no matter what you hear. this is about football (so no one cares about the other sports) and its about name recognition and being well known. They are trying to reach the average fan more. They do this by adding big "Brands". average fan (one not associated with VT) probably will not rearrange their Saturday to watch VT play most SEC teams. Th n number of VT fans not affiliatedwitht the school is nowhere as near as the number of lets say UNC fans not affiliated with UNC. they don't have to be good they have to be recognized. I hope its not the case, but most "experts" do not include VT in this

I live in NC and NC State has a better football fan base than UNC (very similar to VT / UVA). UNC football has had some periods of success but is not a good program overall (6 to 8 wins per year recently). They have not won an ACC title since 1980. Why would an average fan be passionate about UNC football?

I know 5 years of data is a bit i know 5 years of data is a big stronger than one year, but they had significant improvement while we sh!t the bed

networks/schedulers did not do us any favors in how many quality games of ours were televised at optimum dates and times. A lot of that was totally out of VT’s control.

I completely agree that the ratings like this don't mean much because it is a function of the schedule times and who you play. if thats the case, it should not be in the argument.because we can't prove people are watching to see VT play. you don't have to like it but UNC is a bigger brand name than VT and that's what this about

Their football stinks, but by golly they've been able to out recruit us lately.

sucks but that's the reality. Viewers aren't going to gravitate to VT more than UNC (in a normal year) due to the fact that UNC has been a bigger brand for the past 4 DECADES. One or two or even 5 good seasons won't get us even with UNC from a brand awareness perspective. It'll take generations.

are a much bigger brand overall. yes, its d due largely to basketball and even more to MJ. I have always been surprised that my friends who did not go to a school with a D1 football program are fans of UNC basketball AND football. Thye are fans of all the sports teams, not just basketball UNC is a huge brand.

It has always surprised me, but I have traveled around the country and when it comes up that I went to UNC, some people's eyes will light up and they will say that they are a UNC fan. These are people who didn't go to UNC, have never even been to North Carolina, and I'm probably the first person they have ever met who actually went to UNC. Yet they for some reason are a "fan" of UNC. Maybe it's the basketball tradition, the rivalry with Duke, and Michael Jordan. Or maybe it's Mia Hamm and the women's soccer tradition. Or maybe they just like the interlocking NC logo and the shade of light blue. Who knows?

build a program with than VT will and the brand name to go with it. I really do believe there is something for the SEC to gain by choosing VT, but I don't think they or ESPN are going to care. They will take the ones they want and take the ones that the ones they want want them to, to make it work.

because college football is much bigger than those 15-20 selected teams. College football has been gradually losing popularity this century. I know numerous Tech graduates who have stopped watching college football and sports in general. Most of them used to be devout Tech football fans. Also, a respectable percentage of college football fans aren't thrilled with the direction that college sports are heading (ie: semi-pro status). College graduates born the past 30 years aren't into football as much as the previous generations. Soccer has become more popular, especilly with the rapidly changing demographics. My church is now 80% Hispanic and not one of those kids like American football. Maybe that will change in another generation but I have my doubts. Throw in the effects of the pandemic, higher attendance costs and an aging fan base and college football is in decline. Fox is adding the nation's second largest media market in L.A. but like most large media markets, college sports trails far behind professional sports. UCLA and USC viewership isn't that impressive considering the population of their region. I wonder if soccer is just as popular in that area as American football? Some folks talk about the 'bubble bursting'. Maybe this is the last major college expansion since the sport won't be bringing in the money it once did? ** Edited by Old Line Hokie at 7/8/2022, 10:05:58 AM

Just 20 years ago it was more enjoyable to watch a game because they let the game be played. Now we get constant pauses for tv timeouts. You don't see this level of game stoppage in other sports. And that has helped to make all fans annoyed and less interested in watching or attending. IMHO

It’s a college atmosphere. They have a Jumbotron but it isn’t blasting away like an NFL game I don’t have to spend $5k a year to go and tailgate and have a great experience. The hotels don’t have a 2 night min The kids want to be there (like college kids did before NIL and portal) The conferences should running things but it’s the networks that are. Like Andy staples said this morning - if the P5 voted for conf champs to get automatic bid to the CFP - the conferences would be safe and have something to play for. The acc and big12 voted against that and now they’re worried for survival

You can even pinpoint the origin point as being June 27, 1984.

so live properties are becoming more valuable and networks are trying to own as many as they can

Networks are also showing an increased amount of soccer which competes with American football and other live sports. IMHO, I think this is the final major college sports realignment since it is quickly maxing out. Just the fact that the blueblood football programs (USC, Oklahoma and Texas) are throwing away tradition and regionalism in order to make more money says that this is it. Maybe in a generation or two, things will come back to the way they were 20-25 years ago or soccer could likley become America's most watched sport. Boxing and horse racing were once America's top sports and baseball was king for half a century. Only time will tell.

Watching Roger Goodell on CNBC. Talking about platform choice to make sure the NFL reaches ‘the broadest possible audience, Strikes me that teams are like cell tower placement. And cord cutting/ subscriber based platforms. You plant one wherever you can get net subscriber adds. Would adding Tech or any team be like putting a cell tower in the wilderness where there aren’t enough folks to cover the investment? Or on the edge of a growing metro? For me, I doubt I will subscribe to any live college football platform if we are left out.

Disney/ESPN and Fox have both made some costly mistakes this century. This may be the grand daddy of them all.