TV Ratings Should Woo P5 Suitors to TU

Temple was a winner both at the box office an on TV.

Temple was a winner both at the box office an on TV.

If it is possible to win in a loss, that’s exactly what Temple football did for the university in a prime time game against Notre Dame on Saturday night.

The scoreboard numbers gave the Irish a 24 and the Owls a 20, but the ratings in that nearly four-hour, real-life drama made Temple the big winner. Notre Dame has appeared on prime-time Saturday night television in Philadelphia 93 other times and in some big games against inter-sectional foes like Penn State and USC. During none of those times did the Fighting Irish  capture anywhere near the ratings as they did against Temple. In fact, the Temple vs. Notre Dame was the No. 1-rated TV game ever in the history of Philadelphia college football-watching.

Since Notre Dame has been on so much without nearly that many sets tuned in, it doesn’t take much of an imagination to know the variable in this case was Temple. The Owls showed they can deliver the nation’s fourth-largest TV market to any possible Power 5 suitors. Philadelphia is the largest current media market without a Power 5 team.

It was also the highest-rated college football game of the week and beat by 26 percent the ratings in the same Week 9 slot a year ago which featured Penn State, the second-most popular team on Philadelphia TV sets, against No. 1 Ohio State.

What this all means is that, one of the Power 5 conferences decides to expand, the fact that Temple has proven it can deliver the nation’s last major market should get at least the ACC and the Big 12 knocking on AD Pat Kraft’s door.