Sure, though honestly, the a big issue is:
- Akron or Marshall
- Western Michigan or Indiana
- Iowa, Nebraska, or Purdue
The NFL has dealt with similar issues, though certainly isn't struggling.
Obviously they'd have stronger demand if one of Zips/Broncos/Herd were replaced by one of Tide/Dawgs/Tigers but as
@847badgerfan said, back in the day they had no problem selling out the stadium for games against weak opposition.
But that brings me to my point about the NFL. It has definitely dealt with attendance issues and have had to respond with fancy stadiums and lots of perks. But despite attendance, there can be no argument that the NFL is struggling. Ohio Stadium is a million years old and seats over 100K, way more than both the Browns and the Bengals. While I agree that they should hold on to satisfying attendees over television viewers, I don't think that means the game is dying.
You might be right. From a revenue standpoint the fans actually in the stands don't bring anywhere near what the TV contracts bring and as long as they still command those eyeballs they'll be able to monetize that somehow regardless of whether people are watching OTA TV, Cable, Streaming, or whatever comes next. My issue is more of a long-term thing.
I think that with the expanded playoff, they'll still get ridiculous numbers of viewers for the playoff games themselves, the B1GCG, and a few really big games (Oregon, PSU, M) but outside of that, I think you'll see viewership numbers drop. Maybe I'm wrong but as I see it, Ohio State games for 2024 aren't "appointment viewing" the way they were before because individual games don't matter the way they did before.
Ohio State is one of the top two or three favorites to win the NC. Same was true in 1998 and they lost just one somewhat random mid-season game in which they were favored by double-digits. Back then EACH and every game was vitally important to tOSU's NC hopes because a single loss could and did quash their NC dreams. In the 2024 set-up, the Buckeyes have AT LEAST two mulligans so if I can't find time to watch the Indiana game and they lose, eh so what?
