Night Fever: ABC Announces Primetime College Football Lineup
ABC Sports will launch “ABC Saturday Night College Football” next season, which
ABC calls the first season-long primetime college football series on a broadcast
network. The series begins September 2 with Notre Dame-Georgia Tech. All telecasts
in the 12-week series, an expansion of last year’s offering of four Saturday primetime
games, will have 8:00pm ET start times and air in HD. Play-by-play announcer Brent
Musburger will be joined in the booth by analyst Bob Davie and, in certain weeks,
analyst Kirk Herbstreit. Lisa Salters will serve as sideline reporter. ESPN’s
“College GameDay” will kick off its season from the site of ABC’s first two games.
ABC’s Saturday night schedule is below:
|
DATE
|
GAME
|
| September 2 |
Notre Dame-Georgia Tech |
| September 9 |
Ohio State-Texas |
| September 16 |
Nebraska-USC |
| September 23 |
Notre Dame-Michigan State/USC-Arizona |
| September 30 |
Ohio State-Iowa or Michigan-Minnesota^ |
| October 7 |
Oregon-California/Game TBA |
| October 14 |
Michigan-Penn State/Arizona State-USC |
| November 4 |
UCLA-California/Game TBA |
| November 11 |
Game TBA |
| November 18 |
California-USC/Game TBA |
| November 25 |
Notre Dame-USC |
| December 2 |
Dr Pepper Big 12 Championship Game |
NOTES: ^ = One game will be on ABC with the other in primetime on ESPN
or ESPN2. Games TBA will feature teams from the Big 12, ACC or Big East; a 12-day
selection is permitted for primetime games and will be chosen during the season.
There are no games scheduled October 21 and October 28 when the World Series is
scheduled (THE DAILY).
LIGHTS, CAMERAS, ACTION: USA TODAY’s Michael Hiestand notes ABC can “move
big afternoon matchups [to primetime] because it has the rights to most big-time
games except” the SEC (CBS) and Notre Dame home games (NBC). ESPN/ABC Sports
President George Bodenheimer said there is “no shortage of marquee teams looking
for primetime exposure.” Hiestand notes ABC averaged a 4.9 Nielsen rating last
fall for the four primetime college football broadcasts, compared to a 3.4 for
its regular Saturday night programming. ESPN and ESPN2 will continue to televise
Saturday night games, and ESPN/ABC Sports VP/Programming & Acquisitions Dave Brown
said that the ABC game “gives Disney a new way to cross-promote them.” Brown:
“Our goal is build audiences for our three services on a cumulative basis” (USA
TODAY, 5/17). Brown said that ABC will televise fewer college football games
this year than last year, but “will schedule them in more desirable time slots,
reducing the number of [12:00pm] games and the number of afternoon games that
air only on the West Coast.” He added that ESPN, which will no longer air Sunday
night NFL games, “has scheduled at least three Sunday night college games in prime
time and probably will air three or four more” (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 5/17).
 |
Gophers, Twins To Play Games
At Metrodome On Same Day |
PLUCK OF THE IRISH: With three of Notre Dame’s five road games scheduled
for primetime on ABC, the CHICAGO TRIBUNE’s Teddy Greenstein writes, “ABC Sports
officials obviously know the formula: Notre Dame football equals big ratings”
(CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 5/17).
METRODOME CONFLICT: In St. Paul, Charley Walters notes the Univ. of Minnesota
(UM) will be featured on ABC’s primetime coverage September 30, the same day the
Twins are hosting the White Sox at the Metrodome. White Sox-Twins is scheduled
to start at 12:10pm, and “it takes four hours to transform the Dome’s baseball
field into a football field.” UM coach Glen Mason said, “It’s just another indication
of why your own stadium on campus is a need, not a want. To think that a Big Ten
institution has no control over their starting time when a conflict is present
with a professional organization is not only frustrating to us but the entire
Big Ten Conference” (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 5/17).
|
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