01-25-2019, 04:02 PM
(01-25-2019, 01:29 PM)ColoradoTree Wrote:(01-25-2019, 11:02 AM)BostonCard Wrote: You have to realize that the goal of the scheduling of these games is not to fill up the stadium, but to have television viewers, and more viewers will watch the game unopposed on a Friday evening than they will on a Saturday, going up against other power 5 conferences, unless you want a Pac-12 after dark game at 8 PM Pacific (11 PM Eastern). The only reason to care about the audience is as a prop.
I'm waiting for the day they start playing sporting events in studios, without a live audience.
BC
I'd push back on the presumption that getting Friday to yourself is better than sharing Saturday with other conferences. The Pac-12 was the only Power 5 conference to have its championship game on a Friday this year. It got the fewest viewers.
SEC (Saturday, 4pm): ~ 17.5M
Big 12 (Saturday, 12pm): ~10.16M
Big Ten (Saturday, 8:15pm): ~8.66M
ACC (Saturday, 8pm): ~4.24M
Pac-12 (Friday, 8:20pm): ~4.06M
(Source: Sports Media Watch website)
Two games were even played at the same time, and each of them got more eyeballs than the Pac-12 game. I understand why we might think that a Friday night game is better--it makes sense! But that hypothesis hasn't yet been proven.
The comparison is not to what other conferences do on a Saturday, but to what the Pac-12 game would have done had it been played on a Saturday. And I think based on historical data, the counterfactual probably would have done worse.
BC