College football on television

College football on television includes the broadcasting of college football games, as well as pre- and post-game reports, analysis, and human-interest stories. Within the United States, the college version of American football annually garners high television ratings.

College football games have been broadcast since 1939, beginning with the 1939 Waynesburg vs. Fordham football game on September 30 in New York City. The introduction of sports-specific television networks has increased the amount of air-time available for coverage. Today, dozens of games are available for viewing each week of the football season. Other coverage includes local broadcasts of weekly coach's programs. These programs have become an important sources of revenue for the universities and their athletics programs.

Televising the games allows alumni to follow their alma mater's team, as well as competing schools and top-ranked schools nationally. Not all games are televised. Coverage is dependent on negotiations between the broadcaster and the college football conference or team. In general, major programs will be televised more often than smaller programs. The televised games may change from year-to-year depending on which teams are having a strong season, although some traditional rivalry games are broadcast each year. Major match-ups between top-ranked teams or major rivals are often broadcast nationally. Some games are traditionally associated with a specific event or holiday, and viewing the game itself can become a holiday tradition for fans. Post-season bowl games, including the Bowl Championship Series, are presently all televised, most of them by the ESPN networks.

History

The first televised college football game occurred during the "experimental" era of television's broadcasting history, when a game between Fordham University and Waynesburg College was broadcast on September 30, 1939. One month later, Kansas State's homecoming contest against the University of Nebraska was the second to be broadcast on October 23, 1939 . The following season, on October 5, 1940, what is described as the "first commercially televised game" between the University of Maryland and the University of Pennsylvania was broadcast by Philco. Fairly sporadic broadcasts continued throughout World War II.

By 1950, a small number of prominent football schools, including Penn (ABC) and the University of Notre Dame (DuMont Television Network) had entered into individual contracts with networks to broadcast their games regionally. In fact, all of Penn's home games were broadcast on ABC during the 1950 season under a contract that paid Penn $150,000. However, prior to the 1951 season, the NCAA – alarmed by reports that indicated television decreased attendance at games – asserted control and prohibited live broadcasts of games. Although the NCAA successfully forced Penn and Notre Dame to break their contracts, the NCAA suffered withering attacks for its 1951 policy, faced threats of antitrust hearings and eventually caved in and lifted blackouts of certain sold-out games. Bowl games were always outside the control of the NCAA, and the 1952 Rose Bowl at the end of that season was the first truly national telecast of a college football game, on NBC.

For the 1952 season, the NCAA relented somewhat, but limited telecasts to one nationally-broadcast game each week. The NCAA sold the exclusive rights to broadcast the weekly game to NBC for $1,144,000. The first game shown under this contract was Texas Christian University against the University of Kansas, on September 20, 1952. In 1953, the NCAA allowed NBC to add what it called "panorama" coverage of multiple regional broadcasts for certain weeks – shifting national viewers to the most interesting game during its telecast.

The NCAA believed that broadcasting one game a week would prevent further controversy while limiting any decrease in attendance. However, the Big Ten Conference was unhappy with the arrangement, and it pressured the NCAA to allow regional telecasts as well. Finally, in 1955 the NCAA revised its plan, keeping eight national games while permitting true regional telecasts during five specified weeks of the season. This was essentially the television plan that stayed in place until the University of Oklahoma and the University of Georgia filed suit against the NCAA in 1981, alleging antitrust violations.

Decentralization

On June 27, 1984, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in NCAA v. Board of Regents of Univ. of Oklahoma that the NCAA's television plan violated the Sherman Antitrust Act. As a result, individual schools and athletic conferences were freed to negotiate contracts on their own behalf. Together with the growth of cable television, this ruling resulted in the explosion of broadcast options currently available.

However, in the immediate wake of the ruling, most schools still decided to jointly negotiate their television contracts through the now-defunct College Football Association. The Big Ten Conference and Pacific-10 Conference were not members of the CFA, opting to negotiate their own TV deals.

When Notre Dame left the CFA to sign an exclusive deal with NBC in 1991, it shocked the college football world and marked the true beginning of the modern era. By 1995, the CFA had fallen apart completely.

One of the most significant side-effects of the changes in television policy since 1991 has been the sharp decrease in independent schools and realignment of athletic conferences, as schools sought to pool and increase their bargaining power. Television has also driven the trend of universities (generally mid-majors) playing football on weekdays rather than the traditional Saturdays, in order to have their games broadcast.

