Big Ten finalizing a deal with Fox, CBS, and NBC for media rights. ESPN will no longer carry B1G games after deal expires

[81usaf92]

edit....I thought Keith Jackson was from Cali but Wiki said born in Georgia...so maybe you are right!

great announcers that were not from the South or Midwest that stand out are Michaels, Costas, and Jack Buck. There are others, but there are very few great football announcers who come from the NE or West Coast.

 

[TideEngineer08]

great announcers that were not from the South or Midwest that stand out are Michaels, Costas, and Jack Buck. There are others, but there are very few great football announcers who come from the NE or West Coast.

Yeah but Costas turned into a pretentious Karen.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

This thread was like going to a fight and watching a hockey game break out.

Maybe I have a high tolerance for guys most folks hate because I grew up listening to Howard Cosell.

For those who ain't old enough to remember...imagine Donald Trump (I'm 100% serious here) calling a football game but add:
a) the diction of John Houseman ("The Paper Chase") but with a New Yuk accent....
b) a loud, boisterous and emphasizing every other word to try and make a meaningless game sound like the Battle of Hastings or the Fall of Constantinople
c) the vocabulary of William F. Buckley
d) the constant interruption of other announcers and the roaring crowd when a great moment occurs just so he can get his voice in on the highlight reel forever
e) making as many self-references as possible (I told you, Trump) and
f) bringing up as many sports history references as possible to let you know he's been calling games for a long time

He was self-serving and irritating, and nobody ever needed a punch in the face more.

Throw in an obviously fake toupee when they gave visuals of the guy, and it's amazing Monday Night Football lasted as long as it did.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

As an announcer, if every fan base thinks you're against their school and for your opponent, it probably means you're doing a pretty good job.

Exactly.

I saw a poll probably about ten years ago and it polled every fan base in the SEC, and they all claimed Verne and Gary were obviously biased against THEIR teams. The lowest percentage was 61%, the high (I think it was us) was somewhere in the mid-80s.

If everyone thinks you hate their team personally, you're being very objective.

 

[Padreruf]

This thread was like going to a fight and watching a hockey game break out.

Maybe I have a high tolerance for guys most folks hate because I grew up listening to Howard Cosell.

For those who ain't old enough to remember...imagine Donald Trump (I'm 100% serious here) calling a football game but add:
a) the diction of John Houseman ("The Paper Chase") but with a New Yuk accent....
b) a loud, boisterous and emphasizing every other word to try and make a meaningless game sound like the Battle of Hastings or the Fall of Constantinople
c) the vocabulary of William F. Buckley
d) the constant interruption of other announcers and the roaring crowd when a great moment occurs just so he can get his voice in on the highlight reel forever
e) making as many self-references as possible (I told you, Trump) and
f) bringing up as many sports history references as possible to let you know he's been calling games for a long time

He was self-serving and irritating, and nobody ever needed a punch in the face more.

Throw in an obviously fake toupee when they gave visuals of the guy, and it's amazing Monday Night Football lasted as long as it did.

Oh but we loved him...or thought we did since we didn't know any better. I did like Don Meredith and Frank Gifford...Turn out the lights, the party's over...

 

[selmaborntidefan]

Oh but we loved him...or thought we did since we didn't know any better. I did like Don Meredith and Frank Gifford...Turn out the lights, the party's over...

I'll grant that the chemistry of those three was a national version in football of what the Braves had with Ernie-Skip-Pete (it was better tbh with you). They played off each other.

But Cosell just needed to shut up and let the moment happen.

Go back and watch the Chris Chambliss home run that won the 1976 pennant for the Yankees over the Royals. Keith Jackson - in all his glory - is letting the moment build a la Vin Scully.....and that windbag can't keep his yapper shut. I'm telling you, if Vin is calling that game or even if it's Jackson sans Cosell, there's a minute of silence while they watch the crowd go bonkers.

