"ESPN $5.6b Debacle: Football Semifinal Ratings down 32% from 2014"

[T J]

From full article at the link...

ESPN $5.6b Debacle: Football Semifinal Ratings down 32% from 2014

The Associated Press

by JOHN PUDNER
2 Jan 2017Auburn, AL


The $5.6 billion New Year’s Eve nightmare continued for ESPN, with Saturday’s games averaging only a 10.4 rating, down 32 percent from the 15.4 rating just two years ago.

The Sporting News tried to put the best face on the debacle, noting it was not quite as bad as the 9.8 in 2015, which was a 36 percent drop from 2014.

ESPN can now only hope the title game next week between Alabama and Clemson goes better than when the same two teams met last year (see Breitbart Sports story, “‘Embarrassing’ for ESPN: More Watch Basketball Title Than Football Championship”).

The unheard of event of more Americans watching a basketball game than a football game cast wide concern of the $5.6 billion in a 12-year deal ESPN penned for the College Football Playoffs. Last year the Sporting News reported ESPN might need to repay $20 million to advertisers due to the low ratings.

http://www.breitbart.com/sports/2017/01/02/espn-5-6b-debacle-football-semifinal-ratings-32-2014/
​

 

[razpsu]

Good for them. Does this pass the eye test!

Nope!! Maybe they will layoff Desmond etc.

 

[bkmtnittany1]

That's a shame!

 

[Bob78]

From full article at the link...

ESPN $5.6b Debacle: Football Semifinal Ratings down 32% from 2014

The Associated Press

by JOHN PUDNER
2 Jan 2017Auburn, AL


The $5.6 billion New Year’s Eve nightmare continued for ESPN, with Saturday’s games averaging only a 10.4 rating, down 32 percent from the 15.4 rating just two years ago.

The Sporting News tried to put the best face on the debacle, noting it was not quite as bad as the 9.8 in 2015, which was a 36 percent drop from 2014.

ESPN can now only hope the title game next week between Alabama and Clemson goes better than when the same two teams met last year (see Breitbart Sports story, “‘Embarrassing’ for ESPN: More Watch Basketball Title Than Football Championship”).

The unheard of event of more Americans watching a basketball game than a football game cast wide concern of the $5.6 billion in a 12-year deal ESPN penned for the College Football Playoffs. Last year the Sporting News reported ESPN might need to repay $20 million to advertisers due to the low ratings.

http://www.breitbart.com/sports/2017/01/02/espn-5-6b-debacle-football-semifinal-ratings-32-2014/
​

Their arrogance in deciding to not move the semis off of NYEve after low ratings last year came back to bite them again, just as nearly everyone outside of their own bunker told them it would. Good. Now they've softened on that for future years, and yet it still remains to be seen if they'll take lessons learned from this and apply it to the consumers' preferences. Their past history indicates they will not do so intuitively or easily.

 

[BobPSU92]

Obviously the match-ups didn't help.

bama? Again? Boring. We all know they are the best team again.

washington? Who are they? What are they doing there? bama will kill them.

Tosu? What are they doing there? They aren't very good.

clemson? Again? Boring. They'll kill Tosu and lose to bama, again.

Boring.

 

[Rip_E_2_Joe_PA]

Looks like the public is tired of not only the ESPN (gossip/politickin/debauchery) but this sham of a CFP system with the NCAA doing jack shit about a half dozen professional football programs over-signing and processing and returning nearly year after year to the farcical CFP system ....Hell, when they had a chance to do something significant to change just a small fraction of the boring bullshit.... the CFPSC broke their own rules and gave the public yet again Ohio Mistake in the final foreskin.

All I can say is we the public want sports competition, not mind numbing mumbling Mark May, Douche bag Desmond the mental Midge..... Herbie the flying bucknut, Matt Mind Numbing Millen and the rest of the flying wide mouth dildos that detract from the game and a CFP that never was the real thing.

NCAA, ESPN.... fix the product or the revenue will evaporate. Bye bye.

 

[BobPSU92]

Looks like the public is tired of not only the ESPN (gossip/politickin/debauchery) but this sham of a CFP system with the NCAA doing jack shit about a half dozen professional football programs over-signing and processing and returning nearly year after year to the farcical CFP system ....Hell, when they had a chance to do something significant to change just a small fraction of the boring bullshit.... the CFPSC broke their own rules and gave the public yet again Ohio Mistake in the final foreskin.

All I can say is we the public want sports competition, not mind numbing mumbling Mark May, Douche bag Desmond the mental Midge..... Herbie the flying bucknut, Matt Mind Numbing Millen and the rest of the flying wide mouth dildos that aren't the real thing anymore.