Each college playing a televised football game is allowed to run a commercial for its school during the halftime break, as is each school's conference (if applicable).

Broadcast rights

Networks

ABC

ABC has been airing college football since acquiring the NCAA contract in 1966. Chris Schenkel and Bud Wilkinson were the number one broadcast team. Keith Jackson, its best-known college football play-by-play man, announced games from 1966 through 2005 on ABC (and for 14 years before that for various outlets), and was considered by many to be "the voice of college football." From 1966 through 1981, ABC was the exclusive network home for regular season NCAA football telecasts. In 1982 and 1983, ABC and CBS split the package. In 1984, after the NCAA television contract was invalidated by the U.S. Supreme Court, ABC began a three-year deal televising CFA games, featuring most major college teams except members of the Big Ten and Pacific-10, the Atlantic Coast Conference and the University of Miami, the games of which were televised by CBS. From 1987 to 1990, ABC televised Big Ten and Pacific-10 games. Since 1991, ABC has had contracts with most of the major BCS conferences, which leads it to broadcast many of its games regionally. ABC began airing a weekly Saturday night primetime football game in the fall of 2006, when the network's sports division converted to ESPN on ABC. Nearly all regional ABC games that air on a given Saturday are also available as part of a pay-per-view package called ESPN GamePlan, and online via ESPN3.

NBC

NBC broadcast the Rose Bowl beginning in 1952 until the 1988 Rose Bowl when ABC took over. It had the Orange Bowl from 1965 through 1995. NBC has an exclusive contract with Notre Dame, which began in 1991. Since that time, NBC has carried nationally all of Notre Dame's home games, paying at least $9 million per season for broadcast rights. Recently, Notre Dame's ratings have been down significantly due to relatively poor play; Notre Dame games on NBC drew less than half the ratings that CBS and ABC averaged for their college football games in 2008. NBC is also the home of the annual "Bayou Classic" between Grambling State University and Southern University at the Louisiana Superdome. The game is well known for its Battle of the Bands between the schools at halftime.

CBS

CBS shared the NCAA package with ABC in 1982 and 1983. From 1984 to 1986, CBS televised games involving the Big Ten, Pacific-10, and Atlantic Coast Conferences, plus the University of Miami. From 1987 to 1990, CBS televised CFA, ACC and Miami games. CBS broadcast several important games in the 1980s, such as the classic Boston College–Miami game that ended with Doug Flutie's Hail Mary on November 23, 1984, and the "Catholics vs. Convicts" showdowns between Notre Dame and Miami from 1987 to 1990. CBS did not televise any regular season college football games from 1991 to 1995. The network aired Big East games from 1996–2000, and since 1996 has broadcast SEC games. CBS currently holds the right for the first pick for any game where an SEC team is at home, along with the rights to televise the SEC Championship game. The network also broadcasts the annual Army–Navy Game, the Navy–Notre Dame game in even-numbered years (where Navy is the home team and chooses to play in a larger stadium), and the Sun Bowl on New Year's Eve.

Fox

Fox did not broadcast any regular season games through 2010, but had the rights to the Bowl Championship Series from the 2006 through the 2009 seasons. They covered all BCS games except for the Rose Bowl (the Sugar Bowl, Fiesta Bowl and Orange Bowl as well as the BCS Championship Game, except when the championship game is held at the Rose Bowl). In 2010, the BCS title game was be carried by ABC at the Rose Bowl. Fox also has broadcast the Cotton Bowl Classic since 1999, which is currently the only college football game on Fox each year. Fox will air the Big Ten Championship Game, which starts in 2011 in a contract that runs until 2016. Fox will also broadcast the first Pac-12 Championship in 2011. Beginning in 2012, Fox will broadcast regular season college football games from the Pac-12 and will rotate the Pac-12 Championship game with the ESPN family of networks for a period of 12 years. They will also broadcast some college basketball games from the Pac-12 men's tournament.

Syndication

In addition, Raycom Sports and ESPN Plus syndicate games to broadcast stations and regional sports networks on a market-by-market basis.

Cable stations

TBS became the first cable station to nationally broadcast college football live when it began airing games during the 1982 season. The games were aired under a special "supplemental" television contract with the NCAA. ESPN followed later the same year, starting with a simulcast of the Independence Bowl match-up between Kansas State and the University of Wisconsin on December 11, 1982, which was the first college football game shown live on ESPN. (TBS subsequently left the field for several years, but again broadcast college football games from 2002–2006, showing Big 12 and Pac-10 matchups sublicensed from Fox Sports Net.)

