College football spring games are "blossoming on television as sports networks discover the value of airing glorified scrimmages, tapping into fervent college fan bases," and gaining "free advertising in the middle of the offseason for programs competing for the country's top recruits," according to Rachel Cohen of the AP. The Big Ten Network is "scheduled to broadcast live all but one of its schools' spring football games this year on TV or the Internet," while ESPN's networks are airing five games this year, not counting "additional teams available online at ESPN3.com." Notre Dame's spring game this Saturday "will be televised nationally for the first time" on Versus, "now a sister network to NBC." Twelve of the 25 teams in the final AP poll last season are "planning to have their games broadcast in some form this spring." Still, Cohen noted coaches whose games are televised "may be more likely to hold back certain plays they don't want their opponents to see." In fact, the only people that "don't seem to be on the bandwagon" are some coaches. Nebraska is the "TV holdout" in the Big Ten, as coaches "don't want to show their retooled offense to their new rivals." Meanwhile, ESPN's telecast of Texas' spring game April 3 "drew an audience of 226,000 households," down from 337,000 households for the same time slot last year, which included a replay of the college basketball three-point and slam dunk competitions. But Cohen noted "even if viewership isn't great, the games are valuable in other ways to ESPN, which is so heavily invested in college football" (AP, 4/14).
SOONER OR LATER? ESPN.com's David Ubben noted there a "handful of teams" that will put their annual scrimmage on ESPN, but Oklahoma is not among them and "don't expect that to change any time soon." Oklahoma defensive coordinator Brent Venables: "I don't see the benefit. When it's all said and done, I think we're on TV as much if not more than anybody, and get plenty of exposure. I don't think we need the added exposure." Venables "doesn't like the idea of playing a dumbed-down defense or offense for the sake of not giving teams a summer to break down any new wrinkles, and the idea of being mic'd up live for the course of a game isn't too appealing, either." Venables: "Guys will be listening, so why do you want to give somebody a competitive advantage?" (ESPN.com, 4/14).