NCAA, ESPN.... fix the product or the revenue will evaporate. Bye bye.

 

[dtwice]

Burn baby burn

 

[BUFFALO LION]

From full article at the link...

ESPN $5.6b Debacle: Football Semifinal Ratings down 32% from 2014

The Associated Press

by JOHN PUDNER
2 Jan 2017Auburn, AL


The $5.6 billion New Year’s Eve nightmare continued for ESPN, with Saturday’s games averaging only a 10.4 rating, down 32 percent from the 15.4 rating just two years ago.

The Sporting News tried to put the best face on the debacle, noting it was not quite as bad as the 9.8 in 2015, which was a 36 percent drop from 2014.

ESPN can now only hope the title game next week between Alabama and Clemson goes better than when the same two teams met last year (see Breitbart Sports story, “‘Embarrassing’ for ESPN: More Watch Basketball Title Than Football Championship”).

The unheard of event of more Americans watching a basketball game than a football game cast wide concern of the $5.6 billion in a 12-year deal ESPN penned for the College Football Playoffs. Last year the Sporting News reported ESPN might need to repay $20 million to advertisers due to the low ratings.

http://www.breitbart.com/sports/2017/01/02/espn-5-6b-debacle-football-semifinal-ratings-32-2014/
​

Whoever set up this format was beyond brain dead. It's like putting the AFC and NFC Championship Games on a night when you have to make a decision of either watching the games and having all your friends, family, and especially your wife hate you and want to divorce you because you want to watch some "silly football games". Or bagging the games, recording them to watch after you know the results, and stay married.

Then, after you already know who is in the Super Bowl, you have a day free to actually WATCH the games LIVE, and all you get are a bunch of "who cares", meaningless Wildcard games. With all due respect to the Rose Bowl, the only people on the Planet that care about our game today are the people that root for Penn State and USC. I could care less about any other game today but ours.

Oh ya. It also doesn't help that the Selection Committee has no meaningful criteria to select the teams on the battlefield. I wouldn't waste my time watching an AFC or NFC Championship Game where the teams were picked by some crooked politicians huddled away in secrecy in some smoke filled (or non-smoke filled) room.

I'm actually surprised the ratings aren't lower.

 

[Art]

Their arrogance in deciding to not move the semis off of NYEve after low ratings last year came back to bite them again, just as nearly everyone outside of their own bunker told them it would. Good. Now they've softened on that for future years, and yet it still remains to be seen if they'll take lessons learned from this and apply it to the consumers' preferences. Their past history indicates they will not do so intuitively or easily.

Not ESPN's doing. Scheduling of the games was the decision of the folks that run the CFP. ESPN was apoplectic when it learned that last year's (and then future) games would be on New Year's Eve. It was only after ratings came in for last year's games that the folks in Bristol set a blowtorch to the feet of the CFP folks and got agreement that the games after 2018 would be moved from New Year's Eve.

My understanding is that the folks who run non-playoff bowls have complained to associated conference commissioners that the playoff games were taking the luster off of their undertakings. Thus, scheduling would be adjusted to minimize head-to-head competition with the bigger paying non-playoff bowls. Can't deprive college presidents of their showcase boondoggle.

 

[Bob78]

Not ESPN's doing. Scheduling of the games was the decision of the folks that run the CFP. ESPN was apoplectic when it learned that last year's (and then future) games would be on New Year's Eve. It was only after ratings came in for last year's games that the folks in Bristol set a blowtorch to the feet of the CFP folks and got agreement that the games after 2018 would be moved from New Year's Eve.

My understanding is that the folks who run non-playoff bowls have complained to associated conference commissioners that the playoff games were taking the luster off of their undertakings. Thus, scheduling would be adjusted to minimize head-to-head competition with the bigger paying non-playoff bowls. Can't deprive college presidents of their showcase boondoggle.

Thanks for the clarification. I thought that it was a joint decision on the timing of the semis between the CFP and ESPN, since ESPN has so much skin in the game.

I think next season may be moot anyway, since NYEve is a Sunday, and the NFL regular season schedule ends on that Sunday the 31st. So Saturday is the 30th, which may be better ratings-wise without any wizardry involved. And the other bowls move back to the 1st.... or the other bowls are the 30th and the semis are the 1st (I didn't look it up, just assuming it's gotta be one or the other).

My guess - and again, not knowing, just guessing, so please clarify - is that the issue is really only when the 31st/1st are Friday/Saturday or Saturday/Sunday. A Jan. 1st falling on a Wednesday, e.g., still leaves the bigger bowls or semis plenty of prime time options outside of NYEve while preserving the 1st for however they want to configure the other traditional NY Day bowls.

