-Colorado is not a game that will likely have many viewers, especially at 10pm ET. Any publicity it gets helps ESPN and FOX can't be helping them. If ESPN went to Houston this week, that would be just as stupid. People would be more likely to watch FOX then. Most people won't even know TCU-Houston is on FOX otherwise or that they're even playing.

I get going to biggest game, but still feels odd. They have already been to two Colorado games, this one is against Colorado State, and on a rival network. That is a lot of strikes against.

Ratings must have been really good last few weeks. Maybe they were in particular in Colorado and they are trying to permently get those fans on Big Noon over Gamedday.

(09-11-2023 07:41 AM)schmolik Wrote:  When I said Gameday hasn't gone to Big 10 campuses, I meant since FOX Big Noon Kickoff has started.

In this article (https://www.offtackleempire.com/2023/9/1...illinois), Gameday hasn't been to Purdue since 2004 and Iowa (Iowa!) since 2006 (source: Wikipedia). Purdue I can understand but Iowa? Penn State-Iowa recently was a pretty big game I recall, where was Gameday? That's the key with FOX, they've gone to games ESPN doesn't go to.

You can say this is about Deion. Let's go with that premise. What's next? Should FOX Big Noon Saturday start going to the "Game of the Week" every week in the future? Should they go to SEC games? If they do that, what separates FOX's pregame show from College Gameday? If both ESPN and FOX go to the same "Game of the Week" every week, most weeks ESPN will draw the bigger crowd. The way FOX can build an audience in general is to go to locations ESPN isn't and to highlight games ESPN isn't. The best thing they can do is highlight THEIR games. ESPN does highlight other networks' games but they are usually big games. Deion is a big story but Colorado State-Colorado is a rather poor game. FOX going there only helps ESPN. By contrast, if ESPN goes to Ohio State-Michigan for Gameday, are they really helping FOX? People are going to watch that game whether Gameday is there or not. That's the case for 95% of the non ESPN/ABC games Gameday goes to. If FOX goes to Tennesse/Alabama this year, they're probably not going to drastically increase their viewership, fans will likely watch that game anyway. But Colorado State-Colorado is not a game that will likely have many viewers, especially at 10pm ET. Any publicity it gets helps ESPN and FOX can't be helping them. If ESPN went to Houston this week, that would be just as stupid. People would be more likely to watch FOX then. Most people won't even know TCU-Houston is on FOX otherwise or that they're even playing.

I think there are three things:

(1) At a short-term level, the Deion hype is at a fever pitch. It’s not often that you get an enigma story like this in sports - think of that month where Jeremy Lin was taking over games for Knicks. Networks ride it while they can because who knows when the story flames out.

(2) At a long-term level, Fox has the most to gain if Colorado *isn’t* just a flash in the pan and, instead, turns into a dependable anchor/marquee program. I guess this is actually sounding like the PeteTheChop conspiracy take, but starting next season, Fox is losing access to Texas and Oklahoma, who had been anchoring their Big 12 coverage since inception. While a better CU program also helps the ESPN Big 12 package, it’s not as impactful since ESPN has so many other brands in the SEC and ACC to showcase and they have a lot of flexibility in time slots. In contrast, Fox needs someone to anchor the new Big 12 week-to-week much more badly in a locked-in late afternoon time slot and Colorado with Deion is rising just in time. Essentially, Fox really wants (and even needs) Colorado to be the anchor for any non-Big Ten game on their schedule.

(3) At a macro-level, the American pop culture consumer is, for better or worse, a lot *less* eclectic than a lot of people wish. Spotify data shows that we disproportionately listen to the same handful of songs by the same handful of artists over and over again. Box office receipts show that we watch the same franchises over and over again and, even to the extent something is a “new” hit, it’s often based on familiar IP (see Barbie). Colorado is honestly a perfect Barbie-type example of the latter - an old name brand that brought in a huge superstar (Deion) with a specific alchemy of flair that has turned into a phenomenon. And what happens when there’s a new phenomenon? We get super-served it - we get news stories over and over and over again about the phenomenon until it finally dies down.

The Deion story isn’t close to dying down yet, so it’s no surprise that Fox is doubling down. All of those people watching the opening NFL games on Fox who may not have even been aware that Fox has a college football pregame show are going to be waaaaay more piqued by promos about following Deion (a legend among NFL fans) than a promo about going to Champaign (as much as I love the place). As I think about it more now, this last part is even more important - the first NFL Sunday is when Fox and other networks get the widest promotional value for their other programs and it’s simply a much more compelling sale to that audience to say that they’re following Deion next Saturday.

I also wonder if this is an attempt by Fox to maybe start to broaden Big Noon to more of a College Football show similar to GameDay and not just as the Big Ten Pregame Show.

(09-11-2023 10:35 AM)stever20 Wrote:  I also wonder if this is an attempt by Fox to maybe start to broaden Big Noon to more of a College Football show similar to GameDay and not just as the Big Ten Pregame Show.

They do this and the show is over. Gameday will eat it for lunch.