They're short sighted morons. Hoping someone is the adult in the room and holds these ass hats accountable.
After much thought, my best-case, realistic realignment scenario.
- Thread starter jakemcilroy
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ND is now playing 6 games in the ACC, so half their schedule is already locked up. They have yearly games with Navy, USC and Stanford, thereby locking in another 9. They are the one school everyone wants on their schedule, therefore they can fill those other 3 games with ease.
ISU would have to use the MW or the AAC to get a half season schedule, and some place to put their other sports, going totally independent would never work with ISU, take a look at BYU's football schedule, they have 5 Pac 12 schools, along with Baylor and Virginia and Boise, ISU would never get schools to play them to set up such a schedule.
And not one against an SEC team. My point was merely, if the SEC had their way entirely EVERYONE would be in a conference because the playoff selection would be finite enough where playing Notre Dame doesn't help.
ND played Georgia a home and home a few years ago, they have a home and home set up with Texas aTm in 2024/25, they play Arkansas in 2028, and Alabama in 2029 and 2030.
Future Notre Dame Football Schedules | FBSchedules.com
IMO, the SEC's "plan", at this point, is speculation built upon speculation, built upon guesses built upon rumors.
Agree, BUT I don't see SEC's plan including this after the current contracts. It doesn't make sense when they increase their conference size to enough to even 'suggest' the league they're shooting for.
100%. And I trust this is JP's focus.
All this other blabber about ND, UCF, BYU is just nonsense. But great for CF. Keep those record setting clicks coming boys!
JP’s focus is actually getting us in the B1G at a 2x payout share, so it’s blabber to talk about anything else. Just clicks!
Yes, it is depressing. I am depressed.
But I bring scenarios, not because I disagree with your point about the B10 and P12, but because wishing it happens does not make it happen. There is zero doubt our first desire should be the B10. What if they do not want us? Other than time zone, what do we provide the P12? Do we generate more $ than we cost? I do not know. I just think JP better have plans A, B, C and D. At the right time I trust he will.
Last year though the PACs problem was a combination of few games being played and nobody rising to the top. Had USC beat Oregon and been 6-0 that would’ve been a different story.
Now would a PAC and new Big 12 struggle to get bids vs the SEC, Big and ACC? Sure. And realistically based on strength of teams I would think one each is all the PAC and new Big 12 will get, and that would be fine with me. Hell I’d be thrilled if the new conf got their champ in and had zero chance of an at large. I could see a typical year being:
-4 SEC
-2 Big 10
-2 ACC
-2 additional between SEC, BIG, ACC
-PAC champ
-Big 12 champ
Hell, I’d propose Autobids as follows, letting the conferences decide their criteria for granting them:
- 3 SEC
-2 BIG
- 2 ACC
- 1 PAC
- 1 Big 12
-2 at large
It prohibits government travel. I would be curious if university travel applies. Additionally, if California schools Athletic Departments are funded with outside (non university) monies, the the law may not apply. ISU doesn't receive university funding.Basics here. (It doesn't prohibit travel using private funding sources)
California bans government travel to states with laws deemed discriminatory to LGBTQ people
The new states added to the sanctions list are Florida, Montana, West Virginia, Arkansas and North Dakota, according to California Atty. General Rob Bonta.www.latimes.com
It the law would be applicable, a lot of nice bowl locations are taboo. Curious if the states restricted by CA take reciprocal action.
One thing to note about schools like Houston, Cincy, Memphis and even UConn is their athletic Departments are significantly subsidized by their university. I think the last figure I saw for Houston was the AD received $40M+ subsidy.I completely disagree with this. Yes, those are two of the best options (along with a surprise ACC invite) but Iowa State football will “survive” and even thrive in as situation where the 8 leftovers stick together and add something like BYU, Houston, Cincinnati, and UCF.
NCAA Finances: Revenue & Expenses by School - USA TODAY
Which are the most profitable college athletic programs in the country? See a ranked listed, including total revenue and expenses. Brought to you by USA TODAY.sports.usatoday.com
Our AD budget is $95M. Those four schools are around $70-75M (BYU is my guess as they don’t appear). The league I just described would lose about $20M in TV revenue and perhaps a bit more in bowl revenue etc. at first. There is no doubt we would be behind the B1G and ACC in money. But we would still have something like $60-70M a year.
Texas already has a budget $130M larger than ours and we have beat them on the field and on the court over the past decade.
A 12-team playoff with autobids for the 6 top conference champs would get our league winner into the playoff pretty much every year. We would be relevant and playing for things that matter.
