I would rather they start their own and crush ESPN in about a minute.
Big-12 / Pac-12 possible merger
- Thread starter bgprest
- Start date
I would rather they start their own and crush ESPN in about a minute.
Cyclonepride
Thought Police
ESPN would not be a good purchase. They're on the hook for too much money (see the purge they had a year or two ago).
So to you, "fairly well documented" means blindly repeated by drive by sports "journalists".
Dude Atanasoff was Einstein smart!
I think you are looking down the road too far. The last conference expansion took place 2012, so basically 10 years ago. The SEC has that type of window and beyond before they can get the ACC teams out of their GOR's and bring them into the league.
So we have a ten year window until all hell breaks lose. How does this effect ISU is totally out of our hands.
Right now we have no clue what the Big 10 or the Pac 12 wants to do, I get the feeling the Big 10 would like to nab the ACC teams but they are locked in for at least another decade, along with ND.
They have floated this idea of taking 2-6 teams from the Pac 12, but so far no action on that, plus they have floated the idea of just scheduling 2 games a year between the conferences. If this occurs then at least the Big 10 might hold back and see what happens in the future and do nothing now.
The Pac 12 is totally different, their TV ratings and money distribution is horrible, they may be thinking we need to enlarge the conference, grab the best teams out there from the Big 12 while they are still on the market and try to relaunch the Pac 12 network with least 4 to 6 teams in the Central time zone. Enlarging the footprint of the league so we do not loose our best teams to the Big 10.
If they chose this path, that puts pressure on the Big 10 to go first, realizing that the Pac 12 schools are now off the table, they then pivot to KU and ISU, only AAU schools left or if not and the Pac 12 and Big 12 remaining school merge they are left with nothing until the ACC GOR runs out and then they are battling the SEC for those same teams, all the while losing the ratings game for the past decade.
Agree completely as to the sequence of events. But, in the end, I'd be more comfortable with Amazon being the backer. Amazon's financial model is already built to extend well into the future. Whereas the Disney model is based on huge expenses to obtain their gains. Consequently, they're (ie Disney) subject to more dramatic shifts. CFB is, basically, a free product to produce and only requires 'marketing' expertise/costs to expand it's 'product' and thus viewership.
I think a B12/PAC12 scheduling alliance eliminates BYU as a potential expansion candidate. Ignoring the religious affiliation angle, I think the PAC12 would see it as an "attack" on their market (pacific and mountain time zones). The whole purpose of a scheduling alliance is for the PAC12 to crack the central time zone and adding BYU (or Colorado State or Boise State) to the B12 impacts those peak viewership hours for the PAC12.
I would love to see the B12 get back to 12 teams so all B12/PAC12 teams can pair up for a non-con game in football and basketball every year. One thought I had was that the B12 & PAC12 could each host a 6-game basketball event every year. B12 could host it in KC and PAC12 could host in Vegas (site of the PAC12 conference tournament). Or, expand it to 4 sites and do 3 games per site and have it rotate, so cities like Seattle, OK City, Portland, San Antonio, even Des Moines could host. That's going to drum up a lot of business for the local economies and help grow the brands of B12 out west and PAC12 in the midwest. KU, UCLA, Baylor, AZ playing basketball in Vegas over a weekend would draw a ton of business. The media would love UCLA-KU.
I would love to see the B12 get back to 12 teams so all B12/PAC12 teams can pair up for a non-con game in football and basketball every year. One thought I had was that the B12 & PAC12 could each host a 6-game basketball event every year. B12 could host it in KC and PAC12 could host in Vegas (site of the PAC12 conference tournament). Or, expand it to 4 sites and do 3 games per site and have it rotate, so cities like Seattle, OK City, Portland, San Antonio, even Des Moines could host. That's going to drum up a lot of business for the local economies and help grow the brands of B12 out west and PAC12 in the midwest. KU, UCLA, Baylor, AZ playing basketball in Vegas over a weekend would draw a ton of business. The media would love UCLA-KU.
The ACC GOR makes it difficult for Clemson, FL State, etc. to move to another conference. But egos are big and the premier ACC schools aren't going to sit by for 10 years and let the SEC or Big10 make 100% more than the ACC in media rights.
