2022 Conference TV Requirements, Six Day Holds and Likely First Picks

Updated as of 11/22/22 with 6 day TV decisions for 11/25 & 11/26.  

Instead of cluttering up the weekly picks, 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

Six Day Holds Used

ACC: 3 of 4 (10/1, 10/29, 11/19)

American: 2 of 4 (10/29, 11/19)

Big 12: 4 of 4 (10/1, 10/29, 11/5, 11/19)

Big Ten: 3 of 4 (11/5, 11/12, 11/19, 11/26)

MW: 1 of ??? (11/5)

Pac-12: 3 of 4 (11/5, 11/12, 11/19, 11/26)

SEC: 1 of 3 (11/12)

Please note that this is my guess about who chose first in a given Saturday.  This is not a confirmation from either the networks or conferences of who chose first.

	Big Ten	Big 12	Pac-12
8/27/22	FOX: NE vs. NU	--	--
9/3/22	ESPN: ND at OSU	FOX: UTEP at OU	ESPN: UO vs. UGA*
9/10/22	FOX: WSU at UW	FOX: UA at UT	ESPN: USC at STAN
9/17/22	FOX: OU at NE	ESPN: UTSA at UT	ESPN: MSU at UW
9/24/22	ESPN: UW at OSU	FOX: KState at OU	FOX: UO at WSU
10/1/22	FOX: UM at IA	FOX: OKSt at BU	ESPN: ASU at USC
10/8/22	ESPN: OSU at MSU	ESPN: UT vs. OU	FOX: WSU at USC
10/15/22	FOX: PSU at UM	ESPN: OKSt at TCU	FOX: USC at Utah
10/22/22	FOX: IA at OSU	ESPN: TX at OKSt	FOX: UCLA at UO
10/29/22	FOX: OSU at PSU	FOX: OU at ISU	ESPN: STAN at UCLA
11/5/22	ESPN: OSU at NU	FOX: TxTech at TCU	ESPN: Cal at USC
11/12/22	ESPN: NE at UM	ESPN: TCU at UT	FOX: UW at UO
11/19/22	ESPN: IL at UM	FOX: TCU at BU	FOX: USC at UCLA
11/26/22	FOX: UM at OSU	FOX: ISU at TCU	ABC: ND at USC

Both ESPN (ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU) and FOX Sports (FOX & FS1) would normally carry 27 Big Ten games per season.  Because of an arrangement between ESPN and FOX Sports related to ESPN signing Joe Buck as a NFL broadcaster, FOX Sports has received one of ESPN's telecasts, meaning that FOX has one more than a normal season and ESPN has one less.  

For some reason, FOX Sports was able to pull in 29 selections.  Not sure how that happened.  Trying to investigate that occurrence.

Here's the count of selections for each network, including games selected into the future.  This count excludes the conference championship game.

Network	Count
ABC	14
ESPN	4
ESPN2	7
ESPNU	1
Total (Max: 26)	26
FOX	16
FS1	13
Total (Max: 28)	29
BTN	43

All Big Ten schools must appear twice on BTN with at least one of those appearances against another Big Ten school.  All have met that requirement as of 11/19's selections.

CFB TV Confirmations for 2022 Week 5 (10/1/22)

This post will be updated as announcements come out for start times for 10/1/22 from the twelve day selection process that most TV networks adhere to. Most conferences have the possibility of having all or part of their games held for a six day hold for the start time. 

The list of available TV windows are based on media websites, TV listings and press releases. They can change based on the needs of the broadcaster or the conference.

Here's what I guessed based on the available openings (they will prove to be incorrect), along with the games that have already been set. 

