About this episode
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.