Opening weekend's schedule, in my opinion, is extremely light in terms of quality. So there's a few things to watch for the first week of the college football season.
All times Eastern.
Thursday
Pittsburgh at Utah (8:30pm, Versus) is the best game based on where the teams are ranked. QB is a question for the Panthers with Tino Sunseri taking over as the starter. Dion Lewis is not a question and I expect him to be featured early and often as the Utes lost over half of their defensive starters. Utah's offense may be the key to the as they return eight starters from last year's 10-3 team, including nearly the entire offensive line.
USC at Hawai'i (11pm, ESPN) is more interesting as we will see how a Trojans team starts out what amounts to two seasons of lame-duck play. No bowls to play for, no reward outside of the chance to be ranked in the AP poll. I don't believe that Hawai'i will provide a stiff challenge, but I want to see the Trojans step up and not go through motions.
Some might turn in to Northern Illinois at Iowa St. (8pm, most FSN regions), but not to watch the game but for the possibility of critiquing the graphics that may be used. There's a chance that FSN will use the graphics that FOX debuted in the NFL preseason.
Saturday
More trainwreck-type games here. UConn at Michigan (3:30pm, ABC or ESPN2) begins Rich Rodriguez's 3rd year in Ann Arbor. Could be his final year too if the maize & blue don't finish the year in a bowl game. The Huskies are not flashly, they're a fundamentals team, out-working opponents and executing their game plan. Their downhill attack on the ground can wear out anyone.
LSU at North Carolina (8pm, ABC) seemed to be a very interesting on-field matchup, but now with the NCAA sniffing around for violations in the UNC program, who knows if UNC may have a team that can even keep it close for a couple quarters.
As for an intriguing game, check out Washington at BYU (7pm, CBS College). BYU lost key components on offense (QB Max Hall, RB Harvey Unga, TE Dennis Pitts) and will alternate QBs with Jake Heaps & Riley Nelson. It's rare that you'll find a team have much success with platooning QBs, but BYU returns nearly all of their starting offensive line. Meanwhile, Washington QB Jake Locker begins his senior season with a Heisman campaign and at the top of Mel Kiper's Big Board of NFL prospects.
TCU's game vs. Oregon St. (7:45pm, ESPN) also brings a lot to the table. The Beavers return 17 starters from last years 8-5 team, a team that had a chance at the Rose Bowl if they would have won their Civil War matchup vs. Oregon. The game also serves as a return to Texas for the Rodgers brothers. TCU's offense returns nine starts and Gary Patterson has been able to plug in players on defense and consistently rank as one of the top defensive teams in the majors, but both starting CBs are stepping up from the bench and could be targeted early & often.
Monday
Navy vs. Maryland (4pm, ESPN) is the undercard based on time zone, but Middie QB Ricky Dobbs has a small but dedicated following for the Heisman and he runs the type of offense that can get him a lot of attention. He'll have the ball in his hands on every snap and his ability to run the ball can lead to some eye-popping highlights that everyone loves.
Boise St. vs. Virginia Tech (8pm, ESPN) wraps up week one as Boise begins their much-hyped season towards a national championship with a game. Boise returns all but two starters from last year's undefeated team, while the Hokies rebuild on defense. The Hokies will also start an entire new left side of the offensive line, so expect the Broncos to test the line often with blitzes, stunts and other defensive schemes designed to exploit and confuse the Hokies. And with a mostly new secondary at VT, Kellen Moore should take to the air.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Small change as a new season starts
Very few changes this season with respect to college football telecast coverage. With the ACC contract kicking in next season, we'll have more to talk about, but here's what we got.
- Big 12 and FSN solidify relationship - ABC and ESPN's Big 12 sublicense remain, but FSN will be primary provider of Big 12 football on cable this fall. They (or at the Big 12's request) ended their sublicense of games to Versus. The Versus games were usually at 12:30pm ET, which many Big 12 schools don't care for. FSN will handle 24 national telecasts this season, 25 if you count Northern Illinois-Iowa St. going to almost the entire nation, and those games will air at either 12/12:30pm ET and 7pm virtually every week.