All times Eastern

Games on Six Day Hold

NC State at Clemson - 3:30pm ACCN, 7:30pm ACCN, 12pm ABC, 3:30pm ABC or ESPN, 7pm ESPN2 or 7:30pm ABC

Wake Forest at Florida State - 3:30pm ACCN, 7:30pm ACCN, 12pm ABC, 3:30pm ABC or ESPN, 7pm ESPN2 or 7:30pm ABC

Virginia Tech at North Carolina - 3:30pm ACCN, 7:30pm ACCN, 12pm ABC, 3:30pm ABC or ESPN, 7pm ESPN2 or 7:30pm ABC

Georgia Tech at Pitt - 3:30pm ACCN, 7:30pm ACCN, 12pm ABC, 3:30pm ABC or ESPN, 7pm ESPN2 or 7:30pm ABC

Oklahoma State at Baylor - 12pm ABC, 3:30pm ABC or ESPN, 3:30pm FOX, 7pm ESPN2, 7:30pm ABC,  7:30pm FS1

Oklahoma at TCU  - 12pm ABC, 3:30pm ABC or ESPN, 3:30pm FOX, 7pm ESPN2, 7:30pm ABC,  7:30pm FS1

West Virginia at Texas - 12pm ABC, 3:30pm ABC or ESPN, 3:30pm FOX, 7pm ESPN2, 7:30pm ABC,  7:30pm FS1

7pm ESPN2 may be deleted with this the tentative plan for the 1st CFB ManningCast with Pat McAfee

12pm FOX: Michigan at Iowa

12pm ESPN: Kentucky at Ole Miss

12pm ESPN2: Purdue at Minnesota

12pm ESPNU: Temple at Memphis

12pm SEC: South Carolina State at South Carolina

12pm ACC: Louisville at Boston College

12pm BTN: Illinois at Wisconsin

12pm ESPN+: Texas Tech at Kansas State

1:30pm ESPN+: Texas State at James Madison

2pm Pac-12: Oregon State at Utah

2pm ESPN+: Northern Illinois at Ball State

2pm ESPN+: UMass at Eastern Michigan

3:30pm CBS: Alabama at Arkansas

3:30pm ABC/ESPN: Northwestern at Penn State

3:30pm ESPN2/ESPNU: SMU at UCF 

3:30pm ESPN2/ESPNU: Iowa State at Kansas

3:30pm FS1: Michigan State at Maryland

3:30pm NFLN: Central Michigan at Toledo

3:30pm BTN: Rutgers at Ohio State

3:30pm ESPN+: Miami (OH) at Buffalo

3:30pm ESPN+: Ohio at Kent State

3:30pm ESPN+: Bowling Green at Akron

3:30pm ESPN+: Gardner-Webb at Marshall

3:30pm ESPN+: The Citadel at App State

4pm SEC: Texas A&M at Mississippi State

4pm ESPN+: Georgia Southern at Coastal Carolina

5pm ACCNX/ESPN+: Wagner at Syracuse

5pm ESPN+: South Alabama at Louisiana

5:30pm Pac-12: California at Washington State

6pm ESPN3: New Hampshire at Western Michigan

6pm ESPN+: Liberty at Old Dominion

7pm ESPN: LSU at Auburn

7pm ESPNU: Cincinnati at Tulsa

7pm ESPN+: East Carolina at South Florida

7pm ESPN+: ULM at Arkansas State

7:30pm SEC: Georgia at Missouri

7:30pm BTN: Indiana at Nebraska

7:30pm ACC RSNs: Virginia at Duke

9:30pm Pac-12: Colorado at Arizona

10:15pm ESPNU: UC Davis at Montana State

10:30pm ESPN: Arizona State at USC

11pm FS1: Stanford at Oregon

CFB TV Guesses for 2022 Week 5 (10/1/22)

Here are the games already set for television and/or webcast. Here are the known available telecast windows. 

I have done my best to list what TV windows are out there. Every listing service has a little different schedule for these networks. It is also possible that a window could be eliminated or the time of a window could shift slightly to accommodate a network's needs.

A few notes and considerations:

Preselected for time and/or TV, but not both:

Games where either the time or TV network has been set, but not both

* Northwestern at Penn State (ESPN Networks, Time TBD)

* Purdue at Minnesota (TV TBD, 12pm)

* Rutgers at Ohio State (TV TBD, 3:30pm)

* Indiana at Nebraska (TV TBD, 7pm or 7:30pm ET)

* UC Davis at Montana State (ESPN2 or ESPNU, 10:15pm)

Notes

* Zap2It indicated that CBS was choosing between Alabama at Arkansas and LSU at Auburn.