 

[AWS1022]

Looks like the public is tired of not only the ESPN (gossip/politickin/debauchery) but this sham of a CFP system with the NCAA doing jack shit about a half dozen professional football programs over-signing and processing and returning nearly year after year to the farcical CFP system ....Hell, when they had a chance to do something significant to change just a small fraction of the boring bullshit.... the CFPSC broke their own rules and gave the public yet again Ohio Mistake in the final foreskin.

All I can say is we the public want sports competition, not mind numbing mumbling Mark May, Douche bag Desmond the mental Midge..... Herbie the flying bucknut, Matt Mind Numbing Millen and the rest of the flying wide mouth dildos that detract from the game and a CFP that never was the real thing.

NCAA, ESPN.... fix the product or the revenue will evaporate. Bye bye.

After all the bluster and hype about the CFP and the year long build up, it comes down to the same as the AP writers poll and bowl games other than taking four teams instead of two. When basically three of the four spots were determined at the beginning of the year, it's hard for fans of other programs to get excited. The scary thing is Oklahoma was the fourth team dubbed to be in it at the beginning of the year and if they would have won their game against Houston, they would have been. Might as well skip the entire season and just put the four pre determined teams into the make believe playoff and save us all some time.

 

[91Joe95]

Not ESPN's doing. Scheduling of the games was the decision of the folks that run the CFP. ESPN was apoplectic when it learned that last year's (and then future) games would be on New Year's Eve. It was only after ratings came in for last year's games that the folks in Bristol set a blowtorch to the feet of the CFP folks and got agreement that the games after 2018 would be moved from New Year's Eve.

My understanding is that the folks who run non-playoff bowls have complained to associated conference commissioners that the playoff games were taking the luster off of their undertakings. Thus, scheduling would be adjusted to minimize head-to-head competition with the bigger paying non-playoff bowls. Can't deprive college presidents of their showcase boondoggle.

Even knowing all that, F ESPN.

 

[Player2BNamedL8r]

Big bowls, including the playoff games, should be on New Year's Day...the championship can be a week later.

 

[Alphabets]

That's a shame.

Now Go Fvck yourselves, ESPN!!!!!!

 

[Art]

Thanks for the clarification. I thought that it was a joint decision on the timing of the semis between the CFP and ESPN, since ESPN has so much skin in the game.

I think next season may be moot anyway, since NYEve is a Sunday, and the NFL regular season schedule ends on that Sunday the 31st. So Saturday is the 30th, which may be better ratings-wise without any wizardry involved. And the other bowls move back to the 1st.... or the other bowls are the 30th and the semis are the 1st (I didn't look it up, just assuming it's gotta be one or the other).

My guess - and again, not knowing, just guessing, so please clarify - is that the issue is really only when the 31st/1st are Friday/Saturday or Saturday/Sunday. A Jan. 1st falling on a Wednesday, e.g., still leaves the bigger bowls or semis plenty of prime time options outside of NYEve while preserving the 1st for however they want to configure the other traditional NY Day bowls.

Not really. Last year, New Year's Eve was on a Thursday.

The powers that be wanted to make the Playoff semis a New Year's Eve "tradition." Guess like most everything else, they got that wrong.

The CFP semis are moving of of New Year's Eve for the next four years. They're scheduled to return to NYE in 2021 (a Friday) and 2022 (a Saturday). I'm guessing that the ratings over the next few years will determine if that sticks.

FWIW, when the Rose is scheduled to be a semi-final host, they are insisting on a 1/1 date...at least so far.

 

[NedFromYork]

Getting away from NYE, just happened to fall on. Saturday this year, expext ratings to rebound some next ear when semis won't be on NYE. I do expect ratings to be up from last year for MNC game.

 

[dawgduice]

Well, I for one will NOT be watching. Could care less when two "semi-pro" type programs meet. Now if OSU were playing, at least I could root against them. But who really cares if Alabama or Clemson or LSU or FSU (insert factory) "wins". For me it would be like BB when Kentucky plays the "new and improved" Duke !!! It is not even close to a "college" game.

 

[blion72]

Big bowls, including the playoff games, should be on New Year's Day...the championship can be a week later.

totally agree and had they done that the CFB would have pulled in more ratings than the late NFL games. NYE is just stupid. we were out to dinner and parties - occasionally seeing a BAMA play - then totally missed tOSU game. watched the replay last night. had this been on Jan 1st, i would have seen both games.