- Pac-10 flips their script - Changes abound here. ABC may have as few as six Pac-10 games while ESPN and FSN will co-exist in several time slots. FSN could handle the extra Big 12 games because they decided to sublicense more Pac-10 games to Versus, specifically Pac-10 slots at 7pm/7:30pm ET. The goal here is to piggyback onto SEC time slots on ESPN and also open up slots where regional networks, often involving FSN, can get PAC-10 games on TV when national games aren't being shown. So far it has worked with virtually every conference-controlled game through October 2nd on TV somewhere.
- MAC gets a new regional partner - FSN Ohio was more of a marriage of convenience, but now that SportsTime Ohio has picked up the conference, the network plans for more regional coverage of the conference, both in live action in football and basketball, but bumper programming like season previews. What remains to be seen is how they will get these games outside of Ohio. Some of the game selections in football involved Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan and Buffalo.
- The WAC announced, in a rather vague announcement, that it would be starting the WAC Sports Network. Not really sure if all affiliates will see all games or not. Seems kinda like SportsWest, the WAC's previous syndication partner who had affiliates in virtually every WAC market, but only syndicated games between the markets of the competing teams.
- The mtn goes HD - At least for game productions as all mtn. live games will be in HD this season.
- ABC Reverse Mirror to include Pac-10 - Larry Scott stated that the previous administration of the Pac-10 wanted to be paid to be part of the ABC Reverse Mirror with the Big Ten. Larry Scott made the decision that exposure in the midwest was much more important and gave ABC the ability to pick these games free of charge. Makes you wonder how out of it Tom Hansen was. Sucks for the ACC as they were the primary benefactor of the reverse mirror. The Big 12 will also get more reverse mirror opportunities.
Friday, July 30, 2010
MAC Regional Coverage on SportsTime Ohio
At the MAC media day it was announced that SportsTime Ohio would supplant Fox Sports Ohio as the regional carrier of the MAC for all sports. The minimums are three football games and 33 basketball games (men and women).
STO, while improving its production since its inception, is not carried in many parts of Southern Ohio where two MAC schools reside (Miami and Ohio U.). STO does carry OHSAA playoffs which covers all high schools in the state, though I'm not sure how STO gets the games covered in the southern part of the state.
The number of football games is in line with what FSOhio covered in prior years, while the basketball number is a increase of 60% over the prior year according to the press release.
What isn't mention is whether Fox Sports Detroit will be allowed to maintain its own regional contract to cover the three Michigan based MAC schools. Comcast SportsNet Chicago will maintain the ability to cover Northern Illinois sports and the Time Warner Sports Net covering the western New York area still has the rights to cover University at Buffalo athletics.
In the case of FSOhio, they will have less pre-emptions of the national FSN coverage of the Big 12 and Pac-10, in addition to their coverage of University of Cincinnati athletics.
STO, while improving its production since its inception, is not carried in many parts of Southern Ohio where two MAC schools reside (Miami and Ohio U.). STO does carry OHSAA playoffs which covers all high schools in the state, though I'm not sure how STO gets the games covered in the southern part of the state.
The number of football games is in line with what FSOhio covered in prior years, while the basketball number is a increase of 60% over the prior year according to the press release.
What isn't mention is whether Fox Sports Detroit will be allowed to maintain its own regional contract to cover the three Michigan based MAC schools. Comcast SportsNet Chicago will maintain the ability to cover Northern Illinois sports and the Time Warner Sports Net covering the western New York area still has the rights to cover University at Buffalo athletics.
In the case of FSOhio, they will have less pre-emptions of the national FSN coverage of the Big 12 and Pac-10, in addition to their coverage of University of Cincinnati athletics.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Quick Hits
- Conference USA recently re-signed with CBS College Sports for another five years. The press release itself doesn't really mention if CBSC gained any rights and from what I've been able to gather, CBSC didn't gain any expanded rights. ESPN is continuing to negotiate with the conference and it's expected that a new deal with the conference could be completed before the season starts. The ESPN deal is expected to mirror its existing deal (1st choice of 10 C-USA FB games and 5-8 MBK games). I will monitor the C-USA media day today and report back if there is indeed any changes.
