Conference Realignment

[okiemon]

The only sport that can truly support this much travel is football. As has been said by many, football should have been split apart from the NCAA and form their own association. I would have taken the teams from the Power 5 and Notre Dame and maybe a few teams from Group of 5. You could have divided into 4 conferences/regions and had top 2 from each automatically qualify for 12 team playoff.

You’re right, but it’s not only in financial terms that only football can support this much travel. Think about it: a football team has 6, maybe 7 away games a year? And for those, they travel out on Friday, play on Saturday, and travel home on Sunday; back in class on Monday. But what about the volleyball team if it has a Tuesday night game on the opposite coast and another away game on the weekend? You can manage some of that with clever scheduling, but the student-athletes are the ones who’ll pay the price. The football-only leagues are the way to go.

 

[cpf2001]

If you are successful at any level, you can get interest. Look at ND St and James Madison in FCS. They had strong fan interest even though they weren't play Division 1 football. If we are not part of the Big 2 but can be a winning program, we can keep fan interest. But it definitely becomes more of a local GT fan base versus anything on a regional or national scale. In reality getting rid of the Top 40ish programs to national leagues might make football more enjoyable for the remainder since they will be potentially competing on a more level playing field.

I agree with this but I’m not sure it helps the Big10/SEC enough to keep them in their current money long-term.

If we are sitting here following GT in the “second division” and GT is doing great at that… does that make us more or less likely to watch a Michigan vs USC game with two teams we don’t care about or live near or ever have a shot to play? Or do we just watch GT and the NFL?

 

[Richard7125]

I agree with this but I’m not sure it helps the Big10/SEC enough to keep them in their current money long-term.

If we are sitting here following GT in the “second division” and GT is doing great at that… does that make us more or less likely to watch a Michigan vs USC game with two teams we don’t care about or live near or ever have a shot to play? Or do we just watch GT and the NFL?

I don't think i'm following your point. I don't have any vested interest in any of the factories, but i will watch Michigan v OSU, Bama v Auburn, UGA v Fl, plus most of the other "big" games. I have a bunch of friends that went to small private schools who are big college football fans. I don't see myself being any different.

 

[forensicbuzz]

If you are successful at any level, you can get interest. Look at ND St and James Madison in FCS. They had strong fan interest even though they weren't play Division 1 football. If we are not part of the Big 2 but can be a winning program, we can keep fan interest. But it definitely becomes more of a local GT fan base versus anything on a regional or national scale. In reality getting rid of the Top 40ish programs to national leagues might make football more enjoyable for the remainder since they will be potentially competing on a more level playing field.

Nobody is tuning in to watch ND St. play JMU outside some hardcore football fans and fans of those schools. It doesn't move the TV needle. Do you think JMU fans or ND State fans have some pet P5 school team they watch? Probably not.

 

[forensicbuzz]

I don't think i'm following your point. I don't have any vested interest in any of the factories, but i will watch Michigan v OSU, Bama v Auburn, UGA v Fl, plus most of the other "big" games. I have a bunch of friends that went to small private schools who are big college football fans. I don't see myself being any different.

I live in B1G territory, with Northwestern's campus 4 miles from my house. I knew the AD and had opportunity to watch many games. I had no interest. I'm a GT fan. The only reason I even check the scores of other games is to see how my team is doing compared to theirs. Otherwise, these are just ho-hum games. Now, I can get caught on Saturday watching some other interesting match-ups, but the quality of the games is far inferior to NFL if you're not vested in one of the teams or aren't just pulling for the underdog against a factory.

 

[cpf2001]

I don't think i'm following your point. I don't have any vested interest in any of the factories, but i will watch Michigan v OSU, Bama v Auburn, UGA v Fl, plus most of the other "big" games. I have a bunch of friends that went to small private schools who are big college football fans. I don't see myself being any different.

For me it’s the reverse. Now, I’m on the west coast, so CFB is less ingrained in the culture, but folks I know who didn’t go to places with D1 football simply don’t care. They’re happy with their NFL and fantasy leagues and have no interest in another league.

My belief is that a fair portion of the money going to the networks and conferences right now has come from the people in those non-SEC/Big 10 regions who are still closely enough connected through their schools to tune into big games. But there’s gonna be fewer and fewer next generation fans with any of those connections, and a shrinking fanbase.

 

[RonJohn]

When I have worked in the West and the Mid-West, the level of interest in college football appears to be much, much lower. I had discussions with a group of people in Chicago, and they were talking about the NFL. People who graduated from Michigan and Ohio State. When I told them that I pay more attention to NCAA football than NFL, they made comments about forgetting that people in the South really pay attention to college football.

I think many people in the South don't understand that college football doesn't carry the same weight in the rest of the country. Even high school football in the South is extremely important culturally. It isn't that way all across the country.

 

[MusicalBuzz]

I think many people in the South don't understand that college football doesn't carry the same weight in the rest of the country. Even high school football in the South is extremely important culturally. It isn't that way all across the country.

Not to nitpick.. but CFB carries enough weight across the country that ESPN and others are laying $20/50M a year per school in the P5 conferences. And schools are often paying $5/10M per year for their head coach, plus millions more to the rest of the football programs!