Cosell just had to hear himself talk, and Keith should have thrown him forcibly out of the booth on that one. He absolutely ruined one of the greatest sports moments of the 70s - probably the greatest single moment in the history of the LCS in both leagues.

 

[Padreruf]

I'll grant that the chemistry of those three was a national version in football of what the Braves had with Ernie-Skip-Pete (it was better tbh with you). They played off each other.

But Cosell just needed to shut up and let the moment happen.

Go back and watch the Chris Chambliss home run that won the 1976 pennant for the Yankees over the Royals. Keith Jackson - in all his glory - is letting the moment build a la Vin Scully.....and that windbag can't keep his yapper shut. I'm telling you, if Vin is calling that game or even if it's Jackson sans Cosell, there's a minute of silence while they watch the crowd go bonkers.

Cosell just had to hear himself talk, and Keith should have thrown him forcibly out of the booth on that one. He absolutely ruined one of the greatest sports moments of the 70s - probably the greatest single moment in the history of the LCS in both leagues.

I should have used blue font when I spoke about liking him...a little tongue in cheek there.

 

[81usaf92]

Here is my thing with CBS.

We are constantly wondering when a game is mid season and constantly hoping that CBS doesn’t make ESPN have to choose between an 815 and 11 am for two very good games. I believe that CBS should have taken atleast two games a week.

Really the most electric I have ever seen BDS is 2007 Arkansas, 2014 Auburn, and 2015 LSU. All three of those were night games. It’s good to have night Iron Bowls here and there, but constantly having that 2:30 time slot really is annoying. Then the insane amount of commercials.

I know people have this nostalgia towards CBS but it’s past time Alabama and Georgia had night games more often.

 

[KrAzY3]

I know people have this nostalgia towards CBS but it’s past time Alabama and Georgia had night games more often.

Here's the problem though, whether or not ESPN forces big games onto cable. It was 20% less viewers before all the cord cutting started, it has to be worse than that now. So the tradeoff can end up being significantly less viewers (and exposure) for better game day atmosphere.

ESPN has proven they don't really care about the growth of the product (championships on cable) so much as they are monetizing the product well.

 

[bamamc1]

I wonder what will become of Game Day?

 

[81usaf92]

Here's the problem though, whether or not ESPN forces big games onto cable. It was 20% less viewers before all the cord cutting started, it has to be worse than that now. So the tradeoff can end up being significantly less viewers (and exposure) for better game day atmosphere.

But now they have exclusive rights to the OU-TX game, the Iron Bowl, Florida vs Georgia, and Florida vs FSU. The only games they don’t have that matter are Ohio St vs Michigan and ND vs USC. People are going to pay for those games.

ESPN has proven they don't really care about the growth of the product (championships on cable) so much as they are monetizing the product well.

And you think Fox, CBS, and NBC do? I want to remind you that Alabama vs Texas is an 11 am kickoff in September on a weekend of bad football games because Fox is afraid to compete with Tennessee vs Pittsburgh. Fox also has hired some of the worst rated announcers in the sport to cover their games and has actually chased Oklahoma and Texas to the SEC to get away from them.

CBS’s problem is that they only want to cover 1 game a week and 2 night games a year. They basically force an ungodly amount of Alabama and Auburn games to 11 am and a disproportionate amount LSU games to night because ESPN has to decide what to slide into their program. This problem could have been alleviated by CBS covering 1 more game a day.

 

[81usaf92]

I wonder what will become of Game Day?

What do you mean

 

[81usaf92]

Here's the problem though, whether or not ESPN forces big games onto cable. It was 20% less viewers before all the cord cutting started, it has to be worse than that now. So the tradeoff can end up being significantly less viewers (and exposure) for better game day atmosphere.

ESPN has proven they don't really care about the growth of the product (championships on cable) so much as they are monetizing the product well.

Here is another thing that needs to be addressed… how stupid CBS and B1G are in this deal.

