Realignment Megathread (All The Moves)

[FriendlySpartan]

The entire article about how a P2 conference is not sustainable. We don't know for sure if one super conference will form or not, but there is a real possibility of it occurring. At this point, people should at least admit such a thing could occur, and it's more likely to happen now than it was even 10 years ago.

Yeah man, re read that, it’s legit saying the opposite and how a P2 makes everything else irrelevant. Not that a P2 isn’t sustainable with their media deals, but that’s it’s not sustainable for those outside.

Anything could happen. If you said a decade ago that the LA schools would be in the big ten everyone would have laughed and called you insane.

 

[RezClone]

I had to stop watching when he described Apple as a 23rd century company because they can digitize games and make them available anywhere at the touch of a button.

Wait til this dumb **** discovers YouTube TV, or the internet for that matter.

This might have been my favorite part! As if content on ESPN and Fox is just gone forever unless you remember to set your VCR and record it over that episode of Family Matters where Urkel finally gets Lisa's attention.

 

[HFCS]

Oregon and Washington would win a lot more in the neutered P12 than the B10. And they still left.

Money is undefeated in realignment

You have to think like Texas who thinks money is winning.
We don't. I just don't see a superconference as being a sustainable thing in any way.

Don’t think anyone has ever said texas wouldn’t do crazy/stupid/shortsighted things, it’s the states motto. Big ten will be fine.

With $$$ growth through conference expansion soon virtually impossible Ohio State and Michigan would never dream of a bigger piece than NW?

I can nearly guarantee you Texas, OU and half the SEC will some day. Nebraska loooooooooooooooved unequal revenue sharing in Big 12.

It’s not as impossible as you think.

 

[AuH2O]

Doesn't matter. If you put the most elite 24 or 30 programs/brands into one superconference eventually there's going to be a top half and a bottom half of that superconference and that bottom half will no longer be viewed as elite.

I don't get why people don't understand this. The reason all the big brands still have big viewership numbers late in the year is because the current system is set up to have lots of teams, usually the big brands still playing meaningful games re: the playoff or at least NY6 pretty late in the year. When big brands fall out of contention, their viewership tanks.

8-0 Michigan vs. 7-1 Wisconsin on the strength of the current model that includes FCS, G5 and Big 10 bottom feeders gets a completely different viewer interest than 4-4 Michigan vs. 2-6 Wisconsin after playing a brutal super league schedule.

 

[bosco]

Amazing to me that this Michigan guy blames the NCAA (which has no power over media deals) when it is the freaking fault of Michigan and the BIG.

Yes anyone in the BIG and SEC talking about how sad and wrong realignment has become is like rich people in their big houses that cast shadows on the middle class lots talking about how they feel sorry for for those who can't see the sun.

 

[FriendlySpartan]

You have to think like Texas who thinks money is winning.
We don't. I just don't see a superconference as being a sustainable thing in any way.


With $$$ growth through conference expansion soon virtually impossible Ohio State and Michigan would never dream of a bigger piece than NW?

I can nearly guarantee you Texas, OU and half the SEC will some day. Nebraska loooooooooooooooved unequal revenue sharing in Big 12.

It’s not as impossible as you think.

Nothing is impossible but I don’t see it happening in the big ten, at least not coming from Michigan.

 

[HFCS]

I'll be interested to see how much more media money is out there in the next round of realignment

After next acc round the only $ growth by expansion is the two big boys raising one or the other. Taking bigger pieces of the pie is where it’ll go next.

100% guarantee Texas would join Big Ten some day if the money is right, maybe 5-6 join them. Just hypothetical, they’d do it though.

Just like that the “impossible” of relegating SEC or Big Ten teams isn’t as impossible as some think.

 

[LonelyCyKC]

I used to think the SEC and Big 10 would dissolve and try to do something like this, but I've changed my tune. Now, I never thought it would work, because it wrecks the last product differentiation college football has, but I thought people that ran these ADs were short-sighted enough to run college football in the ground.

I think we're starting to see the acknowledgement that college football isn't a marginally different product from the NFL. It's a significantly different product, and it needs to stay that way.

Weaken college football then you will find that the NFL will be filling the airwaves driving out the colleges.

 

[MugNight]

I know it's never really happened in the past but Georgia Tech is a bit of a sleeping giant.

They had a nice run when Paul Johnson was running the option. Calvin Johnson and Demaryius Thomas were elite WR as well.

I’ve heard that the entrance requirements and rigorous curriculum are a challenge for recruiting top talent. All students have to take Calculus.

Atlanta and its suburbs are a hotbed for HS football, but D1 competition in P5 surrounding programs (UGA, Auburn, Alabama, Tennessee, Clemson, etc) and instate (Ga State, Kennesaw State, and Ga Southern) have hit GT hard.

 

[HFCS]

Nothing is impossible but I don’t see it happening in the big ten, at least not coming from Michigan.

They’re only one vote and I guess they’re a have-not now but Big Ten member Nebraska is why Big 12 didn’t have equal revenue.

 

[RezClone]

The Big 10 is 100% taking Virginia. Idk about Miami but I think them, Florida State, and Clemson go to the SEC. They'll have to bring one more to get to 20 teams but idk who that'll be. Big 12 gets Pitt, NCST, Louisville and VT.

