NC State football and television numbers in 2021

With a lot of talk about conference realignment and what brands are most attractive to television partners, it is worth taking a look at what kind of draw NC State football proved to be last season. The results are mixed.

The positives: NC State had two games that were among the most-viewed not only in the ACC, but in their respective time slots for the regular season.

Some may guess that the NC State-Clemson game in September was the most-watched, but in actuality the Wolfpack’s thrilling win over North Carolina the day after Thanksgiving takes the prize at 2.681 million, according to numbers provided by SportsMediaWatch.com.

In a testament to how far the value of college basketball has dropped, the first Duke-UNC showdown in Chapel Hill drew 2.19 million viewers, and only two regular season games was more-watched than the NC State football win over the Heels. UNC-Duke in Mike Krzyzewski’s final game at Cameron Indoor Stadium had nearly four million tune in, and Duke-Gonzaga, which had the UNC-NC State football game lead-in and finished with 2.79 million average viewers, just over 100,000 more than the gridiron contest.

The NC State-UNC contest was also the most-viewed college football game on an ESPN network for Friday night. The closest competitor was the North Carolina-Virginia Tech contest on the Friday prior to Labor Day in the season opener for both squads. That telecast on ESPN had 2.579 viewers. The only other Friday night game on the ESPN networks that drew more than two million was Clemson-Syracuse (2.115 million).

The second NC State football classic at Carter-Finley Stadium last fall was the double-overtime victory over Clemson, which was a 3:30 Saturday game on ESPN. That telecast averaged 2.185 million, although it reached a peak of 4.5 million in overtime. That game edged Pittsburgh’s home win over Clemson for the most-watched game in that time slot all season for ESPN. Interestingly, the top four all featured Clemson.

The only other two times that NC State was on the ESPN network was for primetime games on ESPN2, both games on the road. About 756,000 watched the Pack fall at Mississippi State, and 675,000 viewed the setback at Miami.

Among 10 games in that timeslot on ESPN2 during the regular season, those were the fourth and sixth, respectively, most-viewed games. The only game to draw more than a million was Kentucky-Tennessee, which was by a considerable margin the most-watched in that time slot on ESPN2 at 1.478 million.

The takeaway? NC State football is an intriguing enough option to hold its own, particularly true when paired in a rivalry or marquee showdown that unfold in exciting fashion.

Overall, the TV numbers also highlight some of the problems the ACC faces. Only three games involving league teams went over four million average viewers, considered a bit of a watershed number in the industry. Each of those games were headlined by non-conference opponents — Notre Dame at Florida State in a Labor Day contest without competition, Clemson vs. Georgia in a marquee Week One showdown and Alabama vs. Miami in the season opener for both teams.

For some perspective, there were 39 other games that had at least four million viewers during the regular season. Fifteen of those were Big Ten conference games (contests involving two league teams) and 11 were SEC (12 if you count Texas-Oklahoma, both soon-to-be SEC squads).

The three Big 12 games to go over four million all involved Oklahoma, who is leaving the league soon, and the only Pac-12 conference game to crack the list was Oregon at Utah (4.82 million).

When adding in non-conference games, all but Army-Navy, the aforementioned Pac-12 showdown and Florida State-Notre Dame involved a current or future member of the SEC and Big Ten.

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