- At the very end of this article, it notes that Arizona is petitioning the PAC-10 and FSN to air its games vs. The Citadel and California on Fox Sports Arizona. The reason for this is because Arizona (along with Arizona St.) prefers to play its early season home games at night due to the extreme temperatures. FSN and the PAC-10 have to rule on the exemption because because FSN has national windows on both of those dates.
The interesting part is that Arizona St. will be featured in both of the same game times on FS Arizona. One game appears to be due to the two entities granting ASU an exemption (vs. Northern Arizona on 9/11, same date as Citadel game). The 2nd exemption would have to be granted against ASU's national appearance vs. Oregon (same date as UA's game vs. California) - Now that the SEC has announced its schedule of secondary national, regional and PPV games, what is left to be announced for opening weekend? Very little. Only games I could see being televised is a Big East Network regional telecast of the Stony Brook-USF game and a Comcast produced telecast of the UC-Davis vs. California game. For the 1st three weeks, we appear to be 95% complete, with the exception of game affiliates & coverage maps. Head over to my site for more details.
Friday, July 9, 2010
ACC - ESPN New Deal
With all the hoopla of a certain NBA star's public announcement of his choice of his new team, lost in the shuffle was the official announcement of the ACC signing a new rights deal with ESPN. Its a weighty deal since this is the 1st time that the ACC has hooked all its rights into a single deal. Previously the football deals were with ABC/ESPN for national coverage and Raycom for regional games, basketball was with Raycom (who would then re-sell games to ESPN, FSN and others) and most other sports were with FSN for either a national or regional level.
So what has changed, at least in the two major sports represented in the contract?
Football
Not that it was an afterthought, but nothing really will change at the ABC/ESPN/ESPN2 level. The conference will still retain priority for a game on Labor Day, have games on Thursdays and still be regularly a part of ABC's Saturday slate of games.
At the regional level, things will change. ESPN decided that they sublicense their games to Raycom, who will manage the syndication business. Those games will be called the ACC Network. The syndicated games will now start at 12:30pm, like the SEC's games, and Raycom will be allowed to reach out to markets outside of the ACC territory to sell those games (this was not previously allowed).
Raycom will also be allowed to create a syndicated package of regional cable games and market those to regional networks. My guess is that any combination of regional networks run by FSN, Comcast or independent ones like NESN and MASN could get in on these games.
ESPN3.com will also be allowed to air games and it will be necessary to get cable operators like Time Warner on board to take full advantage. Another item that seemed interesting is that the door was left open to sublicense games to other networks. Maybe that is dependent on whether they can get ESPN3 to the masses. Who would be interested in sublicensed games? The usual suspects of FSN, Versus and Turner's networks. I don't believe they would sublicense games to another over-the-air partner.
Men's Basketball
Plenty of changes here now that ESPN is the rightsholder instead of Raycom. ESPN made a point of noting that there would be no more blackouts in ACC areas if a game aired on both Raycom and ESPN (appears that might only be the ACC tournament and one of the Duke-UNC games). They also noted that both Duke-UNC matchups would air on ESPN and that seems to take out CBS from airing one of the games every other year. Raycom will continue to be able to air one of the Duke-UNC games, but will not hold the exclusive rights in ACC areas.
At the moment, FSN is also out of the picture. The new deal notes that a package of Sunday night games would air on ESPNU. According to Commissioner John Swofford, the ACC games on Sundays on ESPNU will be earlier in the evening (see page 6), starting no later than 6pm. Like the football deal, ESPN left open the door to sublicense games to other national networks, so I think its likely that CBS and others could still pick up ACC games.
Much like the syndication part, Raycom will again manage it and they will be allowed two syndication packages (over-the-air and regional cable).
Other aspects
Like the deals the with the SEC and ESPN & CBS, the ACC will again recapture their copyright on material to do digital archiving and highlight packages.
Also the women's basketball package will be managed by Raycom and syndicated to regional cable stations. The entire tournament will now air on TV on a combination of Raycom syndication and ABC/ESPN/ESPN2.
So what has changed, at least in the two major sports represented in the contract?
Football
Not that it was an afterthought, but nothing really will change at the ABC/ESPN/ESPN2 level. The conference will still retain priority for a game on Labor Day, have games on Thursdays and still be regularly a part of ABC's Saturday slate of games.
