This Hits a Little Too Close to Home

What would a football season be without a few Excel spreadsheets?

[Too small to read? Click image above to see larger version]
http://www.bloodrunsblue.com/2011/08/26/define-work-2/

Thanks to Tara for thinking of me when sharing this!  3 days until kickoff...

Comparing BYU's National TV Exposure with the Best

Although all of this year’s TV broadcasting decisions haven’t been finalized, we know that BYU will be on ESPN at least 10, possibly 11 times (pending the Oregon State outcome). Great exposure from any Cougar fan’s point of view, but how does it stack up against other teams from around the country with conference ESPN contracts? Better? Worse? Yawn? Here is a look at how last season played out on the tube, and where BYU would have fit both in 2010 and 2011.


2010 Nationally Televised Regular Season Games

Team           Conf     Netwk ESPN TOT       Other All
Notre Dame IND       12         0        12            0     12
Alabama      SEC       6          5        11            0     11
Florida St     ACC      7          4         11           0      11
BYU 2011    IND        0         10        10           1      11
Auburn         SEC      4          6         10           0      10
Michiga        B10       5          5         10           0      10
Florida         SEC       4          5          9            0       9
Penn St        B10       2          7          9             0      9
Miami           ACC      1          8         9             0       9
USC             P10       5         3          8             4       12
Texas           B12       5         3          8             3       11
Oklahoma     B12       5         3          8             3       11
Nebraska      B12       7         1         8              0        8
Ohio St         B10       5         3          8             0        8
West Va        BE        2         6          8             0        8
Oregon         P10       4         3          7             2        9
Boise St       WAC      1         6          7             1        8
Va Tech       ACC      2          5         7             0         7
Stanford        P10      4          2          6             3        9
Pittsburgh     BE         2        4           6             1        7
Minnesota     B10       1        5           6             0         6
Georgia        SEC       2        3           5             1         6
Syracuse       BE         0        5           5             0         5
Indiana         B10        0       4           4              0         4
Navy            IND         2       1           3              6         9
TCU             MWC      0       2           2              8        10
BYU 2010    MWC      0       2           2              4         6
Army            IND         2       0           2              4         6
Duke            ACC       1       1           2              1         3
Hawaii          WAC       0       2           2              1         3
Vanderbilt     SEC        0       2           2              0         2
San Jose St   WAC       0       2           2              0         2
Baylor           B12         0       1           1              7          8
Utah             MWC       1       0           1              4          5
Wash St        P10         0       0           0              4          4
Wyoming      MWC        0       0           0              3          3


Conclusion
This year’s TV line up would have put BYU tied for fourth most appearances on one of the networks or ESPN last season. Not bad, especially considering the company they were in with their 2010 lineup (Army, Duke, Hawaii) versus 2011 (Auburn, Michigan) and the teams they would have been above last season (Florida, USC, Texas, Ohio St). So yes Cougar fans, this exposure is special, and is something to be excited about.




A few notes on the assumptions and calculations:

• Network appearances include ABC, NBC, CBS; ESPN includes ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU; Other National Networks include FSN, Versus, CBSC. The Mtn, BTN, ESPN Gameplan, and regional Fox channels were not considered national broadcasts, even though technically they are available across the country.
• Not all teams are included in the analysis (I included 4-5 teams from each conference—the 3-4 best teams and 1-2 bottom dwellers to put things into perspective); however, I believe that all of the teams with the most exposure have been included, so probably the top 15 teams or so, are pretty accurate.
• Regular season only; no bowls or championship games were included.
• I recognize that not all viewing times are created equal (e.g. Boise on a Wed night isn’t the same as Alabama on Sat at 7pm) but haven’t accounted for those variances here.
• TV appearances are often schedule dependent, and whether a team gets on national TV is determined by the home team contract and the quality of the opponent; given this, and the variability in schedules, it is expected that appearances would vary somewhat from year to year.
• Whenever a game was broadcast on ABC and an ESPN channel, I counted it as an ABC game.