Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Statistical Breakdown of CFB on TV in 2014 by Conference

Please note that these breakdowns are specific to the conference's television contract.  Non-conference road games revert to the home school's television contract.  The four independent schools are not listed here but you can see their breakdown on this page.

For entertainment purposes only, like when someone comes along to correct my math :)

ACC
  • Breakdown by network and compared to 2013
    • ABC: 7 (-7)
      • A 50% drop from 2013 
        • Count does not include ACC Championship game in either year.
      • Florida St. appeared in six of the seven games.  Only Notre Dame vs. Syracuse did not feature the Seminoles.
      • Four in primetime & three at 3:30pm ET
        • One of the 3:30pm games was regional only and not shown with a ESPN or ESPN2 reverse mirror
    • ESPN: 18 (+6)
      • Nine on Saturdays, three on Fridays, five on Thursday & one Labor Day game
    • ESPN2: 6 (+3)
    • ESPNU: 15 (-3)
    • Clemson had the most ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU cable appearances with eight, followed by Louisville, Pittsburgh & Miami (FL) with seven and Georgia Tech with six.
    • ESPNEWS: 2
    • ESPN3: 14
      • All non-conference games in September
    • Regional syndication (RSNs & ACC Network) accounted for 32 games
      • 17 RSN games
        • Two in primetime
        • North Carolina was the only school not to appear here.
        • NC State, Boston College and Syracuse had four appearances each.
      • 15 ACC Network games
        • One split telecast window
        • Up one game from 2013
        • Florida St. was the only school not to appear in this package.
        • North Carolina had the most appearances with five.
  • 2014 was the first year of a new television contract for the conference.  ESPN controls the rights to the conference and sublicenses a package of games to CBS Sports Network
  • Breakdown by network.  The number in parenthesis are the number of games on Saturdays
    • ABC: 3 (all)
      • All were reverse mirrored
    • ESPN: 6  (1)
    • ESPN2: 7 (2)
    • ESPNU: 13 (6)
    • ESPNEWS: 14 (all)
    • ESPN3: 11 (all)
      • Two of the games were intraconference games.
    • CBS Sports Network: 15 (13)
      • One game per week selected as part of the in-season selection process
      • SMU had the most CBSSN appearances with six.
    • Three of weeknight/day games were on Black Friday
  • Missing from this conference, when compared to the old television package signed under the Big East, is regional syndication through ESPN.  One game, Stony Brook at Connecticut, was aired on regional television.
  • It is my understanding that the American is guaranteed 28 games on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU.  They had 29.
    • Both UCF and East Carolina appeared seven times each as part of the 29 games.  Memphis, who clinched a share of the conference title, appeared three times.  Both Cincinnati & Houston appeared five times are part of the primary package. 
  • The conference had 84% of its conference controlled football games on televise (58 of 69).  The goal is to televise somewhere between 80 to 90 of conference controlled football games.
  • ESPN selected eighteen or nineteen Big 12 games available to be selected by them
    • Depending how you count the Oklahoma St.-Florida St. game in Arlington, that could be the nineteenth Big 12 game for ESPN.  I've counted UCLA vs. Texas as a Big 12 game because ESPN organized it but FOX televised it, presumably by asserting telecast rights based on the location of the game.
    • ABC: 9 or 10 (+2 or +3)
      • Two ABC games were shown regionally without a reverse mirror to ESPN or ESPN2
    • ESPN: 7 (+2)
    • ESPNU: 1 (-2)
    • No games nationally on ESPN2. 2013 had two games on the network
    • Longhorn Network: 1 (-1)
      • LHN carried two games, but one counts as Texas's institutional game
    • There were 14 (or 15) national exposures on through ABC, ESPN and ESPN2.  ESPN's Big 12 rights agreement requires 13 to 15 national exposures.
  • FOX carried 38 games through their national rights package.  Comparison to 2013 in parenthesis
    • FOX: 8 (-2)
    • FS1: 23 (even)

    • FSN: 7 (even)
      • FSN additionally carried four Big 12 schools institutional games to multiple regions
      • Kansas appeared on FSN the most (four)
    • FOX is required to carry six games each on their broadcast network plus six games on a national cable outlet
  • Overall, the conference had 45 (or 46) full national games.  The requirement is 25 full national games over ABC, ESPN, FOX and FS1.  This number includes reverse mirror showings on ABC & ESPN or ESPN2.  Without the reverse mirror games, the number is 43 (or 44) games.
