Quote:
Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA
I saw some numbers last night that suggests to me that the Big 10 (well, the B10 Network at least) probably needs them even more. Or it needs something.
The generally accepted figures of 70 cents per subscriber (inside the conf. footprint) vs 10 cent per subscriber (outside the conf. footprint) is where the money lies for them, but it probably isn't in the viewership of their actual games.
Their average in the 9 overnight markets (Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Detroit, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Minneapolis and Pittsburgh. ) was a 2.3 HH rtg and 8 of those are solidly in the conference footprint. By comparison, even medicore ACC Raycom games outperform that on a little-watched (CW) outlet in Atlanta and the comparable 3rd/4th tier SEC game of the week tops that average by 2x-3x, even for relative duds. It's pretty clear that the value lies in increasing household availability (although I have to believe that as the conference core territory is diluted with expansion that the 7x multiplier will fall) because the viewership simply isn't there for the B10 Network already, no reason to believe that it's going to improve with the addition of non-traditional conference teams to the mix. For every game that gets a bump from, say, St. Louis or Denver, there's going to be drop offs across Ohio or Michigan when their in-state teams are featured less often. |
The biggest bumps are likely to occur in KC. One thing that I've seen regularly noted is that Kansas City is a great market for football that doesn't involve local teams. You may actually be able to help me out with this given your background. KC puts up good numbers for both college and NFL where the teams don't involve any local interest when compared to other markets. Some examples would be other AFC West teams playing or other big college games that may or may not involve B12 teams. I know Super Bowl numbers are often very good for KC as well.
Not sure about the drop-off where their team is featured less often. Depends on how it's structured. I honestly don't even know how the Big Ten national games are selected right now.