ESPN, Big Ten's bowl strategy overwhelms Jan. 1 television markets

TEMPE, Ariz. - Four Big Ten teams compete concurrently in bowl games on Saturday, a strategy some might say limits the conference's exposure and potential audience.

It seems strange that the Big Ten would spread its men's basketball teams all over time windows to guarantee each game its television network has its own national window and do just the opposite with its football teams on Jan. 1. But Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany favors the bowl strategy authored by ESPN and said he's "excited about it."

"If that's an ESPN strategy to deliver the greatest audience to the Rose Bowl, I want to be involved in that strategy," Delany said last month. "Even though it might mean that one of those games might have maybe less a following because once you go that way, either you're in it or you're out of it. I'd rather be in that game than out of that game."

Northwestern opens Jan. 1 against Texas Tech at 11 a.m. on ESPNU in the inaugural TicketCity Bowl in Dallas. Penn State faces Florida in the Outback Bowl, which boasts a new time (noon) and different network (ABC). Michigan State plays Alabama in the Capital One Bowl (noon, ESPN) and Michigan meets Mississippi State in the Gator Bowl at 12:30 p.m. (ESPN2). All of those games funnel into the Wisconsin-TCU Rose Bowl match-up at 3:30 p.m. ESPN will air the Rose Bowl, a first for the network.

Delany negotiated a bowl agreement with the Gator Bowl to make sure ESPN's strategy favored the Big Ten. In essence, it gives the Big Ten a day-long infomercial on the ABC/ESPN family of networks.

"Once that strategy was decided, I did everything I could to get a team into Jacksonville and participate in that," Delany said. "That's their (ESPN's) strategy. They own the Rose Bowl. They have the TV agreements. Once I knew that was their strategy, I was enthusiastic to embrace it because if I'm not there, somebody else is going to be there.

"I think A, to be in Florida to play an SEC team, is something all of our schools want to do. Be in Florida and to do it on New Year's Day, that's what we want to do."

The Capital One Bowl annually brings the highest ratings of the non-Bowl Championship Series bowls primarily because it pits high-profile teams from the Big Ten and SEC. It operates in televised competition against the Outback Bowl, which also features Big Ten and SEC teams. Nine other non-BCS bowls sported high ratings than the Outback Bowl last year.

The Gator Bowl is in its new affiliation with the Big Ten and SEC. Previously it was aligned with the ACC and either the Big 12 or Big East. The Gator Bowl switched from CBS to ESPN2 this year, and its TV rating (3.95) last year was slightly below the Outback's 4.06.

“We are thrilled to add the Gator Bowl to our extensive postseason coverage and to extend our longstanding relationships with the Capital One Bowl and Outback Bowl,” said Dave Brown, vice president, ESPN programming and acquisitions said in a release. “These premier match-ups between teams from two elite conferences in a three-wide ‘roadblock' across the ESPN platforms will drive viewers to our inaugural Rose Bowl Game telecast.”

The TicketCity Bowl is ESPNU's first-ever bowl.

Delany said the multiple games will help grow the league as a whole as well as promote the Rose Bowl.

"Those windows, I think, are going to drive large audiences," Delany said. "The best game is going to benefit. ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, Big Ten Network. People are going to go to the game and the platform really isn't that relevant.

"I think they're going to grow the Rose Bowl. I think the best game is going to corner the larger audience and the fan that is tied to that school is going to stay with that game. I think it's going to be OK."