They already killed the regular season in basketball, it was only a matter of time before they came for football.
Realignment Megathread (All The Moves)
- Thread starter ISUcyclones11
- Start date
Seeding still matters a lot, so does winning the conference. Football every regular season game used to matter. Now if this goes through you will have teams with 4/5 losses getting in if they started the season ranked high enough. Just destroys all stakes outside of rivalry games because just making the playoff is what matters
Unless they have a lot of him field advantage perks all through the playoffs
Ok and? Stadium size doesn’t mean jack when it comes to legit anything. Especially media deals, ratings and results
I’ve said it for a couple years but not with a high degree of confidence but I also think it’s possible that realignment chills for a bit. Unless the big12 and ACC do some kind of merger with the current media deals it doesn’t make a ton of sense to add anyone outside of ND.
UNC and Miami are really the only options out there but UNC is kinda a joke right now and would have to take a deal where their media payout is basically the same as it is now. Might have a little stability but that’s kinda it and very little upside for the big ten (doubt SEC is an option)
I was only talking about their ticket sales, nothing more. I really doubt that Ohio State and a few others are going to be worried about Indiana taking their fans and losing their media coverage.
Indiana was a nice story, I guess we will see if their games are at the top of the rating next season.
Stadium size is a weird thing to obsess about here. Indiana's stadium is the same size as Oregon's. Oregon seems to be doing ok in terms of winning and brand.
This is correct and its of course the main frustration of everyone that isn't in the P2, that isn't OSU, Michigan, Bama, Texas, et al.
If it was up to ESPN they'd have a superleague of 20 teams max, and treat EVERYONE else like something they stepped in. From MSU, Texas Tech, and ISU on down to Georgia State and New Mexico. Because outside of the very very few top brands, everyone else is basically interchangeable.
Not obsessing at all, just pointing out that they are limited to the amount of tickets they can sell because of their stadium size. It took Oregon years to build up the following they have, if Indiana can do it after a couple of seasons, great for them, but I will have to see it to believe it.
These things are cyclical. The bottom 8 will hire better coaches and win from time to time. Check the NFL, bad teams become good all the time.
I will say I think 16 isn't enough. It needs to be 20-24.
And don't forget if you have a "name brand" you will always start at the top and have better chances to weasel your way in at the end than a non-brand that is actually good but had to fight from unranked to make the playoff.
Ahhh got ya, yeah ticket sales will never catch up even if they hike the prices up. I don’t think anyone on here was suggesting they are taking their fans but they were the big dogs of the big ten last year for tv ratings both for the regular season, conference championship and playoffs.
OSU’s floor is just way way higher than Indianas no matter what their record or coaching situation is based off their history both current and past
Exactly this. Michigan had about as bad of a season as possible this year (kinda last year too) without being a total Penn state level collapse and despite all that with a 24 team playoff they would be in. Just makes almost the entire regular season meaningless.
Gonna have to have home field advantage for basically every round but the semis to make up for it just to give teams things to play for
With donors like this, I wouldn't count them out.
Mark Cuban says he funded Fernando Mendoza’s NIL deal at Indiana
Mendoza went on to win the Heisman Trophy and led the Hoosiers to a 16-0 season and a national championship.
www.nytimes.com
This intrigues me because I thought Cuban still had a piece of the Mavs and then he couldn’t donate directly to NIL as an owner. Maybe it’s just majority owner or something. Gotta dig into that oneWith donors like this, I wouldn't count them out.
Mark Cuban says he funded Fernando Mendoza’s NIL deal at Indiana
Mendoza went on to win the Heisman Trophy and led the Hoosiers to a 16-0 season and a national championship.
LOL that stadium size/fans at games is a measure of popularity or fan base. Oregon's stadium holds 54,000. Think they have no reach?
I was pretty sure he sold his ownership stake? Which is why they *holds back vomit* traded Luka Doncic...
My point is just that the Big 10’s value is derived mostly from maybe 30% of the membership, but the rest of the league is interchangeable with Big 12 and ACC schools. They’re just lucky financially.
Last edited:
The prevailing thought by many that Cuban bankrolled the majority of IU's team last season was incorrect. He only directly supported Mendoza upon being requested which obviously was significant. And last season was Pre-House so there were essentially no restrictions on what he could do.
Last edited:
Which is why they squirm with fallacies on unequal revenue sharing. And the Duke deal represents a new form of unequal revenue sharing.
ESPN acting in essence as a brokerage, gobbling up bundled rights and selling them à la carte at a premium may serve as an interim step until streaming gets mature in how to make money of billions in rights. Fits with ESPN DTC plans to a degree.
