Fang's Bites

ESPN Notes Rose & Orange Bowls Combined Overnights Go Up

The New Year’s Day combination of the Rose Bowl and the Orange Bowl on ESPN finished higher in the overnight ratings than last year. According to ESPN, the combined overnight rating was an 8.0 which is 11% higher than last year’s 7.2 combined overnight for the two games.

Individually, the Rose Bowl featuring Wisconsin and Stanford received an average 9.6 overnight rating, down from the 2012 game which garnered a 9.9. According to Austin Karp of Sports Media Journal, the overnight number for the Rose Bowl could be the lowest dating back to 1985 when ABC carried the game.

The Orange Bowl which had Northern Illinois facing Florida State averaged a 6.5 overnight which is 45% better than 2012 which could only muster a 4.5.

Interesting that ESPN is combining these two bowls and comparing them directly when last year’s combo on New Year’s Day was the Rose and Fiesta. When you compare those two from last year to this year’s the ratings would be down.

We have the ESPN press release.

Combined Overnight Ratings for Rose Bowl and Orange Bowl BCS Games Rises over 2012

ESPN’s first two Bowl Championship Series telecasts of 2013 – the Rose Bowl and Orange Bowl on Tuesday, Jan. 1 – combined to average an 8.0 metered market rating, according to Nielsen. The two-game average marks an increase of 11 percent over a 7.2 average overnight rating for the 2012 Rose Bowl and Orange Bowl games.

The 2013 Orange Bowl – No. 12 Florida State beating No. 15 Northern Illinois 31-10 – averaged a 6.5 overnight. With the telecast, ESPN won the night as television’s most-watched network – broadcast or cable. This year’s telecast is 44 percent higher than the 2012 game, a 4.5 rating for No. 23 West Virginia defeating No. 15 Clemson 70-33.

The 2013 Rose Bowl, in which No. 6 Stanford defeated unranked Wisconsin 20-14, earned a 9.6 overnight, the highest on cable television outside of ESPN’s NFL games since the 2012 Bowl Championship Series National Championship. The telecast is down 3 percent from a 9.9 rating for last year’s game, which saw No. 5 Oregon defeat No. 10 Wisconsin 45-38 in the highest scoring Rose Bowl ever.<

In the markets of participating teams, the Rose Bowl averaged a 31.1 rating in Milwaukee, the second highest rating for an ESPN bowl game in the market on record (back to 2000). ESPN’s coverage earned a 12.3 rating in San Francisco, the market’s third highest-rated bowl on ESPN networks. The telecast also averaged a 20.7 in Birmingham, 19.8 in Columbus, 15.6 in Dayton and 14.0 in Portland.

The Orange Bowl averaged an 11.1 overnight in Chicago, the second highest ESPN bowl rating in Chicago on record. It also garnered a 14.1 in Jacksonville and 11.9 in Orlando, marking the fourth and third highest-rated bowl games on ESPN in the markets, respectively. ESPN’s coverage recorded a 19.9 in Birmingham, 11.7 in Oklahoma City and 10.7 in Greenville.

That is all.

ESPN Prepares To Cover The Next-to-Last BCS

As we approach the long-awaited college football playoff in 2015, the BCS is still in effect and ESPN will air the entire five game sequence which includes the National Championship Game on January 7. The BCS begins on Tuesday with the Rose Bowl and the Orange Bowl. It then proceeds to the Sugar Bowl on Wednesday and the Fiesta Bowl on Thursday. It all culminates with the BCS National Championship Game on Monday night as Alabama takes on Notre Dame in South Florida.

ESPN plans extensive coverage of the BCS starting on Tuesday, New Year’s Day with all types of pregame and wraparound programming on several of its platforms on TV, radio, mobiles, tablets and computers.

Let’s take a look at the extensive ESPN press release which details its coverage plans.

Extensive BCS Bowls Coverage Includes ESPNU’s Week of Programming, ESPN Radio Live from South Beach and ESPN Deportes’ Spanish-Language Telecasts

ESPN’s extensive college football programming is culminated by all five of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) matchups, including the BCS National Championship (No. 1 Notre Dame vs. No. 2 Alabama) from Miami Gardens, Fla., Monday, Jan. 7, at 8:30 p.m. ET on ESPN, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Radio, ESPN 3D and WatchESPN.

Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit will work their sixth consecutive BCS National Championship game, calling ESPN’s telecast with Saturday Night Football reporter Heather Cox and College GameDay reporter Tom Rinaldi. For the second straight year, ESPN’s Monday Night Football signal caller Mike Tirico will work ESPN Radio’s broadcast with ESPN college football analyst Todd Blackledge and reporters Holly Rowe and Joe Schad: http://es.pn/11VjVQy.

Studio Coverage

Beginning New Year’s Day, ESPN will provide viewers with daily updates from all the action including all five BCS bowl games. College Football Live at the BCS will be televised daily from 3 – 4 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 2, through Friday, Jan. 4, and again on Monday, Jan. 7, providing all the latest news and analysis of the upcoming matchups. The network’s Emmy Award-winning pre-game show College GameDay will be live from the Rose Bowl, the Sugar Bowl, the Fiesta Bowl and the BCS National Championship where the crew will be joined by guest analysts and current head coaches Urban Meyer (Ohio State) and Kevin Sumlin (Texas A&M): http://es.pn/VCx3UR.

Kicking off 2013, ESPNU will feature its largest on-site presence to-date with seven studio shows from Miami Gardens, Fla. The network’s 74 hours of content begins Tuesday, Jan. 1, and leads into the BCS National Championship. The schedule is punctuated by a marathon of more than 24 hours of BCS-themed content beginning Sunday, Jan. 6, at 10 p.m. and extending until mid-morning Tuesday, Jan. 8: http://es.pn/W5AHXK.

ESPN Radio Shows

Mike & Mike in the Morning (6-10 a.m. ET M-F, simulcast on ESPN2) and SVP & Russillo (1-4 p.m. M-F, simulcast on ESPNEWS 1-3 p.m.) will originate from Miami’s South Beach Monday and Tuesday, Jan. 7-8. Notre Dame alum and morning co-host Mike Golic will watch his sons Mike Jr. and Jake play Monday night against Alabama.

Also, The Herd with Colin Cowherd (10 a.m.-1 p.m. M-F, simulcast on ESPNU) will be in South Beach on January 7, as will Trevor Matich and Brad Edwards, joining Ryen Russillo for a special 2-1/2-hour edition of College GameDay on ESPN Radio at 4 p.m.

Additionally, ESPN Radio will present a 2013 BCS Special hosted by College GameDay’s Russillo, Matich and Edwards. They will be joined by ESPN college football experts, as well as ESPN Radio’s Mikes Golic & Greenberg, Cowherd, Scott Van Pelt, Russillo, and Dari Nowkhah and Mel Kiper Jr. The special will run multiple times the weekend before the title game and will be available for download at ESPNRadio.com.

Additional details:

• ESPN Radio will present exclusive, live national coverage of all BCS contests culminating with the championship game Monday, Jan. 7.
• ESPN Radio has broadcast every BCS bowl game since the inception of the BCS. ESPN Radio’s bowl games – 37 announcers spread across 16 days – has been available to more than 400stations nationwide.
• Internationally, ESPN Radio’s BCS coverage can be heard in Canada (TSN 1050 in Toronto) and the U.S  Virgin Islands (WVWI-AM 1000/St. Thomas).

ESPN Deportes:

ESPN Deportes is the Spanish-language television home for the BCS. ESPN Deportes, for the first time, will air all five BCS bowls, including the BCS National Championship: http://es.pn/SE1kpt for U.S. Hispanic sports fans.

ESPN International

ESPN International will televise the BCS National Championship live to more than 100 countries, across six continents, reaching more than 100 million households:

• Latin America (49 countries):  ESPN networks in Spanish-speaking Latin America, Brazil, and the Caribbean.
• Israel and Sub-Saharan Africa (47 countries):  ESPN Israel and ESPN Africa
• PacRim (six countries; 2.6 million households):  ESPN PacRim
• Canada (12.5 million households): TSN and RDS
• Asia (22 countries; 176 million households):  ESPN China, SE Asia, India, Taiwan, Philippines, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Japan (J Sports 2).

In addition, ESPN America (only European network devoted exclusively to the best in North American sport, available to 19 million homes in more than 40 countries) will broadcast live and exclusive coverage of all five BCS bowls including the title game with all available online through the live and on-demand streaming service ESPNPlayer.com: http://bit.ly/ESPNIntlBowls

ESPN Digital

• WatchESPN: Every live BCS game on ESPN is accessible on computers, smartphones, tablets and Xbox.
• ESPN3: Replays of every bowl game available shortly after the conclusion of the games.
• ESPN.com: Stories, columns, blogs, video elements and more.  The bowls homepage will provide previews and post-game content on every game, as well as an in-depth look at all five BCS bowls with an individual page dedicated to the coverage of each: Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Sugar Bowl and BCS National Championship.
• ESPN Mobile: Clips, highlights, news and scores available through the ScoreCenter app and via the ESPN College Football app.
• Fans can follow @ESPNCFB on Twitter for the latest scores, news and highlights.

ESPN 3D

ESPN 3D will televise ESPN’s coverage of the Sugar Bowl and the BCS National Championship. In addition, Joe Tessitore and Rod Gilmore will provide extended coverage of the title game during select commercial breaks of the ESPN telecast.
There you have it.

ESPN College GameDay Prepares For The BCS National Championship

Starting on January 1, ESPN’s College GameDay will be live from four of the five BCS games including the Big One, the BCS National Championship game in South Florida on January 7.

College GameDay will begin its cross-country odyssey in Pasadena, CA by doing two shows on New Year’s Day live from the Rose Bowl. Chris Fowler, Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard and charlatan Todd McShay will be in Pasadena for the festivities.

The following day, Fowler, Herbstreit and Howard fly to New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl and they’ll be joined by David Pollack.

On January 3, the College Football Final crew of Rece Davis, Lou Holtz and Mark May will hold court at the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, AZ.

College GameDay will skip the Orange Bowl and studiop coverage of the game on New Year’s Night will be produced from ESPN’s World Headquarters in Bristol, CT.

And finally, College GameDay ends its season from the BCS National Championship Game from the Stadium Formerly Known as Joe Robbie. Former ESPN analyst and current Ohio State coach Urban Meyer and Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin will be on the set to provide analysis of Alabama-Notre Dame.

Samantha Ponder (formerly Steele) will also be on hand for College GameDay.

Here’s the official ESPN press release.

College GameDay: A Look Ahead to BCS Bowl Coverage and Guest Analysts Urban Meyer and Kevin Sumlin

Beginning Tuesday, Jan. 1, ESPN College GameDay will be live from the sites of the Rose Bowl, the Sugar Bowl and the Fiesta Bowl. Coverage of the Orange Bowl will originate from ESPN studios in Bristol, Conn. GameDay will end the season live from Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla., on Monday, Jan. 7, from the BCS National Championship for a two-hour show starting at 6 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Throughout the week, a variety of ESPN analysts will sit on the GameDay set in the various cities. Host Chris Fowler and analysts Kirk Herbstreit and Desmond Howard will travel from Pasadena to New Orleans with a final stop in Miami Gardens, Fla., for the title game. Additional analyst appearances include Lee Corso, David Pollack, Todd McShay and Samantha (Steele) Ponder.

Rece Davis will take the hosting reins, along with his weekly ESPN studio partners, analysts Lou Holtz and Mark May, from the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Ariz.

The BCS National Championship will add guest analysts including former ESPN commentator and current Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer and Texas A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin, whose team was the only program to top Alabama this season.

College GameDay BCS Schedule

Date	Time (ET)	Network	Location/Analysts
Tue, Jan 1	11 a.m.	ESPNU	Fowler, Herbstreit, Corso, Howard & McShay (Pasadena, Calif.)
	noon	ESPN
Wed, Jan 2	7-8 p.m.	ESPN	Fowler, Herbstreit, Howard & Pollack (New Orleans)
Thu, Jan 3	7-8 p.m.	ESPN	Davis, Holtz & May (Glendale, Ariz.)
Mon, Jan 7	6-8 p.m.	ESPN	Fowler, Herbstreit, Corso, Howard, Pollack, Meyer & Sumlin (Miami Gardens, Fla.)

That does it.

ESPN Airs 34 College Bowl Games Including The Next-to-Last BCS

ESPN has sent its schedule for the college football bowls as well as the Bowl Championship Series. In addition, we have the announcing assignments for all of the games on the ESPN platforms. Most of the games will air on ESPN, some on ESPN2. ESPN Radio also carries a series of games including the entire BCS.

Brent Musburger, Kirk Herbstreit and Heather Cox will call the Rose Bowl and the BCS National Championship Game. ESPN’s other teams for the BCS and the other bowls approaching January are Brad Nessler/Todd Blackledge/Holly Rowe, Sean McDonough/Chris Spielman/Quint Kessenich and Joe Tessitore/Matt Millen/Maria Taylor.

Other teams include ESPN’s regular combos of Beth Mowins/Joey Galloway, Carter Blackburn/Rod Gilmore/Jemele Hill, Mike Patrick/Ed Cunningham, Bob Wischusen/Danny Kanell, Dave Pasch/Brian Griese/Jenn Brown and Mark Jones/Brock Huard.

Here’s ESPN’s press release in full.

ESPN to Carry 34 College Football Bowl Games including Entire BCS

ESPN’s extensive college football coverage continues with 34 bowl games, highlighted by all five of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) matchups, including the BCS National Championship (No. 1 Notre Dame vs. No. 2 Alabama) on Monday, Jan. 7, at 8:30 p.m. ET on ESPN, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Radio, ESPN 3D and WatchESPN.

The schedule will kick off with an ESPN and ESPN Radio doubleheader on Saturday, Dec. 15: the New Mexico Bowl (Nevada vs. Arizona), which is also on ESPN 3D, at 1 p.m. ET and the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl (Toledo vs. No. 22 Utah State) at 4:30 p.m.

