In 2017, Miami had:
- 4th highest viewership as far as bowl games are concerned, only falling behind the 2 semi's and national championship game.
- 6 weeks in the top 5 for viewership all of which came between Week 6 - Week 13. In fact, we finished top 5 in viewers every week from Week 10 - Week 13. Alabama had 8 weeks in top 5. Ohio State had 7. Georgia had 6 (same as us). We were amongst the most watched programs that season.
- Week 13: Miami vs Pitt had more viewers than Clemson vs South Carolina and Florida vs FSU.
- Week 12: Miami vs Virginia had higher viewership than LSU vs Tennessee, Navy vs Notre Dame, Illinois vs Ohio State, Texas vs West Virginia, Nebraska vs Penn State, Texas A&M vs Ole Miss, among other decent matchups. Mind you...this was also a noon kickoff. Some of those other games were later afternoon or even night game (LSU vs Tenn).
- Week 7: Miami vs GT had 5th highest viewership and more viewers than Clemson vs Syracuse, Ohio State vs Nebraska, Texas A&M vs Florida, FSU vs Duke, South Carolina vs Tennessee.
Long story short, people watch when Miami wins. It's a marquee matchup most weeks. It's a brand that people want to see on TV. Either because they love us. Or they hate us (mostly this).
Most people in media know this. It's why they always have "Is the U Back?" segments after we win a few games in a row.
To think the B1G has no interest in adding the Miami media market or a national brand like The U is crazy. Same for the SEC. What they probably want to see though is a program that can at least be somewhat competitive (finish ranked every year) in order to generate some of that interest. It hasn't happened consistently.
But if Mario can pull this off 2-3 seasons in a row (9-3 type finishes is more than good enough from the media perspective) we instantly become one of the most valuable programs from the media's perspective.