  • On the broadcast networks, TCU appeared six times and Baylor five times.  Kansas St. just twice, but led all schools in national cable appearances with eight (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, FS1).  Kansas had the most appearances on FSN (four) for games that were not bonus/institutional games.
Big Ten
  • Breakdown of games by channel
    • ABC: 20
      • Ten full national games, nine reverse mirror & one regional game without a reverse mirror
    • ESPN: 5
    • ESPN2: 16
    • ESPNU: 9
    • ESPNEWS: 5
    • BTN: 40
  • In total, ESPN carried 55 Big Ten controlled games.  Until this season, ESPN's capped number of Big Ten games was 41.  The additions of Rutgers and Maryland appear to have increased the number of games ESPN could take substantially.
  • The number of games on ESPN is down from 2013, from nine to five, while the number of games on ESPN2 nearly doubled, up from nine to sixteen
  • ESPNEWS carried its five games earlier in the year.  None after September.
  • The conference had three November night games, bucking a trend of scheduling no night games past the end of October.
  • BTN had eight multi-game telecast windows, down from twelve in 2013.  Six of the eight windows carried two games concurrently.  No window carried more than three games at a time.
  • Ohio St. had the most appearances on ABC (eight), followed by Michigan St. (five) and Michigan (four).
  • Should be noted that the conference's membership again changed between 2013 & 2014.
  • FOX and C-USA appear to group all games on all FOX owned properties (FS1, FSN and FOX College Sports) into a thirty game bucket.
    • FS1 and FOX College Sports each carried nine games
      • FS1's number is down three from '13
      • FOX College's number is down one from last season
      • Note that one game moved from FCS up to FS1 (FAU-Marshall on 10/25)
    • FSN carried 12 games, up four from 2013
    • Five of the nine games on FS1 were on Saturdays, which is up one game from '14
  • The number of C-USA controlled games on CBS Sports Network declined for the third straight year.
    • 2012: 15
    • 2013: 12
    • 2014: 7
  • Overall, sixteen C-USA controlled regular season games were shown on national television (FS1 or CBSSN).
  • American Sports Network filled a gap that regional cable stations like Time Warner-Texas & CSS previously filled.  
  • The conference had eight weekday/night games on television in '14 which is two less than '13.  The split of Thursday & Friday games was even at four apiece compared to '13 when seven of the ten games were on Thursdays. 
  • The numbers are fairly flat compared to 2013 for ESPN television platforms
    • ESPN: 2 (no games in '13)
    • ESPN2: 6 (does not conference championship game in either year)
    • ESPNU: 7 (even)
      • An eighth ESPNU game was lost due to cancellation (Kent St. at Buffalo)
    • ESPNEWS: 1 (down two)
    • ESPN stopped syndicating MAC games to local stations in 2014
  • The biggest change was ESPN taking over rights to all MAC controlled football games.  Previously they only had a portion of the games and the conference could then work with regional broadcasters or local stations to carry games.  55 MAC controlled games will air on ESPN3 exclusively this year, compared to 43 last year.
  • Conversely, nine games were televised by regional broadcasters in 2013.  This year just four games were regionally televised, all by Buckeye Cable.
  • CBS Sports Network carried twenty three games.  Nineteen on Saturdays and four on Fridays
    • Breakdown by timeslot of the Saturday games using Eastern time as the base
      • Mid-afternoon: 2
      • Evening/Primetime: 7
      • Late Evening: 10
  • ESPN carried twenty four games.  Sixteen Saturday games and eight weeknight games
    • Breakdown of games by network compared to 2013
      • ESPN: 3 (-1)
      • ESPN2: 7 (+2)
      • ESPNU: 7 (-3, note that one game on ESPNU in '13 was sublicensed from CBSSN)
      • ESPNEWS: 3 (+2)
      • ESPN3: 4 (-1)
    • Nearly all MW games on ESPN Networks started later than 8pm ET.
