The Colorado Buffaloes-Kansas State Wildcats clash is set to break the TV ratings records. Despite being a late kickoff, viewers will tune in to watch both 4-1 teams battle it out. Expectedly, the reason for the same is coach Deion Sanders, who continues to be in the limelight.
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Despite the Buffs not being the blue blood of college football, Coach Prime has remained the face of CFB. Since Nick Saban’s retirement and Jim Harbaugh’s move to NFL, this X factor has increased even more as he becomes part of many brand deals and center face for Colorado.
The team has been racking up viewership since last season, with both ESPN and Fox benefitting from it multiple times. Last season, they crossed the 5 million viewership mark multiple times, with the game against Oregon reaching 10 million views.
However, the team’s losses after that left a dent on this viewership. As reported by First and Pen, the Buffs are hovering around 4.56 million viewers per outing—a substantial decrease from last season’s 9.35 million. Worry not though, there is Coach Prime to rescue.
Deion’s impact on the University of Colorado and the area of Boulder has been evident. For the team that has struggled and failed to sell out since 1996, Buffaloes have sold out the season tickets for 2nd straight season. The football program made $113 million through six home games through media rights.
This indicates that people are still buzzing about Colorado. There are constant internet searches about Buffs’ games and if they accumulate wins, the popularity will increase multiple times.
Moreover, Deion Sanders’ media presence only fuels this attention. He’s frequently invited to speak on national shows like College Gameday and popular podcasts, which feature deep analysis of the game.
Meanwhile, the reason behind the drop in the viewership this season might also be the result of late kickoffs of Colorado’s games, which has been acknowledged by Deion Sanders as well.
Deion Sanders calls out TV Networks for broadcasting their games at primetime
Colorado Buffaloes are attracting a lot of eyeballs this week for their game against the Wildcats. Thus, obviously, the TV executives placed their games in primetime, with fixture kicking off at 10:15 p.m. ET.
The time slot is expected to draw a lot of viewers and generate significant ad revenue, but Coach Prime wasn’t happy about it. He openly questioned the timing as he threw shade at the networks.
Per Fox News, Deion questioned the timings and wondered who would put them in such a timeslot. Upon learning that it was the doing of TV networks, he called them out for thinking about ratings, calling it stupid to make them play at a time when the rest of the country would be sound asleep.
“Who has the power to sit up there and say ‘Yeah, I’m going to make them play at 8:15. How stupid is that? It’s not smart for a television executive to say we’re going to put this game on at this time because you’re thinking about eyeballs. You’re thinking about selling merchandise on the commercials. Why would you do it at that time when half of America is asleep.”
The Buffs might not make the playoffs or even the National Championships. However, as long as Deion is there, they will benefit both on and off the field, thanks to his business acumen.
