Coach Prime Faces Pressure in Year 2 - Front Office Sports (2024)

One year ago, Colorado head coach Deion Sanders (above) turned Boulder into the Hollywood of college football. Now, as the Buffaloes kick off their 2024 season Thursday, the spotlight is still shining bright, even with measured on-field expectations and continued off-field controversies.

Colorado ended 2023 on a six-game losing streak to finish 4–8, last in the Pac-12. This season, now as a member of the expanded, 16-team Big 12, the over/under for the Buffaloes’ win total is 5.5 at most sportsbooks. Coach Prime, entering the second campaign of a five-year, $29.5 million contract, will likely need his squad to overperform to make a bowl game. But that isn’t slowing down the hype.

ESPN chose North Dakota State–Colorado, one of 21 games featuring FBS schools Thursday, to air on its flagship network Thursday night, even though it also has rights to four games involving teams ranked inside the AP Top 25 poll. It’s likely a smart decision, though. Colorado was a ratings darling in the first half of last season, routinely playing in the most-watched game of the week.

Other networks will try to cash in on the Sanders buzz while they can, too. NBC and CBS will feature Colorado in prime time for matchups against Nebraska on Sept. 7 and Colorado State on Sept. 14, respectively.

Prime Pros and Cons

In the spring, Colorado sold out of football season tickets for the second consecutive year. Before Sanders was hired, it hadn’t done so even once since 1996. The school had a record-setting 68,000 applicants for this fall semester.

But the lead-up to the football season hasn’t been all roses and butterflies. Colorado banned Denver Post columnist Sean Keeler from asking questions to Sanders and other staffers, due to what the school called “a series of sustained, personal attacks.” The athletic department cited Keeler’s use of phrases like “false prophet,” “Deposition Deion,” and “Bruce Lee of B.S.,” among others.

Last week, Colorado had to distance itself from former special teams coordinator Trevor Reilly’s claim that he sought NIL (name, image, and likeness) money from the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.

Additionally, in an exclusive Front Office Sports report, sources revealed that Colorado reached out to the Pac-12 last season, alleging that Oregon had accessed its private data following a Ducks win over the Buffaloes last September.

What began as strange bedfellows among former New York–area sports rivals has grown into an even larger partnership, one with potential industry influence beyond the country’s largest media market.

The Yankees-controlled YES Network and MSG Networks, which in January struck a joint venture based on streaming technology, have expanded that deal to form a new streaming app combining programming from both regional sports networks.

The newly formed Gotham Sports app, set to debut this fall before the start of the NHL and NBA regular seasons, will include both the YES app and MSG+, representing a particularly unique bundling of separate RSNs services in a single market. The product will include live games for the Yankees, Knicks, Rangers, Islanders, Devils, Nets, and Sabres. Normal broadcast territorial rules for the various teams and leagues will still apply.

The pact marks a material enlargement of Gotham Advanced Media and Entertainment (GAME), the digital joint venture involving the Steinbrenner family who owns the Yankees and a controlling interest in YES Network, and James Dolan, MSG’s executive chairman. Even with the two ownership groups’ considerable resources and placement in the unrivaled size of the New York area, accelerating levels of disruption in the RSN industry across the country are helping prompt new levels of thinking and different strategies.

Some entities have chosen to leave the RSN world altogether, such as Warner Bros. Discovery and an increasing number of pro teams spanning multiple sports. In the case of YES Network and MSG+, that accelerating change means working even closer together.

When GAME was initially formed, live game rights were not included, but the deal included a pathway for the type of larger collaboration now happening. The platform will be supplemented by other features such as live stats and a fan loyalty program.

“With the increased fragmentation of outlets carrying fan-favorite sports programming, the Gotham Sports app allows fans of our teams one easy access point for New York–area sporting events,” said Andrea Greenberg, MSG Networks president and CEO.

Price Breaks

The Gotham Sports app will be available for both authenticated TV subscribers at no additional cost. But for direct-to-consumer purchasers, the new product will allow for significant savings compared to the stand-alone prices of the YES app and MSG+.

The combined platform will cost $41.99 per month, compared to the individual prices of $24.99 for the YES app and $29.99 for MSG+. An annual purchase of the Gotham Sports app will be $359.99, while the YES app by itself is $239.99 and MSG+ costs $279.99.