Schedule highlights:

• An ESPN outlet will offer coverage of at least one game a day for 16 out of the 19 days from Dec. 20 to Jan. 7.
• ESPN’s New Year’s Day lineup will include six games:

• Noon: Gator Bowl (Mississippi State vs. No. 20 Northwestern) on ESPN2 and Heart of Dallas Bowl (Purdue vs. No. 13 Oklahoma State) on ESPNU.
• 1 p.m.: Capital One Bowl (No. 7 Georgia vs. No. 16 Nebraska) on ABC and ESPN Radio and Outback Bowl (No. 10 South Carolina vs. No. 18 Michigan) on ESPN and ESPN Radio.
• 5 p.m.: Rose Bowl (Wisconsin vs. No. 6 Stanford) on ESPN, ESPN Deportes and ESPN Radio.
• 8:30 p.m.: Orange Bowl (No. 15 Northern Illinois vs. No. 12 Florida State) on ESPN, ESPN Deportes and ESPN Radio.

• Every bowl game on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU will be available on computers at WatchESPN.com and on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app. WatchESPN is currently available in 40 million households nationwide to fans who receive their video subscription from Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks, Verizon FiOS TV, Comcast Xfinity TV or Midcontinent Communications.
• ESPN Deportes will televise all five BCS bowls, marking the first telecast of the entire BCS in Spanish for U.S. Hispanic sports fans. ESPN Deportes also aired the BCS Championship between Alabama and LSU last year. According to the most recent ESPN Deportes Sports PollSource: ESPN Deportes Sports Poll 2011, P2+
• , 42 percent of U.S. Hispanics follow college football. That’s more than the Hispanic fanbase following UEFA Champions League.
• ESPN 3D, the world’s first 24/7 all-sports 3D channel, will televise five bowl games, highlighted by the Sugar Bowl and BCS National Championship. It will mark the third year ESPN 3D has televised the BCS National Championship. ESPN 3D, launched in 2010, is available to more than 63 million homes in the U.S. through carriage agreements with DIRECTV, Comcast, Bright House Networks, Cablevision, Time Warner Cable, Verizon FiOS TV and Google Fiber.
• ESPN Radio will broadcast 24 bowl games, including all five BCS matchups and the Cotton Bowl (No. 9 Texas A&M vs. No. 11 Oklahoma on Friday, Jan. 4, at 7 p.m.).
• ESPN will cover all seven ESPN Regional Television owned-and-operated bowl games: the New Mexico Bowl (Saturday, Dec. 15, at 1 p.m.), St. Petersburg Bowl (Friday, Dec. 21, at 7:30 p.m.); Las Vegas Bowl (Saturday, Dec. 22, at 3:30 p.m.); Hawaii Bowl (Monday, Dec. 24, at 8 p.m.); Texas Bowl (Friday, Dec. 28, at 9 p.m.); Armed Forces Bowl (Saturday, Dec. 29, at 11:45 a.m.); and BBVA Compass Bowl (Saturday, Jan. 5, at 1 p.m.).
• ESPN International will telecast the BCS in: Australia/New Zealand (ESPN Pacific Rim); Latin America North & South; Brazil; Caribbean; Europe (ESPN America); Sub-Saharan Africa (ESPN Atlantic) and Middle East.

Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit will work their sixth consecutive BCS National Championship game on ESPN (Monday, Jan. 7, at 8:30 p.m.) with Saturday Night Football reporter Heather Cox and College GameDay host and reporter Tom Rinaldi. For the second straight year, ESPN’s Monday Night Football signal caller Mike Tirico will work ESPN Radio’s broadcast with ESPN college football analyst Todd Blackledge and reporters Holly Rowe and Joe Schad.

As part of an extensive four-year agreement with the Bowl Championship Series that began in 2010, ESPN will provide exclusive worldwide television coverage, radio broadcasts, digital content and more for the five annual BCS games from January 2011 through January 2014. ESPN Radio has broadcast every BCS game since 2000.

The 2012 college football season on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3, ESPN Radio, ESPN 3D, ESPN Deportes, Longhorn Network, ESPN Mobile TV, ESPN Regional Television, WatchESPN and ESPN GamePlan totals more than 450 regular-and post-season games.

Bowl Championship Series

Tuesday, January 1	5 p.m.	Rose Bowl: Wisconsin vs. No. 6 Stanford ESPN: Brent Musburger, Kirk Herbstreit, Heather Cox & Tom Rinaldi Radio: Dave Pasch, Brian Griese & Jenn Brown Deportes: Georgina Ruiz Sandoval & Robert Abramowitz	ESPN, ESPN Deportes & ESPN Radio
	8:30 p.m.	Orange Bowl: No. 15 Northern Illinois vs. No. 12 Florida State ESPN: Joe Tessitore, Matt Millen & Maria Taylor Radio: Bill Rosinski, David Norrie & Joe Schad Deportes: Eduardo Varela & Pablo Viruega	ESPN, ESPN Deportes & ESPN Radio
Wednesday, January 2	8:30 p.m.	Sugar Bowl: No. 21 Louisville vs. No. 3 Florida ESPN: Sean McDonough, Chris Spielman & Quint Kessenich Radio: Bob Wischusen, Danny Kanell & Allison Williams Deportes: Eduardo Varela & Pablo Viruega	ESPN, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Radio & ESPN 3D
Thursday, January 3	8:30 p.m.	Fiesta Bowl: No. 4 Oregon vs. No. 5 Kansas State ESPN: Brad Nessler, Todd Blackledge & Holly Rowe Radio: Bill Rosinski, David Norrie & Joe Schad Deportes: Eduardo Varela & Pablo Viruega	ESPN, ESPN Deportes & ESPN Radio
Monday, January 7	8:30 p.m.	BCS National Championship Game: No. 1 Notre Dame vs. No. 2 Alabama ESPN: Brent Musburger, Kirk Herbstreit, Heather Cox & Tom Rinaldi Radio: Mike Tirico, Todd Blackledge, Holly Rowe & Joe Schad Deportes: Eduardo Varela & Pablo Viruega	ESPN, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Radio & ESPN 3D

Additional Postseason Games

Date	Time (ET)	Game	Network
Saturday, Dec 15	1 p.m.	New Mexico Bowl: Nevada vs. Arizona ESPN: Bob Wischusen, Danny Kanell & Kaylee Hartung Radio: Mark Neely, Ray Bentley & Marty Cesario	ESPN, ESPN Radio & ESPN 3D
	4:30 p.m.	Famous Idaho Potato Bowl: Toledo vs. No. 22 Utah State ESPN: Tom Hart, Mike Bellotti & Quint Kessenich Radio: Rich Cellini, Tom Ramsey & Shelley Smith	ESPN & ESPN Radio
Thursday, December 20	8 p.m.	Poinsettia Bowl: BYU vs. San Diego State ESPN: Carter Blackburn, Rod Gilmore & Jemele Hill Radio: Bill Rosinski, David Norrie & Joe Schad	ESPN, ESPN Radio & ESPN 3D
Friday, December 21	7:30 p.m.	St. Petersburg Bowl: Central Florida vs. Ball State ESPN: Dave Neal, Andre Ware, Desmond Howard & Cara Capuano Radio: Dave Lamont, Matt Stinchcomb & Allison Williams	ESPN & ESPN Radio
Saturday, December 22	Noon	New Orleans Bowl: East Carolina vs. Louisiana-Lafayette ESPN: Beth Mowins, Joey Galloway & Quint Kessenich Radio: Marc Kestecher, Dan Hawkins & Ian Fitzsimmons	ESPN & ESPN Radio
	3:30 p.m.	Las Vegas Bowl: Washington vs. No. 19 Boise State Brent Musburger, Kirk Herbstreit & Tom Rinaldi	ESPN
Monday, December 24	8 p.m.	Hawaii Bowl: Fresno State vs. SMU ESPN: Carter Blackburn, Kelly Stouffer & Kaylee Hartung Radio: Marc Kestecher & Pete Najarian	ESPN & ESPN Radio
Wednesday, December 26	7:30 p.m.	Little Caesars Bowl: Western Kentucky vs. Central Michigan Mark Neely, Ray Bentley & Jemele Hill	ESPN
Thursday, December 27	3 p.m.	Military Bowl: No. 24 San Jose State vs. Bowling Green Bob Wischusen, Danny Kanell & Quint Kessenich	ESPN
	6:30 p.m.	Belk Bowl: Cincinnati vs. Duke Mike Patrick, Ed Cunningham & Jeannine Edwards	ESPN
	9:45 p.m.	Holiday Bowl: Baylor vs. No. 17 UCLA ESPN: Dave Pasch, Brian Griese & Jenn Brown Radio: Bill Rosinski, David Norrie & Joe Schad	ESPN, ESPN Radio & ESPN 3D
Friday, December 28	2 p.m.	Independence Bowl: Ohio vs. Louisiana-Monroe Dave Lamont, Kelly Stouffer & Cara Capuano	ESPN
	5:30 p.m.	Russell Athletic Bowl: Rutgers vs. Virginia Tech ESPN: Joe Tessitore, Matt Millen & Maria Taylor Radio: Adam Amin, Tom Luginbill & Brett McMurphy	ESPN & ESPN Radio
	9 p.m.	Texas Bowl: Minnesota vs. Texas Tech ESPN: Mark Jones, Brock Huard & Jessica Mendoza Radio: Tom Hart, John Congemi & Niki Noto	ESPN & ESPN Radio
Saturday, December 29	11:45 a.m.	Armed Forces Bowl: Rice vs. Air Force ESPN: Beth Mowins, Joey Galloway & Lewis Johnson Radio: Eamon McAnaney, David Diaz-Infante & Paul Carcaterra	ESPN & ESPN Radio
	3:15 p.m.	Pinstripe Bowl: West Virginia vs. Syracuse ESPN: Chris Fowler, Jesse Palmer & Tom Rinaldi Radio: Marc Kestecher, Jack Ford & C.J. Papa	ESPN & ESPN Radio
	4 p.m.	Fight Hunger Bowl: Navy vs. Arizona State Dave Pasch, Brian Griese & Jenn Brown	ESPN2
	6:45 p.m.	Alamo Bowl: No. 23 Texas vs. No. 13 Oregon State ESPN: Sean McDonough, Chris Spielman & Quint Kessenich Radio: Mark Neely, Ray Bentley & Kaylee Hartung	ESPN & ESPN Radio
	10:15 p.m.	Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl: TCU vs. Michigan State ESPN: Brad Nessler, Todd Blackledge & Holly Rowe Radio: Bill Rosinski, David Norrie & Joe Schad	ESPN & ESPN Radio
Monday, December 31	Noon	Music City Bowl: NC State vs. Vanderbilt Carter Blackburn, Rod Gilmore & Jemele Hill	ESPN
	3:30 p.m.	Liberty Bowl: Iowa State vs. Tulsa ESPN: Mark Jones, Brock Huard & Jessica Mendoza Radio: Beth Mowins, Joey Galloway & Lewis Johnson	ESPN & ESPN Radio
	7:30 p.m.	Chick-fil-A Bowl: No. 8 LSU vs. No. 14 Clemson ESPN: Mike Patrick, Ed Cunningham & Jeannine Edwards Radio: Dave Neal, Andre Ware & Cara Capuano	ESPN & ESPN Radio
Tuesday, January 1	Noon	Gator Bowl: Mississippi State vs. No. 20 Northwestern Bob Wischusen, Danny Kanell & Allison Williams	ESPN2
		Heart of Dallas Bowl: Purdue vs. Oklahoma State Clay Matvick, Matt Stinchcomb & Kaylee Hartung	ESPNU
	1 p.m.	Capital One Bowl: No. 7 Georgia vs. No. 16 Nebraska ABC: Rece Davis, Jesse Palmer, David Pollack & Samantha Steele Radio: Dave Lamont, Kelly Stouffer & Brett McMurphy	ABC & ESPN Radio
		Outback Bowl: No. 10 South Carolina vs. No. 18 Michigan ESPN: Mike Tirico, Jon Gruden & Shannon Spake Radio: Carter Blackburn, John Congemi & Jemele Hill	ESPN & ESPN Radio
Friday, January 4	7 p.m.	Cotton Bowl: No. 9 Texas A&M vs. No. 11 Oklahoma Brad Sham, Ed Cunningham & Ian Fitzsimmons	ESPN Radio
Saturday, January 5	1 p.m.	BBVA Compass Bowl: Pittsburgh vs. Ole Miss ESPN: Eamon McAnaney, David Diaz-Infante & Paul Carcaterra Radio: Dave Lamont, Kelly Stouffer & Allison Williams	ESPN & ESPN Radio
Sunday, January 6	9 p.m.	GoDaddy.com Bowl: No. 25 Kent State vs. Arkansas State Mark Jones, Brock Huard & Jessica Mendoza	ESPN

That is all.

Let’s Do Some Wednesday Linkage

Time for the links on this Wednesday. Let’s check out what we have.

Marisa Guthrie of the Hollywood Reporter talks with NBC’s Bob Costas about the Olympics, Jerry Sandusky and being short. That’s right.

Daniel Kaplan from the Sports Business Journal writes that the NFL will not sign a telecommunications partner this season and will see how the Wi-Fi experience goes at five stadiums before deciding.

Owen Gibson of the London (UK) Guardian reports that BBC has scored the rights to the Olympics through 2020.

BBC Director-General Mark Thompson blogs about the Beeb keeping the UK rights to the Olympics.

I have the BBC press release on the new Olympics contract.

Jeff Labrecque of Entertainment Weekly says ESPNU will have its own late night entertainment/talk show premiering in late August.

Also from EW, Dan Snierson says disgraced former Cincinnati Reds star Pete Rose will get his own TLC reality show. The question is, who doesn’t have a TLC reality show?

Brian Moran at Broadcasting & Cable says World Team Tennis will get live national coverage this weekend on Tennis Channel and the Comcast SportsNet regional affiliates.

