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They’re the three words that Big Ten football fans hate hearing the most.
“Big Noon Kickoff.”
FOX’s college football pregame show also doubles as the lead-in to the weekend’s premier game on the network. This means that rather than being shown in primetime, those games instead kickoff at noon (and sometimes 11 a.m.) local time.
The change in times often takes a lot away from the game day atmosphere and environment. Nowhere is that more so true than at Penn State with its famed “White Out” crowd.
In recent years, the Nittany Lions have opted to have their “White Out” against lesser opponents in order to hold it at night. That’s the case again this season when Penn State will host the “White Out” against unranked Washington on Nov. 9.
The first option, of course, would have been to hold it during this week’s marquee matchup against Ohio State. The third-ranked Nittany Lions welcome No. 4 Ohio State into Happy Valley and the winner all-but guarantees themselves a spot in the College Football Playoff.
But the game is lacking some excitement due to the noon kick.
Audrey Snyder of The Athletic spoke with FOX president of insights and analytics Mike Mulvihill, who tried to deflect blame for the hated kick time onto viewers.
“It’s our job to put the schools that we’re partners with in front of as many people as possible,” Mulvihill said. “If we can provide our schools as much exposure as possible, that should not just benefit Fox, but that should benefit those programs. What we’ve found over the last 6 years is that it’s very clear that putting our best game on at noon is what delivers the biggest audiences for these games.”
FOX Executive’s Reasoning For ‘Big Noon Kickoff’ Has A Sampling Bias
The thought process is that fewer marquee games in the Noon window mean higher ratings for a marquee game in that time slot. But there’s a major flaw there. Almost every big game on FOX in the last six years has kicked off at Noon. Therefore, those ratings are going to be inherently higher simply because of the big games.
There’s no current comparison tool.
And while you’re aiding your partner schools with high ratings, you’re hurting them by hurting the gameday experience.
Don’t believe us? Just ask Penn State coach James Franklin, who subtly and sarcastically threw some shade at ‘Big Noon Kickoff’ during the week.
“There’s a belief that prime time is somehow inherently better, but that’s not really matched up by the analysis,” Mulvhill continued.
That’s spoken like somebody who has never attended a big-time college football game. Sure, games can be great in any window. But there is nothing like a big college football game under the lights.
Major brands such as Penn State, LSU and Florida State were built upon their incredible night-game environments. To rob them of that is a huge disservice to the programs and their fans.
Ultimately, it doesn’t sound like FOX is exploring a change any time soon. But Big Ten programs are becoming increasingly frustrated with the noon time slot.