What makes Iowa football appealing for CBS when choosing which college football games to broadcast

INDIANAPOLIS — As CBS Sports executive Dan Weinberg sees it, the Big Ten has “a lot of very, very appealing games that are going to be a part of the selection process” of which college football games to air.

In CBS’ first year of broadcasting Big Ten football games, Iowa seems to have a large share of those “very, very appealing games.”

Many TV assignments for the 2023 college football season remain up in the air, but CBS already has dibs on two of Iowa’s games — the Sept. 23 game at Penn State and the Nov. 24 game at Nebraska. (Fox, FS1 and Big Ten Network, in comparison, have one game so far.)

“First of all, Iowa is an iconic institution with an incredible history,” Weinberg told The Gazette ahead of the Big Ten’s football media days last week. “The two games that you're talking about are two phenomenal games. Let's call it what it is.”

The Iowa-Penn State game could potentially feature two undefeated Big Ten teams with championship aspirations.

“You've got the whiteout game in Happy Valley, which will be a great scene,” Weinberg said. “And Iowa is obviously forecast to be a very strong team this year, so that should be really, really good game.”

Meanwhile, the Black Friday game between Iowa and Nebraska — a tradition since the Huskers joined the Big Ten in 2011 — is “an institution,” Weinberg said.

CBS’ deal with the Big Ten includes a game on Black Friday every year. In 2023, that will be Iowa-Nebraska. That’s not necessarily a lock for future years, but Weinberg is “pleased” with the matchup.

“It's part of our deal to have a game on Thanksgiving Friday every year, so we’ll evaluate it every year obviously,” Weinberg said. “But listen, having Iowa-Nebraska on Thanksgiving Friday is a very good thing.”

The 2021 Iowa-Nebraska game set a Big Ten Network record with 1.945 million viewers, and the 2022 game had 1.47 million viewers — one of BTN’s most-watched games of the year.

“A lot goes into what games get selected in what windows,” Weinberg said. “Obviously, that's a game that's existed in that window for a long time, and to your point, it’s been very successful in that window. So, sure, we would look at that as a positive in terms of selecting that game.”

Iowa could see significant airtime on other major networks as well this season. This is the first season of having a Fox-CBS-NBC trio of broadcast partners rather than the past agreement with Fox and ESPN.

The Sept. 9 Cy-Hawk game in Ames is slated to be on Fox.

National college football reporter Brett McMurphy of the Action Network reported Iowa could have three games on NBC in October — Oct. 7 vs. Purdue, Oct. 14 at Wisconsin and Oct. 21 vs. Minnesota. It is dependent on games not being flexed to other networks, however, according to McMurphy.

Taking a broader look at the Big Ten, many aspects of the conference create value for a television network.

“You’re talking about a conference with iconic programs, with fan bases and alumni bases not only in this footprint, but across the country,” Weinberg of CBS said. “Signature venues that have some of the best scenes across college football. And obviously games that are impactful — impactful not only within the conference, but in the greater scheme of chase for a national championship.”

Bill Thayer, one of CBS’ college football producers, said Iowa fans should expect “the same high-level, quality production that we do on a week-to-week basis.”

“One thing that we love to do is reflect the history and the rivalry and depth of the schools,” Thayer said. “We’re really excited to get there and spotlight not just the players on the field, but what their programs are and what they mean to their communities.”

All of the network’s college football games are produced on site, Thayer said.

More women’s basketball on CBS?

CBS will broadcast the Big Ten women’s basketball championship game as part of the Big Ten’s new TV deal.

“The championship game for the women’s basketball tournament was a key component of the deal,” Weinberg said. “Something we spent a lot of time talking about.”

In the year since the Big Ten and the three broadcast partners announced the media rights agreement, Iowa women’s basketball has shattered TV ratings records.

The Iowa-LSU national championship game averaged 9.9 million viewers — more than last year’s Cotton Bowl, Sugar Bowl and Orange Bowl and the average for Thursday night NFL games on Amazon Prime.

Iowa also broke ESPN viewership records in the NCAA semifinals and Elite Eight. Many of the Hawkeyes’ regular-season games were among the most-watched across the country.

Weinberg is “of course” aware of those trends and the “signature performance that we saw from arguably the best player in the country this past year.”

“We’re excited about that,” Weinberg said.

He said CBS’ ability to pick up more women’s basketball games is “something we’ll evaluate.”

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com