NCSU’s TV exposure

College Basketball General NC State NCS Basketball21

I was looking at our schedule and wondered why we had so few early games on TV. It seemed like every time you turned on ESPN Duke or UNC was playing but I had to scour the web for a crappy feed of my Pack. I realize the argument could be made the TV execs were doing me a favor considering how poorly we have played in many of these games but I cannot help it if I am a masochist. So I decided to look at the TV schedule for each team to see how we compare.
Here is the chart of what I found.

Here are some observations I had about the ACC in general:
1) There are 2 tiers of teams. Tier 1 consists of Duke, UNC, Maryland and FSU. Everyone else, including NCSU, is bunched at the bottom.
2) MD, UVA and VT have Comcast which givens them more local coverage and moves them up
3) VT was third in ESPN/ESPN2 games with 10. I am not sure I understand why except they were supposed to be the third best team in preseason.
4) Wake had by far the most games on the ACC Network and the fewest on the national networks.
5) After charting this information I added the Strength of Schedule thinking it might clarify things but there was no correlation between SOS and TV appearances.
6) BC is the king of ESPNU and FSU ruled Fox Sports
7) Not surprisingly the reigning national championship team dominated the national TV audience.

NCSU observations:
1) We had the fourth highest number of games on national TV.
2) The games not televised were the ones we played against 200+ RPI teams. Every decent team we played was televised. Face it who wants to see Youngstown State play. This expsore alone should stop us from playing cellar dwellers.
3) Given how awful the NCSU teams have been, I was surprised how often we were televised. This could have something do with our preseason expectations, but I feel this proves NCSU will be shown on TV if we become a good team. This has to be helpful if NCSU is trying to sell itself to anyone, like maybe a potential coach.

Please feel free to post anything that stands out to you.

About Rick

1992 and 2002 graduate from NCSU. Born and raised an NCSU fan. I remember the good ol' days and they weren't in the last 20 years.

College Basketball General NC State NCS Basketball

21 Responses to NCSU’s TV exposure

  1. timberwolf 01/21/2011 at 10:30 AM #

    Fantastic post. Surprising – I would have guessed that the blues had much more actual exposure – I guess it is all the filler in between games.

  2. novawolf 01/21/2011 at 11:03 AM #

    Great work RicK. No surprise that Duke/UNC games get shown, even against the cupcakes (only 1 UNC and 2 Duke games not on TV). The only surprise here is that Duke is on ESPN more than is UNC. And this type coverage isn’t a coincidence. Look at the ESPN basketball commentators…seems you have to be from Duke/UNC to be able to talk. ESPN, the biggest culprit, builds its ACC coverage around “the greatest rivalry in all of sport”. And if you think it’s bad in NC, move to some area like DC where the games from the bottom half are on stations that you can’t find and aren’t in HD. This type TV coverage perpetuates this perceived ACC basketball being strictly Duke/UNC. No one’s convincing me that this isn’t affecting recruiting, and why the Big East can have 11 good and balanced teams, and the ACC can have only 2. That’s why Maryland couldn’t build on its national championship, and limits GaTech to getting a couple of superstar recruits, but unable to build a team. It’s become the chicken or the egg thing, where ESPN claims they show what people want to see, while their constant promotion determines what they think people want to see. Note who was on ESPN for the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, who was on ESPN2, and who was on ESPNU. The ACC offices could force more balanced coverage, but we know who sits atop the ACC.

    I really don’t watch Duke/UNC games on ESPN stations. I refuse to watch any school as much as or more than I watch NC State.

  3. tmb81 01/21/2011 at 11:06 AM #

    I think from a local perspective, we have a good balance of TV/No TV. Televising the likes of Youngstown ST or Alabama A&M hurts the attendance.

    Tomorrow will be an interesting study. We host the “least attractive to TV” conference school, Miami, at an unusual and awkward time, 12 noon. I wonder how many will revise Sunday routines to attend and what the local ratings will be.