* FS1 doesn't have a 12pm ET slot available due to a NASCAR Truck Series race.

* I gave FOX the top Big Ten and Pac-12 choices, and ESPN received the top Big 12 choice.

* I think its valid to question whether Rutgers at Ohio State could have been FOX's top choice, but as mentioned above, it is locked to the 3:30pm time slot as OSU's homecoming game. So I went with Michigan at Iowa over the 2nd Big 12 selection (in this set of guesses, West Virginia at Texas).  There's precedent for FOX having their best game outside of the "Big Noon" slot.  Example involved OSU's homecoming last season vs. Maryland on 10/9, when FOX ended up putting Penn State at Iowa at 4pm along with taking their pregame show to Iowa City.

* I probably would have had Rutgers at Ohio State on BTN if Michigan State had not lost to Washington. Wake Forest at Florida State would have slotted in to the ABC 3:30pm slot.

* In a very long roundabout way, FOX taking Michigan at Iowa for Big Noon is also a justification for  NC State at Clemson being the primetime game.  Not that the game isn't worth a primetime slot as both should come in to the game highly ranked, though Clemson does have the tougher Week 4 opponent in Wake Forest. 

* Kentucky at Ole Miss doesn't scream "ESPN Primetime" but its not easy to place it at 12pm ET and, say, LSU at Auburn in primetime instead.  Part of balancing name brands vs. worthiness.  Three of the four play non-conference games that they should be favored in, and Auburn is favored over Missouri in Week 4.  All things being equal and expectations holding to form, Kentucky at Ole Miss is more worthy.

* TV listings indicated three windows for Pac-12 Networks.

* At this time, ESPNU lists a 30 for 30 rerun at 10pm ET, so that seems to default UC Davis at Montana State to ESPN2.

* A case could be made that Oregon State at Utah should be ahead of Stanford at Oregon in the Pac-12 order, assuming ESPN picks ahead of Pac-12 Networks.  If that were to occur, move the ESPN window up 30 minutes to 10pm ET as the TV window has to start no later than 8pm local time.

All times Eastern

12pm ABC: Oklahoma at TCU

12pm FOX: Michigan at Iowa

12pm ESPN: LSU at Auburn

12pm ESPN2: Northwestern at Penn State

12pm ESPNU: Cincinnati at Tulsa

12pm SEC: South Carolina State at South Carolina

12pm ACC: Georgia Tech at Pitt

12pm BTN: Purdue at Minnesota

12:30pm ACC RSNs: Virginia at Duke

3pm Pac-12: California at Washington State

3:30pm ABC: Rutgers at Ohio State

3:30pm CBS: Alabama at Arkansas

3:30pm FOX: West Virginia at Texas

3:30pm ESPN: Wake Forest at Florida State

3:30pm ESPN2: Oklahoma State at Baylor

3:30pm FS1: Iowa State at Kansas

3:30pm ESPNU: SMU at UCF

3:30pm ACC: Louisville at Boston College

3:30pm BTN: Michigan State at Maryland

4pm SEC: Texas A&M at Mississippi State

6:30pm Pac-12: Oregon State at Utah

7pm ESPN: Kentucky at Ole Miss

7pm ESPN2: Texas Tech at Kansas State

7pm NFLN: Georgia Southern at Coastal Carolina

7pm ESPNU: Temple at Memphis

7:30pm ABC: NC State at Clemson

7:30pm FS1: Illinois at Wisconsin

7:30pm SEC: Georgia at Missouri

7:30pm ACC: Virginia Tech at North Carolina

7:30pm BTN: Indiana at Nebraska

10pm Pac-12: Colorado at Arizona

10:15pm ESPN2: UC Davis at Montana State

10:30pm ESPN: Stanford at Oregon

11pm FS1: Arizona State at USC

Streaming (ESPN3/ESPN+/ACCNX)