At the regional level, things will change. ESPN decided that they sublicense their games to Raycom, who will manage the syndication business. Those games will be called the ACC Network. The syndicated games will now start at 12:30pm, like the SEC's games, and Raycom will be allowed to reach out to markets outside of the ACC territory to sell those games (this was not previously allowed).
Raycom will also be allowed to create a syndicated package of regional cable games and market those to regional networks. My guess is that any combination of regional networks run by FSN, Comcast or independent ones like NESN and MASN could get in on these games.
ESPN3.com will also be allowed to air games and it will be necessary to get cable operators like Time Warner on board to take full advantage. Another item that seemed interesting is that the door was left open to sublicense games to other networks. Maybe that is dependent on whether they can get ESPN3 to the masses. Who would be interested in sublicensed games? The usual suspects of FSN, Versus and Turner's networks. I don't believe they would sublicense games to another over-the-air partner.
Men's Basketball
Plenty of changes here now that ESPN is the rightsholder instead of Raycom. ESPN made a point of noting that there would be no more blackouts in ACC areas if a game aired on both Raycom and ESPN (appears that might only be the ACC tournament and one of the Duke-UNC games). They also noted that both Duke-UNC matchups would air on ESPN and that seems to take out CBS from airing one of the games every other year. Raycom will continue to be able to air one of the Duke-UNC games, but will not hold the exclusive rights in ACC areas.
At the moment, FSN is also out of the picture. The new deal notes that a package of Sunday night games would air on ESPNU. According to Commissioner John Swofford, the ACC games on Sundays on ESPNU will be earlier in the evening (see page 6), starting no later than 6pm. Like the football deal, ESPN left open the door to sublicense games to other national networks, so I think its likely that CBS and others could still pick up ACC games.
Much like the syndication part, Raycom will again manage it and they will be allowed two syndication packages (over-the-air and regional cable).
Other aspects
Like the deals the with the SEC and ESPN & CBS, the ACC will again recapture their copyright on material to do digital archiving and highlight packages.
Also the women's basketball package will be managed by Raycom and syndicated to regional cable stations. The entire tournament will now air on TV on a combination of Raycom syndication and ABC/ESPN/ESPN2.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Upcoming Attractions
Updated (7/13/10) - Added ACC and Big East media day info.
July 1st begins the NCAA athletic calendar and 2010 promises to be a unique year. This will be the final year for at least three teams in their existing conference (Nebraska - Big 12, Utah - MWC, Boise St. - WAC) and possibly a fourth if Colorado is able to exit the Big 12 after the 2010-11 athletic year.
July 1 is typically when schools make major website enhancements or move to a new hosting company. And the football media day is typically the 1st big gathering of the media and a conference's executive staff. TV announcements for the current season generally pop up during this time, along with announcements regarding new contracts. We might see new contract announcements for the ACC and C-USA.
I don't have a full list at the moment, but here's the list of what I have:
ACC - July 25-26
Big 12 - July 26-28
Big East - August 2-3
Big Ten - August 2-3
C-USA - July 25
MAC - July 29-30
MWC - July 27-28
PAC-10 - July 27-29
SEC - July 21-23
Sun Belt - July 19-20
WAC - July 25-27
The PAC-10's will be a unique format where they spend July 27 in New York City, July 28 at the ESPN campus in Bristol, CT and July 29 at the Rose Bowl. C-USA will also revert back to a traditional media day instead of the media teleconference they held last year. The Sun Belt will again go with a videoconference instead of an in-person media day.
If anyone has dates for the other conferences, please send them along.
July 1st begins the NCAA athletic calendar and 2010 promises to be a unique year. This will be the final year for at least three teams in their existing conference (Nebraska - Big 12, Utah - MWC, Boise St. - WAC) and possibly a fourth if Colorado is able to exit the Big 12 after the 2010-11 athletic year.
July 1 is typically when schools make major website enhancements or move to a new hosting company. And the football media day is typically the 1st big gathering of the media and a conference's executive staff. TV announcements for the current season generally pop up during this time, along with announcements regarding new contracts. We might see new contract announcements for the ACC and C-USA.
