Non-Conference Scheduling rumors

[Scratch]

The college football bowl season began on a down note Saturday afternoon.

ESPN drew a 1.8 U.S. rating and 2.789 million viewers for the BYU/UTEP New Mexico Bowl Saturday afternoon, down 25% in ratings and 23% in viewership from last year (WYO/FRESNO: 2.4, 3.597 mil), and down 18% and 19%, respectively, from 2008 (COL/FRESNO: 2.2, 3.432 mil).

This marks the least-viewed New Mexico Bowl since 2007 (NM/NEV: 2.353 mil).

This year, the New Mexico Bowl drew a 1.9 for Arizona Nevada, despite going directly up against the Butler upset of Indiana.

[shoganai]

If BYU's fan base is so much more significant, how do you explain years of lackluster bowl TV ratings for BYU? Sincerely curious here, I have been amazed the last few years at how few people have been watching BYU bowl games.

BYU's last two bowl games have been extremely poor. The ones before that have been much better. I can delve into a spreadsheet-like analysis of all this, but I've already been called out for hijacking this thread once, so I'll keep it brief.

BYU's bowl ratings in the last eight years have equaled or beaten the given game's average five out of eight times. The three times it didn't were 2011 and 2012, and then strangely the 2006 Las Vegas Bowl. I'd have to go back and look to see what was going on that year, but memory tells me that's the only time the LV Bowl has ever been played on a Friday night.

The other Vegas Bowls and the New Mexico Bowl all got above-average ratings.

BTW, some of the numbers you're quoting are "overnight" ratings which are not as reliable as the "official" ratings which come out later. For example, the New Mexico Bowl was later ticked up to a 2.11 rating when all the numbers came in.

[shoganai]

http://www.bcsfootball.org/news/story?id=4819384

Here is the best place to view homogenized bowl ratings. They all come from the same sources (unlike Sports Media Watch's articles), and are official numbers from Nielsen).

[Scratch]

Here's the Vegas Bowl summary, first a blurb about this year and historically high ratings:

http://blogs.seattletimes.com/huskyf...yndication=rss

The final numbers are in and the MAACO Bowl Las Vegas, which is owned and operated by ESPN Regional Television (ERT), last Saturday drew the game’s second-highest-rated telecast in a decade and third-highest in its 21-year history.

No. 20/15 Boise State’s thrilling 28-26 victory over first-time visitor Washington December 22 was popular nationally as it earned a rating of 3.3 on ESPN. It trailed only the 2010 MAACO Bowl Las Vegas, which drew a 3.8 for Boise State vs. Utah.

Last year’s MAACO Bowl Las Vegas, which was played on a Thursday night, earned a 2.4 rating for a game between Arizona State and Boise State. The highest-rated Las Vegas Bowl in history came in 2001 when a Christmas Day game featuring USC and Utah was broadcast by ABC and pulled in a 4.7.

“We had a top matchup that came down to the wire with the always-exciting backdrop of Las Vegas,” said MAACO Bowl Las Vegas Executive Director Dan Hanneke. “That’s a combination that’s going to get you great ratings. We’re very proud of the event put on by our city, not just on gameday but all week long.”

This blurb doesn't discuss the BYU-OSU game (which featured 2 top-15 teams, and BYU's opponent was a big conference team), which drew a 2.58 rating. In other words, well below Boise-Washington and Boise-Utah. The '08 Arizona-BYU Vegas Bowl drew a 2.5. The '07 BYU-UCLA Vegas Bowl drew a 2.48. The '06 BYU-Oregon Vegas Bowl drew a 1.97. That was essentially the same as Wyoming-UCLA in '04.

[Scratch]

http://www.bcsfootball.org/news/story?id=4819384

Here is the best place to view homogenized bowl ratings. They all come from the same source (unlike Sports Media Watch's articles), and are official numbers from Nielsen).

Thanks, I could have used that 15 minutes ago. In any event, it seems to show that BYU really is not doing all that well when it comes to bowl TV ratings.

[shoganai]

Here's the Vegas Bowl summary, first a blurb about this year and historically high ratings:

http://blogs.seattletimes.com/huskyf...yndication=rss



This blurb doesn't discuss the BYU-OSU game (which featured 2 top-15 teams, and BYU's opponent was a big conference team), which drew a 2.58 rating. In other words, well below Boise-Washington and Boise-Utah. The '08 Arizona-BYU Vegas Bowl drew a 2.5. The '07 BYU-UCLA Vegas Bowl drew a 2.48. The '06 BYU-Oregon Vegas Bowl drew a 1.97. That was essentially the same as Wyoming-UCLA in '04.

The 2009 Las Vegas Bowl was an outstanding success by all comparisons.

At the time it was the second-highest rated LV Bowl of all time, which was astounding since it was played on a Tuesday night. It smashed the numbers set by the two previous games which had been played on Saturday nights.

'07 and '08 were also very successful years for the LV Bowl. As mentioned, 2006 was the only time they've ever played the game on a Friday night, and the ratings took an unusual slump as a result.

The 2010 game was an absolute blockbuster, especially for a Wednesday night. But, the numbers came back down to Earth the next year, even though the game moved to a more friendly Thursday night slot.

Not surprisingly, the numbers shot up again when the game was played in a Saturday afternoon slot for the first time ever in 2012.

[Pelado]

http://www.fbschedules.com/ncaa-13/m...l-schedule.php

Do we know anything else, yet?

What else do we expect?

[Indy Coug]

http://www.fbschedules.com/ncaa-13/m...l-schedule.php

Do we know anything else, yet?

What else do we expect?

Missouri messageboards yesterday were rumoring a 2013 matchup with BYU in Kansas City.

[shoganai]

http://www.fbschedules.com/ncaa-13/m...l-schedule.php

Do we know anything else, yet?

What else do we expect?

Very likely the Hawaii game is going to get moved.

[lambdacoug]

Missouri messageboards yesterday were rumoring a 2013 matchup with BYU in Kansas City.

I hope so! BYU at Arrowhead would be awesome!

[hostile]

I hope so! BYU at Arrowhead would be awesome!

Andy Reid could be a guest coach.

[Winky Bach]

http://www.fbschedules.com/ncaa-13/m...l-schedule.php

Do we know anything else, yet?

What else do we expect?

I don't think the Indy schedule will look that strong any time soon. That is an amazing slate. I would love to see the game at Arrowhead.

A long time ago Boston College was a name thrown around. I think Bronco even said "teams like Boston College" when talking about teams he wanted to play. Is that game ever going to happen?

[BoylenOver]

Lets be honest, BYU fans were generally less interested this year than most. I dont think BYU commands a big TV market, but they do have more fans than Utah, and you have to look no further than stadium attendance. BSU probably commands more of a TV audience, but has less fans than BYU as well.

Stadium attendance is a grossly imperfect measure.

[All-American]

Stadium attendance is a grossly imperfect measure.

Not as long as it favors us, it isn't.

[Scratch]

Stadium attendance is a grossly imperfect measure.

And this is a gross understatement. Utah is at capacity, so there is no telling how many people would be there is there were more seats, plus factor in how much more expensive seats at Rice-Eccles are, and that makes a big difference as well. Obviously, if you have two identical fan bases and two identical stadiums, you're going to have more people at the stadium that charges much less for tickets.