In the wake of the 1984 Supreme Court ruling that broke the NCAA monopoly, ESPN immediately began airing regular season games live, starting with a contest between Pittsburgh and BYU on September 1, 1984. The network aired a 48-game package that year. ESPN2 began broadcasting live games in 1994, ESPNU began in 2005.

ABC gets first choice of games over the ESPN networks, especially from the Big East, Big Ten, and ACC, because ABC and ESPN are owned by the same company. Many marquee games will still air on ESPN so they can air in prime-time, without being limited to regional viewers or GamePlan subscribers, but not giving non-cable owners a chance to see the games (unlike the NFL, games on ESPN are not required to be simulcast on over-the-air stations in local markets). This also occurs because CBS, not ABC, owns broadcast TV rights to the SEC, and thus only the ESPN networks can air the second and third-choice games (normally on Saturday nights); CBS having made the first pick. Likewise, FSN is the cable partner for Big 12 and Pac-10 games, and so only ABC can air games from those conference packages (it normally has the first pick), aside from a handful of games from each conference that ESPN purchases each year.

FSN sublicensed games to TBS from 2002-2006 from the Big 12 and Pac-10 Conferences and to Versus from 2007-2010. In 2011, FSN is moving those games to FX. Joining the Big 12 and Pac 12 Conferences on FX will be Conference USA.

BET carried college football games from historically black colleges and universities under the Black College Football banner from 1981 through 2005 (in later years, the coverage was co-produced by CBS). This ended after the breakup of CBS and Viacom. Black college football games are now seen on the ESPN networks as well as on Bounce TV.

In the early 2000s, entire networks devoted to college sports, including college football, began to appear. Fox College Sports began in 2002. College Sports Television (now CBS Sports Network) debuted in 2002, becoming a CBS subsidiary in 2005. ESPNU began in March 2005. In the late 2000s, networks devoted to a single conference (e.g. Big Ten Network, MountainWest Sports Network) or team (Longhorn Network) began to appear.

Regional cable networks have long devoted coverage to one or two conferences. The Pac 12 and Big 12 have had deals with FSN since 1996, which airs games on its regional family of networks. As noted above, FX and ESPN have also acquired the rights to certain games. The Mountain West Conference has entered into an arrangement with CBS Sports Network and Comcast that developed the "MountainWest Sports Network" or "the mtn" that is devoted to broadcasting the league's games. The contract also placed 8 MWC football games and 5 men's basketball games along with the MWC Men's and Women's Basketball Tournament Championships on Versus. The Big Ten also has a similar regional network, with the Big Ten Network having made its debut in August 2007. The Texas Longhorns will debut the Longhorn Network in the fall of 2011, and the Pac-12 will debut the Pac-12 Network and Pac-12 Digital Network in fall of 2012. While it isn't a national network, the Western Athletic Conference and Learfield Sports started the WAC Sports Network in 2010 to broadcast games to local affiliates.

Conference affiliations (by home team)

All conferences, games and teams are Bowl Subdivision teams unless otherwise noted.

• ESPN on ABC: ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, BYU, and Pac-12.
• CBS: SEC, along with the Army–Navy Game (every year) and Notre Dame-Navy (even-numbered years)
• NBC: Notre Dame and Bayou Classic (FCS)
• Fox: Pac-12 (Beginning Fall 2012), Big Ten Championship Game, Pac-12 Championship Game (2011)
• ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN Plus, ESPN Classic and ESPN3: ACC, Big 12, Big East (ESPN Plus games branded Big East Network), Big Ten, BYU, Conference USA Championship Game, MAC, Pac-12, SEC (ESPN Plus games branded SEC Network), Sun Belt, WAC, MEAC (FCS) Turkey Day Classic (FCS/D-II), D-I FCS Tournament, D-II Championship Game, D-III Championship Game.
• FSN, FX, and Fox College Sports: ACC (Classified as ACC Regional Network), Big 12, Conference USA, SEC (Classified as SEC Regional Network), and Pac-12.
• Raycom Sports: ACC (branded ACC Network)
• CBS Sports Network: Mountain West Conference, Conference USA, Army, Navy, and NAIA Championship
• NBC Sports Network: Mountain West Conference, Ivy League (FCS), Pac-12
• Bounce TV: CIAA (D-II)
• America One: Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (D-II), Dakota Athletic Conference (NAIA)
• MountainWest Sports Network (the mtn.): Mountain West Conference
• Big Ten Network: Big Ten
• BYUtv: BYU
• Longhorn Network: Texas
• Pac-12 Network: Pac-12 Conference

In contrast to the National Football League, which uses the visiting team's conference affiliation to determine who broadcasts afternoon games, college football telecasts are assigned based on the home team's conference affiliation.