Wagner at Syracuse

East Carolina at South Florida

Bowling Green at Akron

Northern Illinois at Ball State

Miami (OH) at Buffalo

Ohio at Kent State

Central Michigan at Toledo

New Hampshire at Western Michigan

The Citadel at App State

ULM at Arkansas State

South Alabama at Louisiana

Texas State at James Madison

Gardner-Webb at Marshall

Liberty at Old Dominion

CFB TV Confirmations for 2022 Week 4 (9/24/22)

This post will be updated as announcements come out for start times for 9/24/22 from the twelve day selection process that most TV networks adhere to. Most conferences have the possibility of having all or part of their games held for a six day hold for the start time. 

The list of available TV windows are based on media websites, TV listings and press releases. They can change based on the needs of the broadcaster or the conference.

Here's what I guessed based on the available openings (they will prove to be incorrect), along with the games that have already been set. 

All times Eastern

12pm ABC: Clemson at Wake Forest

12pm FOX: Maryland at Michigan

12pm ESPN: Missouri at Auburn

12pm ESPN2/ESPNU: Baylor at Iowa State

12pm ESPN2/ESPNU: TCU at SMU

12pm FS1: Duke at Kansas

12pm SECN: Bowling Green at Mississippi State

12pm BTN: Central Michigan at Penn State

12pm ACCN: Rhode Island at Pitt

12pm CBSSN: Buffalo at Eastern Michigan

12pm ACC RSNs: South Florida at Louisville

2pm Pac-12: UCLA at Colorado

2pm ESPN+: UMass at Temple

2pm ESPN+: Fordham at Ohio

3:30pm CBS: Florida at Tennessee

3:30pm ABC/ESPN: Texas at Texas Tech 

3:30pm ABC/ESPN: Notre Dame at North Carolina

3:30pm ESPN2: Georgia Tech at UCF OR Indiana at Cincinnati

3:30pm FS1: Toledo at San Diego State

3:30pm BTN: Minnesota at Michigan State

3:30pm ACCN: Middle Tennessee at Miami (FL)

3:30pm ESPN+: North Texas at Memphis

3:30pm ESPN+: James Madison at App State

4pm FOX: Oregon at Washington State

4pm ESPNU: Georgia Tech at UCF OR Indiana at Cincinnati

4pm SECN: Tulsa at Ole Miss

5:30pm Pac-12: Arizona at California

6pm ESPN+: Akron at Liberty

6pm ESPN+: Navy at East Carolina

6pm ESPN+: Rice at Houston

6pm ESPN+: Ball State at Georgia Southern

6pm ESPN+: Arkansas State at Old Dominion

7pm ESPN: Arkansas vs. Texas A&M

7pm ESPN2: Northern Illinois at Kentucky 

7pm FS1: Iowa at Rutgers

7pm NFLN: Marshall at Troy

7pm ESPN3: Houston Baptist at Texas State

7pm ESPN+: Southern Miss at Tulane

7pm ESPN+: Louisiana Tech at South Alabama

7:30pm ABC: Wisconsin at Ohio State

7:30pm ESPNU: Charlotte at South Carolina

7:30pm SECN: Vanderbilt at Alabama

7:30pm BTN: Miami (OH) at Northwestern

7:30pm ACC RSNs: UConn at NC State

8pm FOX: Kansas State at Oklahoma

8pm ACCN: Boston College at Florida State

8pm ESPN+: Louisiana at ULM

9:30pm Pac-12: USC at Oregon State

10:15pm ESPN/ESPN2: Wyoming at BYU 

10:30pm ESPN/ESPN2: Utah at Arizona State

10:30pm FS1: Stanford at Washington

CFB TV Guesses for 2022 Week 4 (9/24/22)

Here are the games already set for television and/or webcast. Here are the known available telecast windows. 

I have done my best to list what TV windows are out there. Every listing service has a little different schedule for these networks. It is also possible that a window could be eliminated or the time of a window could shift slightly to accommodate a network's needs.

