TV likes football teams that win
When CBS kicks off SEC football coverage Saturday with Georgia-South Carolina, another round begins of conference schools angling for national exposure and TV executives aiming for high ratings.
Since 2001, when the SEC began its current eight-year contracts with CBS and ESPN, Florida has appeared a league-high 33 times on CBS, which typically airs the best SEC game each week.
Georgia and Alabama have the next most CBS broadcasts, each appearing 27 times. They are followed by LSU (24); Tennessee (23); Auburn (16); and Arkansas (15). Ole Miss, Kentucky, South Carolina, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt combined have appeared 11 fewer times than has Florida.
“It’s no secret the marquee teams get the bulk of the appearances, and if you get two marquee teams in a big game, that will clinch the deal,” said Mike Aresco, vice president of programming for CBS.
Last year, CBS passed on the Iron Bowl – which drew a season-low 1.9 on CBS in 2006 – and instead aired Tennessee-Kentucky with the SEC East title at stake. It paid off with a four-overtime game and a 3.3 rating, surpassing CBS’ 2007 season average of 3.0.
In addition to exposure, national TV appearances are worth extra money to teams. The SEC pays members for getting on a network or national cable telecast – $120,000 out of conference and $40,000 in-conference.
For schools such as Florida and Georgia, which likely will have two nationally televised nonconference games this season, the extra revenue could be worth about $500,000.
al.com
9/11/08
