Iowa football appears to be early beneficiary of new Big Ten media rights deal

IOWA CITY — A lot of eyes could potentially be on Iowa football in the fall.

In the first year of the Big Ten Conference’s new media rights deal — one that added NBC and CBS partners and dropped ESPN — Iowa appears to be an early benefactor of the new setup.

Three of Iowa’s five games with definitive TV assignments will be on major networks — two on CBS and one on Fox so far.

That matches last year’s total of three games on a major broadcast network despite what appears to be a weaker schedule in 2023.

Iowa traded crossover games against Big Ten East foes Michigan, Ohio State and Rutgers last year for Penn State, Michigan State and Rutgers this year. Instead of playing three Big Ten East teams coming off bowl appearances, the Hawkeyes are playing one.

It helps that games like Iowa State or Nebraska that were on Big Ten Network last year are instead on Fox and CBS, respectively.

More major-network games — namely, the Iowa-Purdue game — are possible for the Hawkeyes as the other seven games receive TV and time assignments.

NBC’s Oct. 7 prime-time game will be either Iowa-Purdue or Michigan-Minnesota, according to Iowa sports information.

The TV listing can make a big difference in how many people see the Hawkeyes, according to data aggregated by SportsMediaWatch.com and analyzed by The Gazette.

The most-watched regular-season college football game on a major network — Fox, ABC, CBS or NBC — last year was the Michigan-Ohio State game, which drew 17.1 million viewers.

The most-watched regular-season game on a national cable network — ESPN, ESPN2, FS1 or others — was the Alabama-LSU game, which drew 7.58 million viewers.

The most-watched Big Ten Network game in 2022 was Rutgers-Ohio State with 1.79 million viewers, followed by Iowa-Nebraska with 1.47 million viewers.

Therefore, the difference between a game being on Fox instead of FS1 — a slight convenience for many fans — could potentially be the difference between whether a future recruit from Florida or Arizona has exposure to the Hawkeyes.

Of course, Wednesday’s announcement shows only a partial picture of what Iowa’s TV visibility will look like in 2023.

Whether the remaining games end up on a major network, cable channel or streaming service will be key for how many people — and by extension, potential future recruits — see the Hawkeyes play.

The Big Ten media contract allots eight regular-season games to be exclusively on NBC’s Peacock streaming service.

Peacock has 22 million subscribers, according to parent company Comcast’s first-quarter earnings report. That leaves a much lower ceiling, at least in the near future, for possible viewership than a game on traditional TV channels.

None of Iowa’s games have gone to Peacock yet.

No night home games (yet)

It is unclear if/when Iowa will have any night games at Kinnick Stadium in 2023.

The five games with start times only include two home games — Sept. 2 against Utah State and Sept. 16 against Western Michigan — and those kick off at 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., respectively.

If NBC gives Iowa-Purdue the prime-time slot on Oct. 4, that would be a night game. Otherwise, it would be either a 2:30 or 3 p.m. start.

Other games without time slots yet include Sept. 30 against Michigan State, Oct. 21 against Minnesota, Nov. 11 against Rutgers or Nov. 18 against Illinois.

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com