FCS Semifinals tout impressive numbers

[Ridge1982]

http://amp.awfulannouncing.com/espn/fcs-playoffs-impressive-ratings.html

[dbackjon]

http://amp.awfulannouncing.com/espn/fcs-playoffs-impressive-ratings.html

Good numbers!

Sam Herder, who covers the FCS for Hero Sports, cites an ESPN spokesperson as reporting that TV viewership for the FCS semifinals on ABC reached impressive heights. South Dakota State-North Dakota State drew as many as 1.583 million viewers, while South Dakota-Montana State garnered 1.369 million viewers.

[Outsider1]

Need to keep this up. Have really not been watching any bowl games so far. Heard crowd numbers were down for them.

[ngineer]

Maybe more people looking to watch real college football...

[Ridge1982]

FCS and the lower divisions are the last to have semblance of real college football.

[ElCid]

FCS and the lower divisions are the last to have semblance of real college football.

The so called powers that be just don't get it. They may still have bigger overall numbers, but they could be much, much, bigger. THEY JUST DON'T GET IT. They will. Probably too late.

[Ridge1982]

The so called powers that be just don't get it. They may still have bigger overall numbers, but they could be much, much, bigger. THEY JUST DON'T GET IT. They will. Probably too late.
It’s all about appeasing the SEC and B1G.

[Hammerhead]

Or at least college football that doesn't involve 20 players from a single team (Coastal Carolina) entering the portal before their bowl game.


Maybe more people looking to watch real college football...

[Redbird 4th & short]

The so called powers that be just don't get it. They may still have bigger overall numbers, but they could be much, much, bigger. THEY JUST DON'T GET IT. They will. Probably too late.

Agree in part .. about the "too late" part. But I think they are doing everything they can to attain bigger overall numbers. And that is what is wrong. They are guided entirely (i.e. misguided) by too many numbers ... and ultimately by dollars. And look where it's gotten them so far ... and this is just the tip of the ice berg. Who will be in charge of the P5/4/3 ... or more aptly, who will they let be in charge. And in the end, they want to do what they want to do. And now the toothpaste is out of the tube with the portal and NIL ... and there is nothing stopping any of this but maybe the IRS and DOL Labor Laws. It's a sad day, when a student-athlete's main reason for staying in college another year, is many can make more money in college. Bottom line 1-2% of D-I athletes play their sport professionally. And we are treating them all like they are already professional players and needle movers. Most, nearly all, are not needle movers ... but we treat and pay them like it.

Toothpaste is out of the tube, but this is getting really stupid out of control when a HC can leave a school and take 10-20 student-athletes with them. We saw it last year with Gardner Webb and Austin Peay. It will only grow worse from here.

[ElCid]

Agree in part .. about the "too late" part. But I think they are doing everything they can to attain bigger overall numbers. And that is what is wrong. They are guided entirely (i.e. misguided) by too many numbers ... and ultimately by dollars. And look where it's gotten them so far ... and this is just the tip of the ice berg. Who will be in charge of the P5/4/3 ... or more aptly, who will they let be in charge. And in the end, they want to do what they want to do. And now the toothpaste is out of the tube with the portal and NIL ... and there is nothing stopping any of this but maybe the IRS and DOL Labor Laws. It's a sad day, when a student-athlete's main reason for staying in college another year, is many can make more money in college. Bottom line 1-2% of D-I athletes play their sport professionally. And we are treating them all like they are already professional players and needle movers. Most, nearly all, are not needle movers ... but we treat and pay them like it.

Toothpaste is out of the tube, but this is getting really stupid out of control when a HC can leave a school and take 10-20 student-athletes with them. We saw it last year with Gardner Webb and Austin Peay. It will only grow worse from here.

I didn't explain it very well. If the same percentage of people who watched, attended, supported football 30+ years ago did now, there would be a lot more. Sure, support does wax and wane, but I see only the rabid fans now. But the casual fan has started to disappear. They are catering to the rabid fans instead of the broader base, the population at large. Maybe they need to in order to survive in the face of the competition. The entire legal situation is a mess. If you start with the premise that these are students performing an extra curricular activity at the discretion of the institution, and that they, the institutions or the collective of institutions (NCAA), make and strictly enforce the rules, this wouldn't be a mess. I weep for the future of the concept and purpose of student athletes.

The toothpaste is indeed out of the tube. But when that happens there is only one thing to do: you throw it away and get a new tube.

[caribbeanhen]

The so called powers that be just don't get it. They may still have bigger overall numbers, but they could be much, much, bigger. THEY JUST DON'T GET IT. They will. Probably too late.

