In 2019, the Southern Conference, or the SoCon, announced a robust local broadcast (non-cable/satellite) TV lineup featuring 13 games. The slate guaranteed each team at least two appearances on a lineup of Nexstar-owned local stations. The announcement ushered in a new era of accessibility for the conference, where fans had little financial barriers to entry if they wanted to watch SoCon football.
This year, the SoCon continues its long-standing partnership with Nexstar but significantly scaled back the lineup of games. Nexstar will only air six SoCon games on their network of stations, including four non-conference games. These numbers continue a gradual decrease in the SoCon's slate of games on local TV, as seen below.
Southern Conference Announces 7 Game Nexstar Football Broadcast Schedule soconsports.com/fb/article/blt…
SoCon Games of the Week Aired on Nexstar Stations, 2019-2024
- 2019: 13 games, zero non-conference games
- Spring 2021: Nine games, zero non-conference games
- Fall 2021: Nine games, three non-conference
- 2022: Ten games, zero non-conference games
- 2023: Eight games, one non-conference game
(All data gathered from FBSchedules.com and Mattsarzsports.net)
With only six games on local TV and several more behind a paywall, the Southern Conference is making a huge mistake in limiting its accessibility to fans.
The Southern Conference will always play second-fiddle to the SEC and Sun Belt. However, they are the Southeast's preeminent FCS conference. The Nexstar Game of the Week series solidified this. Few FCS teams, much less conferences, have the accessibility to fans of the SoCon. Ideally, these games attract the attention of casual Southern football fans without access to ESPN+ as lead-ins to the 3:30 SEC game. With 2024's minuscule slate, the Southern Conference will be mostly "out of sight, out of mind" to Southern fans.
In addition to the slate featuring only six games, there will not be a Nexstar SoCon Game of the Week in October. After the Portland State-Chattanooga game on September 28, there will not be another Game of the Week until November 16. If the first four SoCon Games of the Week are engaging affairs, the league loses all momentum built from these games by this six-week hiatus.
Furthermore, the SoCon's 2024 local network TV slate lacks impactful games. Four games are non-conference affairs: one features a Pioneer League school that went 4-7 last season (Presbyterian), and another features a Division II school (North Greenville). This observation is not a slight at either Presbyterian or North Greenville. The opportunity to play on local network TV will substantially boost the regional profile of those schools. However, these opponents hardly showcase the SoCon's prowess and do little to attract local fans.
The two all-Southern Conference affairs look hardly impactful to the conference race. One game is a mismatch, featuring defending league champion Furman and East Tennessee State, who went 3-8 in 2023 on November 16. VMI, who went 5-6, hosts that same East Tennessee State squad for the Nexstar season finale the following week.
The diehard Southern football fans without cable or ESPN+ will watch these games, but these matchups do little to lure the casual fans. It makes little sense for the Southern Conference to put the best games in their conference slate behind ESPN+'s paywall. The lack of importance in the games with the best exposure is mind-boggling.
Finally, the Nexstar local TV slate will only feature seven of the Southern Conference's nine schools. This is a far cry from the parity of the 2019 deal featuring every Southern Conference school at least twice. What is the point of having games coined the "Game of the Week" if not every school appears?
The Southern Conference's deal with Nexstar can elevate the conference to become a mainstay in homes in the South, especially those without cable and streaming services. However, the conference is squandering this opportunity by allocating lackluster games to their network of Nexstar stations. The negligence towards the Nexstar deal will stunt the Southern Conference's growth and familiarity with fans. Overall, this year’s Nexstar slate could set the conference back.