A few notes and considerations:

Preselected for time and/or TV, but not both:

FOX Sports

Maryland at Michigan (12pm, FS1 or FOX)

Florida Atlantic at Purdue (7:30pm, BTN)

Toledo at San Diego State (FOX, FS1 or FS2)

Miami (OH) at Northwestern (BTN)

Central Michigan at Penn State (BTN)

ESPN Networks

Wisconsin at Ohio State (ABC)

* BTN has two games listed for their 7:30pm window on their website's schedule. Florida Atlantic at Purdue is one of those games. It was set in May for that time as Purdue's homecoming game.

* Two ACC RSN windows are appearing in TV listings

* Early listings for the CBS window had either Florida at Tennessee or Arkansas vs. Texas A&M as their choice. I went with Florida at Tennessee after Saturday's results

* The NFL Network sublicense from ESPN is going to be an interesting pick each week. I'm assuming that it will be a mix of AAC, C-USA, MAC and Sun Belt. App State's upset of Texas A&M put them in front of others

* I think a good case could be made for swapping Wyoming at BYU and Stanford at Washington in their respective ESPN2 slots.  It would likely change the Stanford at Washington start to 10:30pm ET.

All times Eastern

12pm ABC: Clemson at Wake Forest

12pm FOX: Maryland at Michigan

12pm ESPN: Texas at Texas Tech
12pm ESPN2: Georgia Tech at UCF

12pm FS1: Duke at Kansas

12pm ESPNU: Charlotte at South Carolina

12pm SECN: Northern Illinois at Kentucky

12pm BTN: Central Michigan at Penn State

12pm ACCN: UConn at NC State

12pm CBSSN: Buffalo at Eastern Michigan

12:30pm ACC RSNs: Rhode Island at Pitt

3pm Pac-12: UCLA at Colorado

3:30pm ABC: Notre Dame at North Carolina

3:30pm CBS: Florida at Tennessee

3:30pm ESPN: Minnesota at Michigan State

3:30pm ESPN2: Stanford at Washington

3:30pm FS1: Baylor at Iowa State

3:30pm ESPNU: Indiana at Cincinnati

3:30pm BTN: Iowa at Rutgers

3:30pm ACCN: Middle Tennessee at Miami (FL)

4pm FOX: Kansas State at Oklahoma

4pm SECN: Bowling Green at Mississippi State

7pm ESPN: Arkansas vs. Texas A&M

7pm ESPN2: Missouri at Auburn

7pm FS1: Toledo at San Diego State

7pm NFLN: James Madison at App State

7pm ESPNU: Tulsa at Ole Miss

7:30pm ABC: Wisconsin at Ohio State

7:30pm SECN: Vanderbilt at Alabama

7:30pm BTN: Miami (OH) at Northwestern

7:30pm ACCN: Boston College at Florida State

7:30pm ACC RSNs: South Florida at Louisville

8pm FOX: Oregon at Washington State

9:30pm Pac-12: Arizona at California

10:15pm ESPN2: Wyoming at BYU

10:30pm ESPN: USC at Oregon State

10:30pm FS1: Utah at Arizona State

Streaming (ESPN+/ESPN3/ACCNX)

TCU at SMU

Rice at Houston

Navy at East Carolina

North Texas at Memphis

UMass at Temple

Southern Miss at Tulane

Akron at Liberty

Ball State at Georgia Southern

Louisiana Tech at South Alabama

Houston Baptist at Texas State

Marshall at Troy

Louisiana at ULM

Arkansas State at Old Dominion

MLB Postseason Considerations with College Football TV Scheduling

If you haven't heard, the MLB postseason is throwing some curveballs at college football TV scheduling this year.  With the early season work stoppage pushing the schedule back several days, it affected when some series start, finish, and when some networks would have Saturday MLB commitments.

* Two Saturday nights could be out of play for FOX.  October 29th will have World Series Game 2 and, if necessary, November 5th will be Game 7.