  4. Rick 01/21/2011 at 11:15 AM #

    Thanks for the responses.
    I actually thought we would be one of the worst in the ACC before I did the research.

    BTW NCSU is 3-7 in our televised games. I wonder why the fan base is unhappy.

  5. novawolf 01/21/2011 at 11:45 AM #

    By contrast, UNC is 12-5 in their televised games…we know that because all except 1 were televised. Their fans got to watch them beat Lipscomb, Hofstra, Bill & Mary, Evansville…and their fans are unhappy.

    Also, a few years back the Dukies went ballistic because one of their games was joined in progress about 25 minutes late because the previous game went into overtime. They thought ESPN should have switched over and they urged the fan base protest to ESPN…and the Dukies/UNC are constantly complaining about the late start of their games to be shown on ESPN. Talk about contrasting expectations and feeling entitled!

  6. bradleyb123 01/21/2011 at 12:05 PM #

    “This has to be helpful if NCSU is trying to sell itself to anyone, like maybe a potential coach.”

    Thanks, I’ll file this away until March 11th, the day after we lose our opening-round game in the ACC tournament. 🙂

    Sincerely,
    Debbie Yow

  7. Tampa-Pack 01/21/2011 at 12:19 PM #

    Darn this site and its fact-based arguments…. No wonder we are the lunatic fringe…

    Seriously though, great work. I thought we would be a lot further down the list as well. Interesting read.

  8. Keith78 01/21/2011 at 12:28 PM #

    Since Debbie Yow is the savior all NC State Athletics, I hope she has a big time hire waiting in the wings if she fires Sid. Jay Bilas had a nice arguement on the FAN, he basically said if NC State does not make the wow factor hire, firing Sid will put is right back where we were when Herb left.

    Rick Barnes anyone????

  9. Wolfy__79 01/21/2011 at 12:36 PM #

    Nice, not suprised at all with unc-ch/duke. duke’s earned it, tarhole media has forced it.. but they also forced a top preseason rank and that worked wonders 🙂 . the facts are facts to me with media coverage, unx vs duke sells every year. that has been built up for atleast two decades and thus we have their continued coverage. this year, alone i would like to be neck and neck with unx on coverage. but we’re close. it doesn’t speak to how the ones we do have are scheduled at off times. i agree the lower level teams we’ve schedule tv time would affect attendance. but i’d say it has more to do with our results. before the duke game, i thought to myself.. what a wonderful spotlight we’re in. for the first time, i saw our practice facilities on tv, i can’t say i’ve caught that before and my first time seeing them from any vantage pt. all in all we’ve gotten pretty good coverage this year, unfortunately the results aren’t good. thanks, this is very useful info!

  10. PackerInRussia 01/21/2011 at 1:21 PM #

    The perception shows up here as well. It seems like Duke has been on every week for a while (I’ve got no problem with that considering they are reigning national champs). But, when UNC vs. William and Mary was shown?? Give me a break. I’m sure State will be shown possibly twice or thrice? Once vs. Duke already; maybe again vs. UNC and if they advance far into the ACCT, they’ll show that game as well. Other ACC games have not been shown as much. That issue is not as noticeable from other conferences. Not every team is shown, but one or two teams don’t dominate the coverage. BTW, all games shown here are ESPN games, so my “feeling” comes from what is pulled from national coverage.

  11. Rick 01/21/2011 at 1:52 PM #

    “Jay Bilas had a nice arguement on the FAN, he basically said if NC State does not make the wow factor hire, firing Sid will put is right back where we were when Herb left.”

    He is an idiot. How would we be in the same position as when Herb left?
    1) We would know a coaching change is imminent.
    2) We have an AD who is not an idiot
    3) We would have a ton of talent including two 5 star guards

    As long as we do not hire someone who is a neophyte to the college game we will be ahead of the game on that alone.