      • Ten of the games on ESPNU or ESPN2 started at 10pm ET or later.
      • Two ESPNEWS games started at 4pm ET
    • Boise St. led with five appearances on ESPN or ESPN2.  Utah St. and Fresno St. had three each.  Colorado St. had one and Air Force had zero.
Pac-12
  • Pac-12 Networks carried 35 games over 32 telecast windows
    • Breakdown by local start time (Saturday games only)
      • Pre-noon: 4
      • Noon - 3:30pm: 18
      • 4pm-6:30pm: 3
      • 7pm or later: 7
    • The seven 7pm or later starts on Saturdays are down four from 2013
  • ESPN carried twenty-two games.  Seventeen on Saturdays
    • ABC: 6 (5 Saturdays)
      • Three at 3:30pm ET (one reverse mirror) & two primetime games on Saturdays
    • ESPN: 13 (9 Saturdays)
      • Two at 3:30pm ET
    • ESPN2: 2 
    • ESPNU: 1
  • FOX carried twenty-two games.  Sixteen on Saturdays.
    • FOX: 10 (9 Saturdays)
      • Five in the mid afternoon and four in primetime on Saturdays
    • FOX Sports 1: 12 (7 Saturdays)
      • Utah at Oregon St. was moved in its entirety to FOX Sports 2, with additional coverage on Pac-12 Networks & local stations, due to the MLB playoffs.
      • FS1's seven Saturday games had four late evening starts (7pm local time or later)
  • The number of late evening games is often a talking point when it comes to the Pac-12.  Overall, FOX and ESPN carried fourteen Saturday late evening ET / primetime PT games.  This is two less when compared with last year.  Both ESPN and FOX carried one less late evening game.
  • For games on broadcast networks, USC led with five games.  Oregon, Stanford and UCLA each had four.  Arizona St. & Washington both had three and Arizona had two.  For games on national cable outlets, Arizona St., Utah and Oregon St. each had six games and Arizona and Oregon each had five (ESPNs, FS1 & 2).  Colorado led the way with nine games on Pac-12 Networks.
  • CBS carried fifteen regular season games with their usual single primetime game and one doubleheader of 12pm & 3:30pm games.  Nothing much to report.
  • Breakdown of SEC games on ESPN platforms.  Numbers are down across the board on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU, which makes sense based on what I posted earlier this year (hit the number on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU on the nose: 32).
    • ESPN: 17 (-4)
    • ESPN2: 7 (-5)
    • ESPNU: 8 (-3)
    • SEC Network: 48
      • 49 if you count the Iron Bowl simulcast
      • 44 unique telecast slots.  Four slots had two concurrent games.
  • FOX's regional sublicense package carried only five games which is lower than most years where it carried around eight games.  The package did not have any intraconference games.  These games will return to ESPN next athletic year.
  • SEC Network carried 20 intraconference games exclusively.  Each week had at least one intraconference except for September 6th.  Comparing this to '13 using SEC TV, FOX RSNs and CSS games, this is an increase from 11 games.  Please note that those three packages carried 29 games.
  • As we know and I botched, Alabama had five appearances on CBS which is why the Iron Bowl ended up on ESPN.  LSU and Auburn had the most appearances on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU with six.   Kentucky and Vanderbilt had the most SEC Network appearances with eight.
  • Alabama and Ole Miss did not play a intraconference game exclusively on SEC Network, A simulcast of the Iron Bowl aired on the network.
Sun Belt
  • The number of Sun Belt games on ESPN's television networks increased slightly.  Possibly due to increase in membership size.
    • Six games on ESPNU on Thursdays or Fridays
    • Two midweek games on ESPN2
    • Two additional games on ESPNEWS early in the season
  • With the loss of the Sun Belt Network partnership between Comcast's CSS and Cox Sports TV, ESPN3 picked up the slack.  48 games were aired exclusively on ESPN3
    • Some of the games were branded as Sun Belt Network & aired sporadically on ESPN GamePlan
  • The only school producing games for regional television was New Mexico St. through AggieVision 
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