What does that mean for scheduling on each date?  Let's start with October 29th because it is a guaranteed date for baseball.  FOX Sports preselected four games for that week involving the conferences they have rights to:

• Utah at Washington State (Thursday night)
• Oklahoma at Iowa State
• Colorado State at Boise State
• San Diego State at Fresno State

Its also been strongly rumored that Ohio State at Penn State will be the Big Noon game on FOX, but that is not official at this time.  My expectation is that if the Big Ten game is at noon, Oklahoma at Iowa State could be the game following it on FOX.

FS1 has four opening available at this time, so they could carry the two MW games plus two other games from either the Big Ten, Big 12 or Pac-12.  They could also toss one of the MW games on FS2.

Also, BTN is scheduled to carry two women's volleyball matches, so that will take out one CFB window.  Each match gets allotted a two hour window.

Currently, both ESPN and ESPN2 are scheduled to carry a 10:30pm game, so they may end up with two Pac-12 games out of the four available on Saturday.

One other consideration: Northwestern at Iowa is Iowa's homecoming game and will be a mid-afternoon game (3pm or 3:30pm ET).

As for November 5th, FOX Sports again has two Mountain West games, but nothing else.  At the moment, they're not intending to carry a mid-afternoon game on FOX either.  There's a full schedule of the Big 12 and Big Ten that day, and ESPN2 will take a Friday night Pac-12 game.  They really can't plan for a college football window they might not be able to fulfill, so I'd expect them to assume a maximum of six five games across FOX (2 1) and FS1 (4).  If they toss a game on FS2 and there's a opening on FOX that night, maybe they can rotate games up at the last minute.

EDIT: I neglected to check the MLS playoff schedule and the MLS Cup is scheduled to air on FOX on 11/5.  There's only one college football window for FOX that day.  Assuming a primetime game for the World Series, the MLS Cup likely features in the mid-afternoon on the broadcast network.

* 10/22 could have NLCS Game 4 on FOX or FS1.  I *think* this could be a primetime game, but both TBS and FOX Sports would carry LDS games that day.  FOX Sports took two MW games and four Big Ten homecoming games are scheduled for that day: Indiana at Rutgers (12pm), Northwestern at Maryland & Purdue at Wisconsin (3:30pm), and Minnesota at Penn State (7:30pm).  

BTN will not have a night game due to women's volleyball.  FS1 is also committed to a NASCAR Truck Series race in the early afternoon so they'll be down one window on that network right off the bat.

* FS1 could have a conflict for up to two college football windows if both NLDS reach a Game 4 on 10/15.  FOX preselected one MW game and two Big Ten homecoming games have their start times locked that day: Wisconsin at Michigan State (mid-afternoon) and Minnesota at Illinois (12pm ET).

BTN will lose one game window that day at either 4pm or 8pm ET for women's volleyball.

FS1 already took one Big 12 game that week for Thursday night: Baylor at West Virginia, so that may affect the number of selections they take on from the conference.  Three other Big 12, three Big Ten and four Pac-12 games are available that day

* Now for ESPN's conundrum on 10/8 as that day is guaranteed to have four MLB postseason games.  Currently the MLB game windows that day are at 3:30pm and 7pm ET on ESPN and 5pm & 8:30pm ET on ESPN2.

This happens to be CBS's week to carry the top two SEC choices at 3:30pm and 8pm.  What this likely means is that ESPN and ESPN2 at 12pm will be SEC games and the remaining three SEC games would get sent to SEC Network.  Tentatively, there's a 10:30pm ET window on ESPN as well for what I would assume is a Pac-12 game.

ABC is committed to three game windows but one will be Texas vs. Oklahoma, so across ABC, ESPN and ESPN2, there's a max of five game windows open with two on ESPN and ESPN2 for the SEC.

Wisconsin at Northwestern is locked to mid-afternoon if that were to be considered for ABC.

The ACC has seven games available that day, six of them intraconference games.  Could end up being a day for the ACC RSN doubleheader.

There's no ESPN Thursday night game on 10/6 to alleviate the logjam.  They've scheduled two NBA preseason games for ESPN that evening.  If this were a normal MLB season ending on a Sunday, I think this particular Thursday would have had MLB games instead and freed ESPN from any college football conflicts on Saturdays from MLB.

