Cover 7 | Friday A daily NFL destination that provides in-depth analysis of football’s biggest stories. Each Friday, Richard Deitsch examines some of the biggest storylines in the NFL media world.
You have heard NFL and sports television officials repeatedly push the mantra that the NFL is the most valuable content in sports and entertainment. Most of these executives have a PhD in spin, but this thesis is unquestionably true.
In a time of the pay television model collapsing and increasing polarized opinions on everything, the NFL remains a communal enterprise, attracting tens of millions of Americans every week. In 2022, based on Nielsen ratings data, the NFL was responsible for 19 of the 20 most-viewed TV broadcasts. The only non-NFL program to make the top 20 was a State of the Union address.
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The holders of such valuable programming have often used NFL game inventory to boost other properties, and this week we are going to learn how much the NFL can amplify a sport with great growth potential — women’s college volleyball.
On Sunday, Fox will carry two Big Ten women’s volleyball matches in NFL-adjacent windows. Those markets receiving an early NFL game (1 p.m. ET) will be shown the Minnesota-Wisconsin match following the conclusion of their NFL game on Fox (4:45 p.m.). The markets receiving a late NFL game (4 p.m.) — the only late market game Fox is airing this week is the Cleveland Browns at the Seattle Seahawks — will be shown Ohio State-Michigan women’s volleyball at 2 p.m. ET on Fox. The network says this is the first time a regular-season volleyball matchup will air on any broadcast network. The invaluable 506sports.com website has the broadcast window maps here.
Mark Silverman, the president and COO of Fox Sports and the executive who oversees all aspects of live event and studio programming and production for its networks, said the idea is years in the making.
“When I was at the Big Ten Network, and this goes back 8 to 10 years ago, we started really noticing women’s volleyball delivering strong numbers,” Silverman said. “BTN started putting volleyball matches on after Big Ten football because the seasons overlap. When we have singleheaders or we don’t have a true doubleheader, we’re always trying to find what is something we could lead our NFL games into. We had an ALCS game last weekend that did a great number and we had the NFL lead into it. Everyone got really excited once we started really diving into this. The more we investigated it, the more things kind of worked out from the scheduling. The conference and the schools were open and willing to move (volleyball) from a Saturday game to a Sunday.”
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Silverman said Fox Sports, the individual schools, and the Big Ten Conference worked together to find some storyline symmetry on Sunday, such as the Minnesota Vikings at Green Bay Packers game leading into Minnesota-Wisconsin. The Cleveland market will get the Ohio State volleyball game before Browns-Seahawks.
“I think they understood how unique an opportunity this was to follow an NFL football game,” Silverman said. “Ohio State, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, they want exposure for their programs. They realize this unique moment.”
The NFL has very strict rules about its programming, so NFL viewers will not miss any plays in the event the Ohio State-Michigan match runs long. Silverman said he has not heard any Fox affiliates declining the volleyball matches, but keep in mind all of this programming is happening within a standard Fox NFL Sunday window.
The production of the volleyball matches will include eight cameras and in-game interviews with the coaches between sets. Volleyball viewership is up 48 percent year over year on BTN, and that includes the most-watched regular-season volleyball game ever on any network with 612,000 viewers checking out Wisconsin-Nebraska women’s volleyball last Saturday.
🏐With 612,000 viewers, @BadgerVB vs @HuskerVB is the 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕-𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒅 regular season volleyball match across any network
🏐The No. 1 volleyball audience in Big Ten Network history
🏐BTN is averaging 142,000 viewers per @B1GVolleyball match this season, up +13% from 2022 pic.twitter.com/dgpos6Fe7V
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) October 24, 2023
Silverman said he and his colleagues will be interested in the demographics of the audience on Sunday and how much bump the NFL provides.
“The NFL is such a broad audience,” Silverman said. “More women watch the NFL than any other program. What we’re trying to do is grow the appeal of a sport that we have a vested interest in helping grow for the foreseeable future. If we can grow women’s volleyball, then I believe the Big Ten is better off, I believe college sports in general is better off, and I think Fox will be better off. The best way we can do that is by delivering the biggest, broadest audience we can. So let’s see what the numbers are.”
The NFL had a particularly strong Week 7 when it came to viewership, with audiences across all networks up 20 percent over last year’s Week 7. ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” telecast of the San Francisco 49ers at Minnesota Vikings game drew 18.64 million viewers across ESPN, ABC, ESPN2, ESPN Deportes and NFL+. That’s MNF’s best Week 7 audience in the ESPN era (2006-present) and was up 57 percent from MNF Week 7 in 2022 (11.9 million viewers for the Chicago Bears at the New England Patriots). Now, a big context note here: Last year’s Bears-Patriots game was an ESPN-only game.
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“Sunday Night Football” also had a big pop with the mega-showdown between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Miami Dolphins. The game averaged 22.4 million viewers, up big off of last year’s 15.53 million viewers for the Dolphins hosting the Pittsburgh Steelers.
One other note of interest: The 49ers-Vikings game on ABC/ESPN went head to head with Game 7 of the ALCS between the Houston Astros and Texas Rangers on Fox and FS1. The NFL is always going to draw more here, but the spread is the story of note. The Astros-Rangers game drew 6.8 million viewers. Per Sports Media Watch, that Game 7 is the least-watched LCS on record outside of the 2020 pandemic LCS (Astros-Tampa Bay Rays, which drew 4.60 million viewers). Sports Media Watch says no other LCS Game 7 has averaged fewer than 7.41 million.
It does not get any more 1980s in NFL broadcasting than this glorious October 1988 “Monday Night Football” introduction, courtesy of NFL historian Kevin Gallagher.
35 Years Ago Tonight,
ABC's Monday Night Football Intro#49ers at #Bears
Soldier Field
October 24, 1988Frank Gifford introduces the evening's combatants and their contrasting styles
Then Al Michaels breaks down the Niners mindset and Dan Dierdorf discusses the Bears… pic.twitter.com/LnGQF92O3J
— Kevin Gallagher (@KevG163) October 25, 2023
(Photo of Nebraska’s volleyball team, during their attendance-record-setting game against Omaha in August: Steven Branscombe / Getty Images)
