I don't know if this has been discussed in the National TV forum yet, but I am dumbfounded as to why Disney elected to put the BCS National Championship Game -- the national title of the biggest sport in the country -- on a cable network. Granted, it is ESPN, but even so. What's the rationale behind their decision? Heck, they're gonna put the Miss America Pageant on ABC this year but not college football's national championship. I don't get it.
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Personal gripe: BCS National Championship Game on ESPN
- Thread starter whit979
- Start date
Two words: Money and exposure.
With it being on ESPN; there will be non-stop coverage all day on ESPN prior to the game; not that they wouldn't do it if it wasn't on there, but it would be all in
one sync as oppose to last year.
And ESPN ponied up more money so it could gain some by airing it on cable.
The big reason ABC got rid of Monday Night Football six years ago was that it lost more money than it could gain from ota ad rates since the NFL gets
a big chunk of it not to mention the high amounts that the networks (CBS & FOX etc) pay to air games every year.
Even NBC with it's SNF package has to pony up a lot a money every year to air the games.
Bottom line: Football is not cheap.
With it being on ESPN; there will be non-stop coverage all day on ESPN prior to the game; not that they wouldn't do it if it wasn't on there, but it would be all in
one sync as oppose to last year.
And ESPN ponied up more money so it could gain some by airing it on cable.
The big reason ABC got rid of Monday Night Football six years ago was that it lost more money than it could gain from ota ad rates since the NFL gets
a big chunk of it not to mention the high amounts that the networks (CBS & FOX etc) pay to air games every year.
Even NBC with it's SNF package has to pony up a lot a money every year to air the games.
Bottom line: Football is not cheap.
whitfm said:
Outside of hard-core football junkies (like myself), I can't see this game drawing much interest outside of the west and southeast. Most of that interest will be in the states of Arizona, Oregon, and Alabama - not exactly areas that national advertisers cater to. It may be a national championship game, and it should be a good one, but will that translate to eyeballs in the all-important northeast (It should do well in LA since that's Pac-10 country)? I'm skeptical.
Since Auburn and Oregon do not have big national followings other than their own alumni, there is no need to tie up ABC for a weeknight football game that might not draw many eyeballs in the big markets. If it was a Saturday night game or if it involved a team with national interest like Ohio State, Notre Dame, or USC, then they could justify putting it on ABC.
whitfm said:
Hasn't the Miss America telecast been on a cable network for a few years now, and a
lower-tier cable net at that?
whitfm said:
I read in the other thread on this topic that 85% of the population has cable or satellite. And generally speaking, that 85% has more money to spend than the remaining 15%. With that in mind, why is considered such a demotion to be on cable instead of broadcast?
oldiesfan6479 said:
It's been on TLC and then CMT (or vice-versa). I believe both are at least in the mid-tier range.
KeithE4 said:
Excellent points. I'm not sure if this what you meant, but it was decided months ago (before the matchup was known) that the game would be on ESPN. So even if it was Ohio State vs. USC, the game would presumably still be on ESPN.
philosofy said:
Sorry - "decided" was not the best choice of words - it made it sound like the BCS dictated which network the game would be on. What you stated is essentially what I meant. My guess (and this is more along the lines of what I was trying to say) is that there was no option to move the game to ABC if the matchup ended up being between two elite teams.
EDIT: the article linked below, dated 6/12/09*, states that ESPN would have the 2011 Fiesta, Orange, Sugar, and BCS Championship games. So this was not a recent development.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4253867
* - the day of that full-power analog broadcast TV ended - coincidence?
Putting the Rose Bowl and other games on cable is unforgivable. it used to be a tradition to eat your black eyed peas and watch football on New Years. Many people don't have cable and have no desire to pay an arm an a leg to a crooked and sneaky outfit such as cable and satelite. I'd rather do without TV all together than give these rip off artists my hard earned money. If I can't get it with the antenna on my roof I won't watch it.
whitfm said:
The National Football League would like to have a talk with you, informing you of its premier post-season game.
philosofy said:
Since both ESPN and ABC are part of the Mickey Mouse Outfit, I would guess that they could move a game to ABC if the bowl organizers approved. As corporations, Disney outbid News Corp. for the games. ESPN and Fox are just divisions of those companies.