ACC - July 25-26
Big 12 - July 26-28
Big East - August 2-3
Big Ten - August 2-3
C-USA - July 25
MAC - July 29-30
MWC - July 27-28
PAC-10 - July 27-29
SEC - July 21-23
Sun Belt - July 19-20
WAC - July 25-27
The PAC-10's will be a unique format where they spend July 27 in New York City, July 28 at the ESPN campus in Bristol, CT and July 29 at the Rose Bowl. C-USA will also revert back to a traditional media day instead of the media teleconference they held last year. The Sun Belt will again go with a videoconference instead of an in-person media day.
If anyone has dates for the other conferences, please send them along.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Red River Shootout in Primetime?
The Red River Shootout is one of the penultimate games on the college football schedule. It has often decided the Big 12 South and sometimes foretold the BCS rep for the Big 12. It often is played at high noon ET or CT but has been played as late as 3:30pm. It also has been the sole game ABC has aired during the time slot it has been played.
Could it be moving to prime time? The Cotton Bowl stadium does have lights, but the two schools have often shied away from playing the game at night. I think we could see a Red River Shootout at night and here's a few key indicators:
1) The FSN schedule for the Big 12 has their telecasts on that date at 12:30pm and 4:30pm. 4:30pm is scheduled for Georgia at Colorado. Typically the Red River Shootout has been played in an exclusive window and FSN does not televise against it, though there are exceptions. For example, Kansas-Kansas St. aired opposite the game on FSN in 2005.
Either way, with FSN doing a 4:30pm game, ABC likely isn't doing a 3:30pm ET start and probably won't coexist with the FSN games. 4:30pm plus 3.5 hours = 8pm. Seems to make some sense.
2) A second indicator is the release of the MAC's regional TV schedule on ESPN Plus. Ohio at Eastern Michigan has been scheduled for a 12pm kickoff. Many of the ESPN Plus affiliates who carry these games are ABC affiliates, as in prior seasons the Cleveland and Detroit affiliates have picked up the MAC package. During the three years that the MAC has had the ESPN Plus syndication package, twice the Red River game has aired at 12pm on ABC and the MAC package has skipped that Saturday.
Now the SEC and Big East packages have aired games during the same time slot, so maybe item #2 means absolutely nothing. Item #1 seems to be a strong indicator when paired with #2 because ABC generally does not coexist with FSN. It would also be surprising that a Red River game would be at 12pm because it would leave the evening Big 12 slot empty (FSN is not planning to do a PAC-10 or Big 12 game that evening).
But its worth keeping an eye on...
Could it be moving to prime time? The Cotton Bowl stadium does have lights, but the two schools have often shied away from playing the game at night. I think we could see a Red River Shootout at night and here's a few key indicators:
1) The FSN schedule for the Big 12 has their telecasts on that date at 12:30pm and 4:30pm. 4:30pm is scheduled for Georgia at Colorado. Typically the Red River Shootout has been played in an exclusive window and FSN does not televise against it, though there are exceptions. For example, Kansas-Kansas St. aired opposite the game on FSN in 2005.
Either way, with FSN doing a 4:30pm game, ABC likely isn't doing a 3:30pm ET start and probably won't coexist with the FSN games. 4:30pm plus 3.5 hours = 8pm. Seems to make some sense.
2) A second indicator is the release of the MAC's regional TV schedule on ESPN Plus. Ohio at Eastern Michigan has been scheduled for a 12pm kickoff. Many of the ESPN Plus affiliates who carry these games are ABC affiliates, as in prior seasons the Cleveland and Detroit affiliates have picked up the MAC package. During the three years that the MAC has had the ESPN Plus syndication package, twice the Red River game has aired at 12pm on ABC and the MAC package has skipped that Saturday.
Now the SEC and Big East packages have aired games during the same time slot, so maybe item #2 means absolutely nothing. Item #1 seems to be a strong indicator when paired with #2 because ABC generally does not coexist with FSN. It would also be surprising that a Red River game would be at 12pm because it would leave the evening Big 12 slot empty (FSN is not planning to do a PAC-10 or Big 12 game that evening).
But its worth keeping an eye on...
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