CFB - Does it Get the TV Coverage Shaft?

Creed

Creed

Special Teams Player
I think I read somewhere CFB is the second most popular sport but it seems headlines in newspapers, ESPN (TV, online, radio) and other media sources only give it moderate attention.

CFB pretty much goes head to head with the NFL all season. Sunday sportscenter on ESPN is dominated by NFL pregame and MLB highlights with a little attention to CFB.

Early season, you have US Open coverage and MLB races. Midseason, you have MLB playoffs/world series and maybe just b/c the area I live in tremendous amount of coverage for that stupid Bball midnight madness.

Late season, you have CBB, NBA and NHL starting up. It seems the CFB season is just too short and is overlapped by too many other sporting events. CBB last forever and really has no real overlapping sporting events except a handful of NFL playoffs and super bowl.

 
Creed said:
I think I read somewhere CFB is the second most popular sport but it seems headlines in newspapers, ESPN (TV, online, radio) and other media sources only give it moderate attention.

CFB pretty much goes head to head with the NFL all season. Sunday sportscenter on ESPN is dominated by NFL pregame and MLB highlights with a little attention to CFB.

Early season, you have US Open coverage and MLB races. Midseason, you have MLB playoffs/world series and maybe just b/c the area I live in tremendous amount of coverage for that stupid Bball midnight madness.

Late season, you have CBB, NBA and NHL starting up. It seems the CFB season is just too short and is overlapped by too many other sporting events. CBB last forever and really has no real overlapping sporting events except a handful of NFL playoffs and super bowl.
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It's quite simple:

MONEY!

There is a lot more money to be had by TV stations to talk about NFL, NBA, and MLB.

 
It also involves saturation.

CFB might generate even GREATER ratings, overall, than the NFL. That is, if you combines audiences across all games and compared the two.

However, NFL has a few dozen teams, which equates to more money with less effort. Higher return on investment, so to speak.

 
Most of the big markets in the US don't care about college football - particularly the Bos-Wash corridor area. And most of the major markets have NFL teams (Not LA but that's a different story). TV has to get the viewership of the major markets to drive ratings, and how do you do that? By spending the majority of your time on the most popular sports leagues in those cities. Think about Miami, New York, Boston, LA, Chicago, Dallas...what do people watch there? NFL and NBA. So ESPN spends 90% of their time on the NFL and NBA. The major markets as a whole couldn't give two sh#ts about college football.

Where are the biggest college football teams found? Baton Rouge. Tuscaloosa. Ann Arbor. Lincoln. Norman. Gainesville. On and on. The craziest and most interested fanbases are often found in rural states or in small outlying cities even if the state does have a major city. I do agree with you though, the coverage is not proportional to the interest. The sports with the largest demand, even if the margin isn't all that much, overwhelmingly dominate the national TV airwaves.

 
Last Saturday there were about 6 close college football games on at the same time.

The next day I was stuck watching 2 NFL blowouts.

NFL kind of gets the TV shaft where it matters. The actual games.

 
The Dude said:
Last Saturday there were about 6 close college football games on at the same time.

The next day I was stuck watching 2 NFL blowouts.

NFL kind of gets the TV shaft where it matters. The actual games.
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That's why I'm glad I have Sunday Ticket. :D

 
The Dude said:
Last Saturday there were about 6 close college football games on at the same time.

The next day I was stuck watching 2 NFL blowouts.

NFL kind of gets the TV shaft where it matters. The actual games.
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I hear ya. I just usually watch Red Zone on Sundays because we ALWAYS get the Donkey games.

 
GSG5545 said:
The Dude said:
Last Saturday there were about 6 close college football games on at the same time.

The next day I was stuck watching 2 NFL blowouts.

NFL kind of gets the TV shaft where it matters. The actual games.
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I hear ya. I just usually watch Red Zone on Sundays because we ALWAYS get the Donkey games.
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Here in the civilized portion of the state, it's always the Queefs games.

 
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The Dude said:
GSG5545 said:
The Dude said:
Last Saturday there were about 6 close college football games on at the same time.

The next day I was stuck watching 2 NFL blowouts.

NFL kind of gets the TV shaft where it matters. The actual games.
Click to expand...
I hear ya. I just usually watch Red Zone on Sundays because we ALWAYS get the Donkey games.
Click to expand...
Here in the civilized portion of the state, it's always the Queefs games.
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At least you get to see some decent teams play them. I get to see each of the crappy AFC West teams twice a year.

 
The Chiefs are in the AFC West, bro. Unless you thought I meant someone else. . .

Either way, I feel your pain.

 
ESPN is giving College Football a lot of attention. I love them. They are a revolutionizing media center. They will single handidly make college football the one and only most viewed sport in the world.

 
LouisianaHuskerFan said:
The Dude said:
Last Saturday there were about 6 close college football games on at the same time.

The next day I was stuck watching 2 NFL blowouts.

NFL kind of gets the TV shaft where it matters. The actual games.
Click to expand...

That's why I'm glad I have Sunday Ticket. :D
Click to expand...
Back when the NFL was good (you know, before the internal combustion engine, while the dinosaurs were roaming the earth), the Rams played in LA. That was in the B****** days and since the Rams never, EVER, sold out (neither the Colosseum nor Anaheim Stadium), we never saw the home games (and if my memory serves me, I think there was no alternate...so there was just no game on). So back then the networks became convinced that we in the LA area were all Cowboy fans.

So the Rams move on and the Raiders made a pilgramage back to Oakland, but for some reason the NFL (or networks or whoever decides these things) thinks we are all Raider fans, 49er fans, or God forbid Charger fans. Apparently nobody at the networks owns a map, because if they did, they would realize that we are closer to Phoenix, Arizona than we are to either Okland or San Francisco. And nobody in LA wants to root for a San Diego team.

So, we always get crap games, and when you add to that the fact that due to rule changes and obnoxious, pampered, spoiled players, the NFL has become un-watchable. So basically, what I am trying to say is that if there happens to be a good NFL game on (maybe one with an ex-Husker playing) I will watch, but I would rather just go hang out by my pool or do a little yard work than watch the product that the NFL is putting out there. I would not pay a dime for Sunday Ticket, and I don't watch any of the Sunday NFL coverage...it is the only thing on TV that is more un-watchable than the games themselves.

Not trying to start an argument or put anyone else down...just a little rant. What really makes me mad is that more-and-more college football seems to want to adopt NFL rules. I hope I am gone by the time the NCAA completely ruins college football. I just feel bad for my kids and grandkids.

 
I think Mickey is making a big mistake by becoming an SEC focused network. Just because that conference is the best doesn't mean that people in NYC, Chicago and Cali want to hear a lot of analysis promoting Arkansas vs Auburn. Now, a mistake for espn might mean they make fewer millions in profit then they had expected to but that's still considered bad for some businessmen types.

 
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