Survey: College Football Fan TV Favorites

It’s almost impossible these days to talk about college football without talking about the impact of television.

From conference realignment to massive TV deals to new broadcasters, it has become an ingrained factor in the future of the sport, and everyone has an opinion. As part of our midseason look at the 2023 season, we put together the second annual college football TV survey for readers last week. More than 3,100 of you responded on topics from broadcasters, ESPN vs. Fox, and more. Here are the results.

What network do you prefer for national game broadcasts?

1. ESPN/ABC: 57.7 percent
2. CBS: 20.3 percent
3. Fox/FS1: 18.3 percent
4. NBC: 3.7 percent

ESPN remains at the top, with a share almost exactly equal to last year’s results, followed by CBS, Fox (with the same percentage as last year) and NBC. The choice of NBC for this question is new this year, adding a weekly Big Ten prime-time game to its Notre Dame games, and its percentage only cut into CBS’ share from our readers.

Fowler and Herbstreit

What is your favorite broadcast announcer team?

1. Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit (ABC): 38.3 percent
2. Gus Johnson and Joel Klatt (Fox): 21.9 percent
3. Brad Nessler and Gary Danielson (CBS): 12.1 percent
4. Sean McDonough and Greg McElroy (ESPN): 10.2 percent
5. Bob Wischusen and Robert Griffin III (ESPN): 3.1 percent
6. Noah Eagle and Todd Blackledge (NBC): 3 percent
7. Joe Tessitore and Jesse Palmer (ESPN): 2.9 percent
8. Jason Benetti and Brock Huard (Fox): 2.7 percent
9. Tim Brando and Spencer Tillman (Fox): 1.5 percent
10. Mark Jones and Louis Riddick (ESPN): 1.1 percent
11. Tom Hart and Jordan Rodgers (SEC): 1 percent
12. All others: Less than 1 percent

The top four results here are the same as last year, with ABC’s top team, followed by Fox’s top team, followed by CBS’ top team, followed by Sean McDonough and his partner (Greg McElroy this year, Todd Blackledge last year). I guess that means the networks know what they’re doing with their talent.

(The Athletic)