CBS Did Have A Choice on Auburn vs. LSU - Maybe
by Jay Coulter on Sep 12, 2008 4:00 AM CDT
in Football
Email
Print
I got a lot of email and comments in regards to my story on Tuesday about CBS passing on Auburn-LSU for the Florida-Tennessee game coming up September 20th. Many of you wrote to me saying that ESPN picked the LSU game prior to the season and that's the reason CBS is not televising the game.
After some research, I've found that I'm right - and wrong. Yes it's possible. It's sort of like arguments with my wife. I think I'm usually right and she always knows I'm wrong.
Anyway, thanks to Birmingham News writer Jon Solomon, we have the definitive answer. Prior to the season both CBS and ESPN have opportunities to "reserve" big games for the upcoming season. Under the contract, CBS is given six games to protect throughout the year. ESPN is given three.
CBS has the 1, 2, 4, 5, 7 and 8th picks. ESPN has the 3, 6, and 9th picks. So CBS chose Florida at Tennessee, LSU at Florida; Tennessee at Georgia; Georgia vs. Florida, Alabama at LSU and Auburn at Alabama. ESPN picked LSU at Auburn; Alabama at Georgia and Tennessee at South Carolina (they lose big on that one).
So we do know that CBS passed on Auburn-LSU with its first two picks. What we don't know is what pick ESPN used to grab next weekend's game. It's highly likely that CBS used one of its first picks for Florida-Tennessee.
So, was my story right? Maybe or maybe not. If it's ok with you, I'll just say that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
As several readers mentioned, it's best anyway to have LSU on the Plains at night. I couldn't agree more. It gives Auburn a huge advantage. It still irks me that CBS passed on this game. Or did they?
If you want to read more on how television contracts work, then I highly recommend reading Solomon's article from yesterday. I find this stuff interesting, even when I'm wrong - or right.
One of the cool things on campus is the Tiger Trail of Auburn. Each year, former players and coaches from all sports are honored by having a triangle plaque placed on the sidewalks around Auburn. It's the Hollywood Walk of Fame for the Auburn folks.
This year's class of inductees was announced on Thursday. Representing the football team is Captain Crunch, Mike Kolen and representing basketball is former head coach Sonny Smith. Ceremonies will take place on September 27th prior to the Tennessee game.
With most Auburn fans staying at home this weekend, what's on television will be of major importance. Below is a list of the big games being televised across the spectrum (all games times are CT)...
North Carolina State at Clemson
11:00 a.m. Raycom (ACC)
Navy at Duke
11:00 a.m. ESPN U.
California at Maryland
11:00 a.m. ESPN
Florida Atlantic at Michigan St.
11:00 a.m. ESPN 2
UAB at Tennessee
11:30 a.m. Raycom (SEC)
Georgia at South Carolina
2:30 p.m. CBS
Georgia Tech at Virginia Tech
2:30 p.m. ABC
Michigan at Notre Dame
2:30 p.m. NBC
UCLA at BYU
2:30 p.m. Versus
Chattanooga at Florida State
2:45 p.m. ESPN U.
Auburn at Mississippi State
6:00 p.m. ESPN 2
Virginia at Connecticut
6:30 p.m. ESPN U.
Oklahoma at Washington
6:45 p.m. ESPN
Ohio State at USC
7:00 p.m. ABC
Wisconsin at Fresno State
9:30 p.m. ESPN 2
4 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
The afternoon game
,,,,on CBS is considered the better time slot, by some, but I prefer the evening time slot. It seems that our boys play better at night. The later in the day, the better they play.
WAR EAGLE
Jay, thanks for explanation and the article.....
both were very informative!!!
The more I think about this and talk about it, the more I think who cares if we get the CBS game or the ESPN game!!! Both are nationally televised so the money is the same. With cable and satellite being more readily available and cheaper the majority of the households have ESPN. A perfect example of this is ABCs decision to put Monday night football on ESPN a few years back. I know there are those out there who cannot afford satellite or cable and thus miss out, I am not insinuating that those fans be alienated but there are also those who work on Saturdays and thus cannot watch the afternoon game. My point is you can’t please everyone!!! So as we have all stated, for the reason of team success, I would rather see us play at night. And if CBS passed us up….WHO CARES – we are getting paid the same from the home office and we are still on national TV. The only one who loses out is CBS!!! Besides as someone else pointed the CBS games are too long with too many commercials.
And Jill Arrington isn’t on the sidelines anymore….I know that has been for several years but you get my point!!!
We prefer night games as well
and I have been annoyed at CBS and the excessive commercial breaks that come with their afternoon games. I usually hit pause at kickoff, put away a few beers, and then watch the game by fast forwarding through the commericials. My guess is that CBS thought UT would be stronger this year than they showed in their blunder against UCLA. And hopefully they will be. So they may have thought the revenge factor for last year’s UT blowout loss would provide for more viewers, and ratings is all a network cares about anyway. I would be curious to see how the ratings for Auburn/LSU have fared over the past few years, compared to other marquis matchups, because Auburn/LSU has lately been a hard hitting, entertaining (although sometimes low scoring) affair that often determines the SEC West champ.
In the end, I too prefer ESPN, although some of their crew (Corso, Herbstreit, Holtz, to name a few) annoy me to no end.
One other thing,
I didn’t notice the LSU/UGA game on that list of games that the networks divied up. Is that one yet to be decided? With all of the (excessive) preseason hype, I figured that one would have been scooped up right off the bat.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