Toni Fitzgerald at Media Life writes that ratings for the Home Run Derby were up while the All-Star Game took a hit.

The SportsCasters

Ed Sherman at The Sherman Report wonders why SI passed on printing an excerpt of Posnanski’s book.

Ed notices that the promotional video for the Paterno book has been removed from YouTube.

Ed talks with an ESPN executive on the network now using its own cameras instead of relying on the BBC to cover the Open Championship.

Reinhardt Krause of Investor’s Business Daily look at how cable providers are finding ways to drive up sports rights fees.

The Tampa Bay Times’ Eric Deggans in the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center talks with Real Sports’ Frank Deford about his updated piece on marching band hazing at historically black colleges.

SportsGrid’s Eric Goldschein has video of Los Angeles Dodgers voice Vin Scully scolding the team for its failure to execute a rundown play.

Patrick Burns at Deadspin says the Joe Paterno story dominated ESPN’s news coverage last week.

Deadspin’s John Koblin notes that Sports Illustrated is beginning to use the photo sharing site, Instagram.

The London (UK) Mirror provides 100 bizarre facts about the Olympics.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner talks with ESPN’s Paul Azinger about the Open Championship.

Brandon Marcello of the Jackson (MS) Clarion-Ledger says the SEC Storied documentary series will produce a film on a former Mississippi State football coach.

Mel Bracht of The Oklahoman notes that with the Thunder’s Kevin Durant, USA basketball vs. Brazil on ESPN drew very well locally.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer wonders what exactly will the new TLC Pete Rose reality show be about?

John says a local internet service provider will add ESPN3 in August.

Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times looks at ESPN paying the Rose Bowl $80 million per year starting in 2015.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has a preview of tonight’s “The Franchise” episode on Showtime which will show the Marlins’ Giancarlo Stanton going under the knife.

Joe Flint of the Times has Comcast appealing to the government to butt out of its programming decisions i.e., Tennis Channel.

Sports Media Watch notes that TNT’s NASCAR season finale saw increased ratings.

SMW has some ratings news and notes.

Chinwe Nwadike at Chinwe’s Corner wonders why some in the media are angry at Fox’s Erin Andrews.

Emmett Jones at Sports Business Digest says the WWE has established a social media hub for investors.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing has a screengrab of the Longhorn Network taking one final shot at Texas A&M before it leaves the Big 12 for good.

Jason Boog at Galleycat says an NBC Sports producer has published a children’s book on the Olympics.

That will do it for today.

Let’s Break Out Some Monday Linkage

Here’s the Monday linkage wrapped in a nice bow for you.

From Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand and Michael Smith, they report that ESPN will pay an average of $80 million per year to air the Rose Bowl. That more than doubles the current contract which pays $30 million.

Liz Mullen of SBJ says a noted movie studio is forming a sports talent agency further melding Hollywood and athletics.

Also from Sports Business Journal, Chris Botta notes that Brooklyn is ready and waiting if the New York Islanders can’t find a new home on Long Island

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says Bill Walton returns to national TV through ESPN as he’ll become the network’s analyst for Pac-12 basketball games.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News writes that the early sign up numbers for NBC’s Olympic apps are encouraging.

Mike says NBCUniversal is looking to make the 2012 London Games a truly digital experience.

Ed Sherman of The Sherman Report talks with NBC’s Bob Costas about turning 60.

Talkers Magazine, the so-called Bible of Talk Radio, lists its 2012 Heavy 100 of Sports Talk. I agree with Mike Francesa and Dan Patrick in the Top 3, the rest I have issues with including a few in the New England area, plus why is Joe Morgan on the list? And there are only two women.

Lisa O’Carroll of the London (UK) Guardian says Britain’s oldest and largest black newspaper has been denied credentials to the Olympics Stadium for the track & field events.

George Winslow from Broadcasting & Cable notes that it’s expected that social media will be heavily used for the Olympics.

Matt Rudnitsky of SportsGrid notes that ESPN’s Captain Blowhard and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban are engaging in the next Great Twitter feud.

Brian Clapp at Sports TV Jobs wonders how NFL Network’s new morning show can sustain fresh content over a four hour period every day.

Kirk Minihane of WEEI.com tackles the question over whether the Boston Red Sox should fire advisor Bill James over his comments on ESPN Radio about Joe Paterno and the Jerry Sandusky scandal.

If it’s Monday, then it must mean that the New York Post’s Phil Mushnick is in a bad mood about something.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union writes that Syracuse has negotiated an early exit to the ACC from the Big East Conference.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette notes that ESPN is starting its weekday coverage of the Open Championship earlier than previously announced.

DCRTV’s Dave Hughes writing in Press Box talks about the friendship that has developed between MASN’s Washington Nationals studio team of the great Johnny Holliday and Ray Knight.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog noticed that Democratic gargoyle strategist James Carville wore a Nats t-shirt on MSNBC over the weekend.

Tom Jones of the Tampa Bay Times has a look back at the weekend in sports television.

Mike Herndon of the Mobile (AL) Press-Register writes about the SEC releasing its early-season football TV schedule.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle looks back at the ten years since the failed US Olympic bids for the 2012 Games.

David imagines what if Houston had been awarded the 2012 Olympics.

Dusty Saunders from the Denver Post says the Penn State scandal has been the talk of the town.

Matthew T. Hall at the San Diego Union-Tribune wants to organize a fan protest on the lack of movement on getting Padres games on local TV.

Tom Hoffarth from the Los Angeles Daily News has your weekly sports calendar.

Sports Media Watch looks at Bill Walton making his return to ESPN.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media suggests how the NHL Network can stop the inexorable amount of game reruns during the summer.

Cork Gaines from the Business Insider’s Sports Page says MLB Advanced Media gave a hollow apology for a system-wide outage preventing fans from watching MLB.TV online Friday.

Emmett Jones at Sports Business Digest says truTV has given the go to a Shaquille O’Neal-fronted viral video show.

This is where we’ll end the links for today.

It’s A Friday Megalink Day

And can you believe I’ve been able to do linkage for most of the week? Hasn’t been like that in a long while. Glad I’ve been able to get it done.

Time for your Friday megalinks. As usual, we provide the Weekend Viewing Picks which has plenty of MLB and U.S. Olympic Trials action.

Let’s go to the links.

National

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand looks at ESPN extending its current deal with the Rose Bowl.

Michael looks at Erin Andrews’ departure from ESPN.

Sports Business Journal has a sampling of what some sports business and sports media figures addressed to the graduating Class of 2012 at the nation’s colleges and universities.

At the Sherman Report, Ed Sherman explores the strange dispute between the Arizona Diamondbacks and TV voice Daron Sutton.

Ed also notes some media bashing of Chris Berman a few months in advance of his Monday Night Football debut.

Stuart Kemp of the Hollywood Reporter writes that the BBC has launched a new Facebook app to allow UK users to watch the Olympics online.

John Eggerton from Broadcasting & Cable says the Supreme Court has let stand a lower court ruling throwing out the FCC fine against CBS for the infamous Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction during the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show. Man, that was a long time ago.

Tim Baysinger of B&C says NASCAR Digital Media has hired five executives in advance of the sport’s takeover of its digital rights from Turner Sports next year.

Jason Dachman of Sports Video Group notes ESPN’s X Games production evolution.

The Nielsen Wire blog ponders the question of whether NBA Draft picks can do well in marketing products.

Deadline reports that ESPN’s ratings for the EURO 2012 semifinals this week are way up from EURO 2008.

One more week of writing, “CNBC’s Darren Rovell”. Today, CNBC’s Darren Rovell writes that with less than a month to go until the Olympics, a major ticket dispute has erupted.

Joe Favorito notes how Delta Airlines’ sponsorship of English Premier League team Chelsea shows that the company wants to go outside of the US to gain awareness.

Sports Media Watch has a look at some of NBC’s Olympic assignments for London.

The Big Lead notes that ESPN and Bill Simmons removed a potential offensive part of his NBA Draft diary that is way too long for anyone to read.

Ryan Yoder of Awful Announcing has the winners and losers from Thursday’s night’s NBA Draft coverage on ESPN.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe writes about a documentary on an Olympic hopeful who is attempting to gain a spot on the US women’s gymnastics team.

Bill Doyle of the Worcester Telegram and Gazette talks with the Voice of the Worcester Tornadoes minor league baseball team.

Jerry Barmash at Fishbowl NY talks with WFAN’s Mike Francesa on whether he’ll return to the station when his contract expires in two years.

Phil Mushnick in the New York Post is not happy about Chris Berman calling Monday Night Football.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette notes that local sports anchor Andrew Catalon gets another Olympics assignment.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union notes that the NBA Draft’s ratings on ESPN were down from the year before.

Pete looks at 25 years of WFAN.

Ken McMillan from the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record analyzes the NBC Olympic assignments.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call talks about the later start time for the NFL national Sunday afternoon game.

Keith has some fun facts about WFAN’s 25th anniversary.

Jonathan Tannenwald of Philly.com says Philadelphia Union voice JP Dellacamera will be calling Olympic soccer games for NBC.

DCRTV’s Dave Hughes in Press Box says the Baltimore Orioles’ ratings on MASN are up.

Dan Steinberg from the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog has the Nationals’ radio ratings.

Jim Williams at the Washington Examiner speaks with NBC’s Phil Liggett about the Tour de France which kicks off this weekend.

South

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald culls media opinions regarding the Heat’s chances to repeat.

Jimmie E. Gates of the Jackson (MS) Clarion Ledger says a lawsuit against ESPN over a 30 for 30 documentary can proceed in state court.

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle says the Rockets are changing radio stations.

David writes the person who helped launch Houston’s original regional sports network will be part of the team that launches the city’s newest RSN.

Mel Bracht in The Oklahoman says a local sports radio network will be slightly affiliated with the new CBS Sports Radio.

More links later.

UPDATE, 9:20 p.m.: Time for more linkage.

Midwest

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Bob Wolfley says Fox has replaced Daron Sutton from this Saturday’s Arizona-Brewers game.

Robert Channick of the Chicago Tribune says WMAQ sports anchor Mike Adamle who’s been on leave from the station is expected to return soon.

Paul Christian in the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin goes over the NFL Network’s Top 100 Players of 2012 series.

West

John Maffei of the North County Times talks with TBS’ Cal Ripken about the MLB All-Star Game.

Jim Carlisle in the Ventura County Star rails against the current format of the All-Star Game.

Jim reviews some of this week’s sports media news in his notebook.

Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times says the NFL has laid down guidelines for the league to return to the nation’s second biggest market.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News isn’t thrilled about NBC pulling tape delayed shenanigans for the U.S. Olympic Trials.

Tom has more notes in his blog.

And we are finally done.

ESPN Keeps The Rose Bowl Through 2026

This is our other big news of the day. ESPN announcing it has signed a 12 year extension to keep the Rose Bowl under the Disney wing until 2026. This new extension will take effect in 2015.

ABC started airing the Rose Bowl, aka The Granddaddy of Them All, in 1989. It became an all-cable event in 2011. Now it’ll remain with ESPN through 2026.

The announcement.

ESPN Reaches Long-Term Extension with Pasadena Tournament of Roses, Big Ten and Pac-12

Rose Bowl Game on ESPN Outlets Through 2026

ESPN has reached a 12-year extension with the Pasadena Tournament of Roses, the Big Ten Conference and the Pac-12 Conference to continue the company’s long-standing relationship with the Rose Bowl Game, one of college football’s most popular events. The agreement, which begins in January 2015, will include rights to the annual Rose Bowl Game across ESPN’s platforms through 2026. Each year, the game will be played January 1 at 5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. PT (or on January 2 in years when January 1 is a Sunday) and will feature the champions from the Big Ten and Pac-12.

The news was announced today by John Skipper, ESPN President, Libby Wright, Chair of the Rose Bowl Management Committee, Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany and Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott.

 

Whatever is determined to be the exact post-season bowl rotation as part of the future format, ESPN will have the rights to the Rose Bowl Game each year. The previous eight-year Rose Bowl deal has two more seasons remaining (2013 Rose Bowl Game, 2014 Rose Bowl Game and 2014 BCS National Championship) within the current post-season structure. ESPN (or ABC) has televised the Rose Bowl Game since 1989.

ESPN will showcase the Rose Bowl Game on television, ESPN Radio, ESPN Mobile TV and on smartphones, tablets, online and on Xbox LIVE via WatchESPN. Additionally, ESPN has secured rights to distribute the Rose Bowl Game on ESPN 3D and around the world through ESPN International.

“The Rose Bowl Game is one of sport’s most meaningful and celebrated events,” Skipper said. “Extending our relationship long term with such a prestigious brand will play a significant role in the way fans continue to define ESPN – as the leading destination for college football all year long.”

Wright added, “The Tournament of Roses is thrilled to extend our agreement with ESPN to broadcast the Rose Bowl Game. Since 1989, the Rose Bowl Game has witnessed tremendous success with our partners at ESPN, which includes year-round, multi-platform promotion.  ESPN is truly the leader in sports and its support of our brand and product over the years has strengthened our position in post-season college football.  As we prepare for the 100th Rose Bowl Game in 2014, we look forward to new beginnings with a partner we consider family and continuing to showcase to the world the passion, strength, tradition and honor unique to our game.”

“We’re excited that the Rose Bowl Game will continue to be featured on ESPN through 2026,” Delany said. “The Big Ten and Pac-12 have a tremendous history of exciting matchups on New Year’s Day in Pasadena that dates back more than a century. We look forward to continuing the great tradition of featuring the Rose Bowl Game on ESPN, which has been a Big Ten partner since launching in 1979.”

 

“As we usher in the new era of a college football playoff, it is gratifying to know that the Rose Bowl will continue to be the premier Bowl game in college football,” Scott said. “With the signing of this landmark long-term broadcast agreement with ESPN, the history, tradition and success of the Rose Bowl Game will be assured for many years to come.”

That’s it.

Some Back To Work Tuesday Links

On this day when many of you head back to work after the lazy holiday season, let’s provide some links as we get into the New Year.

