The college football game between no.15 ranked TCU and storied program Clemson will not be televised on Saturday. ESPN has rights to the game and has decided to put it on ESPN360, an online-only medium to view the game. Not good for sports betting. If you have a television and not a computer, among the games ESPN is offering Saturday on its roster of networks are Indiana at No. 23 Michigan, Michigan State at Wisconsin, Pittsburgh at N.C. State, Notre Dame at Purdue and Texas Tech at No. 17 Houston. These networks include ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU.
Obviously and not respectably, ESPN is also not allowing local networks to broadcast the game, thank god we can watch it on the internet though. Greenville online says "Conspiracy theorists suggest that ESPN’s monster agreement with the Southeastern Conference squeezes out some games. Five SEC games are scheduled for TV somewhere, including Ball State-Auburn and Vanderbilt-Rice, but ESPN has other agreements, including one with the Big Ten."
I realize that this is probably a stretch, but I feel like this is why I hate or, more mildly, find it difficult to be fully entrenched in college football. I know other sports (NFL with NFL expert picks, NBA, etc) are similar, but in the case of college football it seems major networks, contracts, companies, advertisement firms, and the big bucks dictate more significantly what is viewed and enjoyed by the public without regulation. I know there are contracts between conferences and networks, and so on, but why does this effect the ability for a local network to broadcast local games.
I enjoy ESPN as much as the next person, but the self-proclaimed "world-wide leader in sports" is becoming too large, too dominant and almost a pseudo-monopoly. According to the cbsspsorts online community "TCU is a team that is currently ranked in the top 15 in the nation and if for no other reason this game should be on TV somewhere."
I conclude by saying, screw you Norte Dame.
