Michigan vs. East Carolina will air exclusively on Peacock: 'My dad isn't too happy about that'

Jul 03, 2023

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — For the first time since 1995, a Michigan football game will not be broadcast live on traditional, linear TV.

When the Wolverines face East Carolina to begin their 2023 season, the game will air exclusively on Peacock, NBC’s streaming service. Kickoff is scheduled for Saturday at 12:06 p.m.

It has been nearly three decades since Michigan has played a game that wasn’t broadcast live on an over-air TV channel or cable. The last time it conclusively happened was in September 1995, when the Wolverines beat Memphis and Miami (Ohio) in games that aired on a tape delay.

“The correct answer is the 1995 Miami (Ohio) game because it was the most recent game not televised ‘live,’” Bob Rosiek, the “expert on televised U-M games” per the Bentley Historical Library, told TMI.

On Sept. 9 against Memphis, as The Michigan Daily archives demonstrate, the 12:30 p.m. kickoff wasn’t televised until a 10 p.m. showing on PASS with Michael Reghi and George Perles as the commentators. Those who didn’t catch the action at the Big House had to wait until nighttime to watch the Wolverines take a 14-0 halftime lead and secure a comfortable, if unimpressive, 24-7 victory.

Later that month, the Wolverines beat Miami (Ohio), 38-19, in a game that also aired on PASS. Michigan Athletics historians say that game, too, was broadcast on a tape delay. (Reghi reached out to The Michigan Insider to confirm he and Perles were on the call that day as well.)

Before the mid-1990s, television broadcast history gets a little murky, as Michigan Athletic schedules do not include TV designations for games played prior to 1996. However, the last Michigan game to go entirely un-televised was almost certainly Nov. 5, 1994, against Purdue.

“The Purdue game was not televised in any format,” Rosiek told TMI.

The only live coverage that afternoon was on radio, per local newspapers:

Media coverage: There will be radio coverage on the Purdue Radio Network. The local affiliate is WAZY (96.5)

Of course, Michigan fans hoping to follow the 2023 season opener against East Carolina will have multiple avenues through which to do so. There are some 107,601 seats to fill at the Big House, to start. And while Peacock isn’t traditional TV, the line between the two gets increasingly blurred; many people now own smart TVs, where watching streaming services on the big screen is just an app (and a subscription) away. And while the fragmentation of live sports is no doubt a hassle, at least Peacock is available throughout the country, unlike regional TV broadcasts — particularly in the pre-internet era.

If all else fails, just like in 1990s, there’s still radio.

Stanford transfer Drake Nugent said he’s excited to experience 110,000 people at the Big House and joked about the viewing options for Michigan compared to Stanford:

“I don’t really have any opinion on that because the PAC-12 never had the greatest TV deal anyway, as you’ve seen with the whole conference realignment.”

Wide receiver Roman Wilson said people who want to watch the game will find a way:

“It don’t matter. People are gonna see it regardless. If someone really wants to see the game, they’re gonna see it. Just because it’s on channel whatever, if they don't want to watch it, they’re gonna click by it.”

Center Greg Crippen said his dad has complained about the online-only option:

“My dad isn’t too happy about that one, because he likes recording all the games. He’ll be there. He’ll be there. But it’s streaming nowadays, so gotta do that.”

Rayshaun Benny says his loved ones will be at the Big House this weekend, but he’ll subscribe to the streaming service to watch Big Ten games in the future.

“I need it.”

Michigan football was broadcast to fans even before the advent of television or the popularization of radio. Below, an excerpt from a story published by The Bentley Historical Library recounting the first “broadcast” of a U-M football game … all the way back in 1903:

Interest in Michigan football grew steadily among the student body and the state's population at large during the 1890s and reached new heights with the success of Fielding Yost's "point-a-minute" teams. Special fan trains were arranged for many away games, but only a few supporters were able to make the trips. Those left behind could get full accounts of the action in the next day's newspaper, but for many that was not quick enough. For a number of years the Michigan Daily maintained a scoreboard on campus. Reporters telegraphed results to the Daily office which were then posted on the scoreboard. For big games, sizable crowds would gather at the scoreboard to get "up-to-the-minute" results.

In 1903, a UM student, the Athletic Association and the Bell Telephone Company teamed up to bring Wolverine fans in Ann Arbor a nearly "live" account of the Minnesota game played on October 31 in Minneapolis; a game that would determine the "Champion of the West." Reporting the game from a specially built tower at Northrop Field, Floyd (Jack) Mattice, Law 1905, could lay a justifiable claim to being one of the first broadcasters of a college football game.

… Mattice climbed the tower, entered the booth and donned a headset and voice transmitter. When he spoke into the transmitter, he was answered by a professor speaking from University Hall in Ann Arbor. Some 3,000 persons were assembled there to hear Mattice's description of the game.

That 1903 game against Minnesota ended in a 6-6 tie, the only blemish on an otherwise perfect season for Fielding Yost and “Point-a-Minute” Wolverines. Following the result, Michigan left its water jug in Minneapolis, birthing the Little Brown Jug rivalry.