 

[Root4GT]

Not to nitpick.. but CFB carries enough weight across the country that ESPN and others are laying $20/50M a year per school in the P5 conferences. And schools are often paying $5/10M per year for their head coach, plus millions more to the rest of the football

Not to nitpick.. but CFB carries enough weight across the country that ESPN and others are laying $20/50M a year per school in the P5 conferences. And schools are often paying $5/10M per year for their head coach, plus millions more to the rest of the football programs!

Having lived in Kansas, California and Washington State my experience is the populations are not nearly as interested in College football as people in the South.

 

[cpf2001]

If I was the SEC and Big 10 my concern would be “if the reckless spending of the streaming wars is coming to a close and cable is fading fast, will people still be willing to spend that much on us if the sport’s national footprint continues to shrink.”

Even the smaller conferences were getting bigger and bigger deals, right up until they weren’t anymore.

 

[Vespidae]

Not to nitpick.. but CFB carries enough weight across the country that ESPN and others are laying $20/50M a year per school in the P5 conferences. And schools are often paying $5/10M per year for their head coach, plus millions more to the rest of the football programs!

The NFL media rights are $10 billion a year. That’s what this whole realignment is about. Create matchups that average the low end of an NFL broadcast and renegotiate an expanded and more generous conference contact.

 

[Oldgoldandwhite]

Ha Ha. Many of us won't be here in 20 years.

Preach it.

 

[stech81]

I think many people in the South don't understand that college football doesn't carry the same weight in the rest of the country.

So if I weigh 250 in Georgia how much would I weigh in the North?

 

[bobongo]

So if I weigh 250 in Georgia how much would I weigh in the North?

235. There's less gravity way up north. And no pecan pie...

 

[Techwood Relict]

So if I weigh 250 in Georgia how much would I weigh in the North?

I'll go 265, you'll want more insulation for the longer winter.....

 

[Richard7125]

When I have worked in the West and the Mid-West, the level of interest in college football appears to be much, much lower. I had discussions with a group of people in Chicago, and they were talking about the NFL. People who graduated from Michigan and Ohio State. When I told them that I pay more attention to NCAA football than NFL, they made comments about forgetting that people in the South really pay attention to college football.

I think many people in the South don't understand that college football doesn't carry the same weight in the rest of the country. Even high school football in the South is extremely important culturally. It isn't that way all across the country.

Kind of makes you wonder who has the best overall strategy – the SEC or Big10. Some on here have been advocating for expanding out West without realizing people out West don’t have the same passion for CFB as the South.

Personally, I think the Big10 made some mistakes with the 4 west coast schools. USC/UCLA are big enough brands and they may be able to pull their weight, but I think that was more a reaction to the SEC getting Texas and Oklahoma. USC was simply the biggest, semi available name left on the board and UCLA was a complement.

 

[Richard7125]

The revenue growth in CFB will be in streaming. Give me the South/Southwest where everybody and their brother worships high school and college football. They will pay to stream their god. The west and mid-west - maybe, maybe not.

 

[MusicalBuzz]

The NFL media rights are $10 billion a year. That’s what this whole realignment is about. Create matchups that average the low end of an NFL broadcast and renegotiate an expanded and more generous conference contact.

Agreed. But.. this feels like a math assignment to reply to.. because there are a lot more CFB programs. And, nevertheless, it’s still the same common denominator: greed… and how far can the common populace be squeezed.

 

[Vespidae]

Agreed. But.. this feels like a math assignment to reply to.. because there are a lot more CFB programs. And, nevertheless, it’s still the same common denominator: greed… and how far can the common populace be squeezed.

There won’t be a lot of CFB in the future. Wash St is a good example. I would say, if you don’t get much today, you won’t lose anything but if you have a school heavily dependent on tv revenue… it’s going to be tough sledding. We will see. I would not be surprised to see 30-40 teams drop down to FCS.

 

[SOWEGA Jacket]

Those who say they wont watch the big matchups if GT isn’t a part is just comical to me. We haven’t been in the “club” in a long time yet everyone has been watching the 3 playoff games to hope UGA loses.

Once we get into a 24plus team playoff (whether GT is a part or not) everyone will watch because it’s fun watching upsets. GT hasn’t been in March Madness much lately yet everyone watches for many reasons (upsets, fan of the sport, or gambling).

All we are seeing over this 20 year period is what should have occurred in the 60’s and 70’s which is the sport being made legitimate instead of continuing to be professional wrestling with fake matchups in bowl games and media majors picking the National Champ. It has been a farce my entire life and even smart fans have bought the BS of “pageantry” and “tradition”. Yeah, I love that tradition of getting to play powerhouses like Duke and Virginia every year. And then when we win enough games to be given the prestigious honor of playing in a corrupt bowl system we get to go the football hotspots of places like Detroit.

The sport will be much better when all this shakes out as all teams will have a chance to prove their worth on the field instead of bogus years like this upcoming season when we already know which 12 will produce the 4. Why? Because they continue to allow opinions thru polls to influence the top 25. UGA will have to lose 4 games to fall out of the top 25. Meanwhile you’ll have 2 loss teams who never get ranked because they aren’t “deemed” worthy in August. I can‘t wait for the money guys to take over from the NCAA.