You have got to be kidding regarding your take on Wazzu and Oregon St.
Their future TV payouts are going to be cut from $35M/yr to $10M or less (likely less) due to the direct actions of Fox and the B10. Both do have some leftover funds to work with due to exit fees and other funds due to the PAC being destroyed.
Not only that, Wazzu has lost their FB and MBB HCs since the PAC was blown up (FB HC Jake Dickert bailed to Wake Forest of all places). Oregon St lost their homegrown FB HC. For players with eligibility left, Oregon St essentially lost their entire WBB roster to transfer after making the Elite 8 last season (including one to ISU). Wazzu has lost elite QBs to the portal for two consecutive seasons due to relegation and inability to competitively pay them. Oregon St did a massive renovation of their FB stadium and are now stuck with the significant attendance and payout cuts to pay for and justify the renovation through no fault of their own. Oregon St has won a couple of CWS in recent years and that program is also facing competitive/financial relegation. Also safe to say both schools are dealing with enrollment and donor decreases as well due to the relegation.
25-30 more ACC and B12 schools face similar consequences due to the ESPN/Fox CFB strangehold. That certainly justifies Congressional or Judicial intervention as JP is suggesting.
Yes, this isn’t good for the Wazzu athletic department.
Like Cal *before* realignment, debt on facilities will be a matter for their Board of Regents to handle (or escalate to their state government). Otherwise they’ll hopefully find their footing to match level of competition to their budget.
Hopefully ISU avoids a similar fate. If not, maybe it’ll happen with a quorum of similarly left behind Big 12 peers so it isn’t quite so disruptive (beyond the exodus of coaches and players in FB and MBB).
So far, so good on the sky falling on enrollment:
CORVALLIS, Ore. – Enrollment at Oregon State University has reached a record for the 28th consecutive year, nearing 38,000 students this fall.
news.oregonstate.edu
So, no. I’m not kidding. The loss of TV revenue has not, and seems unlikely to, destroy those institutions.
Unfortunate circumstances, of course, but I’d be surprised if the government would consider meddling in media contracts as that would almost certainly constitute a regulatory taking.