Randy would B*tch at amazing and free seats for the best basketball tournament not named March Madness
Realignment Megathread (All The Moves)
- Thread starter ISUcyclones11
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The daily Des Moines Register only has 33k subscribers, (55k for Sunday only). And they don't all read the sports pages generally or Randy Petersen in particular. I don't know what CF's numbers are, but it wouldn't be crazy to think we're approaching a point where Jared Stansbury's writing for a site like CF has more practical media clout than the DMR.
I really don’t think Duke has the value some people think. If the big ten gets UNC they don’t really need duke unless basketball all of a sudden adds far more value then it currently does. With the ACC schools being locked in for awhile Duke has to show that it was more than coach K to have any real value and even then it’s a tough sell.
We’ve got to be past that mark. CW has more twitter followers than Hines and Randy combined. Jared has more than Hines. Just an example of reach.
At some point it seems like it would make sense for the register to just pay a site like CF to mirror some of their coverage.
Maybe. Aggregation of content has been a big part of the evolving model on the news side ever since the early 90's. No reason a dedicated content producer like CF couldn't do that for them. But a savvy consumer would know that they don't need the DMR at all to get that content also. So they probably can't pay enough to make it worth CF's trouble.
I would only entertain it if it meant cutting Randy and Hines without benefits or severance.
It will be interesting if Yormark's push to value basketball takes legs. But he might be too far ahead of the curve. I have a feeling college hoops true valuation won't be scratched until after the CBS deal for the tournament goes out to open bid, which is after the Big10 & Big12's next deal.
Will also be interesting if FOX decides to be more aggressive promoting college hoops. Currently, they are pretty far behind ESPN. But with Big10, Big East and now Big12 hoops content, they could value a strong basketball school like Duke to grow the FOX basketball brand.
The other couple points are- the Big10 & SEC probably have to end up at an even # of teams, so they might have to make a compromise on team 22 or 24. And obviously, landing Notre Dame and their elite value gives the Big10 some flexibility to take less media value school like Stanford, Duke Georgia Tech or BC to add a school with elite academics or a valued media rights market (SF, Atlanta, Boston).
I think it’s pretty apparent that Fox is going hard in to CBB. Also media companies are looking at the NBA rocket ship and seeing that BBall is money.
It's not unthinkable but I'm just not sure it's ever going to come anywhere near the value of college football. As a teen in the 80s, college basketball was WAY more attractive and relevant than it seems today. Maybe it was because of my age. But also could be that the best players in the country were still playing college basketball, unlike now where they go straight to the NBA or only play one year of college. I remember those Georgetown v. Syracuse games, those Ewing v. Sampson matchups, those Phi Slamma Jamma and UNLV teams... they were legit, marquis, appointment TV viewing. Today's game just lacks that.
The one and done or now straight to the G league really has hurt the quality of CBB but has increased the level of parity. Sadly this hasn’t really led to increased rankings. Duke UNC the other night barely broke 2.5 mill viewers and was the second highest rated game this season. Earlier in the same day Michigan/Indiana (a team not going to the tournament and a very mediocre Indy team) got 2.2 mil. That not a good look for Duke when trying to add value or for CBB as a whole.
Academics? Endowment? Prestige? They don't add football brand or incremental TV markets vs UNC - which is the money part of the equation.
But agree, unless they just flat out need one more team to make an even number, doesn't make sense.
How is basketball not valued closer to football. The season is a touch longer, or at least as long. With way more games and way more schools. The tournament is way more viewed than bowl games. Seems like the money should be there. Then schools like KU and Duke become way more valuable.
Also, I've seen people talking about KU wanting to leave. Not sure why when they only excel at basketball and are/have been in the best basketball conference.
Also, I've seen people talking about KU wanting to leave. Not sure why when they only excel at basketball and are/have been in the best basketball conference.
I saw last week where NBA Players Association was likely to agree to an 18 year-old age threshold. The impact will be interesting. I could see the top 15-25 HS players choosing the NBA/G-League option if the NBA makes it attractive from a development standpoint.
But that might be good for college sports if the players who choose college hoops end up sticking around 2 or 3 years. I agree that is the element missing in college hoops. As a fan I have less knowledge to rosters outside the Big12. There was a time when I knew Duke, UNC, UCLA, Indiana, MSU, etc. rosters pretty well and followed other teams players, not so much the last 20-25 years.
Most of the value for the tournament is held by the NCAA. The conferences get some of it, but not enough for it to be a huge factor for them in deciding membership.
It wouldnt surprise me if at some point the power conferences start their own thing. They could run it the same way, just not distribute it around as broadly as the NCAA does
Should mention Duke is also a mediocre team and UNC is also not going to the tournament
But if they change the distribution it may weaken the have-nots and weaken the product. People need to stop changing what works well like they are doing to football.
That and viewership levels just aren't the same. Very few college hoops games get more than 1M views. Advertisers pay based on how many people watch a game. With 50% of hoop games on weekday nights, where 40+ games are competing against each other during a 4 hour window on M-Th nights.