I’m still saddened today by the passing of Turner Sports and PGA.com essayist Jim Huber. Reading the tributes on Twitter from those who knew him and those who did not, the man was widely well-liked. Jim gave us the facts, was willing to let the events come to him and never was one to call attention to himself. And when you finished reading or watching one of Jim’s essays, you felt the richer for having seen it.

Some links for you.

Scott Michaux from the Augusta (GA) Chronicle says Jim Huber’s passing was so sudden.

Michael Schulder, an Senior Executive Producer at CNN writes at SI.com, that Jim was not only a great writer, he was also a poet.

Ryan Ballengee at Golf Channel mourns Jim’s passing.

John Kim at PGA.com has an obit.

Carla Caldwell at the Atlanta Business Chronicle also has an obituary.

And the Turner Sports-run NBA.com has a story plus a video tribute to Jim Huber.

Other sports media links.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch says ESPN has responded to a column written by The Oregonian’s John Canzano saying the network has bought access to the Rose Bowl while sacrificing journalism.

John Ourand & Michael Smith from Sports Business Journal report that Oklahoma University will have plenty of its sports programming seen in the Sooner State as well as Texas thanks to a new deal signed with Fox Sports.

Brian Steinberg at Advertising Age says NBC has sold out its Super Bowl XLVI ad inventory in sharp contrast to the last time it aired the Big Game when it was selling ads in the week leading up to the event.

And Brian writes that some Super Bowl advertisers are looking to make a big splash like Apple did with its famous “1984″ ad.

Alex Sherman of Bloomberg Business Week writes that NBC is getting as much as $4 million per 30 second ad for the Super Bowl. That’s a lot of money.

At the Hollywood Reporter, Georg Szalai writes about the neverending dispute between MSG Network and Time Warner Cable.

If you watched the NHL Winter Classic yesterday, you may have noticed a new ad from Bridgestone Tires with a fake press conference involving various ESPN personalities, one TNT analyst and if you’re really sharp-eyed, a reporter from Sports Business Journal. Shirley Brady of Brand Channel looks at the ad campaign that will climax at the Super Bowl.

To Greg Wyshynski at Yahoo’s Puck Daddy where he laments the death of Versus.

Jeff Sonderman at the Poynter Institute looks at how Philly.com handled comments in the reporting of Philadelphia Daily News columnist Bill Conlin’s alleged molestation of seven children.

Ken Kerschbaumer of Sports Video Group mourns the passing of an ABC Sports production legend.

Dan Daley of SVG looks at how Turner Sports wired its NBA broadcasts when the league returned to play on Christmas Day.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times writes that Time Warner Cable has put NBA TV in MSG Network’s channel slot.

Richard says HBO’s 24/7 on the NHL Winter Classic is another part of the network’s winning formula in sports documentaries.

Richard looks at the Super Bowl ads selling out and setting a revenue record for NBC.

Newsday’s Neil Best says NBC did its best to sell hockey during yesterday’s Winter Classic.

At Fishbowl NY, Jerry Barmash catches up with former WABC-TV sports anchor Scott Clark.

Will Leitch at New York Magazine wants to know what’s going on with the MSG/Time Warner Cable spat.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette tells Time Warner Cable subscribers what they’re missing tonight on MSG and MSG Plus.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union notes that two ESPN’ers and also Capital Region natives get an on-air reunion during this week’s Orange Bowl broadcast.

Pete says Fox Sports Radio has debuted yet another morning show.

WCAU-TV in Philadelphia has announced a deal to pick up ACC Network basketball games this season.

Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog has highlights of the DC NFL Team Radio Network’s season finale from Sunday.

Tom Jones of the Tampa Bay Times has some thoughts on the holiday weekend in sports television.

At the Houston Chronicle, David Barron writes that Jim Rome is promising a return to H-Town in the near future after his local affiliate dropped his radio show.

To the Daily Oklahoman where Mel Bracht says ESPN got the job done for last night’s Fiesta Bowl.

Dusty Saunders from the Denver Post is a fan of NFL RedZone.

Jason Quick of The Oregonian says Comcast SportsNet Northwest has struck a deal allowing fans without access to the channel to view Portland Trail Blazers games online. For a fee, of course.

Danny O’Neil of the Seattle Times feels Fox Sports NFL rules analyst Mike Pereira should call things both ways.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says the NHL Winter Classic drew its lowest overnight rating ever.

Sports Media Watch notes that TNT is putting Charles Barkley courtside this week.

SMW notes the Rose Bowl saw its lowest overnight rating in years.

Jason McIntyre of The Big Lead says Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer is banning his players from Twitter and CNBC’s Darren Rovell is pissed.

Barry Janoff from The Big Lead looks at the aforementioned Bridgestone ad campaign.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing has tweets from people angry over Matt Millen’s analysis during last night’s Fiesta Bowl. Millen was really awful last night.

Lots of good links for you today. That will do it.

Some End of the Year Links

Time to provide you some links to close out 2011. Thanks for visiting the blog this year. I moved from my old Blogger site to a new server, only to get kicked off the new place because it couldn’t handle the traffic from you. But then I was able to find HostMonster in a pinch and they’ve been absolutely wonderful in hosting the site and it’s been smooth sailing ever since. Thanks to you, I keep plugging along at the site and will continue to do so.

Let’s do some linkage on this New Year’s Eve.

If you haven’t seen it yet, check out my Big Dozen Sports Media

We’ll begin with USA Today’s Michael Hiestand who looks at Versus turning into NBC Sports Network on Monday.

Over to Adweek and Anthony Crupi who says the deadline to hash out an agreement between MSG Network and Time Warner Cable is fast approaching.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says Time Warner Cable subscribers in New York may not be seeing Knicks and Rangers games for a while.

Todd Spangler of Multichannel writes that AT&T U-Verse is also fighting with MSG, but at least can provide the network in HD for its subscribers.

Mike talks with ESPN’s Chris Fowler about the bowl system and how it might lead to a “Plus One” playoff.

And Mike writes that CBS Sports Network provides a Tim Tebow programming marathon  starting tonight.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing has the site’s Best & Worst in Sports Media for 2011.

My podcast partner, Keith Thibault from Sports Media Journal lists his biggest sports media stories for 2011.

Timothy Burke at Deadspin has the video of ESPN’s SkyCam crashing down to the field at last night’s Insight Bowl causing a short delay. I like one of the bands doing a SportsCenter sting as the camera was being dragged off the field.

And Ben Koo at Awful Announcing even has video of how the SkyCam works and how it could snap as it did last night.

The great Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch has a Year-in-Review of Boston media at SB Nation.

Max Tedford at WEEI.com has some of the top Boston sports media controversies.

Peter Abraham at the Boston Globe notes that the Red Sox AAA farm team, the Pawtucket Red Sox have found their replacement for announcer Dan Hoard who became the radio voice of the Cincinnati Bengals earlier this year.

At Sports Media Watchdog, the great Mike Silva has his 2011 “Stock Up/Stock Down” for New York sports media personalities.

Newsday’s Neil Best has a quick sports media roundup.

Neil has a few columns mixed into one for his year-end thoughts.

Neil notes how the NHL Winter Classic became exactly that in a short period of time.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union notes that Friend of Fang’s Bites Ian Eagle is a busy man.

Ken McMillan at the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says through radio and TV, local NFL fans will have access to most of the 16 games played on Sunday.

Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun says one of the year’s highlights in local broadcasting was also one of the saddest.

David Zurawik of the Sun talks with Friend of Fang’s Bites Jen Royle about her decision to leave Baltimore and return to her native Boston.

And David has some quotes from CBS’ Dan Fouts who will call Sunday’s Baltimore-Cincinnati game with the aforementioned Ian Eagle.

In Press Box, Dave Hughes from DCRTV.com has his top sports media stories in 2011 for DC-Baltimore.

At the Washington City Paper, Dave McKenna who was embroiled in a legal battle with DC NFL Team owner Dan Snyder is leaving the publication, but not before he fires a few more shots.

Ira Kaufman at the Tampa Tribune gets Jon Gruden to say that he’s not leaving ESPN and will remain with Monday Night Football for the foreseeable future.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says one of Jim Rome’s long-time radio affiliates has dropped the show in favor of local programming.

John Carzano of The Oregonian doesn’t like how ESPN covers the Rose Bowl.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog notes that the World Junior Hockey Championships are doing well on TSN.

In his sports business blog, Joe Favorito provides some thoughts for 2012.

Sports Media Watch reviews its predictions for 2011.

The Business Insider Sports Page provides its Winners and Losers in Sports for 2011.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media has some ratings numbers from Versus’ various programming.

Dave Kohl of The Broadcast Booth has his last review of the week in sports media for 2011.

And that will end our linkage for 2011. I know I haven’t been providing as many links lately due to my personal schedules. I hope to do better in 2012. Again, thanks for visiting. I have a couple of more features to provide before 2011 is out. Keep your feeds updated.

ESPN Sends College GameDay, College Football Live & SportsCenter to the BCS

As we approach the beginning of the Bowl Championship Series on Monday, ESPN will have three of its signature studio programs covering the five games. College GameDay, College Football Live and SportsCenter will all have a presence leading up to the BCS National Championship Game on January 9.

The usual studio casts including Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso, Desmond Howard, Rece Davis, Mark May, Lou Holtz, John Saunders, Jesse Palmer, Erin Andrews, Tom Rinaldi and many others will be part of ESPN’s coverage of the BCS bowls throughout the week from January 2 through January 9.

Auburn coach Gene Chizik, Oregon coach Chip Kelly and USC coach Lane Kiffin will be among the guest analysts throughout the coverage.

Here’s the ESPN press release.

College GameDay, College Football Live & SportsCenter at the BCS

Joined by Special Guest Analysts Gene Chizik, Chip Kelly, Bret Bielema & Lane Kiffin; GameDay to Originate from All Four Locations

In addition to televising all five of the Bowl Championship Series matchups for the second straight year, ESPN will provide extensive on-site studio reports and analysis across multiple shows and platforms for each of the five bowls. Coverage will be highlighted by four special editions of the popular College GameDay: a two-hour show on January 2 at 10 a.m. ET to preview the Rose Bowl and Fiesta Bowl; one-hour shows on January 3 and January 4 at 7 p.m. to preview the Sugar Bowl and Orange Bowl, respectively; and a two-hour preview of the BCS National Championship on January 9 at 6 p.m.

In addition to College GameDay, one-hour editions of ESPN’s weekday College Football Live at the BCS (daily from 3 to 4 p.m.) will air from New Orleans, site of the BCS National Championship, beginning Tuesday, Jan. 3 through Monday, Jan. 9, the day of the title game (No. 1 LSU vs. No. 2 Alabama at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN, ESPN3, ESPN 3D and ESPN Radio).

Chizik and Kelly Join ESPN as Guest Analysts
Auburn coach Gene Chizik and Oregon coach Chip Kelly – the two participants in last year’s BCS National Championship – will join ESPN as on-site studio analysts from New Orleans leading up to and through the BCS National Championship game. They will provide analysis across College GameDay, SportsCenter, ESPNEWS, College Football Live at the BCS, and pre, half-time and post-game coverage.

Special College GameDay from the Rose Bowl
College GameDay will originate from the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. beginning at 10 a.m. ET on ESPNU and continuing at 11 a.m. on ESPN. Commentators include hosts Chris Fowler and Erin Andrews, and analysts Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard and David Pollack.

On-set interviews and guest analysts:

• Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema and Oregon coach Chip Kelly will appear on set together for a live interview as they prepare to lead their teams in the Rose Bowl (Jan. 2 at 5 p.m. on ESPN, ESPN3 and ESPN Radio).
• USC head coach Lane Kiffin will serve as a guest analyst.

Features:

• Big, Bad Badger Offensive Line: Erin Andrews takes a trip to Madison to visit with the Wisconsin players who make up one of the biggest offensive lines in college football history.
• Gruden’s Film Room: ESPN football analyst Jon Gruden breaks down film of the quarterbacks leading their teams in the Outback Bowl (January 2 at 1 p.m. on ABC), Georgia’s Aaron Murray and Michigan State’s Kirk Cousins.
• Andrew Luck Conversation: Tom Rinaldi will sit down with Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck as he prepares for his final game with the Cardinal (against Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl January 2 at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN, ESPN3 and ESPN Radio).
• Images of the Year: A look at the images that made up the 2011 season.

