![A touchdown is celebrated with fireworks in the first half at Steve Spurrier Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, FL on Saturday, September 17, 2022. [Cyndi Chambers/Gainesville Sun]
Ncaa Football Florida Gators Vs Usf Bulls](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,x_0,y_0,w_6338,h_3565/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ReutersImages/mmsport/213/01kwfhyf8tq40x2ggyh4.jpg "A touchdown is celebrated with fireworks in the first half at Steve Spurrier Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, FL on Saturday, September 17, 2022. [Cyndi Chambers/Gainesville Sun]
Ncaa Football Florida Gators Vs Usf Bulls")
The past few years haven’t always been smooth sailing for Florida. The Billy Napier Era alone was enough to set the program back decades, and there aren’t plenty of programs that might have been tanked forever with a stretch like the one the Gators had.
But one of the very real advantages of playing in the SEC is that Florida is afforded a level of stability others don’t enjoy and has a brand that will always be visible. The possibility of yet another TV streaming package hitting the market is a reminder of how easy Florida fans have it when it comes to watching the Gators.
Florida fans are thankful they don’t have to deal with the NBC nonsense
Awful Announcing reported this week that Comcast is set to change its NBCUniversal setup. Long story short, the sports rights to a number of entities under the NBC banner are going to be on the market. Specific to college football, it opens the door for Notre Dame games to be packaged off to a new bidder.
There was once upon a time when Notre Dame’s contract with NBC was a massive advantage that few other schools could match. And while Notre Dame still brings in more money by itself today than most schools, being on NBC is not the visibility advantage it once was.
NBC also expanded its college football portfolio with the Big Ten and its "Big Ten Saturday Night," but the deal also highlights the needless complexity other fanbases have to endure compared to how easy Florida fans have it.
As it stands right now, Florida games are all under the ESPN banner. There is little mystery about which network the game will be on, and there is no need for multiple services to watch the entire season. At most, Florida has their annual FCS game placed under the ESPN+ banner, which is a separate paywall, but that’s it.
Compare that to the Big Ten, which has games on Fox, FS1, NBC, Peacock, and ESPN. ACC fans are forced to figure out where on Earth the CW is, while Big 12 fans are split between ESPN and TNT. Now throw in that NBC might be trying to shed some of its sports portfolio, and there is no telling where some games could wind up. Amazon Prime and Netflix have to be lurking somewhere.
Florida fans have come a long way from the days of Jefferson-Pilot and having to order PPV to watch some games. Everything is now in a convenient one-stop shop.
We can only hope it stays that way moving forward.
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