Posts tagged with "college athletics"

CFP Championship’s High Viewership

The 2022 College Football Playoff National Championship was one for the record books, as Georgia secured its first national title since 1980. The viewership of ESPN’s MegaCast presentation reflected the excitement surrounding the Alabama-Georgia showdown, with 22.6 million viewers tuning in across ESPN networks.

The Dawgs‘ thrilling 33-18 victory over the SEC Champion Crimson Tide was up 19 percent from last year’s national championship contest between Alabama and Ohio State. The matchup peaked with 25.4 million viewers.

The Circle City Showdown is the top event on cable since the 2020 LSU/Clemson national championship game and the most-viewed non-NFL sporting event during that span on any network. In fact, the top five non-NFL sports events during that time have been CFP Semifinal and Championship games.

The main ESPN telecast of Monday night’s showcase is the second-most-viewed non-NFL telecast (sports or non-sports) on a single network since February 2020. ESPN’s presentation of the action from Indianapolis is the most-watched TWDC telecast since the 2021 NFL Wild Card Game.

The share of TV viewers tuned in to this year’s CFP National Championship on ESPN networks was the best on record in the CFP era. 29 percent of people and 38 percent of adults 18-49 watching television Monday night were tuned in to the CFP National Championship.

Streaming Creates MegaCast Magic

Across all ESPN3/ESPN App exclusive feeds, streaming minutes were up 33 percent over 2020. Outside of the linear telecasts, Alabama’s Hometown Radio MegaCast was the most-streamed feed for both uniques and minutes. The Alabama and Georgia Hometown Radio MegaCast viewing options saw substantial year-over-year gains across AMA (up 75 percent), uniques (up 30 percent), minutes (up 85 percent), starts (up 20 percent), and minutes/viewer (up 35 percent).

Putting A Bow on Bowl Season

Bowl Season delivered in the 2021-22 season, with 29 of 31 non-NY6 bowls this season surpassing one million viewers. Eighteen bowls drew more than two million viewers and nine topped three million. The 31 non-NY6 bowl games registered 2.6 million viewers across ESPN networks, up 12 percent year-over-year. On ESPN, bowl games recorded 2.5 million viewers per game, up 24 percent from 2020 and slightly up from 2019. Of the 27 bowls with a viewership comparison to 2019, 10 had their best audience since at least 2017 and seven had their best since at least 2015.

Across the regular season and postseason, ESPN networks delivered the four most-viewed games of the 2021-22 season (CFP National Championship, both CFP Semifinals, and The Rose Bowl Game) and 59 of the top 100 games overall. ESPN networks were responsible for 62 percent of live game college football minutes viewed this season across all nationally measured linear networks.

NY Six’s High Viewership Record

The 2021 New Year’s Six delivered viewership records and multi-year audience highs from Dec. 30 – Jan. 1. This year’s New Year’s Six finished up double digits year-over-year, averaging 12.7 million viewers, and every bowl of the 2021 New Year’s Six surpassed 7.5 million viewers for just the third time of the CFP era. The non-Semifinal New Year’s Six bowls averaged nearly 11 million viewers, ranking third out of the eight years of the CFP.

Across both of ESPN’s MegaCast presentations, the College Football Playoff Semifinals averaged 16.9 million viewers, on par with 2015’s Year 2, the last time the semifinals were on a weekday New Year’s Eve. The share of TV viewers tuned in to this year’s CFP Semifinals on ESPN networks (25.9) was the best since Year 1 (2014) of the CFP era.

The College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Capital One Orange Bowl between Georgia and Michigan netted 17.2 million viewers, peaking with 20.5 million viewers early in the action. The late Semifinal is the most-viewed non-NFL sporting event across any network and top telecast across ABC and ESPN networks since last year’s CFP National Championship game. The top four non-NFL sporting events of 2021 were CFP Semifinal and National Championship games.

The College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic between Cincinnati and Alabama scored 16.6 million viewers, a 6% gain from Year 2’s early Semifinal (2015 Oklahoma/Clemson). Despite the scoring margin, the audience peaked at 18.2 million viewers late in the game.

Rest of New Year’s Six Notches Ratings Records

The Rose Bowl Game Presented by Capital One Venture X registered 16.6 million viewers, the second-most-viewed non-Semifinal New Year’s Six bowl game of the CFP era (2019 Washington/Ohio State, 16.9 million viewers). The audience tuning in to No. 11 Utah and No. 6 Ohio State peaked at 19.7 million viewers over the game’s closing minutes.

The CFP Semifinals and the Rose Bowl Game are the top three games of the college football season.