ESPN daily on-site studio coverage:

Date	Time (ET)	Show	Network
Mon, Jan 2	10 a.m. & 11 a.m.	College GameDay (Pasadena) Hosts Chris Fowler and Erin Andrews; analysts Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, David Pollack and Todd McShay; and reporter Tom Rinaldi Special Guests: Bret Bielema (Wisconsin), Chip Kelly (Oregon) and Lane Kiffin (USC)	ESPNU (10 a.m.) ESPN (11 a.m.)
	Beginning at 5 p.m.	Rose Bowl (Pasadena) Pregame: Chris Fowler, Lee Corso, Desmond Howard & David Pollack Halftime: Chris Fowler, Lee Corso & Desmond Howard Postgame: Chris Fowler, Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit & Desmond Howard	ESPN
		Fiesta Bowl (Glendale) Halftime & postgame: John Saunders & Jesse Palmer	ESPN
Tue, Jan 3	3 p.m.	College Football Live at the BCS (New Orleans) Wendi Nix, David Pollack & Todd McShay	ESPN
	7 p.m.	College GameDay (New Orleans) Host Chris Fowler and analysts Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard and David Pollack	ESPN
		Sugar Bowl Halftime: Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit & Desmond Howard Postgame: Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit & David Pollack	ESPN
	9 a.m. to noon	SportsCenter (morning segments) Wendi Nix, David Pollack & Todd McShay	ESPN
	6 p.m. to 3 a.m.	SportsCenter (evening segments) Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard & David Pollack	ESPN
Wed, Jan 4	3 p.m.	College Football Live at the BCS (Miami & New Orleans) Miami: Rece Davis, Mark May & Lou Holtz New Orleans: John Saunders, Jesse Palmer & Desmond Howard	ESPN
	7 p.m.	College GameDay (Miami and New Orleans) Miami: Rece Davis, Mark May & Lou Holtz New Orleans: Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit & Jesse Palmer	ESPN
		Orange Bowl Halftime & postgame: Rece Davis, Lou Holtz & Mark May	ESPN
	9 a.m. to noon	SportsCenter (morning segments) Wendi Nix, Desmond Howard & Todd McShay	ESPN
	6 p.m. to 3 a.m.	SportsCenter (evening segments) Chris Fowler & Kirk Herbstreit	ESPN
Thu, Jan 5	3 p.m.	College Football Live at the BCS (New Orleans) John Saunders, Desmond Howard & Todd McShay	ESPN
	9 a.m. to noon	SportsCenter (morning segments) Erin Andrews, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, Jesse Palmer & David Pollack	ESPN
	6 p.m. to 3 a.m.	SportsCenter (evening segments) Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit & David Pollack	ESPN
Fri, Jan 6	3 p.m.	College Football Live at the BCS (New Orleans) Chris Fowler, Jesse Palmer & Todd McShay	ESPN
	9 a.m. to noon	SportsCenter (morning segments) John Saunders, Desmond Howard, Jesse Palmer, Lou Holtz, Mark May & Todd McShay	ESPN
	6 p.m. to 3 a.m.	SportsCenter (evening segments) Rece Davis, Lee Corso & Kirk Herbstreit	ESPN
Sat, Jan 7	9 a.m. to noon	SportsCenter (morning segments) Multiple hosts, analysts & guests	ESPN
	6 p.m. to 3 a.m.	SportsCenter (evening segments) Multiple hosts, analysts & guests	ESPN
Sun, Jan 8	9 a.m. to noon	SportsCenter (morning segments) Rece Davis, Lou Holtz & Mark May	ESPN
	6 p.m. to 3 a.m.	SportsCenter (evening segments) Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Gene Chizik & Chip Kelly	ESPN
Mon, Jan 9	3 p.m.	College Football Live at the BCS (New Orleans) Set 1: Rece Davis, Lou Holtz & May Mark Set 2: John Saunders & Todd McShay	ESPN
	6 p.m.	College GameDay (New Orleans) Set 1: Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Gene Chizik & Chip Kelly Set 2: Rece Davis, Lou Holtz & Mark May Field reporters: Erin Andrews, Wendi Nix & Tom Rinaldi Field analysis: David Pollack & Todd McShay	ESPN
	7 p.m.	College GameDay (New Orleans) Set 1: Chris Fowler, Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit & Desmond Howard Set 2: Rece Davis, Lou Holtz, Mark May Gene Chizik & Chip Kelly Field reporters: Erin Andrews, Wendi Nix & Tom Rinaldi Field analysis: David Pollack & Todd McShay	ESPN
	Beginning at 8 p.m.	BCS National Championship Pregame: Chris Fowler, Desmond Howard, Gene Chizik & Chip Kelly Halftime: Chris Fowler, Gene Chizik & Chip Kelly	ESPN
	Conclusion of game	Postgame and SportsCenter Set 1: Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, Gene Chizik & Chip Kelly Set 2: Rece Davis, Lou Holtz & Mark May On field: Erin Andrews, Wendi Nix & Tom Rinaldi	ESPN
	9 a.m. to noon	SportsCenter (morning segments) Rece Davis, Lou Holtz, Mark May, Jess Palmer, David Pollack & Todd McShay	ESPN
	6 p.m.	SportsCenter (evening segments) Rece Davis, Lou Holtz & Mark May	ESPN

And that’s going to do it.

2011-12 College Bowl Schedule With TV Networks

With all of the bowl matchups announced, let’s provide you with the TV schedule and network. Let’s be honest, the ESPN Family of Networks airs all but two of the games. CBS has the Sun Bowl while Fox continues to air the Cotton Bowl. There was a time when the bowls were aired on all of the networks, but ESPN has made it big business for itself.

This comes courtesy of Matt’s College Sports. We give you the schedule below.

There you have it.

Thursday’s Linkage

I just keep accumulating tabs on my browser of sports media stories and I realized if I keep doing this, my computer will slow down and I’ll have to start rebooting Firefox. It’s a memory whore as it is, but keeping as many as 15 tabs open is not a good idea, so let’s do some linkage for you.

We’ll start with the big story of the day thus far, John Ourand’s scoop in the Sports Business Daily that ESPN and the NFL have agreed in principle for an extension for Monday Night Football into the next decade and increasing the rights fee to almost $2 billion a year.

Over to Mike Florio at Pro Football Talk who goes inside the numbers of the deal and what it all means.

The Associated Press reports that ESPN and Fox are appealing to the International Olympics Committee to auction four Olympic games instead of the normal two, making 2014/2016 and 2018/2020 into one package. 

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News writes that ESPN is about to launch a college basketball highlights and cut-in channel similar to what it did during the college football season.

Mike feels the NHL Winter Classic through all of the promotion and hype should have received better ratings. 

R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel outlines ESPN’s plans for the Year of the Quarterback.

Mike Fleming of Deadline writes about a new film on Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow that ESPN is airing as part of its Year of the Quarterback initiative.

Fox Sports’ Brian Lowry feels boxing lends itself to the silver screen. With everything that’s been going on, that’s the best a sports media columnist can do?

A couple of things from Fanhouse’s Milton Kent. First, he notes that Ron Franklin’s firing shows that ESPN is not sweeping gender issues under the rug.

Milton writes that with the latest problems for Brett Favre, networks are no longer eager to hire him once his playing career is over.

Anthony Crupi of Mediaweek looks at NBC’s NFL ratings which turn out to the best for a network in 12 years.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life Magazine says ESPN is jumping out to a cable ratings lead thanks to the BCS.

To Greg Wyshynski at Yahoo’s Puck Daddy where he recaps the last episode of 24/7 Penguins/Capitals.

Martin Kaufmann at Golfweek looks at Golf Channel’s new graphics package for this year.

Ryan Ballengee of Pro Golf Talk also got to preview Golf Channel’s new graphics.

Lauren Kirchner of the Columbia Journalism Review says the New York Times is apologizing for altering a column after it was first posted online during the New York Jets-New England Patriots Monday Night Football game last month. 

CNBC’s Darren Rovell notes that ticket broker StubHub has pulled all BCS National Championship Game tickets.

The Boston Herald’s Steve Buckley informs the world that’s he gay. Buck has always been provocative and a very good writer. This is a very good column.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times says based on the success of 24/7 Penguins/Capitals, HBO is now reaching out to other sports leagues for the next installment of its documentary series.

At the Albany Times Union, Pete Dougherty looks at the new rights deal between Fox Sports Media Group and Conference USA.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog has some behind the scenes video of Alex Ovechkin’s SportsCenter promo.

Dan also has two number 8′s getting together last night, Cal Ripken and the aforementioned, Alex Ovechkin.

And Dan has a look at the end of 24/7 Penguins/Capitals.

I missed this from the New Year’s holiday. The WaPo’s Leonard Shapiro has his farewell column. I’ll miss linking to him.

Adam Kilgore of the Post says a favorite has emerged to replace Rob Dibble as Nationals analyst on MASN. 

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner says the NHL Winter Classic proves the popularity of the Capitals.

From the St. Petersburg Times, Tom Jones says Ron Franklin deserved to get fired.

Tom also enjoyed 24/7 Penguins/Capitals.

Shannon Owens from the Orlando Sentinel says Ron Franklin got his just desserts.

Iliana Limon of the Sentinel writes that Central Florida will get more TV exposure statewide thanks to Conference USA’s new deal with Fox Sports.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says the local CBS affiliate has canceled plans to air a Bengals playoff special originally scheduled for this Friday. When did it know it did not need to produce one?

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel notes that the Rose Bowl’s ratings were down in Milwaukee due to the game being on ESPN as compared to ABC last year.

And Bob talks about ESPN’s Herman Edwards suggestions for the Green Bay Packers to contain Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick.

In Crain’s Chicago Business, Ed Sherman says Comcast SportsNet will showcase local sports radio talent next week.

The Los Angeles Times’ Diane Pucin also weighs in on the Ron Franklin firing.

The Backyard Hockey blog found that the Manchester (NH) Union Leader lifted passages from one of its posts and got the newspaper to admit what it did.

Steve Lepore of Puck The Media gives his thoughts on 24/7 Penguins/Capitals.

Jason Clinkscales of A Sports Scribe talks to a few people (including your humble blogger) about 24/7 and its effect on the NHL for Norman Einstein’s Sports & Rocket Science Monthly.

Sports Media Watch notes that two bowls drew very low overnight ratings.

SMW says the Sugar Bowl held up decently in the ratings from last year.

Emmett Jones from Sports Business Digest notices that Tiger Woods is not on the cover of his own video game.

Mike Vitiello of Awful Announcing says ESPN is apparently making a long-term commitment to ESPN 3D.

Dave Kohl at Major League Programs has his weekly update.

And that is where we’ll end it today. Lots of good stuff for you. If anything else breaks, I’ll be here to bring it to you.

Breaking Out the Tuesday Linkage

I hope to get these links done without interruption. I hate working from the RI main office because I get bogged down, but that’s what happens when you don’t have a car like I do. I have to depend on others to get me where I’m going and I can’t get to my MA office as often as I would like. But you don’t care about that so let’s do as much linkage as I can.

USA Today’s Mike McCarthy says ESPN has had to issue apologies for recent inappropriate behavior by employees.

Also from USA Today, Reid Cherner from the Game On blog notes that Fox News analyst Tucker Carlson has retracted his earlier sentiment that Michael Vick should be executed.

Again from USA Today, Mike McCarthy looks at some of the TV ratings from the past weekend.

Finally from the Nation’s Newspaper, Mike notes that CBS’ Jim Nantz is the voice of Tiger Woods’ new EA video game.

Richard Deitsch from Sports Illustrated explores the off-air spat between announcer Ron Franklin and sideline reporter Jeannine Edwards.

Sports Business Daily says the NHL would be hard-pressed to match this year’s record ratings for the Winter Classic in 2012. 

And SBD notes the final ratings for Sunday Night Football which ended up being the best for NBC since it started airing the package in 2007.

David Goetzl from MediaPost wonders why more women aren’t in the broadcast booth.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life Magazine writes about ESPN’s record ratings for the Rose Bowl. 

Noah Davis at SportsNewser says the Rio 2016 Olympics Committee has silently unveiled its logo.

Brad Cohen from SportsGrid has the video of Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh snubbing Michele Tafoya after the Cardinal won the Orange Bowl last night.

Dan Fogarty at SportsGrid says the New York Daily News is having too much fun with the latest chapter in the sad Brett Favre saga.

Emmett Jones at Sports Business Digest notes that after settling a dispute, Anheuser-Busch is back sponsoring MLB for 2011.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times talks about ESPN disciplining Ron Franklin.

And Richard discusses the increased ratings for the NHL Winter Classic on New Year’s Night.

Paul Farhi of the Washington Post discusses ESPN’s behavior towards women in the workplace.

From the Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg highlights three moments from Sunday’s radio broadcast of the Washington-New York Giants game.

Dan notes that there were plenty of Caps fans making their influence felt during the NHL Winter Classic’s singing of the national anthem.

Crain’s Chicago Business’ Ed Sherman has some various Windy City sports media notes.

Dan Caesar at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch notes that the Rams-Seahawks game from Sunday night drew the biggest regular season audience locally for an NFL game in recent memory.

Scott Collins from the Los Angeles Times says under 21 million people watched the Rose Bowl on ESPN.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has ESPN’s new promo involving tennis doubles partners, Bob and Mike Bryan.

Eric Degerman from the Mid-Columbia (WA) Tri Cities Herald notes that FSN Northwest will undergo a name change in the spring. 

Carol Walker at the CawsnJaws blog found that ESPN ran the most ads during its NASCAR Sprint Cup coverage than any other network.

Some college football bowl ratings news from Sports Media Watch:

Fiesta Bowl hit a 13 year ratings low.

The Outback Bowl did well on ABC.

The Sun Bowl dropped on CBS.

And we have ratings news on three more bowls.

Ben Koo at Awful Announcing lists the sports media stories he’ll be watching in 2011.

And that will finish the links for today.

Rose Bowl Gets ESPN’s Biggest Ratings ‘Cept For NFL

The ratings may have been down from ABC in 2010, but for cable, these are stellar numbers and they are the biggest for a college football game on ESPN. The Alleged Worldwide Leader says the viewership numbers are the same from 2009.

On Saturday, the Rose Bowl garnered a 13.1 rating with just over 20.5 million viewers which are pretty staggering for cable and this becomes the third highest audience for cable ever.

ESPN’s Rose Bowl: Cable’s Third-Biggest Audience

Highest Rating Ever on ESPN outside NFL Games

ESPN’s first year of televising the entire BCS began with the Rose Bowl garnering third biggest audience in the history of cable television. TCU’s 21-19 victory over Wisconsin earned a 13.1 rating in ESPN’s coverage area (11.3 US rating), according to Fast National ratings from Nielsen, representing an average of 13,054,000 households (20,558,000 viewers, P2+). Only two ESPN Monday Night Football games top those household and audience numbers ever on cable television. 

On ESPN3.com, the game averaged 71,436 viewers on ESPN3.com, and reached 214,000 unique viewers and a college football live game season-high 13.9 million total minutes of viewing.

The Rose Bowl was seen on ESPN by virtually the same number of people as in 2009 and slightly more than 2008. Two years ago, the game received an 11.7 rating on ABC (Penn State-USC); in 2008 it earned an 11.1 (Illinois-USC).

Overnight ratings from the metered markets show extremely strong local results:  Milwaukee (30.0), Birmingham (28.8), Columbus (26.3) and Dallas (20.1).

