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The UCF Knights’ season opener aired on Fox Sports 1, as Fox is part of the Big 12 TV package along with ESPN this year. But do not get too excited about games that air on FS1.
According to Sportsmediawatch.com , UCF’s 56-6 blowout win over Kent State averaged 317,000 viewers on FS1. That’s down 21% from the Central Michigan-Oklahoma State game that took place in the same time slot last year (402,000).
It was the first time that a Knights football telecast aired on Fox Sports 1 since September 23, 2017, at Maryland, which drew 247,000 viewers.
In comparison to previous season openers, two years ago, the UCF season opener against Boise State drew 841,000 viewers on ESPN. In 2018, the UCF opener at UConn drew 444,000 viewers on ESPNU
One of the issues is competition. ESPN aired Florida-Utah which drew a big number (3.2 million) despite Spectrum pulling the feed in central Florida due to a carriage dispute with ESPN’s parent company, Disney.
@GatorsFB at @Utah_Football registered 3.2M viewers on ESPN Thursday night
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) September 1, 2023
Most-watched Thursday opener on ESPN since '17
3rd most-watched Thursday opener in the past 10 yrs
Peaked at 3.8M viewers (8:45-9p ET) pic.twitter.com/EBYfIOoXAM
The Knights are back on FS1 this Saturday night at Boise State at 7 p.m. It will go up against the big Texas-Alabama game on ESPN, Oregon at Texas Tech on Fox, and UCLA at San Diego State, which will air CBS.
The production is also low-key. Eric Collins and Devin Gardner will once again be broadcasting the game from a studio as they did for the Kent State game. Fox does the majority of its FS1 telecasts remotely.
So, keep your expectations low for FS1 football telecasts this season as Fox does for production and promotional costs.
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