Additional New Year’s Six Highlights

  • The Allstate Sugar Bowl between No. 7 Baylor and No. 8 Ole Miss averaged 9.8 million viewers, peaking early in the action with 13.6 million viewers.
  • The PlayStation Fiesta Bowl between No. 9 Oklahoma State and No. 5 Notre Dame registered 8.0 million viewers, up nearly 20 percent from the 2020 Fiesta Bowl. The audience peaked with 14.3 million viewers in the final moments.
  • The Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl recorded 7.6 million viewers, up more than 25 percent from the past two standalone weekday primetime games (31% – 2020 Cotton Bowl; 26% – 2019 Orange Bowl). The action from Atlanta peaked with 8.7 million viewers in the final 10 minutes of play between Pittsburgh and Michigan State.
  • The 2021 New Year’s Six finished on par with the 2019 season.

Additional Holiday Week Highlights

  • The TransPerfect Music City Bowl recorded 5.6 million viewers, the most-viewed non-New Year’s Six Bowl this season, and the third-most-viewed non-New Year’s Six bowl game in the past six seasons. The matchup between Tennessee and Purdue was the most-watched Music City Bowl since 2010, and the audience peaked with 8.9 million viewers in the final 15 minutes.
  • The SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl featuring Wisconsin and Arizona State registered 3.7 million viewers, up from the last two Las Vegas Bowls that both aired on ABC
  • The Duke’s Mayo Bowl, highlighted by the clash of the Carolinas and a victory mayo bath, netted 2.6 million viewers to start the morning on Thursday, Dec. 30.

Across Thursday’s four bowl games, ESPN averaged 4.9 million viewers.

Transgender Sports illustration by Heather Skovlund for 360 Magazine

NCAA LGBTQ OneTeam

NCAA LGBTQ OneTeam facilitators publish open letter condemning anti-transgender legislation

The NCAA LGBTQ OneTeam, a group of NCAA- trained facilitators at colleges across the country published an open letter condemning the actions taken by 28 states across the country to introduce, pass, and sign anti-transgender legislation. 2021 has been a record year for anti-transgender legislation, with 93 anti-transgender bills introduced across the country, the vast majority of which attempt to ban transgender women and girls’ participation in girls’ sports or ban transgender youth from accessing medically necessary, gender-affirming health care.

Laws have been signed banning transgender women and girls’ participation in girls’ sports in Mississippi, Tennessee, and Arkansas, with Executive Orders being signed to the same effect in South Dakota.  Legislators across the country have failed to provide examples of issues in their states to attempt to justify these attacks, laying bare the reality that these are attacks on transgender youth that are fueled by discrimination and not supported by fact.  Collegiate and professional sports organizations have had trans-inclusive policies for years without incident, and there is no reason any state would need a ban on transgender participation in sports.

The NCAA LGBTQ OneTeam open letter reads as follows:

An Open Letter in Support of Transgender Student-Athletes

We, the undersigned, are facilitators of the National Collegiate Athletics Association’s (NCAA)Division III LGBTQ OneTeam Program, which is a national training program that fosters LGBTQ+ inclusion in NCAA Division III athletics, and members of the NCAA’s Division III LGBTQ Working Group. Given the recent rise in legislation that is focused on excluding transgender people from athletics across the country, we have decided to use our collective voice to condemn such actions. We call on elected officials across the country to immediately halt legislation that is aimed at excluding transgender youth and young adults from equal and equitable participation in sport.

In our role with the NCAA’s LGBTQ OneTeam Program, we train coaches, athletics administrators, and student-athletes across the whole of Division III athletics. This program is aimed at helping to understand the importance of LGBTQ inclusion in college athletics, while also identifying strategies and best practices for institutions and conferences to better ensure that all student-athletes–regardless of their sexuality, gender identity, and/or gender expression–can participate in an inclusive and safe athletic climate. We cannot, in good conscience, fail to speak out at this critical moment.

In the past several weeks, actions–which are aimed at excluding transgender youth and young adults from equal and equitable participation in sport–have been taken by elected officials inseveral states, including Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia. At the time of this writing, the Governors ofArkansas,Idaho,Mississippi, andTennessee have already signed such dangerous legislation into law. 

Legislation aimed at categorically banning transgender people–and particularly transgender girls and women–from sport is inherently discriminatory. Such legislation is often “informed” by hate and misinformation rather than science, and it is most certainly “informed” byfear instead of fact. Conversely, trans-inclusive policies, such as those established by theNCAA and theInternational Olympic Committee (IOC), are better informed by the current scientific evidence, and this evidence shows that transgender women do not have an inherent competitive advantage over cisgender women.

Furthermore, discriminatory legislation that is aimed at excluding transgender people from sport has a number ofserious consequences for transgender students. Such legislation dehumanizes transgender students, refuses them the opportunity to participate equally and equitably in athletics, undermines their support in educational settings, damages their mental health, and ultimately harms these students, while also contributing to an exclusionary athletic environment and a more hostile school climate for all students.

We immediately call for 1) an end to such legislation in all states and 2) a repeal of such laws in Arkansas, Idaho, Mississippi, and Tennessee. And finally, we also encourage our legislators to better consider theNCAA best practices and importance of an inclusive athletic environment for all student-athletes.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

Timothy R. Bussey, Ph.D.

Pronouns: they/them

Associate Director, Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion | Kenyon College

Kayla Hayes, M.Ed.

