Why OU-Texas is a bigger get for SEC than USC-UCLA for the Big Ten
Berry Tramel, Oklahoman
Tue, August 2, 2022 at 12:34 PM·19 min read
Southeastern Conference commissioner Greg Sankey made an off-hand, but on-point, comment the other day that his league got the better deal of the blockbuster conference realignments of the last two summers.
OU and Texas pledged to the SEC in July 2021. Southern Cal and UCLA pledged to the Big Ten in June 2022.
Both will bring new riches to the most affluent conferences in collegiate athletics.
Both will bring high-performing athletic departments.
Both will bring high-profile football brands. But some are more high-profile than others. Which is what Sankey really meant.
Here’s the best way to look at it. USC and Texas are quite similar. Great tradition, iconic brands, stretches of dominant football. But currently in a protracted slump.
Since the 2010s arrived, Texas has one top-10 finish (No. 9 in 2018), four top-25 seasons and is on its fourth coach, offensive whiz Steve Sarkisian.
In the same 12-year span, USC has two top-10 finishes (No. 3 in 2016 and No. 6 in in 2011), six top-25 seasons and, not counting interims, is on its fourth coach, offensive whiz Lincoln Riley.
The Longhorns and Trojans both were mostly great in the decade of 2000-09, mostly so-so in the decades of the 1980s and 1990s, and mostly-great in the decades of the 1960s and 1970s.
Each sit in one of the nation’s most fertile recruiting grounds, with USC in a massive market and Texas in a big market with tons of alumni in nearby other mega markets.
Texas-USC seems a wash. So the SEC-Big Ten spitting contest comes down to OU and UCLA, which is no comparison.
The mediocre stretches of OU football history are about the same as the best stretches of UCLA football history.
But everyone knows that. Here’s the information that matters to the bean counters who are running college football.
In the last four seasons, 42 OU regular-season games have been available to either ESPN or Fox. Those corporations have put the Sooners on their over-air channel, ABC or Fox, 39 times.
Only three times have the Sooners been sent to cable – Kansas in 2021 and 2020, West Virginia in 2018.
By comparison, USC has been on cable 21 times and on the big networks 21 times. Some of that is the difference in success, but still. The Big 12 and Pac-12 have the same television partners, ESPN and Fox, so the decision-makers on the Sooners and Trojans are the same.
In the last five years, OU has appeared on 17 prime-time, non-cable games, drawing an average of 4.13 million viewers. Those games range from Ohio State to Kansas. USC has appeared on 14 such games, with an average of 3.37 million viewers.
Texas has been on just seven non-cable, prime-time games during that span but averaged 4.23 million viewers. So the Longhorns remain a big draw. Ironically, two of those games were against USC, which drew an average of 3.95 million viewers. Two of those Texas games were against OSU, which drew an average of 3.57 million viewers.
On mid-day, non-cable games, OU has averaged 2.54 million viewers, USC 2.06.
Those differences aren’t terribly one-sided, considering the Sooners’ success and the Trojans’ lack of it.
But UCLA has drawn only a fraction of such number. However, USC and UCLA do offer the Big Ten a late-night television window. The Pac-12 kickoffs at 9:30 p.m. or 10 p.m. Central time draw decent viewing numbers, and if the Trojans or Bruins are playing Wisconsin or Michigan State instead of Oregon State or Arizona, those numbers will rise dramatically.
In the last five years, USC has averaged 1.33 million viewers for its 16 late-night games. UCLA has averaged just 0.74 million viewers for its 15 late-night games. Part of that is USC has had more games on ESPN; UCLA has played seven late-night games on Fox Sports1, which generally draws dramatically fewer viewers than ESPN or ESPN2. USC has played just four late-night games on FS1.
Still, the SEC is glad to have OU and Texas, even if they are Central Time Zone schools. The West Coast addresses of USC and UCLA create all kinds of Big Ten scheduling problems for other sports, which have been well-documented.
It would not be surprising to see the Big Ten add more West Coast schools, even if they don’t add value to the television contracts, just to make scheduling a little more palpable.
Away from football, USC and UCLA clearly raise the Big Ten’s brand.
UCLA has won 119 NCAA championships, plus the 1954 football title. Forty of those championships have came in the 2000s, so it’s not like the Bruins are on some kind of slide.
USC has won 119 national titles, counting eight football championships in the poll era. Thirty-seven NCAA titles have come in the 2000s.
That kind of success trumps the Sooners and Longhorns.
Texas has 58 national titles, including 40 in the 2000s. OU has 41 national titles, including 22 in the 2000s.
So all are high-caliber athletic programs, with USC and UCLA excelling at a higher rate.
But OU and Texas football outrank USC and UCLA by a significant margin. Both on the field and in the television ratings, the scoreboard that matters most.
Greg Sankey was right.
