I was waiting until I had all of the numbers in to put up this post, but after a strong Bowl Season in terms of ratings, ESPN says they’re not looking to make any changes. In fact, ESPN college sports chief Burke Magnus said that it would be “inappropriate” to tell College Football what to do. Via the Chicago Tribune….
But even now that ESPN has partnered with the BCS, winning the broadcast rights to every top bowl game from 2011-2014, network officials say they won’t try to push college football toward a playoff.
“We will not be shy about giving our opinions, if asked,” ESPN college sports chief Burke Magnus said. “But I don’t think it’s appropriate for us to tell them what to do, just like they don’t tell us what to do.”
The “us” was represented Thursday at a Football Writers Association of America breakfast by Atlantic Coast Conference Commissioner John Swofford, who said he sees no compelling reason to change any aspect of the current five-bowl BCS format, even though President-elect Barack Obama has called for a playoff.
Barack Obama’s opinions aside, I think ESPN has a wonderful opportunity to do something for the fans of Football. An overwhelming percentage of people want a Playoffs system in College Football, and the “Leader” actually has the leverage to provide it to them. If you ask me, I think it’s time to start telling people what to do. If you look at the ratings below, you’ll see that while ESPN made steady gains, FOX’s results were pretty bad this year. ESPN can still keep their collection of games, and then capitalize where FOX left off.
Seems pretty obvious to me, but then again….what do I know? Here the ratings for your perusal….
ESPN BOWL GAMES:
EagleBank Bowl
2008- 2.2
2007- No Game
New Mexico
2008- 2.6
2007- 2.0
magicJack St. Petersburg
2008- 1.3
2007- No Game
Pioneer Las Vegas
2008- 2.5
2007- 2.1
R+L Carriers New Orleans
2008- 0.8
2007- 1.6
San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia
2008- 3.2
2007- 1.7
Sheraton Hawaii
2008- 2.6
2007- 1.5
Motor City
2008- 2.5
2007- 2.3
Meineke Car Care
2008- 3.9
2007- 3.2
Champs Sports
2008- 4.5
2007- 3.2
Emerald
2008- 4.0
2007- 3.1
Independence
2008- 1.0
2007- 1.6
Papajohns.com
2008- 2.4
2007- 1.9
Valero Alamo
2008- 4.6
2007- 2.3
Roady’s Humanitarian
2008- 2.4
2007- 0.7
Pacific Life Holiday
2008- 4.6
2007- 3.7
Bell Helicopter Armed Forces
2008- 1.7
2007- 1.7
Gaylord Hotels Music City
2008- 2.8
2007- 3.4
Chick-fil-A
2008- 3.9
2007- 4.4
Outback
2008- 3.1
2007- 2.9
Capital One
2008- 6.4
2007- 9.9
Rose Bowl Game Presented by Citi
2008- 11.7
2007- 11.1
AutoZone Liberty
2008- 2.7
2007- 3.5
International
2008- 2.1
2007- 1.4
GMAC
2008- 2.2
2007- 1.0
BCS ON FOX:
FedEx Orange
2008- 5.4 (-27%)
2007- 7.4 (Sugar Bowl in same time slot)
Allstate Sugar
2008- 8.4 (+8%)
2007- 7.9
Tostitos Fiesta
2008- 10.4 (+35%)
2007- 7.7