Thanks for the info! Certainly, games with an upper tier SEC team is going to have really nice numbers when on one of the big over the air networks. I know FSU drives good numbers but when you look at B1G games and Notre Dame numbers when on over the air networks they are even more impressive than SEC ratings (hence the B1G media payouts being higher than the SEC's). Seems you are a FSU follower - do you know if their fanbase would rather see them in the SEC or the B1G? I aso wonder how B1G fans versus SEC versus casual/neutral fans would respond with eyeballs on games involving FSU? In other words, where would they best drive incremental revenue?
Actually, the Notre Dame TV ratings are solid unless they are playing one of the top football powers and then they post really good ratings:
ND @ Ohio St.: 10.53 million - ABC
Marshall @ ND: 2.48 million - NBC
Cal @ ND: 2.91 million - NBC
ND @ UNC: 3.46 million - ABC
BYU @ ND: 2.53 million - NBC
Stanford @ ND: 2.15 million - NBC
UNLV @ ND: no rating - on Peacock
ND @ Syracuse: 2.34 million - ABC
Clemson @ ND: 3.22 million - NBC
ND @ Navy: 2.07 million - ABC
BC @ ND: 1.27 million - NBC
ND @ USC: 6.68 million - ABC
Notre Dame's games were all of major networks (except UNLV) and the ratings for the two P2 teams (USC is a future P2) blew out the other games.
ND vs P2 = 17.21 million viewers = 8.6 million viewers per game.
ND vs ACC opponents = 10.29 million viewers = 2.57 million viewers per game.
ND vs non-ACC or P2 opponents = 12.14 million viewers = 2.43 million viewers per game
Playing ACC teams doesn't really move the needle for ND ratings.
Here are the top 15 regular season games by viewers:
1) Michigan/Ohio St.: 17.1 million
2) Tennessee/Georgia: 13.1 million
3) Alabama/Tennessee: 11.6 million
4) Alabama/Texas: 10.6 million
5) ND/Ohio St.: 10.5 million
6) Alabama/Ole Miss: 8.7 million
7) Ohio St./Penn St.: 8.3 million
8) Alabama/LSU: 7.6 million
9) FSU/LSU: 7.55 million
10) Texas A&M/Alabama: 7.2 million
11) Florida/FSU: 6.7 million
12) ND/USC: 6.7 million
13) Ohio St./Maryland: 6.6 million
14) Penn St./Michigan: 6.5 million
15) Auburn/Alabama: 6.3 million
Schools with more than 1 appearance on list:
Alabama: 6x
Ohio St.: 4x
FSU: 2x
LSU: 2x
Michigan: 2x
ND: 2x
Penn St.: 2x
Tennessee: 2x
Top 15 rated games by future conference:
SEC: 16
Big 10: 10
ACC: 2
ND; 2
Big 12: 0
Pac 12: 0