First let’s get CBS. CBS is still 2nd fiddle to Fox in this deal. Meaning there will be less Ohio St or Michigan games and more Minnesota and Purdue games. It is all but certain that they will never get an Ohio St Michigan game or a Penn St Ohio St game. So why even bother? You would be better off going to see what the ACC or Big XII could do to cut you in on since ESPN and Fox will now prioritize the B1G and SEC games. I can’t wait to here Brad and Gary call a Syracuse northwestern game because it’s the best of the leftovers

Second is the B1G. Cutting off ESPN is going to force a lot of weird day of the week games or weird times. ESPN basically alleviated alot of scheduling issues for the B1G with the guarantee that they could get Atleast a few big games here and there. Now you are really pushing the lesser sports networks to the limit of their resources or forcing them to take numerous games.

Everyone loves to whine about ESPN but one thing you can’t whine about is for them to find a station for their games on Saturday. This put it on cable news networks is going to bring the B1G and other conferences back to PPV days.

 

[TideEngineer08]

I love your positivity, 81. Good points there.

 

[81usaf92]

I love your positivity, 81. Good points there.

Im not crazy on ESPN getting every SEC game, but I have always believed that CBS should have pulled their weight with double headers like they do for the NFL if they were going to be able to pick the game of the week.

But ultimately if it comes down to a choice between cable networks or ESPN then I would rather be on the latter than the former because ESPN has the resources to put every game on their networks and it’s not a jumbled mess of responsibilities between 3 news networks who have deals with 3 P5 conferences and 1 premium package (B1G network).

 

[TideEngineer08]

I haven't thought about it but you are definitely right about CBS pulling its weight in this deal over the years. They've been lazy and cheap. Nostalgic theme songs aside, that's the truth of the matter.

And now they've proven their cheapness by settling for the Big Ten's leftovers. You mentioned Brad and Gary.... I'm not going to be surprised when they end up back on ESPN/ABC. Herbstreit is actually gravitating towards the NFL starting this season. Something to keep an eye on.

 

[KrAzY3]

Everyone loves to whine about ESPN but one thing you can’t whine about is for them to find a station for their games on Saturday. This put it on cable news networks is going to bring the B1G and other conferences back to PPV days.

I spent some time pouring over ratings, and broadcast is a big deal. Only the SEC was able to really break through with some big cable games for the most part, generally cable was just pretty unimpressive ratings (though this also has to do with cable getting second rate games). So there is an undeniable element there that cable=less viewers.

Having said that, if it is going to be on cable, ESPN is the place to be. Their ratings were well ahead of FS1 for example, so if you are going to be on cable it might as well be on ESPN. For the Big 10, even some of their Big 10 network games got decent ratings, and they'll be getting more broadcast exposure even if it's not marquee games.

I just kind of hope that the SEC gets a second slot on ABC. The traditional broadcast slot will still be on ABC at he same time by the way, but this is also what I dug up:
"The difference in the new deal: The mid-afternoon game is less likely to be the SEC's game of the week. For the first time, SEC games will be available for ABC's Saturday Night prime-time slot, too."

So, may be we both get what we want...

 

[The Ols]

Because he finds any negative thing against Bama and harps on it FOR-EH-VER. He blabbed about Terrance Cody's helmet being off after the Rocky Block for 20 minutes it seemed like.

Maybe he was being facetious?

 

[81usaf92]

I haven't thought about it but you are definitely right about CBS pulling its weight in this deal over the years. They've been lazy and cheap. Nostalgic theme songs aside, that's the truth of the matter.

And now they've proven their cheapness by settling for the Big Ten's leftovers. You mentioned Brad and Gary.... I'm not going to be surprised when they end up back on ESPN/ABC. Herbstreit is actually gravitating towards the NFL starting this season. Something to keep an eye on.

Interestingly enough I watched the 99 SEC championship recently and it would surprise you who was calling it.

 

[TideEngineer08]

Interestingly enough I watched the 99 SEC championship recently and it would surprise you who was calling it.

Brad and Gary, right? I know it was ABC. They were together back then. ABC had the game from 1992 until sometime in the early 2000s when CBS was able to get it.