Fans across the nation collectively rejoiced at the news the BCS and conference commissioners were pushing for a postseason change. For years fans everywhere have mocked the BCS and raised hell over the snubbing of their favorite teams, but let’s not kid ourselves here, the playoff push has little to do with the influence of the fans desires. Want to know the real fan influence? Take a look at the drop of attendance and TV ratings over the BCS era.
The current BCS deal with ESPN expires after the 2013 season. With the TV ratings falling as far as they have, you have to think there’s no way ESPN agrees to pay more or even the same for exclusive rights to these games. After the 2012 record low TV ratings set by the BCS National Championship Game, the Orange, Rose, and Sugar bowls, the BCS started to believe this as well.
The playoff is now expected to be worth anywhere from $300 million to $1 billion annually depending on the industry expert or football pundit you listen to, but all agree that the playoff system will be worth substantially more than the current ESPN/BCS deal of $125 million annually.
How’s that for fan influence? 
There is a downward trend with all the games, but it also seems like there are a lot of peaks certain years. This kinda hints that the match up has a huge influence; so it seems like TV ratings may go back up with better bowl game matchups. But it doesn't matter, a good playoff system will kill BCS TV ratings.
ReplyDeleteI agree 100% that matchups influence the ratings, need to generate some interest. But after I looked back through the data, most of the peak years for the bowls before 2007 were when that bowl hosted the championship. You're right though. Most people want to see the championship and for the most part the mathcups in that game have been good. Just not the ones most people want.
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