Fox College Football

The Fox network acquired its first college football telecast in 1998, when it obtained the broadcast rights to the annual Cotton Bowl Classic held each January on (eventually, the day after) New Year's Day; the first game to be shown on the network as part of the deal was held on January 1, 1999. Fox renewed its contract to carry the game in 2010, in a four-year agreement that ran through the 2013 NCAA college football season.

Fox lost the rights to the Cotton Bowl to ESPN for the 2015 edition, as the cable network holds the television contract to all six bowl games that encompass the College Football Playoff system under a twelve-year deal worth over $7.3 billion. The Cotton Bowl was the only game among the six that was not already broadcast by ESPN.[1][2]

From the 2006 through the 2009 seasons, Fox held the broadcast rights to most of the games comprising the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) – including the Sugar Bowl, the Fiesta Bowl and the Orange Bowl, as well as the BCS Championship Game. Fox paid close to $20 million per game for the rights to televise the BCS games.[3] The network's contract with the BCS excluded any event in the series that was held at the Rose Bowl stadium, such as the Rose Bowl Game and the 2010 BCS National Championship Game, as ABC already had a separate arrangement with the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association to serve as the broadcaster for the games.

ESPN, which is majority owned by ABC's corporate parent The Walt Disney Company and serves as the producer for all of ABC's sports coverage, would displace Fox outright as the broadcaster of the BCS beginning in the 2010-11 season. This left the Fox network with only the Cotton Bowl Classic as the sole college football game, to which it held the television rights until the 2013-14 season.

Beginning with the 2011 season, sister cable channel FX began airing a "game of the week" on Saturdays featuring matchups from the Big 12, Conference USA, and Pac-12.[4] The Fox network also obtained the rights to air the Big Ten Conference's new football championship game beginning that season and running through 2016, as part of Fox Sports' involvement with the Big Ten Network.[5] Fox also acquired bi-yearly rights to the inaugural Pac-12 Football Championship Game, alternating with ESPN/ABC.[6]

Beginning with the 2012 season, Fox added regular season games on Saturdays to its lineup; it broadcast eight afternoon games and twelve nighttime games throughout the season, with the latter telecasts airing as part of a new strategy by the network to carry more sports programming on Saturday nights during prime time. FS1 replaced FX's coverage upon its launch in August 2013, though some overflow coverage has aired on FX occasionally when warranted; since 2017, overflow coverage has been carried on Fox Business Network, which usually carries paid programming on Saturday afternoons of little consequence to pre-emption.[7]

Fox's coverage of the 2015 season opened with a game on FS1 featuring the Michigan Wolverines at the Utah Utes. As the first game featuring new head coach Jim Harbaugh, the season premiere was promoted with a touring "HarBus"—decorated with a sweater and khakis in imitation of Harbaugh's on-field wardrobe—travelling to Salt Lake City for the game, accompanied by a group of "HarBros" dressed like Harbaugh. The tour concluded at Salt Lake City's Grand America Hotel for game day; the bus itself was barred from entering the University of Utah's campus.[8][9]

On July 12, 2016, the San Francisco 49ers announced that they had taken over the Foster Farms Bowl (now known as the Redbox Bowl), and had reached a four-year deal to move the game to Fox and Fox Deportes beginning in 2016.[10] It was also reported by Sports Business Journal that Fox was pursuing a share of the Big Ten's primary football rights.[11] Fox Sports began carrying select college football games in virtual reality for the 2016 season.[12][13] The following year, FS1 also acquired rights to the Holiday Bowl, ending a long-standing relationship with the game and ESPN.[14]

On July 24, 2017, the Big Ten Conference announced that Fox and ESPN had acquired rights to its games under a six-year deal beginning in the 2017 season. The contract also includes an extension of Fox's contract to operate Big Ten Network through 2032.[15] The deal gives Fox the first choice of games on most weeks, including marquee games such as the Michigan/Ohio State game—which had been a fixture of ABC's college football schedule for over a half-decade. The game will remain in its traditional noon slot on the last day of the Big Ten's regular season.[16][17]

Fox promoted its addition of Big Ten football with promotional campaigns focusing on each team; a Children of the Corn-themed commercial focusing on the Nebraska Cornhuskers was pulled after complaints by the school.[18]

Prior to the 2019 season, Fox lost its rights to future Big 12 championship games to ESPN as part of an expansion of its rights to the conference. Fox declined to bid on the 2019, 2021, and 2023 games.[19]

On January 9, 2020, the Mountain West Conference announced that its next top-tier basketball and football contracts would be split between CBS Sports and Fox Sports under a six-year deal, with Fox replacing ESPN. Fox will hold rights to 23 games per-season, including the conference championship and all Boise State home games (since 2012, as part of concessions to remain in the conference, the Mountain West has allowed Boise State's home games to be sold as a separate package from the remainder of its media rights). CBS Sports Network will remain the main broadcaster for the conference outside of these games.[20][21][22]

In the 2019 season, Fox introduced a new flagship Noon ET window known as Big Noon Saturday. The games are accompanied by a pre-game show, Big Noon Kickoff.[23][24][25] The new emphasis on early games proved successful: in the first weeks of the 2019 season, Fox had the highest-rated game in the timeslot on multiple occasions.[26]

All rankings are from that week's AP Poll, and that weeks CFP rankings.

