We're starting to see a consolidation of conferences...but one thing I strongly believe is that we'll start seeing a consolidation of the media money as well. This is why I think a national conference with a large amount of eyeballs will be more advantageous to a regional conference.
What I mean, specifically, is you'll start seeing Fox or ESPN (or whoever exists in the next 10-20 years) focus on pumping MORE money into conferences that have established brands that will give them more bang for their buck as opposed to spreading $$$ around to different conferences. Fans of college sports need to accept something: Just because a conference or college team exists, does NOT mean a media company is obligated to pay them. Read that again because GT can easily be stuck in no man's land like Stanford and Cal right now. Look at what just happened to the PAC12. Everyone thought it was inevitable everything would get worked out because the PAC12 and its members, some of them truly an institution of college sports like Stanford and Oregon, have always been on TV. Well, the reality is starting to come to light. Instead of a media company paying the PAC12 (I'm just using these numbers as an example) $1+ billion a year AND the B1G $1.75 billion a year, they'll plow another $500 million into the B1G that has access to every major media market across the country, not get into a partnership with a conference like the PAC12 or SoCon, and save $500 million they can put into production and other investments that will give them a better return.
Everyone is making fun of the BIG12 for adding schools like UCF, Cincy, BYU...but at the end of the day, their reach across different regions and time zones is attractive because a media company no longer has to invest in multiple regional conferences to get air time and eyeballs. The BIG12 and B1G are serving the ultimate purpose that media companies want: media content for their different time slots, all in one package. It's why the BIG12 was able to work out a media contract, and the PAC 12 was left to wither on the vine. I'll say it now: If your team is in a "regional" conference, you better be making moves or else the doomsday clock is ticking for you. The B1G will be in 4 time zones, the SEC will be in 3 time zones, and the BIG12 will be in 4 time zones. That's a LOT of eyeballs and time slots that media companies can leverage as opposed to spreading a LOT of money amongst a lot of smaller conferences.
I keep seeing that this is the end of college sports. Maybe for the smaller schools and conferences that didn't have foresight. College sports will continue on, the "haves" will get richer and get more exposure, and the "have nots" will get poorer and their brand will fade into obscurity outside of their own fanbase. Some teams will struggle to survive, and the teams in bigger conferences will survive. Fans will continue to watch college sports and they will find a team to support in "national" conferences. The young kids today will grow up not knowing any differently, and the older fans will phase out.
I touched on this years ago and got a LOT of push back. Well, we're starting to see it come to fruition. I said at the time that the SEC and B1G were both working on something college fans still can not comprehend. They are making next level moves...and the BIG12 is wisely doing a good job of setting up to be the 3rd conference after the Power 2. It may not seem like it now, but the BIG12 is set up with up coming teams that will be able to compete with the B1G and SEC teams in the next decade on. There's already talk that the B1G is moving to 10 conference games. At some point, it will be like the old AFL and NFL. It will be a heavy conference emphasis on scheduling, and the other teams will be left fighting for scraps. I'm sorry, but the GOR will be only a temporary reprieve for the ACC and GT. Once the GOR is either broken by some creative lawyering or it's natural expiration, the ACC will cease to exist in its current form. The major "brands" will inevitably leave for the SEC, B1G, or BIG12...just like the PAC12 teams are doing right now.
So yay for UGA not mattering, boo for the health of college football.
