While college football on Saturdays doesn't draw the same ratings as the NFL does, the sheer volume of games on national television brings in untold revenue to both the schools athletic department and the network televising the game. The cancellation of games by the Mid-American Conference and the Mountain West Conference, as well as the postponement of fall sports by the Big Ten and Pac-12, has forced networks to figure out how to fill up Saturdays without college football.
The Big 12 Conference and Southeast Conference have said they plan to play this fall.
What will happen if the rest of the Power Five Conferences cancel their football season as well? The resulting revenue loss will be massive. Not only will national networks like ESPN, ABC, Fox Sports, and CBS lose out, regional networks will also lose out.
The Power Five is made up of the Big XII, Big Ten, Pac-12, SEC, and ACC conferences.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, college football brings in an estimated $1.7 billion in annual advertising revenue sales at the national level. This does not include the local sports talk shows and local programming that fuels college football during the week.
Consider the size of the NCAA, and you will begin to grasp why college football is so important. There are 130 Division I college football programs, compared to only 30 franchises in the NFL. The addition of a college football playoff has also fueled the championship atmosphere. The national title game between Louisiana State University and Clemson University drew more than 25 million viewers according to Nielsen.
The possibility of no college football is more than just a money issue for networks. It's also about how they will fill the time normally reserved for football.
College football dominates Saturdays, much like the NFL dominates Sundays.
Patrick Crakes, a former Fox Sports executive turned media consultant told CNN Business that college football not only chews up entire Saturdays from September to December, but also fills up vital prime time hours on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. "The networks lay out hundreds of millions of dollars every year for these college football conferences, in aggregate to the billions, and you get all of it back because college football fans view games as must-see content."
He also said the investment is enormous, but the return is supposed to be the same. Right now, two-fifths of that is gone."
Networks like ESPN and Fox Sports weathered the loss of live sports by airing classic games, studio shows, and pre-produced events. This bought the networks some time until the NBA, NHL, and MLB resumed games last month. What many don't realize is that the National Women's Soccer League was actually the first to resume play. From June 26 to July 25, the NWSL Challenge Cup was played in suburban Salt Lake City, Utah. The Houston Dash were crowned champions.
Jay Rosenstein, a former VP of programming at CBS Sports, told CNN Business that if the NBA and MLB playoffs happen, it will fill some of the holes for a while. But college football is the backbone of networks like ESPN. It's not just Saturday, but every day of the week.
Rosenstein pointed out that ESPN invested billions into the College Football Playoff, which includes the national championship game. Without college football, ESPN loses the only championship they have the exclusive right to televise.
Will there even be a college football season? The Big XII and SEC have said they will play this fall, but nothing is set in stone.