In any case, it'll be interesting to find out if the BCS Championship has higher ratings than last night's Sugar Bowl. Ohio State is a far bigger draw than Oregon and Auburn combined, but the latter two are the teams in the Big Dance. Ohio State was not.
F
FreddyE1977
Guest
Well, the NCAA is subject to pressure and public opinion, and if they hear from enough
disgruntled football fans they might change their mind (or at least pressure ESPN to
put some of these games out over the air on ABC).
(If you can somehow convince them that the decision to put the games exclusively
on cable is somehow racist and/or sexist, your odds of success will increase exponentially...
for example....getting Rush Limbaugh to come out and say that ESPN is a capitalist enterprise
and should never put the games out on free TV will almost surely prompt them to do the opposite
immediately.)
disgruntled football fans they might change their mind (or at least pressure ESPN to
put some of these games out over the air on ABC).
(If you can somehow convince them that the decision to put the games exclusively
on cable is somehow racist and/or sexist, your odds of success will increase exponentially...
for example....getting Rush Limbaugh to come out and say that ESPN is a capitalist enterprise
and should never put the games out on free TV will almost surely prompt them to do the opposite
immediately.)
I
imhomerjay
Guest
And while you're at it, you kids get off my lawn!onairb said:
Time for another bran muffin....now where are my teeth?
flytrap said:
Then why would top-tier advertisers want to waste their money targetting a group that, generally speaking, can't afford to buy their products?
Re: Personal gripe: BCS
My gripe is there is no real championship as there is in other college sports (including division 1AA football).
Maybe if there were, terrestrial TV would bid for it. Don't forget, ESPN and ABC are both part of Disney. ESPN functions as what used to be called ABC Sports. If Disney/ABC puts the game on ESPN, it probably is because they think that will be more profitable for the company. Hard to care about any of these BCS bowl games any more, unless your school is in it.
My gripe is there is no real championship as there is in other college sports (including division 1AA football).
Maybe if there were, terrestrial TV would bid for it. Don't forget, ESPN and ABC are both part of Disney. ESPN functions as what used to be called ABC Sports. If Disney/ABC puts the game on ESPN, it probably is because they think that will be more profitable for the company. Hard to care about any of these BCS bowl games any more, unless your school is in it.
Re: Personal gripe: BCS
That's a whole 'nother can of worms. I'm all for it, but money talks, The Mickey Mouse Outfit has it, the NCAA/BCS wants as much of it as possible, and ultimately they'll decide if there is to be a football playoff.
That's the way the bowls have always been until the advent of the BCS. Their reason for existing was to bring tourists to their cities, and having TV advertise how nice they are to vacation in (El Paso as a vacation spot? :
). If a team playing in the game had a national following, so much the better, but the main thing was to put butts in the seats. It was more important for a school to travel well (Nebraska or Iowa, for example), than be a big TV draw like a USC if they didn't travel (and many sun-belt schools don't).
Now, with The Mickey Mouse Outfit owning all but a handful of the bowls' TV rights, they exist more as filler programming for ESPN while college hoops ramps up, as well as to put football on two more Monday nights post-NFL. The only game that really matters is the BCS Championship.
MattParker said:
That's a whole 'nother can of worms. I'm all for it, but money talks, The Mickey Mouse Outfit has it, the NCAA/BCS wants as much of it as possible, and ultimately they'll decide if there is to be a football playoff.
That's the way the bowls have always been until the advent of the BCS. Their reason for existing was to bring tourists to their cities, and having TV advertise how nice they are to vacation in (El Paso as a vacation spot? :
). If a team playing in the game had a national following, so much the better, but the main thing was to put butts in the seats. It was more important for a school to travel well (Nebraska or Iowa, for example), than be a big TV draw like a USC if they didn't travel (and many sun-belt schools don't).Now, with The Mickey Mouse Outfit owning all but a handful of the bowls' TV rights, they exist more as filler programming for ESPN while college hoops ramps up, as well as to put football on two more Monday nights post-NFL. The only game that really matters is the BCS Championship.
justthenumbers said:
Many highly educated intellectual types don't have cable, but they probably don't watch much TV to begin with. Many who lack indoor plumbing have the full dish packages
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