And hoops? Think about the success Baylor, Tech, Houston, OU have had in March Madness. Plus WVU with Huggins. And did I mention Kansas? That’s still one of the top hoops leagues in the country.
It’s so Chicken Little to say that we can’t “survive” without getting into another league. I’ll still be going to games and watching us play Cincinnati for the chance to get a 9-seed in the CFP if it comes to that.
This is just more capitulation. I would not sign up for 3 guaranteed SEC team bids…no way. Now you may say, “but they have the best teams or the most teams”…if we’re talking about trying to provide more opportunity and access in an effort to save college football, you give 1 auto-bid to all conferences and that’s your playoff. They made their bed with a 16 team meat-grinder…they can live with it, and if their grand conference champion gets beat by the MAC in the playoff…that much sweeter and better for college football.
Now if we go up to 24 like the FCS, maybe then we can talk about additional at-large bids for conferences, or having a selection committee (which has been pointless and a disaster so far). It is this national perception and opinion making that has led to this in the first place. The 4-team playoff was like the Harris poll come to life.
This would be hard to accomplish in a fair world, but ESPN will make sure the Big 12 brand is worse than the AAC’s. They own the AAC’s rights, they won’t be owning ours after all of this.
It’s interesting to note that in May, ESPN and Fox declined preemptive tv contract negotiations (of course the Big 12 had Texas at that table so it’s fair to say there are some clear legal claims that can be made and the Baylor study is the first shot at some “”damages”).
One way for ESPN, Texas, OU to save face and avoid long lasting litigation and make money would be to negotiate an out by doing the following:
Add ISU, KU, OSU and Baylor to the SEC and then have the conference in 4 pods of 5 teams that renew old rivalries. Have ISU, Mizzou, KU, OU and OSU in one pod, UT, Arkansas, Baylor, A&M, and LSU in another Bama, Auburn, ole Miss, MSU, and Vandy with the final pod being Fla, UGA, Kentucky, Tenn and SC.
It would also make the SEC the premier basketball conference with KU, UK and defending Nat’l Champ Baylor.
Then ESPN can get WV to the ACC and negotiate with Fox and the PAC 12 to take KSU and TTU to the PAC-14 or take them and TCU in the AAC with a guarantee to match the current TV payout for those 3 teams through 2030. Then get agreement to increase playoffs to 12 or 16 teams and everybody wins.
One way for ESPN, Texas, OU to save face and avoid long lasting litigation and make money would be to negotiate an out by doing the following:
Add ISU, KU, OSU and Baylor to the SEC and then have the conference in 4 pods of 5 teams that renew old rivalries. Have ISU, Mizzou, KU, OU and OSU in one pod, UT, Arkansas, Baylor, A&M, and LSU in another Bama, Auburn, ole Miss, MSU, and Vandy with the final pod being Fla, UGA, Kentucky, Tenn and SC.
It would also make the SEC the premier basketball conference with KU, UK and defending Nat’l Champ Baylor.
Then ESPN can get WV to the ACC and negotiate with Fox and the PAC 12 to take KSU and TTU to the PAC-14 or take them and TCU in the AAC with a guarantee to match the current TV payout for those 3 teams through 2030. Then get agreement to increase playoffs to 12 or 16 teams and everybody wins.
I'm not sure what you're smoking, but it's clearly working.
Genius move by Oklahoma, Texas, and ESPN. Don't actually breach the Big 12 grant of rights while ESPN works behind the scenes to poach the remaining Big 8 to another conference, Big 8 teams scatter, ESPN, OK, TX owe nothing to a non existent BIG 12. You gotta give them credit for being shrewd. Hate also comes to mind.
Most fun outcome would be to stick together and try to force them to play out to 25 and take their money for the next four years. Pray some options are open to ISU then.
Worst case, BIG 12 schools run for the hills to each his own. This isn't about conferences anymore, it's about ESPN (SEC + AAC) vs Fox (B10 + Pac). Neither network will likely profess to see any value in the remaining Big 8. More likely Fox will look to swing USC + one to the B10 or go for broke and invite all PAC AAU schools.to a new super alliance. Kind of an in your face SEC move. Crystal ball says the conferences will not make any moves not blessed by the networks and it's not about anything a team brings to the field now.
Could be a pause too if the NCAA can get hold of the reins but not likely.
Sucks to be an ISU fan right now, best branding we've ever hand and if crap steamrolls before 25 and they add a 12 team playoff very soon, we are hosed. We just don't have the numbers to move the needle nationally. Hope I am wrong but I kept my nut cup just in case.
