ACC Football More Popular Than You Think
by Brian Favat on Feb 28, 2012 12:00 PM EST
in Boston College Football
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Frank The Tank's Slant pulled out some very interesting TV viewership numbers from a Nielsen presentation on TV viewership, social networking buzz and ad spend. Of particular note to college sports fans is slide 9, which gives us the average TV viewer numbers per game for each of the 6 power conferences for both football and basketball.
ACC football pulled in the third larger viewership total of the BCS AQ conferences, averaging 2,650,000 viewers. Only the SEC (4,447,000) and Big Ten (3,267,000) drew a larger average TV audience. Despite sub-par results on the field, the ACC still was a better TV draw than the Big 12 (2,347,000), Pac-12 (2,108,000) and Big East (1,884,000).
The conference was even stronger in hoops, averaging a viewership of 1,247,000, second best of the major conferences and only behind the Big Ten (1,496,000). Better than the SEC (1,222,000), Big 12 (1,069,000), Big East (1,049,000) and Pac-12 (783,000).
So what does it all mean?
This means that the ACC's current TV contract with ESPN is massively undervalued, and Larry Scott is a miracle worker:
B. The ACC has an undervalued TV contract - The flip side of the Big Ten and SEC analysis above is that while the ACC's basketball viewership strength isn't unexpected, the much maligned football side actually has strong TV numbers. If you take a step back for a moment, it makes sense. Florida State and Miami continue to be great national TV draws (even when they're down) and schools such as Virginia Tech bring in large state markets.
Also, if you want to get even more frustrated with the lack of a playoff in Division I-A college football (no, a playoff of two teams is not a playoff), check out the Total Ad Spend 2007-10 graphic on slide 9 which compares college basketball and football ad spend.
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This needs to be presented in Greensboro pronto
And then sent down to Charlotte to shove in the faces of the suits at ESPN. There is value in the ACC, and people want to watch/go to these games. And I bet if you included the olympic sports it would be seen also in a higher number.
I think the ACC needs to redo the current contract once the two new teams are added, and get it’s Tier 3 rights back so that fans can watch games on the tv, not an online back server network.
Don't give up, don't ever give up ~ Jim Valvano
Great point about the Olympic sports
I went back and forth on whether to call the ACC’s current TV contract just “undervalued” or “massively undervalued” and finally decided on the latter given the marginal value add of the Olympic sports package.
ACC men’s lax best in nation going away.
ACC baseball on par with SEC in terms of interest / viewership I’ll bet.
ACC soccer best conference in country.
And so on, and so forth.
Editor, BC Interruption
by Brian Favat on Feb 28, 2012 1:24 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Not to mention womens basketball
Fox Sports would kill for us, merely for Duke/UNC basketball and Miami/FSU football games. This contract is massively undervalued, and is not paying near the total networth of the conference.
Don't give up, don't ever give up ~ Jim Valvano
John Swofford FAIL
It’s a catch-22 though. The ACC needs ESPN as much as ESPN needs the ACC.
Fox Sports is small time IMO. A better suitor would be NBCUniversal, who’s trying to build out programming for the network formerly known as Versus. There’s also the obvious Notre Dame synergies, though I’m not convinced I want the Irish in the conference.
Editor, BC Interruption
BC Joining The ACC Debate in 2003
Ah, my first post!
It was 20 against and me. LMAO! True!
Now BC is in the $$$$$$ and we can’t hire an AD and a Football Urban Meyer and Swofxckford uses GDF as his beetch.
You wanted to stay in the Big East? Doubt you’d find many who will stick by that given what has transpired…
Boston College vs. San Diego State! Tuesday night football!! Catch the excitement!!!
Editor, BC Interruption
No I was the only one who wanted the dynamic ACC!!
LMAO!
My words, financial windfall, spectacular move and pounded a stubborn GDF to re-approach and get BC out of the Big East!
GDF had to be pushed back then.
The writing was on the wall in the Big East. Multiple missteps along the way …
1) Not inviting Penn State
2) Not solving the basketball/football split
3) Not prioritizing football even though all of the money/influence/power was shifting away from hoops to basketball
Telling that the Big East managed to scare off every college football program of any worth — Miami, Virginia Tech, BC, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, West Virginia.
Editor, BC Interruption
by Brian Favat on Feb 29, 2012 10:04 AM EST up reply actions
Boy Those were the Days!!
Huge battles on the old Eagle Insider before it was repeatedly ruined years later by a few immature filthy pigs; and back then it was ACC me versus the entire old Big East Cabal, which I saw as a dying conference and the huge upside and lucrative ACC and how we could compete on all levels including lacrosse.
They finally realized and knew back then after I pounded and e-mailed GDF, and he finally re-approached the ACC for admittance, who their intellectual Daddy was and still do on the other porno filled site which still references and smears my name over and over again like obssessed twisted juveniles.
One bad apple or 3 spoils the whole bunch and that site has a degenerate orchard that drove away some really hysterical, cool and informative BC Guys who should post here!
That is why this site and its parent and links is the ONE TRUE SOURCE of BC Sports and posting.
The other blog Eagle Action, is what it is for years, a backwards selective censorship TOB and Spazoo sad faced apology epicenter for mostly uninformed idiot losers and MerryMen who want Holy Cross and low end bowl games.
I WANT TITLES. Same theme in 10 years.
Things could have been VERY different if Syracuse jumped to the ACC along with Miami and Virginia Tech.
BC might have broken through and played in the BCS but at what cost? Hindsight is 20/20 of course, and BC and Pitt/UConn probably end up in the ACC anyway, but I think the decline of football and hoops would have happened sooner had BC stayed in the Big East and Syracuse gotten the call up.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Syracuse football has slogged through its worst half-decade in program history in the years following Miami, VT and BC’s departure. That, combined with Rutgers finally waking up and recruiting NJ really set the Orange program back many years. Could have been even worse than it already is for BC football.
Editor, BC Interruption
by Brian Favat on Feb 29, 2012 10:09 AM EST up reply actions
Not saying Larry Scott isn't a miracle worker
But he was starting from a pretty low bar. The prior Pac10 contract was considered the worse of the Big6, even than the BE. What he did was huge, but it looks even better in comparison. Keep in mind, those Pac12 numbers were under the old contact with all it’s bad tie-ins and time slots. They will improve greatly with ESPN/Fox giving the Pac12 many more national TV games and earlier start times. The real miracle Scott did was to get all that money and only give up 55% of the game, and not all of the best ones either. With all the content, some premium, for the Pac12 network, the revenue projections are pushing per team payouts to the $35M range.
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