* One of the items that ESPN would often plan around is UFC, but it appears that the three pay-per-view prelims from September-November will be shown on ESPNEWS and none of them confict with any ESPN MLB postseason events

Are we back to the CFA with more TV access?

I'm sure by now you've seen the news that the Big Ten has accepted USC and UCLA as new members starting with the 2024-25 athletic year.  Compared to the news regarding Oklahoma and Texas moving to the SEC for the same athletic year, the move was lightspeed fast, with news breaking after noon Eastern and being confirmed by all parties later in the day, where the SEC move happened over the course of days once the news broke during SEC Media Days last year.

The timing of getting the move announced by all parties makes sense because of the need for two years notice to keep whatever penalties the Pac-12 would levy to a minimum.  The athletic calendar for 2022-23 ended yesterday, so they gave two years of notice in terms of athletic calendars.

I made a comment yesterday with the news breaking that college football is going back to its CFA roots, with a few networks contracting with a large number of schools for college football coverage.  Here's what I'm seeing:

The CFA solidified itself after a false start in the early 80s after the NCAA lost a Supreme Court case in 1984 regarding how they controlled the TV rights for college football. At this point, conferences and several large independents began to band together in some cases to pitch their TV rights as a group and created the College Football Association to sell those rights as a group, with the Big Ten and Pac-10 keeping their rights for a separate package to pitch. Both groups sold their rights to national networks like ABC, CBS and ESPN. Most conferences also kept the ability to sell regionally syndicated games to outlets like Raycom Sports, Creative Sports and Turner Sports (Turner produced games for the Big Ten for a few years and syndicated them instead of showing them on WTBS).

As you can see with the CFA, selling a TV package of rights for 50+ schools when network TV often regionalized 3-4 games at a time over 1-2 TV windows a week, plus a cable TV game each week on ESPN meant that some schools weren't being shown enough to their liking. Cracks began in the early 90s when NBC took over rights to all Notre Dame home games from the CFA contract, along with games that Notre Dame would sell to networks like SportsChannel America and WGN. Several conferences began to reorganize with the SEC, ACC, Big Ten and Big East all expanding to varying degrees, while the Southwest Conference, Big Eight and WAC all made plans to reconfigure to make themselves more palatable to TV networks.  While all of that was going on, the SEC and Big East elected to leave the CFA for agreements with CBS and the CFA was no more as conferences pursued individual agreements with networks and syndicators.

The CFA ended in 1996.  26 years later, we're moving back in that direction.  Let's look at the moves that both the SEC and the Big Ten are making.  They're bringing schools into their tents to increase the value of their TV agreements with these networks.  Economics are being used to determine which schools are going to bring increases.  The SEC deal where all content is with ESPN puts the SEC in the new position of being a television agent for these schools.  Same with the Big Ten, where FOX Sports acts as an adviser towards the TV rights.

I don't know where it leaves the ACC, Big 12 and Pac-12.  I don't know if it means group TV rights for these parties, at least for the Big 12 or Pac-12 since the ACC is currently anchored to a TV deal for another decade, or independent negotiations.  And now there's no sense in engaging with either of those parties early because there's no clue how those conferences will even be configured.  Remember back to when the American (was it named that at that point?) intended to go to the market with Boise State, San Diego State, Louisville, Rutgers and others expecting a rights fee of X and by the time membership settled, none of those schools were going to remain in the conference and their discussions with potential media partners had a vastly different turnout.

As for those big tents of the SEC, as they get bigger and bigger, the schools need to see how TV can get their games out to the masses.  We've went away from regionally televised games on ABC & CBS in favor of full national telecasts, though we have more networks involved. Everybody wants to be seen on a channel they can find every Saturday they play, but in a media universe where we're not growing out in terms of the number of outlets, but consolidating under digital umbrellas, is the increase in rights going to match up with the change in visibility? 

I don't know and I'm not certain anyone at those TV networks or conferences has a great handle on it either, but they're going to play the strategies they know.