I posted the link on gohens and knew it would draw out the FCS haters, only one this time


Caribbean Hen (https://www.gohens.net/boards/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=47) wrote: ↑ (https://www.gohens.net/boards/viewtopic.php?p=449704#p449704)Mon Dec 30, 2024 8:35 amThe unwashed masses of FCS football got a big ratings boost with the Semi Final games being televised on ABC vice ESPN2.

by Bluewyn Gold (https://www.gohens.net/boards/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=68539)

Not to urinate on the sweet procession, but NDSU's game with Colorado earlier in the season outdrew that semi-final game with SDSU by almost 3M viewers. Just a little perspective to those numbers passed along by the FCS scribe.

[Sitting Bull]

I posted the link on gohens and knew it would draw out the FCS haters, only one this time


Caribbean Hen (https://www.gohens.net/boards/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=47) wrote: ↑ (https://www.gohens.net/boards/viewtopic.php?p=449704#p449704)Mon Dec 30, 2024 8:35 amThe unwashed masses of FCS football got a big ratings boost with the Semi Final games being televised on ABC vice ESPN2.

by Bluewyn Gold (https://www.gohens.net/boards/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=68539)

Not to urinate on the sweet procession, but NDSU's game with Colorado earlier in the season outdrew that semi-final game with SDSU by almost 3M viewers. Just a little perspective to those numbers passed along by the FCS scribe.





This guy has been wrong on virtually everything. He’s stubbornly dug in to what feel is a bad decision by UD admin. And I’m not talking about “moving up”. I’m talking when and where.

What he should be comparing in the UD world is how these numbers compare to the Potato Bowl or the Myrtle Beach Bowl. That’s UDs new post season world should they carve out any winning seasons. I don’t know what the ESPN numbers looked like but the actual attendance for these bowls were in the 8,000-10,000 range. That’s a stretch to consider that some new FBS world for UD.

Kudos to you for trying to keep some sense of reality over there.

[ElCid]

This guy has been wrong on virtually everything. He’s stubbornly dug in to what feel is a bad decision by UD admin. And I’m not talking about “moving up”. I’m talking when and where.

What he should be comparing in the UD world is how these numbers compare to the Potato Bowl or the Myrtle Beach Bowl. That’s UDs new post season world should they carve out any winning seasons. I don’t know what the ESPN numbers looked like but the actual attendance for these bowls were in the 8,000-10,000 range. That’s a stretch to consider that some new FBS world for UD.

Kudos to you for trying to keep some sense of reality over there.

Those numbers are truly disturbing. But when you cheapen the product, this is what you get. I'm not saying that any school cheapens it, but just the quantity of bowls has made it a question of, "who cares."

[Lehigh Football Nation]

Assuming there will be a Potato Bowl and/or a Myrtle Beach Bowl in a couple of years.

[MSUBobcat]

I posted the link on gohens and knew it would draw out the FCS haters, only one this time


Caribbean Hen (https://www.gohens.net/boards/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=47) wrote: ↑ (https://www.gohens.net/boards/viewtopic.php?p=449704#p449704)Mon Dec 30, 2024 8:35 amThe unwashed masses of FCS football got a big ratings boost with the Semi Final games being televised on ABC vice ESPN2.

by Bluewyn Gold (https://www.gohens.net/boards/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=68539)

Not to urinate on the sweet procession, but NDSU's game with Colorado earlier in the season outdrew that semi-final game with SDSU by almost 3M viewers. Just a little perspective to those numbers passed along by the FCS scribe.





What an apples to lug nuts comparison. That Thursday night game went up against 20 other games, primarily FBS-FCS games which were mostly blowouts. Let's say, roughly, that the number of FCS fans that watched the semifinal also watched the NDSU-Colorado game (because a lot of us thought NDSU could get the scalp). That means Colorado, the FBS and the circus surrounding Deion only brought 3M additional fans. To me, that's the underperforming viewership number.

And that doesn't even bring up what others have about how those semifinals blew the majority of the bowl games out of the water, which is a more accurate correlation of where Delaware will be.

[MSUBobcat]

Assuming there will be a Potato Bowl and/or a Myrtle Beach Bowl in a couple of years.

Doesn't there have to be a number of bowls equal to half of the bowl-eligible (6-win) teams? When I was listing the number of bowls that have been held in Toyota Stadium, I mentioned that in 2021 the NCAA created a 42nd bowl game (the Frisco Football Classic) just to accommodate that there were 84 bowl-eligible teams. This apparent "rule" is what is leading to the watered down, "who cares" bowl system. Almost no one want to watch, or probably even play in, a bowl created to accommodate 2 teams that finished 6-6 from weak conferences.

