Alabama Football: 2023 game times and channels in changing world of CFB

At the highest levels of college football change is the new norm. Alabama football fans may not like all the changes, especially in the 2024 season when ESPN arranges its new slate of SEC football games.

Media partners drive the schedules in college football. As media payouts grow, schools and conferences have little control over when games will be played and on what media platform they can be seen.

The Big Ten’s CBS, NBC, and Fox deal is causing grumbles from fans. For most of the history of Michigan Football, the Wolverines have avoided playing night games. Talking about playing under the lights, Michigan legend, Bo Schembechleronce said,

"We used to tell the TV stations that we’re going to tee the ball up at one o’clock. If you want to come down and take your little pictures, feel free."

Those days are long gone, but until last season, the Wolverines had played only 11, night games in 132 seasons of college football. The number grew to 14 last season. It will continue to grow. Many fans may dislike it but the Big House will still be packed.

What will churn up more fans will be Big Ten games available only through a streaming service. In the early schedules released by the Big Ten, Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State and Purdue each have a game available only through NBC’s streaming platform, Peacock.

Alabama football fans have another season when games (except maybe the Chattanooga game) will be available via linear broadcast, rather than streaming and will be shown on CBS, ESPN, SEC Network or ABC. The game times will vary from early to evening, but most will not be too early or too late for fans going to Bryant-Denny.

Update: Alabama will play Chattanooga at 11:00 AM CST on the SEC Network.

Auburn will play Cal at 9:30 PM CST, but it is a road game. Vandy will play at Wake Forest with a 10:00 AM CST start.

Alabama Football 2023 TV Schedule (known and projected)

• CBS has another season of SEC football. No team can be shown by CBS more than five times and only one of the telecasts can be in prime time. Alabama football fans can expect to see the Crimson Tide on CBS against Texas A&M, Tennessee, LSU and Auburn. The fifth game would likely be Ole Miss or Arkansas. The prime-time game will most likely be LSU.
• Only three games are locked in so far. The season-opener against Middle Tennessee State will be on the SEC Network at 6:30 PM CST. At 6:00 PM CST on Sept. 9, ESPN will present Alabama vs. Texas. A week later, with the Alabama Crimson Tide on the road to South Florida, ABC will broadcast at 2:30 PM CST.

On June 14th, during an SEC Network telecast, the SEC will announce each team’s eight opponents in the 2024 regular season. The actual dates for 2024 games will be released at a later date.