Realignment Megathread (All The Moves)

[Nolaeer]

Theoretically, what would have happened if NW, Iowa, Purdue, Rutgers and maryland told ohio state, michigan, PSU and espn no. We dont want UCLA, USC oregon or washington. deal killer.

OTOH, what if gators say no to fsu and miami, and says it will leave if theyre taken anyway? Does the SEC call gator's bluff?

my point is can a school or group of nonblood schools have stopped the madness?

 

[GoHawks]

It is if the offer is 4-4-2-2 and we either get it our four or we walk and form our own league. Everything I have read says that the SEC and B10 want four guaranteed spots in the new 14 team playoff. I would guess the ACC and B12 will give them that if they also get at least 2 spots out of the 14.

4-4-2-2 seems like it'd be fair most years but not always and I think it'll start getting to point of devaluing regular season imo.

 

[Cloneon]

Theoretically, what would have happened if NW, Iowa, Purdue, Rutgers and maryland told ohio state, michigan, PSU and espn no. We dont want UCLA, USC oregon or washington. deal killer.

OTOH, what if gators say no to fsu and miami, and says it will leave if theyre taken anyway? Does the SEC call gator's bluff?

my point is can a school or group of nonblood schools have stop the madness?

With the current structure of conferences, yes. But, at the risk of a lower media contract when next negotiated. I see the only way this whole restructuring stops is that the B1G/SEC restructure the NCAA and all Px schools into divisions where the blue bloods still have the fighters' odds to get into a mega playoff.

 

[GoHawks]

Theoretically, what would have happened if NW, Iowa, Purdue, Rutgers and maryland told ohio state, michigan, PSU and espn no. We dont want UCLA, USC oregon or washington. deal killer.

OTOH, what if gators say no to fsu and miami, and says it will leave if theyre taken anyway? Does the SEC call gator's bluff?

my point is can a school or group of nonblood schools have stopped the madness?

It would take a big big unified collective of those non bluebloods and I just can't see it.

 

[jctisu]

It would take a big big unified collective of those non bluebloods and I just can't see it.

Not really as the votes would be there if they wanted it. But in this greedy world ain’t no way those schools are turning down the paycheck to use some common sense and what’s good for the sport. Those schools together have voting power but they aren’t going to upset the apple cart and stop the gravy train they are on to protect the sport at its most important level. Money is and always will be king in this country and for these people.

 

[GoHawks]

Not really as the votes would be there if they wanted it. But in this greedy world ain’t no way those schools are turning down the paycheck to use some common sense and what’s good for the sport. Those schools together have voting power but they aren’t going to upset the apple cart and stop the gravy train they are on to protect the sport at its most important level. Money is and always will be king in this country and for these people.

Yes that's my thoughts exactly

 

[2speedy1]

Theoretically, what would have happened if NW, Iowa, Purdue, Rutgers and maryland told ohio state, michigan, PSU and espn no. We dont want UCLA, USC oregon or washington. deal killer.

OTOH, what if gators say no to fsu and miami, and says it will leave if theyre taken anyway? Does the SEC call gator's bluff?

my point is can a school or group of nonblood schools have stopped the madness?

I mean aTm tried to tell the SEC to not take UT. I believe it was a hand shake deal when aTm joined to never take them. Then they pushed to stop it when it did happen, and got nowhere. Sooo, I think you can get the answer there.

 

[StPaulCyclone]

UNC/UVA would add things without overlapping much, FSU to Big Ten or when Texas tries to join Big Ten some day.

It's getting thin. They've already determined they want no good basketball so you can't look at Duke/Uconn or even consider that UNC/UVA is anything but UNC/UVA football.

These conferences not caring about basketball is why the Big 12 is now a super conference with 50% of the top ten, it was really close to 60% of the top ten had we pulled the trigger on UConn. If either cared about basketball they could have added now geographically contiguous Arizona and got a top ten basketball program in a new valuable market.

The SEC cares and has made a concerted effort to improve basketball and it’s shown up the last couple of years. They currently have the most ranked teams in the AP preseason poll, IIRC.

 

[StPaulCyclone]

I only watch ISU and other Big 12 games and that's pretty much it. I'm in no way trying to "send a message" of any kind. It's just that I love ISU first and foremost and I love the Big 12. Outside of that, I really don't have any interest in other conferences, big or small. It's just my own personal preference I guess.

Ive always watched all B12. The last couple of years I’ve made a point not to watch big and sec. Why would I want to support those conferences given what they are doing to college athletics. I will watch some other conferences, Army, Navy, etc..

 

[Gonzo]

If you're not watching this WNBA Finals game, you're missing out.

 

[CycloneDaddy]

If you're not watching this WNBA Finals game, you're missing out.

