Yes Week 1 was a great week. No argument.
I can’t say networks are making more money though. I can’t find average CFB viewership over a season by year (let me know if anyone can). So I picked 2008 and 2009, prior to realignment.
- 2008: CFB games averaged 2.8M viewers per game
- 2009: 3.0M viewers per game
- 2024 (which got all sorts of PR for how great ratings were): 1.9M viewers per game
Now, as I mentioned, I don’t think realignment is the primary factor for that, but we definitely cannot say it’s helping. Numbers indicate it may be hurting. It’s not cope. If viewership was trending up, I’d agree with you. Let’s see how 2025’s numbers with their new methodology shakes out.