Media does not talk much about the continued rapid decline of college football

[Trailgoat]

viewership. More off season ramble below :). Excluding the 2020 Covid season, last years CFP games was the 2nd lowest watched since the CFP four team format started in 2015. College football viewership overall continues to decline, especially out West. No surprise the BIG, SEC, and ND viewership drive the market by a long shot, not even close. From a revenue stand point, makes financial sense for the BIG and SEC move toward a NFL style market consolidation as college viewership continues to decline. Compact the teams with the most market share/revenue generation right now narrowing the profit margin distribution to those towing the line. Leave the rest behind. Keep Purdue, Indiana, Northwestern in the league so there are teams to beat up on. It’s all about what the fans pay for and that number is shrinking. As the numbers shrink, just charge the diehard football fans more for the product. 

USC and UCLA have been in a downward spin financially for a nunber of reasons, one of them being poor viewership and game attendance. USC football last season ranked 32 nationally in viewership per week. Utah was at 37. Will the BIG bring USC back to life?, maybe in the short term. We shall see. 

I find it interesting the media rarely talk about significant declines in football viewership and youth/H.S participation. In the past 15 years, youth and H.S. tackle football partcipation have decreased nearly 40%. 42 states show continued decline in tackle football participation. The powers at be need to take a hard look at themselves and not underestimate the poor management of college football impact on fan viewership.

We all know right now, Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, and likely Clemson/ND/Texas A&M (maybe Utah :)) will be in the four team CFP. This is the way the system is designed. Going to get even more crazy as uncontrolled NIL and transfer portal fire up after this season. Going to enjoy every minute of Utah football this season. Go Utes!

 

[Stone]

Many good points. I wonder whether USC and UCLA are being overvalued. They are clearly in an extremely valuable TV market – but we all know how fickle LA fans are about sports. The real value seems to be in how many people actually watch a team, i.e., not how big the market is (which is why speculation as to adding SMU or SDSU as expansion targets just doesn’t make sense to me, despite being in large TV markets). Don’t get me wrong, USCLA both have great name brands and large fan bases, but the passion of the fan bases may not be as strong as they are being valued. And I expect them to actually lose fan base passion with the move to the Big 10. 

Both schools will get a huge influx of cash, which is great for them, but I think fans will be less interested over time seeing those matchups than the regional matchups they have seen for decades. It is a short term gain for, IMO, a long term loss. Not just sour grapes either – I would feel the same way if Utah and USC were the two schools that left to go to the Big 10. My excitement over those matchups would be less than the traditional, regional matchups.

 

[Central Coast Ute]

Agreed. I heard on the radio today that USC had the 32nd most viewers last season and Utah had the 37th nation wide. I expect to see an up tick for USC this year due to the new coach and then again when they move to the BIG. When the novelty wears off and USC consistently finishes well below where their fans think they should, they’ll stop tuning in.

[PlainsUte]

USC is picking up a lot of interest (and likely viewers) from Oklahoma fans who now want to see Lincoln Riley and the defecters, like Caleb Williams, fall on their faces.   As you said, that will wane with time.

[PlainsUte]

Also BigTen might see an advantage to having interest in 3 different time zones, but if USC and/or UCLA are playing a Noon Eastern game how many people in California are going to be up and actively watching the 9 am PST kickoffs?  Likewise, how many New Jerseyians are going to stay up to 1 am to watch an Rutgers vs UCLA evening kickoff game?

[Author]

Posts