Friday, December 4, 2015

2015 CFB TV Facts & Figures - American Athletic

The American's second year with ESPN is the first year they will hold a conference championship game.  During the season the conference was able to get exposures on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 through mid-season non-conference scheduling and schools that were regularly ranked in the top 25.

* Four regular season games aired on ABC during the season.  Three were non-conference games and the fourth decided the conference's Western Division on Black Friday, the first intraconference game to air on ABC.  In 2014, the three conference controlled games on ABC were non-conference games.

* Two of the four ABC regular season games were reverse mirrored with Big Ten games (Virginia Tech at East Carolina & Ole Miss at Memphis).

* The conference made its first appearance as the home team on ABC's Saturday Night Football when Temple hosted Notre Dame on 10/31.

* Five Saturday games aired on ESPN or ESPN2, four of which were selected through the in-season selection process.  All four of the in season selections aired on ESPN2.  In '14, two games were selected through the in-season selection process and both of those games aired on the final Saturday of the season where the conference now has a championship game.

* Twelve regular season games were selected to air on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU through the in-season selection process, up from nine in '14.

* The breakdown by network, excluding the conference championship game which will air on ABC:
  • ABC: 4
  • ESPN: 7
  • ESPN2: 8
  • ESPNU: 8
  • ESPNEWS: 14
  • CBS Sports Network: 15+
  • ESPN3: 10
  • Regional TV: 2
+Navy home games on CBS Sports Network are under a separate TV contract for the next few years and are not counted here.

* The dominant start time for Saturday national TV games was 12pm ET with fifteen regular season games starting at that time.

* The number of ESPN3 exclusives decreased by one, down to ten.  No intraconference games aired exclusively on ESPN3 in '15 compared to two late season intraconference webcasts in '14.

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