2023 Conference TV Requirements, Six Day Holds and Likely First Picks

Instead of cluttering up the weekly picks for 2023, I'm going to keep track of selection specific information in this post like six day holds that have been used, the number of times I think a network has chosen first and the required appearances that a school needs to fill on conference networks like Big Ten Network or Pac-12 Network.

Updated on 11/13/23 as of selections for 11/25/23 (Week 13).

Six Day Holds Used

ACC (0* available): 10/14, 10/28, 11/4, 11/11, 11/25

American (4 available): 

Big Ten (3 available): 10/21, 11/18

Big 12 (2 available): 11/4, 11/11, 11/18, 11/25

Pac-12 (3 available): 11/11, 11/18, 11/25

SEC (2 available): 11/11

It appears that the ACC had five six day holds used against them.  Unsure if ESPN requested the fifth hold of the schools involved and all said yes, or that there's a set of requirements that I've misunderstood.

Please note that this is my guess about who chose first in a given Saturday, and this might be fairly irrelevant with the Big Ten since it seems like games are being drafted instead of slots.  This is not a confirmation from either the networks or conferences of who chose first.

Big Ten

09/02/2023	CBS: OSU at IU
09/09/2023	CBS: UNLV at UM
09/16/2023	FOX: PSU at ILL
09/23/2023	CBS: IA at PSU
09/30/2023	FOX: UM at UNL
10/07/2023	FOX: MD at OSU
10/14/2023	PEA: OSU at PU
10/21/2023	FOX: PSU at OSU
10/28/2023	NBC: OSU at WISC
11/04/2023	CBS: OSU at RU
11/11/2023	*NBC: MSU at OSU
11/18/2023	FOX: UM at MD
11/25/2023	FOX: OSU at UM

Notes

I have an asterisk next to the 11/11 top choice.  I do believe that NBC truly had top choice on the day, but with the various TV items in flight detailed by Pete Thamel, I'm working under an assumption that Michigan-Penn State would have been NBC's choice, but did not want to play their game at night at all costs, hence Ohio State agreeing to host Michigan State at night.

Each network has a fixed number of selections.  The count below does not include the conference title game on FOX.

Network	FOX & FS1	CBS	NBC	Peacock	BTN
Selections	27	7	15	9	39
Remaining	1	0	0	0	-1

FOX/FS1 only used 26 of their 27 selections and appears to have given one back to BTN.

Each school must appear twice on BTN and one of those two appearances must be vs. another conference opponent. All schools have have fulfilled their BTN requirements.  

Big 12

09/02/2023	FOX: CU at TCU
09/09/2023	FOX: UO at TX Tech
09/16/2023	ABC: Pitt at WVU
09/23/2023	ABC: TX at BU
09/30/2023	ABC: KU at TX
10/07/2023	ABC: TX vs. OU
10/14/2023	FS1: KU at OSU
10/21/2023	ABC: UCF at OU
10/28/2023	FOX: OU at KU
11/04/2023	FOX: KST at TX
11/11/2023	ABC: TX at TCU
11/18/2023	FOX: TX at ISU
11/25/2023	TBD

Notes

In prior seasons, ESPN had a max of 32 games to pick from the conference.  With the expansion for 2023 from 10 to 14 schools, it stands to reason that more games should be available for ABC/ESPN, but at the moment, the new number is unknown. I have reached out to the conference to get information as to whether the limits for ESPN have changed or not.  

In addition, a minimum of 25 games on ABC, ESPN, FOX and FS1 was required in prior years.  It has already be achieved.

Pac-12

09/02/2023	ABC: BSU at UW
09/09/2023	FOX: NU at CU
09/16/2023	ESPN: CSU at CU
09/23/2023	ABC: CU at UO
09/30/2023	FOX: USC at CU
10/07/2023	ESPN: UA at USC
10/14/2023	ABC: UO at UW
10/21/2023	FOX: Utah at USC
10/28/2023	FOX: UO at Utah
11/04/2023	ABC: UW at USC
11/11/2023	FOX: Utah at UW
11/18/2023	ABC: UW at OR St
11/25/2023	FOX: WSU at UW

Notes

I know that ESPN had a few Saturday selections on the Pac-12 list marked as being in their inventory without knowledge of the time or TV being set.  I'm not listing those here because I have a feeling that FOX may have a game or two in mind ahead of ESPN those weeks and that the games being held by ESPN for those weeks could be the 3rd selection in a given week.

Both ABC/ESPN and FOX Sports have fixed number of selections.  ABC is required to carry one game in primetime out of a minimum of two games on the broadcast network, while FOX must carry eight games on their broadcast network with at least four of those eight in primetime on the east coast.  Both networks have hit those requirements.

The counts below do not include ABC carrying the conference's title game.  

Network	FOX & FS1	ESPN Networks	Pac-12 Networks
Selections	22	22	35
Remaining	0	0	0

For Pac-12 Networks, each school must appear on the network for the same number of non-conference home games they have in a given season.  Through Week 11's selections, all Pac-12 schools have cleared their minimum required Pac-12 Networks appearances and do not need to appear on the network again.

SEC

In their final season carrying SEC football, CBS has a max of five appearances per school over the course of the season, excluding the conference title game.

CBS does have the ability to air a sixth game from a school using an exception built into the TV contract with the conference and used a sixth selection for Georgia on the Tennessee game on 11/18.  The exception has been used two other times: Florida in 2009 and Alabama in 2015.

	Remaining
Alabama	0
Arkansas	4
Auburn	3
Florida	4
Georgia	0*
Kentucky	5
LSU	4
Mississippi State	5
Missouri	2
Ole Miss	4
South Carolina	4
Tennessee	1
Texas A&M	3
Vanderbilt	4

American

The American has a minimum of 40 games per season on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU.  At least 20 of the 40 are expected to be on ABC, ESPN or ESPN2

	Scheduled
ABC	2
ESPN	7
ESPN2	17
ESPNU	13
ESPNEWS	1
Total	39