• August 31: Florida Atlantic at #5 Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio, Ohio State 45–21
• September 7: Army at #7 Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Michigan 24–21^(2OT)
• September 14: #6 Ohio State at Indiana in Bloomington, Indiana, Ohio State 51–10
• September 21: #11 Michigan at #13 Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin, Wisconsin 35–14
• September 28: Texas Tech at #6 Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma, Oklahoma 55–16
• October 5: #14 Iowa at #19 Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Michigan 10–3
• October 12: #6 Oklahoma vs #11 Texas in Dallas, Texas, Oklahoma 34–27
• October 19: West Virginia at #5 Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma, Oklahoma 52–14
• October 26: #13 Wisconsin at #3 Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio, Ohio State 38–7
• November 2: Nebraska at Purdue in West Lafayette, Indiana, Purdue 31–27 (with Brando, Tillman, and Harvey)
• November 2: #7 Oregon at USC in Los Angeles, California, Oregon 56-24 (8 ET/5 PT kickoff, with Johnson, Klatt, and Taft)
• November 9: Maryland at #3 (CFP #1) Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio, Ohio State 73–14
• November 16: Michigan State at #14 (CFP #15) Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Michigan 44–10
• November 23: #9 (CFP #8) Penn State at #2 (CFP #2) Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio, Ohio State 28–17
• November 30: #2 (CFP #1) Ohio State at #10 (CFP #13) Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Ohio State 56–27
• December 7: #2 (CFP #1) Ohio State at #10 (CFP #8) Wisconsin in Indianapolis, Indiana, Ohio State 34–21 (Big Ten Championship, 8 ET kickoff)

• September 12: Arkansas State at Kansas State in Manhattan, Kansas, Arkansas State 35–31
• September 26: Kansas State at #3 Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma, Kansas State 38–35
• October 3: TCU at #9 Texas in Austin, Texas, TCU 33–31
• October 10: #22 Texas vs. Oklahoma in Dallas, Texas, Oklahoma 53–45^(4OT)
• October 17: Kansas at West Virginia in Morgantown, West Virginia, West Virginia 38–17
• October 24: Nebraska at #5 Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio, Ohio State 52–17
• October 31: Michigan State at #13 Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Michigan State 27-24
• November 7: Arizona State at #20 USC in Los Angeles, California, USC 28-27
• November 14: TCU at West Virginia in Morgantown, West Virginia (with Davis and Helfrich), West Virginia 24-6
• November 14: #20 USC at Arizona in Tucson, Arizona (4 ET/2 MT kickoff, with Johnson, Klatt, and Taft) USC 34-30
• November 21: #9 Indiana at #3 Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio, Ohio State 42–35
• November 28: Texas Tech at #22 (CFP #23) Oklahoma State in Stillwater, Oklahoma (with Davis and Helfrich), Oklahoma State 50-44
• December 5: Texas at Kansas State in Manhattan, Kansas, Texas 69-31
• December 12: Utah at #21 (CFP #21) Colorado in Boulder, Colorado, Utah 38-21
• December 19: #15 (CFP #14) Northwestern at #3 (CFP #4) Ohio State (2020 Big Ten Championship Game presented by Discover Card) in Indianapolis, Indiana, Ohio State 22–10

Cotton Bowl Classic

• 1999 Cotton Bowl Classic (Fox): 4.1
• 2000 Cotton Bowl Classic (Fox): 4.1
• 2001 Cotton Bowl Classic (Fox): 4.4
• 2002 Cotton Bowl Classic (Fox): 4.3
• 2003 Cotton Bowl Classic (Fox): 3.4
• 2004 Cotton Bowl Classic (Fox): 4.3
• 2005 Cotton Bowl Classic (Fox): 2.6
• 2006 Cotton Bowl Classic (Fox): 3.7
• 2007 Cotton Bowl Classic (Fox): 3.7
• 2008 Cotton Bowl Classic (Fox): 3.5
• 2009 Cotton Bowl Classic (Fox): 4.3
• 2010 Cotton Bowl Classic (Fox): 4.5
• 2011 Cotton Bowl Classic (Fox): 5.8
• 2012 Cotton Bowl Classic (Fox): 5.0
• 2013 Cotton Bowl Classic (Fox): 7.2
• 2014 Cotton Bowl Classic (Fox): 3.9

Orange Bowl

• 2007 Orange Bowl (Fox): 7.0
• 2008 Orange Bowl (Fox): 7.4
• 2009 Orange Bowl (Fox): 5.4
• 2010 Orange Bowl (Fox): 6.8

Sugar Bowl

• 2007 Sugar Bowl (Fox): 9.3
• 2008 Sugar Bowl (Fox): 7.9
• 2009 Sugar Bowl (Fox): 7.8
• 2010 Sugar Bowl (Fox): 8.5

Fiesta Bowl

• 2007 Fiesta Bowl (Fox): 8.4
• 2008 Fiesta Bowl (Fox): 7.7
• 2009 Fiesta Bowl (Fox): 10.4
• 2010 Fiesta Bowl (Fox): 8.2

BCS National Championship Game

• 2007 BCS National Championship Game (Fox): 17.4
• 2008 BCS National Championship Game (Fox): 14.4
• 2009 BCS National Championship Game (Fox): 15.8