The 2026 college football season is underway. Is your business game-day ready? Get your sports bar or restaurant in on the action with a winning sports package designed to help attract fans and support sales. In this article, we’ll cover the season ahead and how DIRECTV FOR BUSINESS® can help you encourage repeat visits and create an exciting game-day experience.
Ready to make your business the go-to spot for college football fans? Explore our sports TV packages today!
When Does College Football Start?
The 2026 college football season kicked off in late August, with games running throughout the fall before conference championships in December. The College Football Playoff begins in December and concludes with the College Football Playoff National Championship in January 2027.
Why Show College Football at Your Business?
College football fans are some of the most passionate in sports, filling sports bars and restaurants every weekend to cheer on their favorite teams. Whether you’re located in a college town or serving alumni and fans from across the country, showing college football can help drive foot traffic, encourage longer visits and boost food and beverage sales.
The audience continues to grow. According to Sports Business Journal, the 2025 college football season set a new viewership record, with fans watching more than 179 billion minutes of college football across Nielsen-rated networks-an increase of 9% year over year. ABC also posted a sport-high 6.9 million viewers on average, up 19% from the previous season, while ESPN networks recorded their best college football season since 2011, averaging 2.2 million viewers across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU.
Want a closer look at the audiences, networks and matchups driving college football’s growth? Explore our 2026 College Football Deep Dive.
With record audiences tuning in every week, college football offers businesses a valuable opportunity to attract fans, create an exciting game-day atmosphere and keep customers coming back throughout the season.
How To Watch College Football
DIRECTV FOR BUSINESS offers access to college football across leading national and conference networks. Here are some of the must-have college networks for businesses:
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Atlantic Coast Conference Network (ACCN): Give your customers all the ACC excitement with ACC Network. Enjoy more than 500 games from across the conference’s 28 sponsored sports, including college football games. Plus, news, original programming and in-studio analysis.
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Big Ten Network: Comprehensive coverage of the nation’s most storied conference, spanning 18 schools from coast to coast, with 500+ live events, originals, highlights, analysis and more. Its lineup features 40+ live Big Ten college football games, 120+ men’s and 50+ women’s Big Ten basketball games.
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Southeastern Conference Network (SECN): Make sure your customers can catch all the SEC games this season. SECN brings you 24/7 coverage and more than 2,000 live events across the SEC’s 22 sports, including more than 40 football games. Gain access to SEC-focused programming like SEC Nation, SEC Storied and more.
Ready to get started? Check out our college sports packages today!
2026 College Football Schedule
Not sure which college football games are on? The DIRECTV sports schedule includes college football and NFL games, helping businesses find current game dates, networks and times. DIRECTV MVP customers can also access customizable weekly sports schedules featuring local channels and times based on their ZIP Code. Schedules can be printed or delivered by email.
How to Attract College Football Fans to Your Sports Bar or Restaurant
Here are a few things you can do to help make your bar or restaurant a go-to destination for college football fans.
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Host Game-Day Watch Parties: Give fans a front row seat to every pass, interception and touchdown by offering comfortable seating and multiple TV options.
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Encourage Team Spirit: Offer discounts or raffle entries to customers wearing college football jerseys or other team attire.
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Get Your Business Game-Day Ready: Deck out your décor with jerseys, team colors and other college football memorabilia, especially if you’re in a college town.
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Offer Touchdown-Worthy Food & Drink Specials: Keep fans coming back with great food and drink specials during college football games.
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Drive the Excitement: Let college football fans know you’ll be showing the games through social media, eblasts, flyers and on your website.
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Get Themed Materials with DIRECTV MVP: Customers can access credit-based marketing materials and digital assets, plus complimentary marketing kits with select sports package subscriptions. Available materials include banners, posters, window clings and more.
What Other Businesses Can Benefit From Showing College Football?
It’s not just bars and restaurants that can help boost their bottom line by showing college football. Get some inspiration on how DIRECTV can help your business:
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Show college football games at the gym while your members are working out
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Turn on the games in hotel lobbies so fans can keep up with their favorite teams on the go
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Air the games in college dorms and around campus so students can keep up with their team
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Keep customers entertained while they’re waiting for auto services, at the barber shop or even doctor’s appointments
Score Big with DIRECTV FOR BUSINESS
Ready to turn your business into the ultimate college football hangout? DIRECTV FOR BUSINESS helps your customers follow their favorite teams across a wide range of college sports programming. With 99% worry-free signal reliability, hassle-free customer service and complimentary standard professional installation, you can focus on creating a game-day experience fans will enjoy. Plus, DIRECTV Sports Bar Finder helps fans discover bars and restaurants showing the games they want to watch, along with team affiliations, watch parties and more. Call 888.303.9117 to get started today!
Programming availability varies by DIRECTV FOR BUSINESS package.
