Inside the Big Ten TV Draft with Scott Dochterman
The Solid Verbal College Football
Audio is streamed directly from the publisher (podtrac.com) as published in their RSS feed. Play Podcasts does not host this file. Rights-holders can request removal through the copyright & takedown page.
Show Notes
In this college football podcast episode, we chat with The Athletic's Scott Dochterman about the little-known, high-stakes draft process by which Fox, CBS and NBC pick the Big Ten games that each will air this season. Learn about the insane preparation, strategy, negotiations, and decisions that shape our TV experience every fall. Plus, some insight into the Big Ten's playoff positioning strategy, why the conference is pushing for four automatic CFP bids, and more.
Check out Scott's reporting on the TV draft (https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6389813/2025/05/29/big-ten-football-tv-schedule-draft-fox-nbc-cbs/) and the Big Ten's push for automatic bids (https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6398844/2025/06/03/big-ten-cfp-automatic-bids/)
Timestamps:
00:00 - Introduction
04:20 - Scott Dochterman from The Athletic explains the TV game draft
11:30 - Network strategies: Fox vs CBS vs NBC
18:00 - Surprising discoveries while reporting the story
23:51 - The "Big Noon Saturday" product
27:12 - Lessons learned from previous scheduling mistakes
31:42 - Buyer's remorse over bad matchups
36:15 - TV draft crushes
38:25 - The sophisticated preparation process
42:13 - Is there corporate espionage?
44:45 - Big Ten's push for automatic CFP bids
52:05 - Closing thoughts
_____
A fan of our college football podcast? Leave us a rating and review, and don't forget to subscribe or follow so you don't miss any of our podcast episodes:
Apple Podcasts: https://play.solidverbal.com/apple-podcasts
Spotify: https://play.solidverbal.com/spotify
Amazon Music: https://play.solidverbal.com/amazon-music
Overcast: https://play.solidverbal.com/overcast
Pocket Casts: https://play.solidverbal.com/pocketcasts
Podcast Addict: https://play.solidverbal.com/podcast-addict
CastBox: https://play.solidverbal.com/castbox
Our college football show is also available on YouTube. Subscribe to the channel at: https://www.youtube.com/@solidverbal
Learn more about the show on our website: https://www.solidverbal.com/about
Want to get in touch? Give us a holler on Twitter: @solidverbal, @tyhildenbrandt, @danrubenstein, on Instagram, or on Facebook. You can also find our college football podcast out on TikTok and Threads. Stay up to date with our free weekly college football newsletter: https://quickslants.solidverbal.com/subscribe.
College football has been our passion since we started The Solid Verbal College Football Podcast back in 2008. We don't just love college football, we live it!
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Support the show!: https://www.patreon.com/solidverbal
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.