Televised games

Annual televised games

Some games are traditionally played on a specific date (often a holiday), and are nationally-televised every single year. These include:

• Auburn and Alabama – Known as "The Iron Bowl", it is one of the most heated rivalries in all of sports and has generally been the last game of the regular season. Since 2007, the game has been scheduled for either the Friday or Saturday after Thanksgiving.
• Notre Dame and Michigan – Played in September in all but six seasons since 1978. Every one of these games has been on national network television, except the 1980 game (won by Notre Dame, 29-27, on a game-ending 51-yard field goal by Harry Oliver. The 1982 showdown was the first night game in the history of Notre Dame Stadium, with the use of portable lights from Musco Lighting, and was televised in prime time on ABC. The 1988 and 1990 games at Notre Dame were prime time telecasts on CBS, with both won by Notre Dame. The 2011 game, the first night game ever at Michigan Stadium and won by Michigan, was televised nationally by ESPN.
• Ohio State and Michigan – Traditionally played the third Saturday of every November, and normally broadcast on ABC. With the Big Ten adding a bye week, the game was moved to the Saturday after Thanksgiving in 2010.
• West Virginia and Pittsburgh (Backyard Brawl) – Usually played towards the end of the football season and always on national television. In the past, the Backyard Brawl games were on ABC, CBS, ESPN and ESPN2.
• Tennessee vs. Alabama –Known as the "Third Saturday in October". This game has been played between the two schools on or around the same day of every year since 1901. Recently it has been either the third or fourth Saturday of October, depending on the calendar.
• Texas and Oklahoma (Red River Rivalry) – Played during the State Fair of Texas in Dallas on the second Saturday of October and broadcast on ABC. The 2009 game was moved back a week to the third Saturday in October, and the 2010 game was moved up to the first Saturday in October.
• USC and Notre Dame – USC–ND has had a national television audience every year since 1986, with the exception of 2002 when the game was a split-national telecast with Florida–Florida State. Notre Dame hosts the game in odd years in mid-October, and USC hosts the game in even years on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. In the former case, NBC airs the game, while in the latter case, it is carried on the ESPN family of networks (ABC was the longtime carrier of games from Los Angeles, but in 2008 it aired on ESPN while ABC aired Oklahoma-Oklahoma State).
• Florida and Florida State – Usually played on the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend, during odd years the game is played in Gainesville, and aired on CBS. In even years, the game is played in Tallahassee on and aired or ABC, ESPN, or ESPN2.
• Texas A&M–Texas – Played on the day after Thanksgiving and televised annually on ABC through 2007. In 2008, Texas A&M vs. Texas was played on Thanksgiving night in Austin, and in 2009 was played on Thanksgiving night in College Station, with ESPN telecasting both games. The 2010 game in Austin was again played on Thanksgiving night. This annual game will no longer be played due to Texas' refusal to play Texas A&M after their move to the Southeastern Conference beginning in July 2012. A&M has publicly stated they wish to continue the annual game. Texas however states that their schedule is full until at least 2019.
• LSU and Arkansas – Known as "The Battle for the Golden Boot." Played on the day after Thanksgiving and broadcast on CBS from 1996-2008. The game was moved back a day to Saturday due to the Iron Bowl moving to the Friday slot for 2009 and 2010, but was broadcast by ESPN and CBS, respectively. CBS will once again broadcast the game on the day after Thanksgiving in 2011.
• Army–Navy Game – generally played on the last weekend of the regular season and broadcast on CBS since 1996. Since 2009, the game has been played on the second Saturday in December, and is the only FBS game that weekend.
• USC and UCLA – played during the last week of the regular season (2004–2008), when the game was broadcast on ABC between the ACC Championship Game and the Big 12 Championship Game. (NOTE: For the 2009 season USC played their final game against Arizona, but USC-UCLA was again each team's final game in 2010.)
• BYU and Utah – Known as "The Holy War" and as the "Deseret First Duel." The game was typically played the week before Thanksgiving until the 2011 season, when the schools separated into different conferences. The game was broadcast by ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, or ESPN Plus before 2007 and was simulcast on Mtn. and CBS Sports Network from 2007-2010. The game returns to the ESPN Family of Networks beginning in 2011, and could be seen on one of the Fox family of networks in even-numbered years. For the 2011 and 2012 seasons the game will take place during the third week of the season. Discussions are in place to have the game take place between September 29 and October 5, depending on what day the first Sunday in October falls on, for the 2013 season on.
• Grambling and Southern – Known as the Bayou Classic, the Grambling-Southern rivalry airs annually on NBC on the last Saturday afternoon in November (i.e., the Saturday following Thanksgiving). It is the only black college football classic, and the only non-FBS college football game, to air regularly on a nationwide broadcast television network.