In addition, that night’s Fiesta Bowl on ESPN, Oklahoma’s 48-20 victory over Connecticut which won the night as the most –watched of all programs (broadcast or cable), earned a 7.1 rating (6.2 US rating). The audience of 7,129,000 homes and 10,819,000 viewers, ranks fourth and second, respectively, in ESPN history (excluding NFL games). Two markets in Oklahoma, Oklahoma City (35.1) and Tulsa (30.7), led the metered markets, followed by Hartford/New Haven (18.4).

There you have it. The numbers don’t lie.

Bringing In The Monday Links

Lots of things to get to today. I hope to get everything in during one long linkfest, but if I can’t, I’ll try to do it in multiple parts.

We begin with USA Today’s Mike McCarthy who says despite the ratings being down for the Rose and Fiesta Bowls as ESPN takes over the games from ABC and Fox, respectively, the viewership was actually right at the same level from last year, which suits ESPN just fine.

Mike talks with ESPN’s Jeannine Edwards who clarifies the story that SportsbyBrooks had this weekend over her confrontation with Ron Franklin before last week’s Chick-Fil-A Bowl. If you don’t know, Franklin apparently called Edwards “asshole” after first sarcastically calling her “Sweet Baby.” Franklin was then removed from his next assignment, the Fiesta Bowl on ESPN Radio which he would have worked with Edwards. And this isn’t the first time Franklin has had an incident with a female sideline reporter, getting demoted after the 2005 following an on-air incident with Holly Rowe.

James O’Brien at Pro Hockey Talk says the NHL Winter Classic is the most watched NHL regular season game since 1975!

Sports Business Daily wraps up the media reaction to the Winter Classic.

At Sports Business Journal, Terry Lefton and John Ourand speak with several sports industry executives about what they foresee for sports in 2011.

Greg Wyshynski at Yahoo’s Puck Daddy looks at NBC’s high flying cameras utilized at the Winter Classic. 

Bob’s Blitz has the video of ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Hannah Storm celebrating the firing of Cleveland Browns coach Eric Mangini during SportsCenter this morning. It has to be seen to be believed.

Kimberly Nordyke of the Hollywood Reporter notes that the Rose Bowl ratings being down from last year being on ESPN as compared to ABC, but the game still set a cable viewing record.

Michael Malone of Broadcasting & Cable says a West Palm Beach, FL sports radio station which has been producing a nightly sportscast for the local NBC affiliate, now adds the local Fox TV station to its portfolio.

R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel News writes that the WWE is bringing back its “Tough Enough” reality series to USA Network.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing gets a coup and interviews Screamin’ Gus Johnson.

The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir says the Rose and Fiesta Bowl’s ratings may have been down from last year when they were on broadcast TV, but they set records for ESPN on cable.

Newsday’s Neil Best has some random thoughts regarding the sports weekend on TV.

Being interrupted. Check this space for more links later in the day.

UPDATE, 4:45 p.m.: Time for some more linkage now.

USA Today’s Mike McCarthy has ESPN’s Ron Franklin apologizing for his actions regarding Jeannine Edwards from last week. 

ABC News is reporting that two former New York Jets message therapists will be filing a sexual harassment lawsuit against Brett Favre.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh has plenty of leverage for his next job.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says Golf Channel is looking for higher ratings in 2011. 

Nick Bromberg of Yahoo’s From the Marbles blog notes that ratings all but five NASCAR Sprint Cup races fell in 2010.

Wayne Friedman of MediaPost notes that while TV manufacturers are rushing out 3-D TV’s on the market, consumers aren’t rushing out to buy them.

The Schenectady Gazette’s Ken Schott was not impressed with the debut of a new talk show earlier today.

Ken says the move of the NHL Winter Classic to primetime due to rain turned out to be a good one for NBC.

Evan Weiner from the New Jersey Newsroom says the four major sports leagues face some very interesting times in 2011. 

Laura Nachman says the Philadelphia NBC affiliate has a new news reporter who can do sports.

Dan Stefano of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review says the Penguins are sad to see HBO’s cameras go.

Karen Price of the Tribune-Review writes that the NHL Winter Classic is a true ratings hit.

Bob Smizik of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says the Steel City’s new ESPN Radio affiliate started broadcasting today. 

David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun says CBS aired too many promos during the Bengals-Ravens game on Sunday.

Dan Steinberg from the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog goes inside DC’s ratings for the NHL Winter Classic.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner also talks about the NHL Winter Classic’s ratings.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times has a look at a busy weekend in TV sports.

Barry Horn from the Dallas Morning News has the Metroplex’s rating for the Rose Bowl.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle writes about former local sports anchor Chris Wragge who is now hosting CBS’ The Early Show.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says the Packers pulled a big rating on Sunday.

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business is predicting labor strife in 2011.

LaVelle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star Tribune says Fox Sports North takes a three part inside look at the area’s sports teams.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post says ESPN has made Monday Night Football into a cable ratings giant.

John Henderson of the Post writes that the BCS has ruined the tradition of watching bowl games on New Year’s Day and I’ll agree with this. No juice for college football anymore.

Scott D. Pierce of the Salt Lake Tribune notes that the Utah Jazz’s TV ratings are way up this season.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail says the peace between Canadian media giants Rogers Communications and Bell Globalmedia is going to be tested this year.

Sports Media Watch says Fox Sports finished the NFL regular season on an up note.

SMW notes that NBC had its best overnight ratings for an NFL season finale.

But Paulsen tells us that CBS’ ratings for its final NFL doubleheader of the season finished down from last season.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media reports that Versus will pick up the NHL All-Star Game Fantasy Draft later this month.

And that’s where we’ll end it for today.

Rose Bowl Sets Cable Overnight Rating For Bowl Game; Fiesta Bowl Beats NHL Winter Classic

The numbers for the Rose and Fiesta Bowl are in and they are good for ESPN. Overall, they’re down considerably from when they were on broadcast TV last year, but ESPN doesn’t care. They still beat the ratings on both broadcast and cable on Saturday. Both beat the Winter Classic by wide margins.

ESPN’s Rose Bowl Sets Cable Ratings Mark

Fiesta Bowl on ESPN Wins The Night For All Television; ESPN Digital Traffic Up Dramatically

ESPN kicked off 2011 with the first two BCS bowl games capping a memorable day of programming that generated record metered market overnight television ratings and strong digital traffic. According to Nielsen, The Rose Bowl in which TCU defeated Wisconsin 21-19, delivered an 11.7, the highest overnight rating (excluding NFL) for ESPN and for all of cable television on record. Note: ESPN’s overnight ratings records for the cable industry date back to 2001.

Also, ESPN’s coverage of the Fiesta Bowl (Oklahoma’s 48-20 victory over Connecticut) won the night among all programs (broadcast or cable), generating a 6.7 rating. The Rose Bowl (#1) and Fiesta Bowl (#4) are now two of ESPN’s top four college football overnight ratings on record.

In terms of digital numbers, January 1 saw 134.7 million total minutes of usage to college football content across ESPN.com, ESPN Mobile Web & ScoreCenter App, and ESPN3.com (according to Omniture). That translates to 94,000 users per minute consuming college football content across ESPN’s major digital properties. Highlights include ESPN.com’s five million visits, 35 million page views and 59.2 million total minutes on Jan.1, increases of 17%, 24% and 31%, respectively from January 1, 2010. Additionally, ESPN Mobile Web generated 8.8 million visits (up 49%), 18.5 million page views (up 41%) and 35.3 million total minutes (up 42%).Lastly, ESPN3.com saw 418,000 unique viewers and 34.6 million total minutes spent with college football games on January 1, highlighted by 214,000 unique viewers (and a college football live game season-high 13.9 million total minutes of viewing) for the Rose Bowl.

More stuff to be posted throughout the day. Keep it here. It’s going to be busy. Strap in and hold on tight. Don’t worry, I’m home now.

Big Ten Network To Air Live From Rose Bowl

Starting next Wednesday, Big Ten Network will air live studio shows from Pasadena, CA, site of the Rose Bowl. Host Dave Revsine along with analysts Gerry DiNardo and Howard Griffith will be on the West Coast to preview Wisconsin taking on TCU in the The Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day. Should be fun to watch. Overall, Big Ten Network will have five shows from Pasadena.

Big Ten Network to Air Five Shows From Pasadena

Revsine, DiNardo, Griffith to host extended coverage of Rose Bowl

CHICAGO – The Big Ten Football Saturday crew of Dave Revsine, Gerry DiNardo and Howard Griffith will host the Big Ten Network’s extended coverage of the 2011 Rose Bowl from Pasadena. The first of five Rose Bowl-related shows airs Dec. 30.

“For more than six decades, New Year’s Day has meant the Rose Bowl and the Big Ten,” said Vice President/Executive Producer Mark Hulsey. “In our five shows from Pasadena, viewers will get a true sense of the tradition and pageantry of the ‘Granddaddy of them All,’ along with extensive coverage both before and after the game.”

Coverage begins at 10:30 PM ET on Thursday, Dec. 30, with the 60-minute Rose Bowl Media Day Show, featuring press conferences with Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema, TCU coach Gary Patterson and selected student-athletes.

At 6:30 PM ET on Friday, Dec. 31, Revsine, DiNardo and Griffith will host a 30-minute Rose Bowl Preview Show from outside the fabled stadium. The show will include the latest news from both camps and DiNardo and Griffith will share their keys to the game.

Immediately following the Rose Bowl Preview Show, Revsine hosts the network’s coverage of the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame Ceremonies. Two Big Ten legends, Iowa coach Hayden Fry and Purdue’s Leroy Keyes, are part of this year’s induction class. In 1981, Fry was responsible for bringing the Hawkeyes back to the Rose Bowl for the first time in 23 years. It was the first of Iowa’s three Rose Bowl appearances under Fry. As a sophomore in 1966, Keyes helped Purdue to its first-ever Rose Bowl Game and a victory against USC.

On New Year’s Eve, the network will also re-air three Rose Bowl classics from years past, including Michigan’s 1997 victory against Washington State at 2 PM ET, Ohio State’s 2010 win vs. Oregon at 8 PM ET and Wisconsin’s 1999 victory vs. UCLA at 11 PM ET.

On New Year’s Day, the network will have a complete 60-minute Big Ten Bowl Pre-Game Special beginning at 11 AM ET. Revsine, DiNardo and Griffith will be live from the Rose Bowl. Mike Hall, Rick Pizzo, Glen Mason and Derek Rackley will be live in Chicago to preview the Big Ten’s five New Year’s Day Bowl games, including the Rose Bowl, Capital One Bowl (Michigan State vs. Alabama), Outback Bowl (Penn State vs. Florida), Gator Bowl (Michigan vs. Mississippi State) and TicketCity Bowl (Northwestern vs. Texas Tech). The show will also have live reports from each of the Big Ten’s bowl games on New Year’s Day.

Immediately after the conclusion of the Rose Bowl, the Big Ten Network will return with the Big Ten Bowl Post-Game Special, with complete highlights and analysis from the Wisconsin-TCU game, as well as the day’s other four Big Ten bowl games. Revsine, DiNardo and Griffith will have interviews with some of the Rose Bowl participants and will host their segments on the field at the Rose Bowl.

Schedule:

Dec. 30      10:30 PM ET               Rose Bowl Media Day Show

Dec. 31      6:30 PM ET                 Rose Bowl Game Preview Show

Dec. 31      7 PM ET                      Rose Bowl Hall of Fame Ceremonies

Jan. 1         11 AM ET                    Big Ten Bowl Pre-Game Special

Jan. 1         approx. 8:30 PM ET    Big Ten Bowl Post-Game Special

That will do it.

The Tuesday Links Continued

Ok, let’s continue to provide the links on this Tuesday.

Alex Weprin at SportsNewser notes that Steven A. “A is for Allegory” Smith announced that he’s leaving his morning show on Fox Sports Radio effective Thursday.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News writes that ESPN2 airs the best-of-three exhibition series of matches between tennis giants Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal starting today. 

Greg Wyshynski at Yahoo’s Puck Daddy says ex-Executive Director of the NHL Players Association, Paul Kelly is predicting a return to ESPN by the NHL.

Mike Donoghue of the Burlington (VT) Free Press says a local sports radio station group is changing affiliation on New Year’s Day.

Mary Ellen Fillo of the Hartford Courant says ESPN’s Mike Ditka made a stop at a local theater to tape a feature for Sunday NFL Countdown. 

Paul Beaudry of the Birmingham (AL) News feels ESPN is responsible for too many bowl games on TV and the long layoff for the BCS National Championship Game.

Duane Dudek of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says the Rose Bowl won’t be on over-the-air TV on New Year’s Day.

Dan Caesar in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says the Rams won in the ratings on Sunday while losing on the field against Kansas City.

I’m being informed I have to leave again. More linkage later. Goodness.

Saturday’s Linkage

Let’s give you some linkage since I wasn’t able to do that last night.

Jon Lafayette of Broadcasting & Cable reports that NBC has sold out its ad inventory for the NHL Winter Classic. 

George Winslow of B&C says the Portland Trail Blazers have upgraded their broadcast control facilities to full 5.1 sound surround.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says Fox Soccer Channel hopes to use the renewal of its rights deal for the UEFA Champions League to expand its base.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says it’s time for colleges to reject mandatory ticket deals for bowls as schools are losing money on the arrangement.

Darren says the headset mouthpiece protector can not only be a big hit with coaches, it can double as an advertisement vehicle.

At Boston Sports Media Watch, Bruce Allen says long-time Boston sports radio host Eddie Andelman is calling it quits.

Newsday’s Neil Best is saddened by the passing of a New York City sports radio producer.

Neil talks about MSG Network’s Mike Breen pulling double duty calling Knicks games for his regular network and ESPN.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says two New York Capital Region schools will be showcased on ESPNU’s college lacrosse schedule in the spring.

From the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg has advance footage of the appearance of Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby on CBS’ The Price is Right to hype a Showcase with an NHL Winter Classic theme. I have to give the NHL credit for marketing the Winter Classic in non-traditional areas.