  12. patientwuf 01/21/2011 at 2:05 PM #

    I know this doesn’t go along with the topic but I could not resist. Check out what Tom Sorensen(The Charlotte Observer) has to say about GOD(excuse me “Roy Williams”).

    http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/01/20/1993557/roy-takes-exception-to-his-kingdoms.html

  13. Keith78 01/21/2011 at 2:18 PM #

    He’s a well paid and successful idiot who, I would guess, understands basketball much more than you and I. His point was, if you make a lateral coaching move, you get a better coach, but without the recruiting ability of Sid, that what have you really gained. The Tom Obrien technique does not work in basketball, we need a huge hire to justify the firing of Sid, that was his point.

    I completely disagree, not hiring a neophyte will not put us ahead of the game, only doing the complete opposite would. We will see, but all this wishing and hoping Sid leaves with the assumption that anything is better seems a little nieve.

  14. Rick 01/21/2011 at 2:42 PM #

    “We will see, but all this wishing and hoping Sid leaves with the assumption that anything is better seems a little nieve.”

    I am pretty sure it does not get much worse than having the worst ACC record in his tenure.

  15. Texpack 01/21/2011 at 2:48 PM #

    Combining the FSN/Sun games has the same impact on FSU appearances that the existence of Comcast has for UMd, UVa, and VT since they are essentially a Florida channel.

    Sid’s second year after the ACC Tourney final appearance and the landing of JJ Hickson, we were on national TV a boat load of times compared to the year before so I would agree that the pre-season prognostications impact the ESPN/ESPN2 schedule. Now that ESPNU is on most systems basic/expanded basic package it provides essentially the same exposure as ESPN. The announcers may be crappy but just as many households have a chance to watch.

  16. Rick 01/21/2011 at 3:45 PM #

    If I remember right, FSU only had one Suncom game but they had a bunch of Fox Sports that were not the same one we see. .

    For Time Warner, if you do not get digital cable you do not get ESPNU

  17. Tampa-Pack 01/21/2011 at 3:47 PM #

    Keith – What Rick is essentially saying, and that most of us agree with, is it would be (almost) impossible for a “lateral” move. It would be very difficult to duplicate Sid’s ACC record….

  18. wufpup76 01/21/2011 at 6:02 PM #

    Thanks for putting this together.

    We get good TV coverage b/c of all of us masochists tune in. The previous administrations at State should thank the heavens for inheriting a fanbase like ours – that pours in money and support no matter how sh*tty the product is and how much they insult us and our intelligence.

    With the rise of Espn2,EspnU and the Fox Sports regional networks we actually get outstanding tv coverage – and they put us on b/c people like us care and watch their crappy “HD” feeds.

    Even during “THE GREAT HERB SENDEK’s” fifth season when we were going 3-13 in the conference, we were on the tv a ton. The common denomanator is the fanbase. You’re welcome, State admins and athletics department.

  19. runwiththepack 01/21/2011 at 9:37 PM #

    When our Pack starts winning, we’ll get more TV. We may be lucky that we don’t get more exposure, as at least one poster has already stated.

    That mediocre TV coverage hurts our recruiting isn’t a concern of the media, is it? Why would or should the media be concerned about our welfare? That’s OUR job.

    I would love to have our wolves on espn every game, but who else would besides pack fans?

  20. 61Packer 01/22/2011 at 10:36 PM #

    My guess is that the noon start tomorrow is because nobody wants to go head-to-head with the NFL games later tomorrow afternoon.

    The above article was very good, but you don’t need a charted analysis as to why we’re not on tv as much as many other ACC teams. We suck. That’s why.

    I’d add VT to that top tier of ACC teams. These are the 5 ACC teams that will most likely make the post-season, although UNC and Maryland have work to do, and Leonard Hamilton has yet to make his run at a season 7 failure, which I think he’ll do.

  21. Rick 01/23/2011 at 8:54 AM #

    “The above article was very good, but you don’t need a charted analysis as to why we’re not on tv as much as many other ACC teams. We suck. That’s why.”

    That is what I thought I would see. Given that we have the worst ACC record the past 5 years it is pretty amazing we are on as much as we are. Look at Wake.

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