One of the big reasons the Western Athletic Conference didn't get a team in the bowl alliance was television ratings. Or so we were told.
The fact is that the WAC doesn't have a lot of television sets to offer. And that lack of TV sets translates into low ratings. Or so we were told.But one can't help but wonder how the officials at the Fiesta, Orange and Sugar Bowls could explain what happened on Saturday.
According to ABC, the national overnight ratings for their trio of league championship games went like this:
- Big 12 (Texas vs. Nebraska): 6.2
- Southeastern Conference (Florida vs. Alabama): 6.9
- WAC (BYU vs. Wyoming): 7.2
(Each national rating point represents 995,000 homes.)
Mind you, these are not local numbers - these are national overnights from a majority of the nation. And the overnight ratings aren't from rural markets, they're from the urban areas that networks and advertisers are most concerned with.
(The local numbers for the BYU game certainly didn't hurt. The game averaged an amazing 31 rating and 59 share on KTVX-Ch. 4. But, on the other hand, only about two-thirds of one percent of the nation's TV-equipped households are in the Salt Lake TV market, so it didn't help that much.)
The bottom line is that the WAC beat both the SEC and the Big 12. The WAC, which was granted no berths in the alliance, beat the Big 12, which received two of the six berths, by a full rating point.
Which translates into the Big 12 getting more than $16 million for lower ratings.
Apparently, hotel rooms and alcohol sales are the determining factor for alliance bowl bids, not TV ratings - or poll rankings. Let's hear the committee try to explain that.
WHAT A DUMP: Here's one of those mysteries of television - on TV, Las Vegas' Sam Boyd Stadium looked like a decent facility.
Reality, however, is much different than video. In person, the place is a dump. The WAC, which was trying to put its best foot forward for a national television audience, is lucky that ABC didn't capture Sam Boyd in all its glory - complete with overcrowding, inadequate and filthy restroom facilities, lousy security, and general crumminess.
HOW'S THAT? For a while there, ABC announcer Mark Jones best (or is that worst) mispronunciation of the day was when he called BYU receiver Itula Mili "Itili Muli."
Mispronouncing Itula Mili is one thing, but calling Alan Boardman "Broadman" was really weak.
When Jones referred to BYU as "BY-Lou," however, you had to start to wonder how he got the job.