An Ohio lawmaker presented a bill last week that would almost completely eliminate noon kickoffs for the Ohio State Buckeyes and other college teams in the state.
In a recent episode of the “Andy & Ari” podcast, On3’s Ari Wasserman and Andy Staples explained why this bill might not give fans what they want.
Analysts Explore Ohio Lawmaker’s Bill Against Noon Kickoffs
Noon kickoffs have become commonplace for Ryan Day’s crew and are one of the most noticeable brands in college football. However, there’s a large contingent that doesn’t like them and prefers primetime contests instead.
“I understand Ohio State’s fans’ complaints about this,” Wasserman said, “but the reason why their television deal is so lucrative is because of them, so it’s like this circle of, like, ‘FOX paid all this money that gets funneled directly to you as a result of your popularity, but in order for them to max out that investment, they have to place you in that time slot.
He explained further, “It’s not like it’s some sort of conspiracy theory. It’s literally right in front of your face. They play at noon all the time because that’s how FOX makes the most money on their television ratings, of which you’re a beneficiary of financially.
“So, like, I know that you wanna play more night games, but the more you play at night, the less money you can conceivably make because if they switch the night game that they usually have to noon, the total viewers of the day would be lower.”
Wasserman added that he believes Ohio State’s annual rivalry clash with Michigan should kick off at 3:30 p.m. rather than noon.
“Commerce is not allowing it,” Staples said.
FOX, a co-owner of the Big Ten Network, sub-leases games to CBS and NBC, but the deal guarantees exclusive time slots to the other networks. CBS received the mid-afternoon slot, while NBC has the primetime one.
“There are weeks when CBS and NBC have the first choice, and what is happening to Ohio State specifically in these instances is the weeks where the other one has the first choice, and Ohio State’s not playing a particularly great game, those networks will take the better game,” Staples said.
“FOX, then, will just take Ohio State versus whoever they’re playing because Ohio State is the most guaranteed ratings driver in college football, and it’s not particularly close. Like, they are the engine.”
“They could play Ohio State-Michigan State on Mars at 4 a.m. and people would watch it,” Wasserman said.
Staples pointed out that FOX’s noon games began as ESPN used the time slot as a dump for its less-desirable contests. Now, FOX’s games in that frame “are so good that ESPN won’t try to counter-program with something really good. So, ESPN basically goes, ‘Okay, we’ll wait until primetime. You can have noon.'”
Notably, this trend of college football teams being almost “locked in” to certain time slots isn’t new. When CBS held rights to the SEC, teams like Alabama and Georgia would often hog the 3:30 ET time slot whenever they had big games, leading to a string of mid-afternoon kickoffs in the heat of late summer and early fall.
If the Ohio law does go into effect, Fox will likely just choose to spotlight other teams during “Big Noon Kickoff”—whether it be other Big Ten teams. Notably, this law likely wouldn’t affect Buckeye games held out of state.
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