| College Football on NBC Sports | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Notre Dame Football on NBC/Peacock Big Ten Saturday on NBC/Peacock Big Ten Saturday Night Big Ten Football Night (non-Saturday games) |
| Genre | College football telecasts |
| Directed by | Charlie Dammeyer |
| Presented by | Noah Eagle Todd Blackledge Kathryn Tappen Terry McAulay Dan Hicks Jason Garrett Zora Stephenson Reggie Smith Maria Taylor Ahmed Fareed Matt Cassel Michael Robinson Joshua Perry Chris Simms Nicole Auerbach (see more) |
| Theme music composer | John Colby (Notre Dame) Fall Out Boy (Big Ten Saturday Night) Alex Hitchens (Big Ten Saturday) |
| Opening theme | “Here Comes Saturday Night” by Fall Out Boy (primetime games only) |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Producer | Matt Marvin |
| Production locations | Various NCAA stadiums |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 210 minutes or until game ends (inc. adverts) |
| Production company | NBC Sports |
| Original release | |
| Network | NBC USA Network CNBC Peacock Universo via Telemundo Deportes (Spanish simulcasts of select games) |
| Release | September 30, 1939 – present |
| Related | |
| Notre Dame Football on NBC Big Ten College Countdown | |
| Infobox instructions (only shown in preview) | |
College Football on NBC Sports is the de facto title used for broadcasts of NCAA college football games produced by NBC Sports.
Via its experimental station W2XBS, NBC presented the first television broadcast of American football at any level on September 30, 1939, between the Fordham Rams and the Waynesburg Yellow Jackets. NBC held rights to the NCAA's regular-season game of the week package from 1952–53, 1955–59, and 1964–65. From 1952 to 1988, NBC was the broadcaster of the Rose Bowl Game. In 1990, NBC first acquired the rights to Notre Dame Fighting Irish home games, as well as the Bayou Classic—agreements that have continued to this day, and have most recently been renewed through 2029 and 2025 respectively.
After Comcast's acquisition of NBC Universal, Versus—later renamed NBC Sports Network (NBCSN)—was merged into the NBC Sports division in 2011. By then, the network's coverage of Division I FBS football (billed as College Football on NBC Sports Network) was limited to a contract with the Mountain West that ended in 2012, and a package of Pac-10 games that had been sub-licensed by the Fox Sports Networks. NBCSN subsequently acquired packages of Division I FCS games from the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) and Ivy League; both contracts ended in 2017.
From 2015 to 2020, NBCSN broadcast selected Notre Dame home games not televised by NBC. Since 2020, NBC Sports has preferred using Peacock or other NBCUniversal channels (such as USA Network and CNBC) to carry college football games not aired by the main network. The Bayou Classic moved from the NBC broadcast network to NBCSN in 2015, but moved back to NBC in 2022 following the closure of NBCSN in December 2021.
In August 2022, NBC Sports announced that it had acquired a share of the Big Ten's football rights beginning in the 2023 season, which will include Big Ten Saturday Night games in primetime on NBC throughout the season, and a package of games on Peacock branded as Big Ten Saturday. The Big Ten Saturday branding also includes games from the Big Ten Saturday Night package that air in an afternoon window to accommodate Notre Dame primetime games.