As the number of FBS teams continues to climb, the number of teams that achieve that mystical plateau of winning 6 whole games (one of which can be lower division) will only increase, which leads to MORE Nad's Hair Removal Cream bowls, not less.

[caribbeanhen]

This guy has been wrong on virtually everything. He’s stubbornly dug in to what feel is a bad decision by UD admin. And I’m not talking about “moving up”. I’m talking when and where.

What he should be comparing in the UD world is how these numbers compare to the Potato Bowl or the Myrtle Beach Bowl. That’s UDs new post season world should they carve out any winning seasons. I don’t know what the ESPN numbers looked like but the actual attendance for these bowls were in the 8,000-10,000 range. That’s a stretch to consider that some new FBS world for UD.

Kudos to you for trying to keep some sense of reality over there.

I call him Charles "Chuck" Mcgill

Yep, he was posting on here as Henfan 10 years ago and his theme was always centered around Delaware needed to get out of FCS. These types of guys are the loudest on gohens right now, but I'm not sure they are in the majority.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

Doesn't there have to be a number of bowls equal to half of the bowl-eligible (6-win) teams? When I was listing the number of bowls that have been held in Toyota Stadium, I mentioned that in 2021 the NCAA created a 42nd bowl game (the Frisco Football Classic) just to accommodate that there were 84 bowl-eligible teams. This apparent "rule" is what is leading to the watered down, "who cares" bowl system. Almost no one want to watch, or probably even play in, a bowl created to accommodate 2 teams that finished 6-6 from weak conferences.

As the number of FBS teams continues to climb, the number of teams that achieve that mystical plateau of winning 6 whole games (one of which can be lower division) will only increase, which leads to MORE Nad's Hair Removal Cream bowls, not less.

That bowl system is awful creaky after the expanded CFP, and will ESPN be interested in continuing to owns and subsidize it and the expanded playoff? The entire bowl infrastructure is propped up by ESPN, and if ESPN is no longer interested, I see it all collapsing.

[NY Crusader 2010]

That bowl system is awful creaky after the expanded CFP, and will ESPN be interested in continuing to owns and subsidize it and the expanded playoff? The entire bowl infrastructure is propped up by ESPN, and if ESPN is no longer interested, I see it all collapsing.

I really don't think there's much of a difference as far as the importance or attraction of the minor bowl games, looking both before and after the college football playoff. The major New Years' bowls are already integrated into it's structure. The timing is almost perfect because a lot of the traditional aspect of the New Years' Bowl games was connected to conference tie-ins (Big Ten / Pac 10 in the Rose Bowl, SWC and then Big 12 in the Cotton Bowl, ACC in the Orange Bowl, etc.) and with realignment and restructuring those traditions were going by the wayside regardless. If/when the playoff expands to 24 teams in 5 years or so, then you'll have a handful less attractive bowl games as the top twenty or so teams in the rankings will all be in the CFP as opposed to going to decent non-New Years bowl games. So then your Gator Bowl, Citrus Bowl or whatever its called now, whatever the Outback Bowl is called now, Sun Bowl, Las Vegas Bowl, Holiday Bowl, etc. all get a bit watered down.

The ESPN December bowl lineup is basically the NIT for FBS football. Still at this point a more attractive product than the NIT. What may ruin the minor bowl games more so than the CFP is the epidemic of players opting out of bowl games because of plans to hit the transfer portal. In the past, you always had a number of players who were top NFL draft prospects sit out to avoid injury, and to start prepping individually for the combine as opposed to practicing with the team. Now, every offseason is basically free agency with a chance to grab incremental bucks on the open market via the transfer portal and NIL. So now you have a much larger number of players who take on a risk by suiting up to play in a bowl.

[Outsider1]

What's interesting is that even though I see more and more people complaining about the number of bowls, sorry state of current farm league FBS football in general, low in person bowl game turnout, etc... the actual viewership numbers have increased. This is surprising for me. If true, then absolutely nothing will change as the money will keep rolling in for ESPN, as well as major networks.

https://awfulannouncing.com/college-football/bowl-game-audiences-breaking-records-espn.html

[NY Crusader 2010]

What's interesting is that even though I see more and more people complaining about the number of bowls, sorry state of current farm league FBS football in general, low in person bowl game turnout, etc... the actual viewership numbers have increased. This is surprising for me. If true, then absolutely nothing will change as the money will keep rolling in for ESPN, as well as major networks.

https://awfulannouncing.com/college-football/bowl-game-audiences-breaking-records-espn.html

The main alternative this time of year is to watch the NBA, which is becoming un-watchable.