Dan and Katie Carrera write for the Post on how 24/7 Penguins/Capitals is showing everything on the Caps, including curse words.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner talks with Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch about the magazine’s annual Year in Sports Media issue.

Barry Jackson of the Miami Heat is amused by Heat announcer Eric Reid summoning Fred Flintstone in his calls.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News wonders why it took so long for the Texas High School Football Championships to be shown on live TV.

Jerry Garcia at the San Antonio Express-News loves watching TNT’s Inside the NBA.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer notes yet another blackout of the Bengals on Sunday.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel talks about the city’s high concentration of cable TV-less homes and thus they’re shut out of the Rose Bowl which is on ESPN and has Wisconsin in the game..

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch talks with CBS’ Ian Eagle is in yet another whirlwind span of games in a short period. Even though I’m not on Twitter anymore, Ian should be on Twitter. His tweets would definitely be very entertaining.

Dan says a talk show host who was fired by a sports radio station in 2008 is finding his way back to his former home in January.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has his extensive news and notes.

Bruce Dowbiggin at the Toronto Globe and Mail talks about HBO’s 24/7 giving fans a look at what really goes on inside the locker room. 

Amanda Rykoff writes a very heartfelt post about Steven Smith, a Twitter friend who died earlier this week.

Wendy Parker writes about her fellow female scribes who just can’t seem to give the UConn women’s basketball team the respect they deserve as they approach the college basketball record for most consecutive wins. 

Sports Media Watch notes that the ratings for the New York Knicks are way up this season.

Dave Kohl at Major League Programs says some bizarre sports stories got coverage this week.

That will end it for now.

Stirring Up Some Linkage

I’ll provide some linkage for you today.

This has nothing to do with sports media, just a very well written article by Sports Illustrated’s Joe Posnanski who shares his thoughts on Bob Feller who passed away Wednesday night at the age of 92.

At the Wall Street Journal, Jason Gay facetiously writes that ESPN will have to cancel some shows now that Brett Favre is not playing football. 

Etan Vessing of the Hollywood Reporter says Canadian Olympic broadcaster CTV has been cleared of repeatedly airing the video of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili’s death despite numerous complaints.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News writes that Versus saw its biggest audience ever for a regular season NHL game this week.

At Mediapost, David Goetzl also writes about Versus’ ratings.

David notes that ESPN will be airing 3-D ads during its first NBA game to be produced in the third dimension.

David says CBS will be streaming live part of its college basketball schedule online.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell talks with an inventor who hopes his 1st and 10 line will be seen inside NFL stadiums, not just on TV.

Darren is surprised to see boxing equipment manufacturer Everlast team up with Sears and Kmart.

At the National Sports Journalism Center, Eric Deggans of the St. Petersburg Times lists his top 10 Sports Media stories of 2010.

Greg Wyshynski at Yahoo’s Puck Daddy recaps the premiere episode of HBO’s 24/7 Penguins/Capitals.

Ron Siwak of GolfWorld breaks news that the LPGA is not happy with its 10 year deal with Golf Channel that leaves it with tape delayed coverage even on weekend.s

Jessica Heslam at the Boston Herald says 98.5 the Sports Hub host Michael Felger is coming under fire from women’s groups for touting his wife in a hottest local news anchor online poll. Felger’s wife is Sara Underwood who works for WFXT-TV.

From the New York Times, Richard Sandomir says the NHL couldn’t be more pleased over the premiere episode of 24/7 Penguins/Capitals.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union notes that 24/7 Penguins/Capitals was well-produced.

Sad story. You may not have known Steven Smith, but 578 people on Twitter did. I learned of his passing through several Yankee tweeps. Steven was a diehard Yankees fan, and from what I’ve learned of him, he could not have been nicer person. His dream was to work in sports. Pete Iorizzo of the Times Union writes that Steven’s untimely death earlier this week shook many of his Twitter friends.

Rob Rossi of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review says 24/7 was a compare and contrast session between the Penguins and Capitals. 

David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun notes that ESPNU will carry plenty of Charm City schools in its lacrosse schedule.

From the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg loved the premiere episode of 24/7 Penguins/Capitals.

Add Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times to those who loved 24/7 Penguins/Caps.

Kathy Vetter from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram says ESPN will be using the City Where The West Begins as its Super Bowl headquarters over Dallas and Arlington.

Bob Wolfley from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel notes that the Rose Bowl from January 2011 on, will be an all-cable affair.

Bob has Fox’s Terry Bradshaw and Howie Long discussing the end of Brett Favre’s consecutive start streak. 

Ed Sherman from Crain’s Chicago Business says a Comcast SportsNet host gets an expanded role on the channel. 

Sean Jensen of the Chicago Sun-Times talks with ESPN’s Ron Jaworski about Bears quarterback Jay Cutler.

Eric Degerman of the Mid-Columbia Tri Cities (WA) Herald says it was local legend Bing Crosby who unknowingly helped to preserve a piece of baseball history.

Sports Media Watch says ESPN saw low ratings for the Heisman Trophy Presentation.

SMW also has some various news and notes.

Steve Lepore from Puck The Media liked 24/7 Penguins/Capitals.

Wendy Parker discusses the real purpose of espnW.

Joe Tetreault at Maury Brown’s Biz of Baseball talks about the new digital partnership between Fox Sports and NESN.

EPL Talk says ESPN2 drew the largest US TV audience ever for an English Premier match for Manchester United-Arsenal on Monday.

And we’re finally done. 

It’s the Sunday Links

Ok, been a crazy morning. Now that everything with New York Giants-Minnesota has been worked out, I can move on to other things. Let’s do your linkage.

At ESPN.com, Greg Garber looks back at NBC’s experiment of an announcerless NFL game 30 years ago. 

Tim Graham at ESPN.com also has a story on the experiment.

Phil Swann of TV Predictions says DirecTV could pull 30 Hearst TV stations including ones in Baltimore, Boston, Cincinnati, Hawaii, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh and several other markets if the two sides don’t come to an agreement.

The Boston Globe’s Chad Finn takes a close look at the city’s sports radio war between 98.5 The Sports Hub and long-time incumbent WEEI.

Alan Schwarz of the New York Times says the NFL has an advocate on helmet-to-helmet hits in NBC’s Cris Collinsworth.

Also from the Times, Richard Sandomir says some recent film and audio finds helped to augment the new HBO Sports/NFL Films documentary on the late Vince Lombardi.

Bob Raissman from the New York Daily News says the NHL is hopeful that HBO’s 24/7 series will bring new fans to the sport.

Ralph Vacchiano of the Daily News describes how the New York Giants-Minnesota Vikings game got moved from Sunday to Monday then from Minneapolis to Detroit.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick has plenty of bluster today.

Newsday’s Neil Best who’s traveling to the New York Giants-Minnesota game today, breaks news that Jenn Sterger will finally break her silence to ESPN/ABC.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union notees that Giants-Vikings will be aired in New York, Minneapolis-St. Paul and Rochester, MN, but what about the Capital Region?

Pete explains why he didn’t vote for Auburn quarterback Cam Newton for the Heisman Trophy.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette says the Giants-Vikings game won’t be seen in Albany upsetting many fans in the Capital Region.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner talks with the vice president of espnW on whether the network can appeal to women.

Jerry Garcia from the San Antonio Express-News notes that there have been times when the NFL has had to move games to Monday night.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel notes that ESPN assigns Brent Musberger and Kirk Herbstreit to the Rose Bowl and BCS National Championship Game.

Bob wonders if Brett Favre will play in tomorrow’s Giants-Vikings game with extra time to heal.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune has a photo gallery showing the Metrodome’s collapsed roof.

Dennis McGrath from the Star Tribune has a story on Giants-Vikings moving to Detroit from the Twin Cities. 

Tom Hoffarth at the Los Angeles Daily news writes that college football might be running out of sponsors for its bowl games.

Geoff Baker at the Seattle Times writes about the memorial service for original Mariners announcer Dave Niehaus.

Sports Media Watch has its Weekend Ratings Predictions.

And that will end our links for today.

Bowls on ABC and ESPN Fare Well

This release came yesterday and I couldn’t get to post it. I’ll do so now. The New Year’s Day bowl games, the Capital One and Rose Bowls rated well for ABC.

ABC’s New Year’s Bowl Games Both See Increased Ratings

 

Strong Local Overnight Ratings for ESPN Bowl Games Include Many Records

 

BCS National Championship on ABC Thursday Night

 

Both of ABC’s New Year’s Day college football bowl games posted an increase in ratings, according to “fast national” data issued by the Nielsen Company.  The Capital One Bowl – Penn State edged LSU 19-17 – was up 8 percent from last year to a 6.9 rating while the Rose Bowl presented by Citi, Ohio State’s 26-17 victory over Oregon, rose 12 percent from 2009 to 13.1. (Official figures may change slightly when final ratings are issued later this week.)

 

The Capital One Bowl was seen by an average of 7,884,000 homes, up 7 percent from 7,361,000 for Georgia vs. Michigan State a year ago (based on a 6.4 rating). The rise for viewers (P2+) was 8 percent – from 10,839,000 people in the average minute to 11,691,000. The 6.9 rating for this year’s game is the second highest for the game going back to 2001, only topped by a 9.1 two years ago when Michigan defeated Florida 41-35 in 2008. The local rating in New Orleans was the highest on record for a bowl game on ABC (records go back to 2005) or ESPN (back to 2000), a 23.8. The previous record was last season’s Chick-Fil-A Bowl between LSU and Georgia Tech, which earned a 17.3 on ESPN.

 

The Rose Bowl averaged 15,071,000 households, an increase of 12 percent over last year’s USC-Penn State broadcast (13,429,000 homes, based on a 11.7 rating). The P2+ increase was 16 percent, from 20,603,000 to 23,918,000. It was the highest-rated bowl game on record on ABC or ESPN in Columbus, Ohio (49.8, beating a 34.6 for the Oklahoma State/Ohio State Alamo Bowl on ESPN in December 2004) and in Portland, Ore. (32.2, topping a 19.4 for ABC’s 2006 Rose Bowl between USC and Michigan).

And for ESPN, bowls for the New Year’s holiday weekend also did quite well.

ESPN televised seven bowl games in three days, Thursday, Dec. 31 – Saturday, Jan. 2, with six posting increases in the overnight rating from the metered markets (and one even with last year), with several notable local records and near records (ESPN records for overnights go back to 2000.)

 

Thursday,  Dec. 31, 2009

Armed Forces Bowl, Houston vs. Air Force, 12-3:30 p.m. ET: 1.8 metered mkt average

(12/31/08, Houston/Air Force, 1.6 mtrd mkt rtg)

 

Texas Bowl, Navy vs. Missouri, 3:30-6:45 p.m.: 2.3 metered mkt average

(NFL Network: 12/30/08: 0.1 mtrd mkt rtg) 

• St. Louis DMA = 8.6, second-highest rated Bowl game in St. Louis on ESPN/ESPN2 on record. The highest rated game is the Holiday Bowl, Texas/Oregon (12/29/08) with a 10.4.

 

Chick-Fil-A Bowl, Virginia Tech vs. Tenessee, 7:30-11 p.m. 4.3 metered mkt average

(12/31/08, LSU/Georgia Tech, 3.6 mtrd mkt rtg) 

• Richmond DMA = 11.2, highest rated bowl game in Richmond on ESPN/ESPN2 on record. The previous record was the Chick-Fil-A Bowl between Georgia/Virginia Tech (12/30/06) with a 10.2. 

• Norfolk DMA = 10.2, highest rated bowl game in Norfolk on ESPN/ESPN2 on record. The previous record was the Chick-Fil-A Bowl between Georgia/Virginia Tech (12/30/06) with a 10.0. 

• Knoxville DMA = 30.6, third-highest rated bowl game in Knoxville on ESPN/ESPN2 on record. The highest rated is Wisconsin/Tennessee in the Outback Bowl (1/1/08) with a 34.5. The second-highest rated is Clemson/Tennessee Peach Bowl (1/2/04) with a 32.5. 

• Washington, DC DMA = 6.1, second-highest rated bowl game in the market on ESPN/ESPN2 on record.  The highest rated is the Peach Bowl, Tennessee/Maryland (12/31/02) with an 8.3.

 

Friday, Jan. 1, 2010

Outback Bowl, Northwestern vs. Auburn, 11 a.m.-3:15 p.m.: 3.7 metered mkt average

(1/1/09, South Carolina/Iowa, 2.8 mtrd mkt rtg) 

• Chicago DMA = 7.1, highest rated Bowl game in Chicago on ESPN/ESPN2 on record. The previous record was the Alamo Bowl between Nebraska/Northwestern (12/30/00) with a 5.2.

 

Saturday, Jan. 2, 2010

Papajohn.com Bowl, South Carolina vs. Connecticut, 2-5:30 p.m.: 1.9 metered mkt average

(12/29/08, North Carolina St/Rutgers, 1.9 mtrd mkt rtg) 

• Hartford DMA = 10.4, third-highest rated bowl game in Hartford on ESPN/ESPN2 on record. The highest rated game is the Motor City Bowl (Connecticut/Toledo, 12/27/04) with a 12.1. The second-highest rated is the Meineke Bowl (Connecticut/Wake Forest, 12/29/07) with an 11.8.

 

Liberty Bowl, Arkansas vs. East Carolina, 5:30-9:15 p.m.: 4.2 metered mkt average

(1/2/09, East Carolina/Kentucky, 2.5 mtrd mkt rtg) 

• Charlotte DMA = 9.4, third-highest rated bowl game in Charlotte on ESPN/ESPN2 on record. The highest-rated game is the Meineke Bowl where West Virginia played North Carolina (12/27/08) with a 10.7. The second highest-rated was Clemson/Auburn in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl (12/31/07) with a 9.7.

