Between the NFL and college levels, few — if any — television networks broadcasts as much football on a yearly basis as FOX and its array of subsidiary networks. But the selection process for which games FOX might carry is vastly different at the college and NFL levels.
Mike Mulvihill, FOX Sports’ president of insights and analytics, explained on a recent podcast interview with Joel Klatt how the NFL holds more command over its schedule and what networks will air which games than various college conferences that FOX partners with. And when it comes to NFL games, the best the network can do is lobby and hope for the best.
“So the NFL process is all about lobbying and conversation and hopefully it reflects the strength of the relationship we have with the league, they’re our most important partner,” Mulvihill said. “Whereas the college football process is just a draft. There’s not that much lobbying involved and it really is more about just strategizing around your draft picks and trying to come up with the smartest way to allocate those resources that you can.”
For FOX, the big games to focus on are Big Ten conference games, which they broadcast along with NBC and CBS, plus big non-conference matchups where FOX then is also jockeying with ESPN. The timeline follows one similar to getting the NFL schedule, but concludes with the networks effectively drafting games from the available pool, usually some time in May. From there, with their games locked in, the networks can publicize and preview what contests they’ll have on their air.
The NFL, on the other hand, rules more via fiat when it comes to which games go to what network.
“So the NFL process is completely controlled by the NFL. They author the schedule,” Mulvihill said. “And even with the exorbitant rights fees that we and other networks pay, we don’t literally have a contractual right to choose any of our games. What we can do is lobby the league for games that we want. We put together a wish list of games that we would like to have, that we hope to have. Every other network does the same thing. I’m sure those lists are very similar at least at the very top end, right. And we’re just engaged in a constant conversation throughout the year about what worked last year, what could’ve worked better, what would we like to do differently? How do we feel these games could be allocated so all the partners are being treated fairly? We want to lobby for our own interests, but we also have to maintain some recognition that everybody else is paying billions of dollars, too, and everybody has to be treated fairly.”
This year, one of the biggest gets for FOX on the NFL side is a rematch of the Super Bowl, when the Kansas City Chiefs play the San Francisco 49ers in Week 7. But other high-profile matchups were handed off to the likes of CBS, NBC or even ESPN for Monday Night Football.
And the reality that all the networks are going to get a piece of the pie creates some baseline collegiality, and a recognizance that rising tides will beneficial to all involved in airing NFL and college football games.
“I think we do root for each other’s success,” Mulvihill said. “We want to be number one, we want to have the best ratings story of any network, but we want the entire marketplace to do well, too. Our fortunes are very much intertwined and so if CBS and NBC are having success with the Big Ten, that probably means we’re having success with the Big Ten. If CBS and NBC are having success on NFL Sundays, then we’re probably having success, too. So it’s competitive but it’s not zero sum.”
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