• by David Goetzl , May 2, 2007

A year ago, ABC made an upfront week splash by announcing that it would continue with prime-time pigskin via a Saturday night college line-up, despite the loss of "Monday Night Football." This round, the network didn't wait for the snap.

ABC--or corporate sibling ESPN which now oversees sports telecasts on the network--announced Tuesday that "Saturday Night Football" will be back for a second season, sponsored by Southwest Airlines. Also this fall, ESPN will offer two NASCAR races in prime time on Saturdays, preempting football.

Not only do the football broadcasts give ABC, with its run of female-skewing programs, a platform to reach and promote to a male audience, but they offer fresh programming on a night when networks have relied on repeats. Before the current sweeps period, ABC had been running movies.

ABC says the Saturday games last fall averaged a 5.0 household rating--24% higher than the 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. time period in 2005--while performance among young male demos also increased significantly.

Steve McPherson, president of ABC Entertainment, who ceded a night of programming under his aegis last year to the ESPN games, said they "delivered a new audience for ABC, strengthening our schedule for Saturday and overall ... [we] hope to continue the partnership for a long time to come."

The season opens with Tennessee at California on Labor Day weekend (Sept. 1). Other notable match-ups include Notre Dame at UCLA on Oct. 6 and possibly, Ohio State visiting Penn State on Oct. 27. ABC will offer 12 games running through Dec 1, with NASCAR races Sept. 8 and Oct. 13.

The NASCAR races are an outgrowth of the huge investment ABC and ESPN (both part of Disney) made to re-acquire rights to the sport starting this year. Networks such as ABC and CBS had run prime-time college football in years past, but mostly during the first week or two of the season. In 2006, ABC opted to make it a fall staple.