 

Alamo Bowl, Michigan State vs. Texas Tech, 9:15 p.m.-1:15 a.m.: 5.2 metered mkt average

(12/29/08, Missouri/Northwestern, 4.0 mtrd mkt rtg) 

• San Antonio DMA = 12.5, highest rated bowl game in San Antonio on ESPN/ESPN2 on record. The previous record was the Holiday Bowl between Washington/Texas (12/28/01) with a 9.4. 

• Dallas DMA = 9.4, highest rated bowl game in Dallas on ESPN/ESPN2 on record. The previous record was the Holiday Bowl between Arizona St/Texas (12/27/07) with an 8.2. 

• Houston DMA = 8.1, second-highest rated bowl game in Houston on ESPN/ESPN2 on record. The highest rated game was the Holiday Bowl, Texas/Oregon (12/29/00), with a 9.5. 

• Detroit DMA = 10.6, third-highest rated bowl game in Detroit on ESPN/ESPN2 on record. The highest rated game was the Outback Bowl between Florida/Michigan (1/1/03) with a 18.0. The second-highest rated was the Alamo Bowl between Michigan/Nebraska (12/28/05) with a 16.4.

 

BCS National Championship on ABC Thursday Night

ESPN’s college football bowl schedule – 30 games across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Radio and ESPN360.com – will climax with the BCS National Championship Game – No. 2 Texas vs. No. 1 Alabama – from the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., on Thursday, Jan. 7, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and ESPN Radio.

 

It will mark the first time ABC has aired the BCS National Championship since the 2006 game when Texas defeated USC 41-38 at the Rose Bowl. That broadcast holds the record for the highest-rated and most-viewed BCS National Championship with a 21.7 rating, 23,925,000 households and 35,627,000 viewers.

 

ESPN on ABC Saturday Night Football commentators Brent Musburger, Kirk Herbstreit and Lisa Salters will work the National Championship on ABC. Reporter Tom Rinaldi will join Salters on the sideline. On ESPN Radio, ESPN Monday Night Football announcer Mike Tirico and analyst Jon Gruden will work the broadcast with analyst Todd Blackledge and reporter Wendi Nix.

I have a few more releases to post, but I’ll do those when I can. I have work to do.

Late Night Sunday Links

Let’s give you a few more links before shutting things down for the night.

USA Today’s Michael McCarthy says the BCS’ transition to cable is complete with the Rose Bowl going to ESPN in 2011.

My new best friend, Neil Best of Newsday writes that Brett Favre will be one of the first guests on Joe Buck’s new HBO show on Monday. Neil is amazed at the new partnership between NBC and Pro Football Talk.

Ben Grossman of Broadcasting & Cable says Favre was on top of Buck’s wishlist for the first show.

The Arena blog had the patience to transcribe the normally boring Bill Simmons podcast which this past week had an interview with the very stunning Erin Andrews.

Another new friend, Jerod Morris of Midwest Sports Fans has a very good post on what he learned over the Raul Ibanez controversy. By the way, my best to Jerod. His dog is at vet this weekend for an obstruction of the gall bladder. He should be ok. The dog, that is. Jerod is fine.

Jonathan Tannenwald of Philly.com has the first of two parts on recapping the Blogs With Balls conference.

David Carr of the New York Times looks at what the Boston Globe sale could fetch for the NYT.

Jeff Z. Klein of the Times looks at NBC’s ratings for Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

Maury Brown of the Biz of Hockey says Game 7 of the NHL Stanley Cup Finals on Friday garnered good viewership numbers.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says both the Yankees and Mets broadcasts of Friday’s choke by the Metropolitans missed something at the end.

Phil Rosenthal of the Chicago Tribune says the FBI searched the offices of a local sports web radio station over accusations of faulty business practices.

Becky Yerak of the Tribune says the fate of that internet station is totally up in the air.

Rick Brown of the Des Moines Register was on hand to watch ESPN’s taping of Homecoming with Kurt Warner.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News previews Monday’s 4th and Long episode on Spike.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News writes that Universal Sports has seen gigantic growth in one year under the NBC Universal umbrella. Let’s bring it over to DirecTV, ok?

Michael Bamberger of Sports Illustrated writes in Golf.com that putting the LPGA Championship on Golf Channel at the expense of CBS and NBC was the right move.

I’m beginning to see some stories I can give you for Monday’s links so I’ll end this here for tonight.

Making The Friday Megalinks Count, Part II

As I have the Red Sox-Phils on NESN on my TV and Stanley Cup Finals Game 7 from CBC on my computer, I’m finishing up the Megalinks so I can go to bed early and head for NYC tomorrow for the Blogs With Balls conference.

Let’s update some of our earlier links.

National

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says vacating games is just plain silly.

The Eye on Sports Media’s Chris Byrne wonders if the NCAA is making the right decision if it rules to eliminate printed sports guides.

Joe Favorito says NASCAR making a media stop in New York is a good move for the sport.

Steve Lepore of Puck The Media plays “One of These Things Is Not Like The Other”.

Stuart Levine of Variety says the NBA Finals propelled ABC to a ratings win in both primetime and late night.

Keith Thibeault of the Sports Media Journal laments no real internet access from Blogs with Balls.

The Nielsen ratings Wire blog tells us that a Game 7 is an automatic ratings winner no matter the sport.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette talks about the Rose Bowl moving to ESPN in 2011.

The Washington Examiner’s Jim Williams says Mets-Yankees headlines the national baseball broadcasts.

Jim notices that Sirius XM radio will have international events like the 24 Hours of LeMans and cricket this weekend.

South

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald has some suggestions for ESPN.

Ray Buck from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram says Joe Buck will get to show his comedic touch on HBO.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News looks at MLB Network’s new reality series premiering this weekend.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle writes that today’s digital conversion will help the MLS’ Dynamo.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman says the long streak of Texas Rangers voice Eric Nadel came to an end earlier this month. Mel also has his news and notes.

Midwest

Bob Wolfley from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says Joe Buck doesn’t want to reinvent the wheel for his new HBO show.

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business lists his winners and losers in sports business and media this week.

Ed says the Chicago internet sports station is in trouble.

Carol Slezak of the Chicago Sun-Times hopes Frank Thomas’ return to the Windy City as a broadcaster means some healing for him and the White Sox.

Paul Christian of the Rochester Post-Bulletin says Game 7 is what sports are all about.

Dan Caesar from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says local resident Joe Buck is ready to go on HBO.

West

Jay Posner in the San Diego Union-Tribune says Padres fans will be able to watch the team’s road games on the big screen at Petco Park.

John Maffei of the North County Times feels the new MLB Network reality series might be Must See TV.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star reviews Curt Smith’s book on Vin Scully.

Jim looks at Joe Buck’s new HBO show.

Chris Dufresne of the Los Angeles Times writes about the Rose Bowl moving to ESPN in 2011.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News talks with ESPN/ABC’s Mark Jackson about what this next move will be. Tom has more with Mark in his blog. Tom has his usual extensive media notes. Tom reviews the week in blogging.

The San Jose Mercury News’ John Ryan says the Oakland A’s are adjusting to a new TV home.

Canada

John Doyle of the Toronto Globe and Mail says the financial problems with the UK’s Setanta Sports could affect the Canadian version of the channel.

And we’re done. I’ll be back on Sunday. I’ll Tweet from the Blogs with Balls conference and I may be able to get a mobile post here from my iPhone. I’ll see how it goes.

Making the Friday Megalinks Count, Part I

Let’s get to the Friday megalinks. I want to get this done and leave my Friday free so I can rest up for the drive to NYC for the Blogs With Balls conference tomorrow. Don’t expect any blog posts, but I will be Tweeting from there so if you follow me on Twitter, you’ll get some impressions and perhaps a pic or two. I’ll be there with a few of the bloggers that have been linked here regularly so be on the lookout for that all day tomorrow.

As usual, let’s do the Weekend Viewing Picks.

The NHL Stanley Cup Finals will conclude tonight with Game 7 of Pittsburgh and Detroit at the Joe. CBC and NBC will have coverage starting at 8. NHL Network has a pregame at 6. CBC’s Scotiabank Hockey Tonight will start at 7:30. Following the game CBC.ca has a postgame show and NHL Network has theirs at 11 p.m. or immediately following the trophy ceremony.

Game 5 of the NBA Finals is on Sunday at 8. ABC has the game from Orlando as the Lakers try to close out the Magic.

Interleague baseball returns this weekend. Fox has three games on Saturday at 4 p.m. including Mets-Yankees. ESPN has Cleveland hosting St. Louis Sunday night at 8 and TBS also has Mets-Yankees on Sunday afternoon. For the Fox and ESPN schedules, click here. WGN will have the Cubs hosting Minnesota, Sunday at 2.

ESPN and ESPN2 have extensive and exclusive coverage of the College World Series this weekend from Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, NE. Four games over the weekend will be played starting Saturday at 2 on ESPN.

For NASCAR, the Sprint Cup Series heads to Michigan for the LifeLock 400. TNT has that Sunday at 2 p.m.

Golf is busy as well. Golf Channel and CBS combine for weekend coverage of the St. Jude Classic.

Golf Channel also has the LPGA Championship, the second major on the tour, Saturday and Sunday at 4.

Soccer fans will be particularly interested in the Confederations Cup which will be hosted by South Africa, the site of the 2010 World Cup. Two games kick off the event on Sunday, host South Africa vs. Iraq and New Zealand vs. Spain.

Mixed Martial Arts fans have UFC 99 to watch this Saturday on PPV at 3 p.m.

Check out the entire Weekend Viewing Picks here.

To the links.

National

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand talks with Fox Sports’ NFL insder Jay Glazer about his love for mixed martial arts.

The Game On! blog from USA Today looks at the Rose Bowl moving from ABC to ESPN starting in 2011.

Ray Frager of the Sports Media Journal says a three man booth at the NBA Finals is too much.

The Sports Media Watch wonders how high can the ratings for Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals reach? SMW says Game 4 of the NBA Finals did well in the overnight ratings last night.

Jon Weisman of Variety says ABC has set the lineup for the new edition of The Superstars which premieres later this month.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life Magazine writes ABC scored in the ratings with the NBA Finals on Thursday.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe writes that after a slow start, NESN’s ratings for Red Sox baseball are rising to their normal high levels.

The Worcester Telegram & Gazette’s Bill Doyle says NESN’s Don Orsillo has had to deal with an ever-changing analyst lineup due to Jerry Remy’s absence.

Newsday’s Neil Best gives his impressions of today’s WFAN morning show simulcast on SNY. Neil says WFAN made some personnel moves for football season. Neil talks about Showtime making famed MMA fighter Gina Carano a headliner for its upcoming Strikeforce card. Neil also talks with Joe Buck about his upcoming HBO show.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News writes that even the Mets and Yankees announcers are getting involved in the Subway City rivalry.

A week’s vacation has not softened Phil Mushnick’s hate in the New York Post today.

The Post’s Justin Terranova has five questions for ESPN’s Andy North about next weekend’s U.S. Open.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union talks to the person behind local sports talk show.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette has some baseball TV news and notes.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner says the LPGA Championship’s new home will be the perfect place to hold that event starting next year.

Jim looks forward to watching Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals tonight.

I’ll have the rest of the Megalinks tonight.

BREAKING NEWS: Rose Bowl to ESPN in 2011

Working on this story. Coming from the Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand, ESPN has announced that the Rose Bowl will be cable-only in 2011. Working on the story. More to follow.

UPDATE, 12:11 p.m.: This would put the entire Bowl Championship Series on cable. ESPN made a deal with the other BCS games back in November putting them on its network beginning in 2011. So all of the games will be seen on ESPN starting in about a year and a half from now.

UPDATE, 12:15 p.m.: Here’s the official announcement from ESPN.

Rose Bowl Game on ESPN Beginning in 2011

ESPN will televise the Rose Bowl Game starting in January 2011, it was announced today by John Wildhack, ESPN executive vice president, programming and acquisitions. The network had previously announced it would televise 15 other Bowl Championship Series (BCS) games – including the Fiesta, Orange, Sugar and BCS National Championship — as part of a new, multi-year agreement also beginning in January 2011.

The 2010 Rose Bowl Game and the 2010 BCS National Championship Game from Pasadena, Calif., will remain on ABC. The Rose Bowl Game has a separate media rights agreement from other BCS bowls.

“Having all BCS matchups on one home, especially within ESPN’s year-round college football environment, is the very best scenario,” Wildhack said. “Fans will welcome ESPN’s all-encompassing approach, and the additional opportunities and value resulting from our multi-platform presentation will benefit the college football community and our business partners.”

As part of its regular-season schedule, ESPN on ABC will continue to offer Saturday Night Football, broadcast television’s first-ever weekly college football primetime series. Additionally, ESPN Radio, which has broadcast all BCS games since 2000, is the national radio home of the BCS through 2014.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL ON ESPN

ESPN’s college football coverage features more than 400 regular- and post-season games, beginning this season on Thursday, Sept. 3, with South Carolina at N.C. State on ESPN and concluding Thursday, Jan. 7, with the 2010 BCS National Championship Game on ABC. The company offers the most extensive coverage of college football across numerous platforms including ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN Classic, ESPN360.com, ESPN.com, ESPN Radio, ESPNEWS, ESPN Mobile TV, ESPN Regional Television, ESPN GamePlan pay-per-view service, ESPN The Magazine and ESPN International. Regular-season action includes numerous conferences, in addition to nearly 30 bowl games, and the NCAA Football Championship Sub-Division, Division II and Division III playoffs culminating with the championship of each. Also on the schedule: the Heisman Trophy Presentation and The College Football Awards; the popular road show College GameDay; the year-round daily College Football Live; the weekly College Football Final and College Football Countdown; and news and features throughout the year on SportsCenter, First Take, PTI and Outside the Lines.

MAJOR SPORTS ON CABLE

The 2011 BCS schedule will mark the first time BCS bowls will be featured on cable television, joining other major events with a cable home such as the NBA Conference Finals, British Open (all four rounds), Monday Night Football, MLB League Championship Series, Stanley Cup Finals and many more.

So ESPN’s philosophy is to bring as many events to its network as possible. We’ll see what else follows in the next decade.