Latest news with #MichaelMulvihill
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Texas nixed Ohio State's idea of playing Week 1 game on Sunday night
Ohio State was interested in opening the season against Texas in primetime. Fox Sports confirmed to Front Office Sports that there was discussion about moving the Buckeyes' Week 1 game against the Longhorns to Sunday night. The game is currently scheduled for Aug. 30 at noon ET and Ohio State pitched the idea of playing the game on Aug. 31. Per Fox Sports' Michael Mulvihill, the network was willing to push the game back but Texas wasn't too keen on the idea. From FOS: Mulvihill revealed that Ohio State A.D. Ross Bjork approached Fox with the idea. Since 2019, Fox has been putting its top Big Ten or Big 12 game of the week at noon — labeling the window Big Noon — in a strategy to maximize viewership as the games would no longer be competing with the highest-profile matchups on other networks, which traditionally air later in the day. In this case, it would have been possible to move the game to Sunday because the matchup will take place before the NFL season kicks off. Wednesday afternoon, Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte said he didn't want his team to have a short week ahead of the second game of the season. Chris Del Conte said they were reached out to about moving the game at Ohio State. 'Why would I want to move the game to Sunday night and have a short week?' He said he said no to Sunday game. 'I've got to go to church.' — Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) May 28, 2025 It's not news at this point to say there is a segment of Ohio State fans who are sick of their team playing at noon. Fox has relied heavily on the Buckeyes for its early window in recent years and Ohio State played seven of its 12 regular-season games at noon ET on the way to the national title in 2024. Backlash has even gotten political. A member of the Ohio general assembly authored a bill designed to prevent state schools in Ohio from playing at noon outside of rivalry games that have typically kicked off at that time like Ohio State's annual game vs. Michigan. The College Football Playoff rematch between the Buckeyes and Longhorns is the marquee game of Week 1 and is set to start a Saturday that also includes Alabama at Florida State and LSU at Clemson. Had the game been moved to Sunday, the game would be at the same time as Notre Dame's trip to Miami. That game, on ABC, is currently a standalone game after Virginia Tech and South Carolina also play on Sunday. The game is also the second straight year that Texas will play an early-season game against a Big Ten opponent at noon ET on Fox. A year ago, the Longhorns played at Michigan in Week 2 and took down the defending national champions 31-12.
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
TV Networks Confirm Cowboys As 'America's Team'
FRISCO - Through the years, several NFL teams have made a run at "America's Team." During their six-championship dynasty the New England Patriots tried to yank the prestigious moniker away from the Dallas Cowboys. The Kansas City Chiefs and even the Philadelphia Eagles have also given themselves the label. But despite not appearing in a Super Bowl in almost 30 years, the Cowboys remain the league's most popular and polarizing team. Just ask the TV networks. Advertisement Coming off a disastrous 7-10 season, they will play eight "spotlight" games in 2025. Among those - meaning they will be the only game at the time - six will come in prime time. The first of those comes in the NFL's Kickoff Game against the Eagles on Sept. 4. Only the Chiefs - who have played in the last three Super Bowls - have more primetime games with seven. The Cowboys' proliferation of night games - including four on Thursdays - leaves network like FOX with holes to fill. Dallas was once their go-to team for the most-watched 3:35 Sunday afternoon game. "Sometimes we've heard exasperation from fans that the Fox 3:25 game is always the Cowboys," FOX executive Michael Mulvihill said in an interview with The Athletic last week. "It's still gonna be the Cowboys sometimes this year, but you'll see a little bit more variety in terms of top teams in late ." Advertisement The Cowboys play only three Sunday 3:25 p.m. games on FOX. 'In other years, we've gone looking for five or six Dallas games at 3:25," Mulvihill said. "What we wanted for this year was more AFC, more Philly, but also more Detroit and a little more Washington to try to capitalize on the Jayden Daniels' story. I think we have a better mix of teams than we've had in the past." Related: Cowboys Preseason Schedule Released with 2 Rare Rivals Related: 'Fake Adam Schefter' Cowboys Signing of Micah Parsons Fools NFL