IMO the break-up of the Big12 was part of a strategic play by ESPN to free up a few hundred million dollars to redistribute to the SEC, but more importantly the ACC. I can't blame them because the ACC states enjoy population growth. Also ACC Basketball is critical to ESPN college basketball brand.
IMO there will be a round of consolidation with the 2023-2025 round of media rights negotiations, the Big12 eight and some Pac12 schools could be part of that. If I had a crystal ball, IMO the 2035 media rights renewals will be BLOODY and that's when we see an NFL-lite with around 30 schools. There will be no other way for UT, OU, Bama, GA, etc. to make exponential media rights gains.
This may be false hope. More than likely it is. But I see the PAC12/BIG10 letting things shake out. They see the fight the Big 12 is in with TX and OU and are telling themselves that "nope I'm gonna keep my mouth shut and let this die down for a while." Or maybe just possibly they are banking on Iowa State winning the Big 12 in Football and Kansas winning the Big 12 in Basketball and then smiling at the SEC when they extend an offer.
......or maybe I'll just keep telling myself that.
......or maybe I'll just keep telling myself that.
Cyclonepride
Thought Police
There's a ton at stake, so there's no question that they are behind the scenes planning and negotiating for the future (collectively, as a conference, apparently), but they have to let the OU/UT negotiations finalize before showing their hands, as that's a lot of money that could defray some of the losses going forward.
Besides the legal stuff, not much the Big 12 can do but wait. The Pac-12 is waiting on the Big 10 for a scheduling alliance / merger. The Big 12 is waiting on the Pac-12. The AAC is waiting on the Big 12. The Mountain West is waiting on the AAC. And so on.
More smoke or at least publications talking about it
Okay so if this happened how valuable would it be? Same money we currently make or a 5 million bump per school?
I actually like the scheduling alliance idea for football even if they stay at 8 teams... Each of the 8 would play 3 games vs. the PAC, each PAC team would play 2 games vs. the "B8" (the math would work 24 total games, 3x8, 2x12). So, even with no change to members you could do this. Given you would only have 7 conf games, adding 3 games vs. the PAC would help a lot. I would also add a football only scheduling arrangement with byu similar to the one the acc has with ND.
The key for the "B8" is to increase the value of their inventory when ou/tx are no longer on the schedule. They need to play games that will be watched and position themselves to get a spot in the playoff. I don't think (could be wrong) any of the remaining teams are part of a strategic add for the other power conferences. But they could be added to get to the "right number" ... for example, in the next round of conference / brand consolidation, if the number is "20" maybe ISU gets added ... to a conference that is picking up a few brand name schools and wants to get to an even number (tamu + mizz).
There may be a period where we need to prove we are the best of the rest. Every team in the "B8" will be in that same position. It will be important to build a scheduling alliance that maximizes value. That means tv ratings, and playing / winning on the biggest stage in CFB. Do that, and you have a shot at getting picked up in a 48 team "power division"... assuming that's where we go in then next 5 to 10 yrs.
At this point, I'm all for just a straight merger of the PAC and the remaining 8 rather than some scheduling thing. Is it as ideal as us going to the Big 10? No, but it seems much more likely. Also, at this point in time, I'm just more concerned about being in the club rather than out of it in order to align us best for the next big shift in college athletics. If this thing is all going to end in a big 64 team league, being in is more key to me than being on the fringe with some scheduling deal.
Cyclonepride
Thought Police
"The merging part has us very interested.
A full merger of the Big 12 and Pac-12 would create a 20-team conference with schools in every major U.S. time zone, something no other conference has.
That would make it unique and potentially pretty valuable in the ever-important TV contract discussions for conferences."
Intriguing concept. Worth pondering. Could tweak some details, such as number of games at each site and locations, but it has possibilities.
The B1G offers financial stability and better geography for the fans but I just can't get excited about being in the same conference as Nebraska and Iowa. Our recent brand and success has been built outside of the shadow of those two. Geography just doesn't matter for the major sports anymore. Some kind of alternative may have to be found for minor sports if we spread this thing across four time zones.