Most fun outcome would be to stick together and try to force them to play out to 25 and take their money for the next four years. Pray some options are open to ISU then.
Worst case, BIG 12 schools run for the hills to each his own. This isn't about conferences anymore, it's about ESPN (SEC + AAC) vs Fox (B10 + Pac). Neither network will likely profess to see any value in the remaining Big 8. More likely Fox will look to swing USC + one to the B10 or go for broke and invite all PAC AAU schools.to a new super alliance. Kind of an in your face SEC move. Crystal ball says the conferences will not make any moves not blessed by the networks and it's not about anything a team brings to the field now.
Could be a pause too if the NCAA can get hold of the reins but not likely.
Sucks to be an ISU fan right now, best branding we've ever hand and if crap steamrolls before 25 and they add a 12 team playoff very soon, we are hosed. We just don't have the numbers to move the needle nationally. Hope I am wrong but I kept my nut cup just in case.
Random thoughts on a day too hot to be outside:
-These are disturbing times for the ISU athletic department, but we have flourished in an unstable environment created by an unstable conference whose two flagship members confirmed themselves as insecure jerks and backstabbing liars. Organizationally and culturally, we are well adapted for instability. We've been living with it since 2010. We are anything but entitled and I think it works in our favor. Our leadership is nimble, creative and battle tested. Football and the rest of the athletic department have defied lots of odds and enjoyed unprecedented success over the past decade. When Nebraska left, I never could have imagined us having a top 10 program while they flounder begging for the chance to go to a bowl game. On a purely ROI basis, we have run circles around the "mighty" Texas Longhorns. Five star culture versus five star recruits.
-OU and Texass' move to the SEC was defensive and rash, and in Texas' case a sign of weakness (See Kirk Bohls tweet about Bevo not liking being third best in the league after ISU). In life, most status seekers are insecure. Sure they'll both get a financial windfall, but when has money been a limitation for them? There's no guarantee ESPN's souped-up $EC is going to be the raging success the talking heads think it will be. NBC thought they had a sure fire winner with the Olympics when they signed a long term deal last decade. It isn't quite working out that way. There's a cycle to everything and there's no guarantee the $EC is always going to dominate.
-I am not a pollyanna. The stakes are high and the downside large in this round of re-alignment. This could be a debacle. However, with plenty to lose, but also a higher ceiling than many thought possible, I expect ISU to be bold and creative in trying to find allies to produce a better long term solution. I firmly believe the long term structure that will be in place for ISU and several other FBS teams in five years probably hasn't been articulated in any of the speculation on this site or elsewhere. There are smart and decent people who love the game and are growing tired of this circus. Major disruption is occurring, but the right leadership and cooperation could help birth something stable and viable. My dream is we enter 2030 looking down at Texas and OU, just like we look down at Nebraska now.
-These are disturbing times for the ISU athletic department, but we have flourished in an unstable environment created by an unstable conference whose two flagship members confirmed themselves as insecure jerks and backstabbing liars. Organizationally and culturally, we are well adapted for instability. We've been living with it since 2010. We are anything but entitled and I think it works in our favor. Our leadership is nimble, creative and battle tested. Football and the rest of the athletic department have defied lots of odds and enjoyed unprecedented success over the past decade. When Nebraska left, I never could have imagined us having a top 10 program while they flounder begging for the chance to go to a bowl game. On a purely ROI basis, we have run circles around the "mighty" Texas Longhorns. Five star culture versus five star recruits.
-OU and Texass' move to the SEC was defensive and rash, and in Texas' case a sign of weakness (See Kirk Bohls tweet about Bevo not liking being third best in the league after ISU). In life, most status seekers are insecure. Sure they'll both get a financial windfall, but when has money been a limitation for them? There's no guarantee ESPN's souped-up $EC is going to be the raging success the talking heads think it will be. NBC thought they had a sure fire winner with the Olympics when they signed a long term deal last decade. It isn't quite working out that way. There's a cycle to everything and there's no guarantee the $EC is always going to dominate.
-I am not a pollyanna. The stakes are high and the downside large in this round of re-alignment. This could be a debacle. However, with plenty to lose, but also a higher ceiling than many thought possible, I expect ISU to be bold and creative in trying to find allies to produce a better long term solution. I firmly believe the long term structure that will be in place for ISU and several other FBS teams in five years probably hasn't been articulated in any of the speculation on this site or elsewhere. There are smart and decent people who love the game and are growing tired of this circus. Major disruption is occurring, but the right leadership and cooperation could help birth something stable and viable. My dream is we enter 2030 looking down at Texas and OU, just like we look down at Nebraska now.
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