The 10 game schedule the big ten is talking about would be intended to put pressure on ND. The Big 12 would be expected to follow suit, and rightfully so, but that's not really relevant to Notre Dame scheduling.

It's going to get increasingly difficult to ignore ND's weak schedule from a playoff and then a value standpoint when the big ten takes away another natural non-conferernce scheduling fit away from ND.

Not saying it will work, people will still tune in. But believe the big ten is going to try everything it can to drive a wedge between ND and their NBC money and force ND into their evil hypocritical big ten arms.

 

[Gonzo]

After the ACC is destroyed and top brands picked off you, @Gonzo, @FriendlySpartan and others expect Texas to stop looking for more money suddenly?

The ACC is still out there. Once it goes through what Pac just went through the only remaining step is to purge the legacy invites that don’t bring great value.

Legalities prohibit just kicking them out, but I could list at least three easy ways it could actually be done.

Maybe you’re all right though and after a few more moves Ohio State and Texas will start hating money.

I think Texas would be one of the most at-risk programs of becoming a permanent fixture in the bottom half of a "super league" and then run the risk of getting booted from said "super league" because the top half wouldn't want to continue subsidizing a non-elite program. There wouldn't be a lot of money in that.

 

[FriendlySpartan]

Weaken college football then you will find that the NFL will be filling the airwaves driving out the colleges.

They can’t, it’s legit against the law…

 

[HFCS]

The time is one thing. For sure.

My old ass takes a few to get used to the time changes too. Each way.

So Miami flies to Oregon. Long ass flight followed up by a game being played at 10 o'clock for the east coast player's internal clock.

And if we still believe in a student athletic the player needs to hit the books too.

This **** is just out of control

LA to Orlando direct for biz takes out an entire day for me a couple times a year. I don’t even try to plan anything before or after. Return trip is way better and maybe get something done other than flying.

 

[FriendlySpartan]

They’re only one vote and I guess they’re a have-not now but Big Ten member Nebraska is why Big 12 didn’t have equal revenue.

Yep and now when they try to speak up the other schools go tell them to play in the corner with their corn and stfu

 

[SolterraCyclone]

I used to think the SEC and Big 10 would dissolve and try to do something like this, but I've changed my tune. Now, I never thought it would work, because it wrecks the last product differentiation college football has, but I thought people that ran these ADs were short-sighted enough to run college football in the ground.

I think we're starting to see the acknowledgement that college football isn't a marginally different product from the NFL. It's a significantly different product, and it needs to stay that way.

I’ll amend my statement @Gonzo. I think there are ways to prevent a super league from happening, but I believe it is now more likely than not that CFB will go a Super League route.

Here are some ways to halt it in increasingly unlikely order

- B12 remains competitive so that there are too many good teams that pull ratings to make a Super League financially viable
- Fox and ESPN cannot agree on split TV rights on the CFP, which keeps B10 and SEC separate entities
- More media entities willing to pay for college sports coverage (Amazon, Turner, HBO, Netflix, and yes, even Apple) and/or increased investment and available windows in college sports from existing partners (CBS, NBC) to maintain a competitive marketplace
- After defections (whenever that happens) ACC still stays strong enough to maintain a P4 environment
- NFL starts playing on Saturdays depressing networks’ appetite for CFB
- Antitrust action from congress
- Power conferences align that there needs to be holistic oversight on the sport and a commissioner is appointed to oversee college football

 

[FriendlySpartan]

I’ll amend my statement @Gonzo. I think there are ways to prevent a super league from happening, but I believe it is now more likely than not that CFB will go a Super League route.

Here are some ways to halt it in increasingly unlikely order

- B12 remains competitive so that there are too many good teams that pull ratings to make a Super League financially viable
- Fox and ESPN cannot agree on split TV rights on the CFP, which keeps B10 and SEC separate entities
- More media entities willing to pay for college sports coverage (Amazon, Turner, HBO, Netflix, and yes, even Apple) and/or increased investment and available windows in college sports from existing partners (CBS, NBC) to maintain a competitive marketplace
- NFL starts playing on Saturdays depressing networks’ appetite for CFB
- Antitrust action from congress
- Power conferences align that there needs to be holistic oversight on the sport and a commissioner is appointed to oversee college football

NFL can’t play on Saturday’s during cfb it’s against the law

 

[RezClone]

Yep and now when they try to speak up the other schools go tell them to play in the corner with their corn and stfu

play in the corner with their smaller amount of corn produced annually than both Iowa and Illinois* FIFY

 

[HFCS]

I think Texas would be one of the most at-risk programs of becoming a permanent fixture in the bottom half of a "super league" and then run the risk of getting booted from said "super league" because the top half wouldn't want to continue subsidizing a non-elite program. There wouldn't be a lot of money in that.

Super league doesn’t have to happen for this next phase to hit, Texas will just want what they generate vs subsidizing others. Or Big Ten decided they want Texas and offers them more than SEC which Texas takes with no consideration other than money.

It’ll take a break after you crush the ACC, then it is 100% certain to pick back up in various ways.

 

[Gonzo]

They’re only one vote and I guess they’re a have-not now but Big Ten member Nebraska is why Big 12 didn’t have equal revenue.

I don't see the B1G ever going to unequal revenue distribution from their media deal, but I could see the conference adopting a system where the programs that actually generate the $$$ from CFP and top bowl appearances get a bigger cut from that revenue. Which would be fair IMO.