ESPN: The NFL's *****, but College Football's king

[YankeeFan]

Interesting contrast.

The nation’s annual rite of mayhem and pageantry known as the college football season begins this week, and Saturday will feature back-to-back-to-back marquee matchups.

At the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, last year’s national champions, the Alabama Crimson Tide, will battle the Virginia Tech Hokies in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Classic.

Earlier in the day in Houston, Oklahoma State will play Mississippi State in the Texas Kickoff Classic. And that night in Arlington, Tex., Louisiana State and Texas Christian will face off in the Cowboys Classic.

The games will not just be televised by ESPN. They are creations of ESPN — demonstrations of the sports network’s power over college football.

The teams were not even on each other’s schedules until ESPN, looking to orchestrate early-season excitement and ratings, went to work. The 2013 Chick-fil-A Kickoff Classic came together more than two years ago when one of the network’s programming czars noticed that Alabama was not scheduled to play this Labor Day weekend, brought the Tide on board and found a worthy opponent.

Far beyond televising games, ESPN has become the chief impresario of college football. By infusing the sport with billions of dollars it pays for television rights — more than $10 billion on college football in the last five years alone — ESPN has become both puppet-master and kingmaker, arranging games, setting schedules and bestowing the gift of nationwide exposure on its chosen universities, players and coaches.

nyti.ms/18RGI2U

 

[DanOregon]

It always makes me laugh when college fans defend their weak schedules saying they were made years ago, when either their team was weak or the opponent was good.
Yet, we've seen countless examples of buying out one opponent for another, or bailing out of a game because they want one of these TV paydays.
One of the things I like about the playoff is that I think we'll see more teams scheduling up with at least one tough non-conference game (if they want to be considered for the Final Four).

 

[User 1019]

What gets me is people bitching about weak SEC schedules. Hell, just look at the games the first week.

 

[DanOregon]

The biggest gripe I have about the SEC is the weak sisters they play toward the end of the year. It isn't like they couldn't be playing each other instead of Furman.

 

[Songbird]

1991: Florida at Syracuse

Last time Florida has left the state for a non-con.

 

[heyabbott]

1991: Florida at Syracuse

Last time Florida has left the state for a non-con.

whats their incentive to do it?

 

[Songbird]

Risk something.

LSU goes to Washington.
Georgia goes to Arizona State.
Alabama goes to Penn State, plays Virginia Tech.

Risk something.

 

[Vombatus]

ESPN screws around with when lesser sports, like lacrosse, play their games, and influences (controls) which playoff games are played first on doubleheader days.

Not a fan of how they throw their weight and $$$ around.

 

[User 1019]

Risk something.

LSU goes to Washington.
Georgia goes to Arizona State.
Alabama goes to Penn State, plays Virginia Tech.

Risk something.

So playing perinneal conference champions isn't risking something? When Alabama played Clemson three years ago, the Tigers were ranked third.

TCU is ranked 20th and just a couple years back was ranked in the top five.

Alabama played Florida State a couple years back -- and lost.

Mississippi State isn't challenging itself with Oklahoma State this Saturday?

Georgia's playing a top 10 team Saturday, right?

Is that not risk? I'm confused.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

TV in general, and ESPN in particular also affects how much class time the athlete-students miss. You know, the purpose of why these kids are supposed to be going to school.

 

[User 1019]

These kids aren't in school to be athletes.

 

[Songbird]

Risk something.

LSU goes to Washington.
Georgia goes to Arizona State.
Alabama goes to Penn State, plays Virginia Tech.

Risk something.

So playing perinneal conference champions isn't risking something? When Alabama played Clemson three years ago, the Tigers were ranked third.

TCU is ranked 20th and just a couple years back was ranked in the top five.

Alabama played Florida State a couple years back -- and lost.

Mississippi State isn't challenging itself with Oklahoma State this Saturday?

Georgia's playing a top 10 team Saturday, right?

Is that not risk? I'm confused.

You're validating what I posted about Florida.

I gave a few examples of other top-tier SEC teams risking a hit by going on the road to a power conference -- and you added others.

My point is that now it's Florida's turn to risk something far away from home.

 

[Mark2010]

There have always been a handful of good intersectional games. Scheduling them has become harder in the era of larger conferences and more conference games.

But, yes, I do get concerned about the extent to which ESPN is controlling college football and basketball.

I do remember about 20 years ago, LSU turning down ESPN for a non-conference game because ESPN wanted to move the game to afternoon from it's evening time slot. (I remember because I happened to be covering that game.) Rarely happens anymore.

 

[I Should Coco]

NYT piece was a good read, and I especially liked how they illustrate the way 50-60 schools have become economic/athletic superpowers through football broadcast rights money.

The 4-team playoff will only accelerate the income and influence gap between have and have-not Division I-A schools.

Big-time college football has been a business for quite a long time. ESPN just made the pie a lot bigger for the winners.

 

[Steak Snabler]

one of the network’s programming czars noticed that Alabama was not scheduled to play this Labor Day weekend, brought the Tide on board and found a worthy opponent.

Yes, because if ESPN hadn't created a game for Alabama, the Crimson Tide would have begun the season with an open date.

 

[slappy4428]

one of the network’s programming czars noticed that Alabama was not scheduled to play this Labor Day weekend, brought the Tide on board and found a worthy opponent.

Yes, because if ESPN hadn't created a game for Alabama, the Crimson Tide would have begun the season with an open date.

They sure wouldn't have opened it with UAB.

 

[BTExpress]

My point is that now it's Florida's turn to risk something far away from home.

UF's problem is that its toughest annual non-conference game happens to be in the same state. It's still a road game with 70,000 fans screaming against them, and for more than a decade this was a game against a Top 4 team. Don't really see what the big difference is if they traded a road game at Florida State for an OUT-OF-STATE game at, say, Clemson.

They also have 350-mile trips to Miami every few years (used to be every other year). Yes, it's IN STATE, but it's still further than an out-of-state game against Georgia Tech.

Could they try harder? I guess. But then you have the nonsense that they "lose" a home game by playing UGA in Jacksonville.

Tennessee goes to UCLA, Cal and Oregon, all in one decade. Alabama has upgraded its non-con, and finally so has UGA. LSU is doing well in that regard, too.

 

[TigerVols]

1991: Florida at Syracuse

Last time Florida has left the state for a non-con.

And for every Florida, there's a Tennessee, which goes to Oregon this year and Oklahoma next year.

 

[93Devil]

1991: Florida at Syracuse

Last time Florida has left the state for a non-con.

Mirrors the men's basketball team schedule at the 'Cuse.

 

[93Devil]

Virginia Tech used to live on Thursday night football it seemed and all sorts of other odd times in the early 2000s, but it got them some great exposure.