Mike Valenti isn’t a fan of the new Big Ten media rights deal, which doesn’t officially go into effect until July 1.
Monday on 97.1 The Ticket in Detroit, the Michigan State alum offered his reaction to the Big Ten’s recent announcement that the Spartans’ game against Ohio State in November would be in primetime on NBC.
Valenti said he didn’t think football fans tuning in on November 11 would be particularly interested in a potential Ohio State blowout win.
“America is gonna be punished by having to watch a series where MSU has been outscored like 200-7, in primetime,” he said. “Who does that help? Who’s that good for?”
Valenti also took issue with the fact that Penn State’s annual Beaver Stadium whiteout game would be taking place against Iowa and air on CBS in primetime on September 23. Typically the whiteout game is reserved for either games against the Nittany Lions’ significant rivals or top ten opponents.
Mike felt like FOX having the priority selection of national games for the Big Ten doesn’t lend a hand to the other networks with later windows or to the fans.
“The reality is the money can come in, and the schools can pocket it, and they can pay their players and do whatever they want. It’s making for bad television,” he said. “I don’t want to watch Penn State/Iowa at 8 o’clock at night. That’s got noon written all over it. MSU/Ohio State it should be on Jefferson Pilot 11 a.m. kick like it’s 1994.”
As the primary rights holder for the conference, FOX will always get first pick of games on the Big Ten slate. The network prioritizes the earliest window of each college football Saturday with its Big Noon Saturday package. Those early kickoffs are not always popular with fans. In fact, it was cited amongst the reasons that Oklahoma is leaving the Big 12 for the SEC.
The full TV schedule for the 2023 season hasn’t been released. Last year the conference announced early-season TV schedules around Memorial Day.