See also: College rivalry

Bowl games

• Rose Bowl – Annually broadcast since the 1952 Rose Bowl. Traditionally held on New Year's Day along with the Rose Parade; however, after joining the Bowl Championship Series, the 2002 game was played January 3 and the 2006 game was played January 4 due to the Rose Bowl being the national championship game. NBC was the longtime home of the Rose Bowl until the late 1980s, when ABC took over. ABC's final Rose Bowl was the 2010 game, and the network aired the BCS Championship Game from the Rose Bowl on January 7, 2010. ESPN began televising the game in 2011.
• Orange Bowl – Traditionally held on New Year's Day. It was a New Year's night staple for many years on NBC, with NBC's last telecast being the 1995 game. CBS aired the game for three years, followed by ABC for eight years, and Fox for four years, with 2010 being the last Orange Bowl to air on Fox. ESPN began televising the game in 2011.
• Sugar Bowl – Traditionally held on New Year's Day. Its traditional time slot was early afternoon and was first telecast by the DuMont Network in 1953 and then by ABC from 1954 to 1958. From 1959 until 1969 NBC broadcast the game as a part of its New Year's Day trio of the Sugar, Rose and then Orange. ABC returned in 1970 and for 1972 convinced the Sugar Bowl committee to move the game to primetime on New Year's Eve where it remained through 1975. ABC aired the game up until 2006 when Fox purchased the rights for the BCS Bowl games through 2010. ESPN began televising the game in 2011.
• Cotton Bowl Classic – Traditionally held on New Year's Day. CBS was the long-time home of the Cotton Bowl Classic, airing it up through 1992, and again from 1996-1998. NBC aired the game from 1993–1995, and Fox has aired the game since 1999. The game has been played on January 2 multiple times in recent years, as was the case in both 2009 and 2010. The 2011 game aired in primetime for the first time ever, on Friday, January 7.

BCS games

The Bowl Championship Series, which began in 1998, was driven from the start by television revenue. In 2007, the Fox Broadcasting Company started broadcasting all the BCS games with the exception of the Rose Bowl. ABC previously aired two full cycles of the BCS between 1998 and 2006. Before this, CBS aired the Bowl Coalition and the Bowl Alliance, with the exception of the Sugar Bowl from 1995-1997. The Rose Bowl has aired on ABC since 1989. All BCS games will shift to cable in 2010-11 as ESPN will begin a four-year deal.

Announcers

See also: List of announcers of major bowl games

Famous calls or catchphrases

• "You are looking live at (insert stadium)!" – Brent Musburger
• "Not so fast, my friend!" – Lee Corso
• "Whoa Nellie!" – Keith Jackson
• "How do you do!" - Verne Lundquist
• "Holy Cow!" - Mike Patrick
• "See you later!"- Tim Brant

See also

• ESPN College Football Primetime (disambiguation)
• College GameDay
• College Football Scoreboard
• College Football Final
• College football on radio
• List of media markets and college football
• Men's College Basketball on Television
• Big 12 Championship Game broadcasters

References

• Bernstein, Mark F. (2001). Football: The Ivy League Origins of an American Obsession (ISBN 0-8122-3627-0)
• Watterson, John Sayle (2000). College Football: History, Spectacle, Controversy (ISBN 0-8018-6428-3)
• In The Arena – NCAA history
• Overview of history of sports broadcasting
• Current major conference television contracts
• Selection of legendary games

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