[Outsider1]

The main alternative this time of year is to watch the NBA, which is becoming un-watchable.


Lots of college basketball as well, but not sure they get the viewership until the Tourney.

[MSUBobcat]

The main alternative this time of year is to watch the NBA, which is becoming un-watchable.

Becoming? I haven't watched the NBA since they stopped playing defense.

[OhioHen]

The main alternative this time of year is to watch the NBA, which has been un-watchable for years.
FIFY


Becoming? I haven't watched the NBA since they stopped playing defense.
So...the mid-70s?

[NY Crusader 2010]

Becoming? I haven't watched the NBA since they stopped playing defense.

Defense in the NBA has completely disappeared in the last 8 years or so. Every game is like 130-115. Typical, well-played NBA games belong in the 90's and low 100's with lower scoring games in the postseason. There was a Pistons-Pacers playoff game in 2005 or 2006 where the score was 69-67 or something. That wasn't even that long ago. The league has turned into a chuck-fest where walking with or carrying the ball is the norm.

The NBA could do 2 things to fix this tomorrow:

1) Get rid of Defensive 3 Seconds. This would allow for a lot more flexibility in terms of defensive scheme.
2) Call travels and carries. If you pick up your pivot foot, it's a travel, that simple.

[NY Crusader 2010]

FIFY


So...the mid-70s?

The 1960's and 1970's were very high scoring, both in college and the NBA. Not sure what changed, but scoring came down in the 80's and 90's. It's REALLY spiked since 2018 after creeping back up in the early 2010's. I guess following the D'Antoni Suns / Kerr Warriors models has been the play.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_stats_per_game.html

[MSUBobcat]

Defense in the NBA has completely disappeared in the last 8 years or so. Every game is like 130-115. Typical, well-played NBA games belong in the 90's and low 100's with lower scoring games in the postseason. There was a Pistons-Pacers playoff game in 2005 or 2006 where the score was 69-67 or something. That wasn't even that long ago. The league has turned into a chuck-fest where walking with or carrying the ball is the norm.

The NBA could do 2 things to fix this tomorrow:

1) Get rid of Defensive 3 Seconds. This would allow for a lot more flexibility in terms of defensive scheme.
2) Call travels and carries. If you pick up your pivot foot, it's a travel, that simple.

Could not agree more on this. You're right about 3 seconds also. But no one wants to see defense anymore; they want scoring. Same is happening in football, really. I'm a big proponent of making changes for safety, but GD, if you can't hit a "defenseless receiver", how do you prevent him from catching the ball? Maybe it should be more incumbent on the QB to not put him in harm's way.

[caribbeanhen]

The 1960's and 1970's were very high scoring, both in college and the NBA. Not sure what changed, but scoring came down in the 80's and 90's. It's REALLY spiked since 2018 after creeping back up in the early 2010's. I guess following the D'Antoni Suns / Kerr Warriors models has been the play.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_stats_per_game.html

Bobby Knight must be spinning

[Sitting Bull]

Bobby Knight must be spinning

What a guy. I remember how upset Bobby Knight was when they first implemented a shot clock. I don’t remember if that was a 45 or 30 second clock. Bobby was quoted sarcastically saying - you want to speed up the game? - why not just make it 15 seconds! That would be entertaining.

[NY Crusader 2010]

When shot clock was implemented (early 1980's?), it was 45 seconds. By time I started watching college basketball around 1995 it was 35 for the men and 30 for the women.

[NY Crusader 2010]

Could not agree more on this. You're right about 3 seconds also. But no one wants to see defense anymore; they want scoring. Same is happening in football, really. I'm a big proponent of making changes for safety, but GD, if you can't hit a "defenseless receiver", how do you prevent him from catching the ball? Maybe it should be more incumbent on the QB to not put him in harm's way.

Maybe the league should just adopt FIBA rules, call the games accordingly, but keep the classic NBA 3-point line. I don't mind watching NBA players play the international game. It's really the last few years here that the pro game has turned into total garbage. What really ruined it for me was in 2020 when "The Last Dance" Jordan Bulls documentary aired on ESPN and reminded me how great the game was not that long ago. Even into the early 2010's I thought the NBA was pretty good ball. What stinks is I've been a Knicks fan my whole life, they're finally good after 20 seasons of failure and frustration, and now the games are un-watchable. I'm pretty much at the point where the only games I'll watch the full 48 minutes are ones I go to live (usually 1 or 2 per year at MSG or Barclays Center) or Knicks' playoff games. And the Knicks of today's era under Thibodeaux are considered a "defensive minded team", so our games are in the 110's instead of the 130's. It's garbage.