Why CBS found the Cy-Hawk rivalry appealing when building its 2024 college football TV schedule

INDIANAPOLIS — The interest in this year’s Cy-Hawk football game has been obvious in the state of Iowa.

The game sold out before any other Iowa football home game (and before single-game tickets even went on sale to the general public).

The high interest spans to television networks as well. CBS got dibs on the annual rivalry in 2024, marking the second straight year that it will air on a major network.

“It’s one of those signature games in the conference where if you’re lucky enough to be able to get one of those signature games, you get it,” said Dan Weinberg, the executive vice president of programming for CBS Sports, in an interview with The Gazette.

Weinberg’s personal excitement of going to Kinnick Stadium for the first time aside, there are many appealing aspects of the game

“I’ll be Captain Obvious here for a minute — in-state rivalry game, iconic history and an atmosphere that probably will be one of the best atmospheres we see all year long,” Weinberg said.

Last year’s Iowa-Iowa State game, which kicked off at 2:30 p.m., had 3.38 million viewers on Fox — the best for the midafternoon time slot.

It would not be a surprise to see the Cy-Hawk game lead the 2:30 p.m. time slot again this year, especially given a relatively weak slate of other games at that time. (South Carolina at Kentucky and Baylor at Utah are perhaps the best alternatives for viewers.)

CBS has one of the five Iowa football games that already have TV assignments. The other four are split up among NBC, Fox, FS1 and Big Ten Network.

CBS aired two Iowa games — the 31-0 loss to Penn State and the 13-10 win over Nebraska — in 2023, which was the first year of the Big Ten’s new media rights deal.

“They’re an appealing brand,” Weinberg said of Iowa. “This is a brand with history that goes back years and years, 100 years or so, synonymous with the history of college football.”

This year’s Iowa-Nebraska game will be on NBC with a 6:30 p.m. kickoff. CBS will instead carry the Wisconsin-Minnesota game earlier in the day.

“Both really good games,“ Weinberg said. ”Both historic games with rivalries, so we’re happy with the way that worked out. … We were thrilled to have Iowa on our air last year for Thanksgiving Friday. Who knows what the future will hold. Maybe we’ll get them back again.”

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com

Sign up for our curated Iowa Hawkeyes athletics newsletter at thegazette.com/hawks.