MAC Announces TV Deal; GMAC Bowl Viewed by Over 2 Million
January 28, 2009 | Football
The Mid-American Conference and ESPN announced a new eight-year rights agreement running through the 2016-17 academic year for football, men's basketball and women's basketball.
The agreement with the MAC is the most extensive in the 63-year history of the conference, and comes after a 2008 football season, which saw Ball State football games witnessed by nearly 10 million homes.
Ball State's football team was on national television seven times in 2008, and had a total of nine games televised. The Cardinals appearance in the Marathon MAC Championship Game vs. Buffalo set a league record for the most viewers to ever watch a game involving two MAC teams on the ESPN family of networks. Ball State's ESPN2 contest at Central Michigan ranked as the most viewed and highest rated college football game ever for a Tuesday or Wednesday night on the network. The Cardinals home game vs. Navy was the best regular season national television rating for a MAC home game since 2005, prior to that mark being broken in the Cardinals game at CMU.
Ball State's appearance in the GMAC Bowl vs. Tulsa was the most watched television game in the history of the school's football program. The 2.19 rating was a 94 percent increase from the game after the 2007 season which received a 1.13 rating.
The Marathon MAC Championship Game will remain the foundation of the league's new television package. The MAC will average six nationally televised games each season on either ESPN or ESPN2 in addition to a minimum of five games per year on ESPNU.
The new agreement calls for continuation of the MAC's November mid-week national football package with increased structure and parameters providing multiple games for selection by ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU for those mid-week windows. In addition, ESPN Regional is making a multi-year commitment to a six-week, over-the-air, syndicated football package.
In addition to the football season, ESPN's family of networks will televise a minimum of six MAC men's or women's regular season conference games on either ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU. The MAC will also continue to participate in the ESPNU Bracket Busters event in men's basketball.
The MAC's men's basketball tournament final will continue to be broadcast on ESPN or ESPN2, where it has been televised since 1987. The women's MAC Tournament Championship Game has the potential for selection by ESPNU based upon tournament format. This would mark the first ever national telecast of the MAC's women's championship game.
Below are the ratings of Ball State's televised football games in 2008, which were viewed by 9,722,231 households:
? Ball State vs. Navy (ESPN) -- 1.2 rating/1,164,083 households
? Ball State vs. Northern Illinois (ESPN2) -- 1.02 rating/994,211 households
? Ball State at Miami University (ESPN2) -- 1.14 rating/1,117,640 households
? Ball State at Central Michigan (ESPN2) -- 1.6 rating/1,605,001 households
? Ball State vs. Western Michigna (ESPN2) -- 1.02 rating/996,663 households
? GMAC Bowl: Ball State vs. Tulsa (ESPN) -- 2.19 rating/2,148,838 households
? Marathon MAC Championship Game: Ball State vs. Buffalo (ESPN2) -- 1.7 rating/1,695,795 households