Like the Lynx missing layups.

 

[Gonzo]

Like the Lynx missing layups.

Your girl Carleton just took Breanna to the hole and scored a huge shot to pull them within 2.

 

[Big_Sill]

Without question, there's a risk of a SEC/B1G super league. The NFL steers the success/failure of any league which could undermine either their plans to expand or plans to slot games. And while monetary gains are more immediately rewarded to execs in the media, university presidents are an altogether different animal. I see the presidents as more skeptical of a super league and more confident of the status quo. My gut says we don't see the emergence of a league born from the SEC/B1G. Now, a complete overhaul league with all current Px schools into more reasonable geographic regions is more palatable. Just an opinion.

I have yet to see university presidents, academics, endowments, board of regents, stadium size, state legislators, governors… ect matter in any of this.

 

[Clonehomer]

The question is does Fox and ESPN want to form an NFL light super league and if so, how many teams are they going to take in the league. Both networks have contracts that run for 5 to 10 years out to broadcast games from both the ACC and B12, so are they going to walk away or buyout the remaining years of those deals to set up this super league? I really doubt it.

The B10 and SEC are going to use their clout to enlarge the playoff to 14 teams and then get 4 from each league guaranteed each season, but that would also leave 2 each for the ACC and B12. Any more than 4 from the two leagues is where it gets dicey and the other two leagues could call their bluff.

This is where the networks may start to diverge. Fox and NBC only have one or two slots to fill. So they would benefit from a smaller conference to have the bigger names play each other more often. The bigger the league, the more watered down it becomes and you have fewer marquee games every week.

ESPN needs more games to fill their timeslots across 3 channels and support ESPN+. If the Big12/ACC alliance moves to a streaming route with a P2 split, their model falls apart pretty quickly. This means and they’ll prefer to expand that super league to increase the volume of content. This would put them at odds with the networks.

 

[Clonehomer]

4-4-2-2 seems like it'd be fair most years but not always and I think it'll start getting to point of devaluing regular season imo.

The 4-4-2-2 proposal will also show how much clout ND still has. That could be a problem for them as it only leaves one at large bid. They’d potentially need to be in the top 8 or so to make the CFP.

But, I’m sure there will be some ******** where the SEC decides that ND can earn the G5 spot somehow.

 

[State2015]

Has anyone done a deep dive into TV ratings for the 2024 season?

I know the Big 12 gets secondary TV slots, but how are we performing versus other years and against the ACC?

College Football TV Ratings

College football TV ratings for the 2024 regular season, bowls, College Football Playoff and National Championship.

www.sportsmediawatch.com

Seems like the Big 12 After Dark is doing well by this and others not so much..

I’ve been paying attention every week and boy is it a really bad look for the Big 12 as much as I hate it. Granted this is a down year and KSU, OSU, and Utah all had early losses, but the B12 is doing terribly in the ratings if you take out the Deion circus.

Not a great sign when a primetime night game is being out-viewed by multiple network games and this has been happening all year

 

[cykadelic2]

I’ve been paying attention every week and boy is it a really bad look for the Big 12 as much as I hate it. Granted this is a down year and KSU, OSU, and Utah all had early losses, but the B12 is doing terribly in the ratings if you take out the Deion circus.

Not a great sign when a primetime night game is being out-viewed by multiple network games and this has been happening all year

The real diluters for the B12 are the commuter school games like UCF/UC drawing 280K on ESPN2 this past Saturday in the 2:30 slot.

 

[ClubCy]

Just look at this lineup for ESPN in the only 3 timeslots.

AUB/MIZZ
BAMA/Tenn
UGA/Texas

You’re probably looking at nearly 20 million viewers in just those 3 games. This is what Fox should and probably will want to model.

The SEC and ESPN are writing blank checks and Fox will do this as well I assume.

It was brilliant by ESPN and perfectly marketed over the past 16 years.

 

[State2015]

The real diluters for the B12 are the commuter school games like UCF/UC drawing 280K on ESPN2 this past Saturday in the 2:30 slot.

I agree that’s not good, but look back and try to find the highest-rated B12 game that doesn’t include Colorado each week. Just zero big draws. I know that will change but we’re off to a bad start

 

[Cyclonsin]

I agree that’s not good, but look back and try to find the highest-rated B12 game that doesn’t include Colorado each week. Just zero big draws. I know that will change but we’re off to a bad start

I agree with your point as a whole, but do we know it will change?

I know our competition hasn't been very eye popping in our games thus far, but our ratings this season are decidedly meh despite being on great networks at good times. Sure, we've nearly always had stiff competition on other networks in our time slot, but will that ever not be the case going forward?