Pronouns: she/her

Associate Head Women’s Basketball Coach Dept. of Athletics | Denison University

Kyrstin Krist, Ph.D.

Pronouns: she/her

Associate Professor of Kinesiology and Faculty Athletic Representative | Methodist University

Melynda Link, M.B.A.

Pronouns: she/her

Director of Athletic Facilities & Game Day Operations, Dept. of Athletics | Haverford College

Kathleen M. Murray

Pronouns: she/her

President, Office of the President | Whitman College

Jess Duff

Pronouns: she/her

Assistant Athletic Director for Student Athlete Services & Internal Operations Dept. of Athletics | Bates College

Jessica Weiss

Pronouns: she/her

Head Field Hockey Coach, Dept. of Athletics | Randolph-Macon College

Jennifer Dubow

Pronouns: she/her

Executive Director | Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC)

Maura Johnston

Pronouns: she/her

Head Field Hockey Coach, Dept. of Athletics | Fairleigh Dickinson University

Scott McGuiness

Pronouns: no pronouns

Director of Athletics, Dept. of Athletics | Washington & Jefferson College

Danielle Lynch, M.S.Ed.

Pronouns: she/her

Senior Woman Administrator and Head Track and Field/Cross Country Coach Athletic Department | Penn State University – Harrisburg

Melissa Walton

Pronouns: she/her

Senior Associate Athletic Director Athletic Department | Albion College

Amy Reed

Pronouns: she/her

Senior Woman Administrator and Head Women’s Basketball Coach Dept. of Athletics | Rochester Institute of Technology

Donna M. Ledwin

Pronouns: she/her

Commissioner | Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC)

Donnesha Blake, Ph.D.

Pronouns: she/her

Director of Diversity and Inclusion Dept. of Student Affairs | Alma College

Tim Wilson

Pronouns: he/him

Assistant Track and Field Coach, Dept. of Athletics | Stevens Institute of Technology

Anne Kietzman

Pronouns: she/her

Head Field Hockey Coach, Dept. of Athletics | Washington College

Ashley Crossway, D.A.T., A.T.C.

Pronouns: she/her

Assistant Professor and Coordinator of Clinical Education Dept. of Kinesiology | SUNY Cortland

Melissa Brooks

Pronouns: she/her

Head Women’s Basketball Coach Athletic Department | Fairleigh Dickinson University – Florham 

Tiffany Thompson

Pronouns: she/her

Associate Director of Gender and Sexuality Initiatives, Intercultural Center | Swarthmore College

Kirsten Clark

Pronouns: she/her

Associate Athletic Director, Dept. of Athletics and Recreation | Clark University

Kate Levin

Pronouns: she/her

Assistant Sports Information Director Dept. of Athletics | Ramapo College

Cori Collinsworth

Pronouns: she/her

Head Softball Coach, Athletic Department | Hanover College

Bethany Dannelly

Pronouns: she/her

Associate Director of Athletics, Dept. of Physical Education and Athletics | Washington and Lee University

Jennifer Childress-White, M.Ed.

Pronouns: she/her

Assistant Athletic Director and University Title IX Coordinator Dept. of Athletics | Pacific Lutheran University

Elise Fitzsimmons, M.S., A.T.C.

Pronouns: she/her

Assistant Athletic Trainer, Dept. of Athletics| SUNY Oswego 

Amanda Walker

Pronouns: she/her

Athletic Program Coordinator Athletics Department | Lake Forest College

Danielle O’Leary

Pronouns: she/her

Senior Woman Administrator and Head Women’s Lacrosse Coach Athletics Department | Mount Aloysius College

Crystal Lanning

Pronouns: she/her

Director of Athletics, Dept. of Athletics | University of Wisconsin – River Falls

Neil Virtue

Pronouns: he/him

Assistant Director of Athletics and Head Swimming Coach | Dept. of Athletics, P.E., and Recreation Mills College

Jose’ Rodriguez, M.Ed.

Pronouns: he/him

Chief Diversity Officer, Office of University Diversity Initiatives | Cabrini University

Karen Moberg, M.Ed., L.A.T., A.T.C.

Pronouns: she/her

Associate Athletic Trainer, Athletic Department | Macalester College

Yishka Chin

Pronouns: she/her

Coordinator for Tutoring Services and Trailblazer Program Director, Dept. of Student Success | Notre Dame of Maryland University

Renee Bostic

Pronouns: she/her

Director of Athletics & Wellness Dept. of Athletics & Wellness | Notre Dame of Maryland University

Megan Cullinane

Pronouns: she/her

Assistant Athletic Director and Deputy Title IX Coordinator for Athletics Dept. of Athletics and Recreation | University of Massachusetts – Boston

Maureen Harty

Pronouns: she/her

Executive Director | College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW)

Stephanie Dutton

Pronouns: she/her

Commissioner | North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC)

Sharia Marcus-Carter

Pronouns: she/her

Senior Woman Administrator and Director of Compliance, Athletics Department | Brooklyn College