Will Gophers Get a CBS or NBC Game?

[Gophers_4life]

As some background here.

The Gopher-Badger football game has been on over-the-air network TV three times in the past six years (2x on ABC, 1x on FOX). It has been on ESPN twice and BTN once. The one BTN game in the past 6 years was 2020 when the game was canceled once due to COVID and re-scheduled for December 19th.

In all, since BTN started up in 2007:

ESPN channels: 7x
BTN: 6x
ABC: 2x
FOX: 1x

Recent trend is definitely the game is higher up the food chain. Of course, that's when the Gophers started making it a more competitive series. From 2007-2016, the game was on ESPN 5x and BTN 5x. From 2017-22, the game was on ABC 2x, ESPN 2x, FOX 1x, and BTN 1x.

Great post, appreciate this kind of info greatly! Makes GH worth coming to.

So clearly the big thing, no brainer, is how well the Gophers and Badgers actually do this season.

If the game matters for something more than just pride and a trophy, then it has a strong chance to get selected above BTN.

But if they're coming into the game with a combined 8 wins, I could easily see it falling to BTN.

 

[Gophers_4life]

It will most likely depend on whether or not the Big 10 West race is decided or not.

The 2021 contest got more than 5 Million viewers to rank 26th for all College Games that year, and 10th for Big 10 Conference games.

That was on FOX.

In 2019, 2021, and 2022, Gopher football mattered to the Big Ten West race. So it doesn't surprise that the game got upgraded to higher channels.

That could be the case this year, but exactly like you said it depends on how the teams do.

 

[Some guy]

Aug 26
1:30 central NBC Notr Dane vs Navy
9/2 2:30 central NBC Notre Dame vs TN state

9/16
1:30 central peacock Notre dame vs CMU

9/23
2:30 central Maryland @ Michigan state
6:30 central NBC vs Ohio State

9/30
6:30 central Illinois at Purdue

10/7
6:30 central Purdue @ Iowa

10/14
2:30 central Iowa @ Wisconsin
6:30 central USC @ Notre Dame

10/21
2:30 central Minnesota at Iowa
6:30 central Michigan @ Michigan State

10/28
2:30 central Pitt @ Notre dame
6:30 central Ohio State @ Wisconsin

11/4
6:30 central Purdue @ Michigan

11/11
2:30 central Maryland at Nebraska
6:30 central michigan state @ Ohio state


11/18
2:30 central Wake Forest @ Notre Dame
6:30 central Nebraska @ Wisconsin

11/24 (Fri)
6:30 central Penn State vs Michigan State in Detroit

People were ripping in NBC for getting Illinois @ Purdue as a night game.
But those double headers are big time TV.


NBC gets:
6 notre dame
4 Michigan state
3 Ohio State
3 wisconsin
3 Iowa
2 Nebraska
2 Michigan
1 USC
1 penn state


Those are some big names