UNC AD Bubba Cunningham is an Ambassador of the CST Initiative along with multiple B12 ADs. His goal is to reincarnate an old school 10 team ACC. And I hope he is successful along with reincarnation of other 10 team conferences.
Realignment Megathread (All The Moves)
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I am not laughing at you but laughing at the idea that the CST will ever happen let alone get off the ground.
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Some form of it will eventually happen. The Feds aren't going to allow 25-30 more schools to be financially and competitively relegated, including ISU. As JP recently pointed out, the destruction done to Oregon St and Wazzu wasn't enough to move the needle for intervention.
I don't think you should be laughing at that possibility.
We're headed into a period of unchecked capitalism. They will absolutely allow the market to make that choice and, frankly, they should. There are way too many schools getting big checks so that people can watch other teams play. It might actually help to return some sanity into college athletics.
The "market" isn't making choices for CFB. The market is currently controlled by ESPN and Fox and their rights essentially in perpetuity of the B10 and SEC. Because of the existing fragmentation of P4 and CFP TV rights, millions of dollars are being left on the table. Exhibit A being the absurdity of ESPN being the sole bidder for the recent CFP extension, the 2nd most valuable USA TV rights property behind the NFL. That sure as hell wasn't market driven.
The "market" is headed down a path in the 2030 timeframe of additional consolidation within ESPN/SEC and Fox/B10, massive reductions in TV payouts for whoever is left out (including ISU) and keeping other deep pocketed producers out of the CFB/CFP space. I don't why you would characterize that as "sanity", it is outright destruction as seen already with Oregon St and Washington St.
The only rational fix is to downsize conferences into 7 10-team entities and aggregate all TV rights and bid them out NFL style so that new bidders like Netflix (coming off big NFL ratings), Amazon, CBS/Paramount (with new Ellison family money) and Comcast/NBC can get all get access to some of the CFP rights and drive up their interest in regular season content. Then implement a revenue sharing mechanism where 75%-80% of the revenue pie is shared equally and 20%-25% is allocated based on TV ratings. Ohio St will make more money in that scenario but I am sure Fox and their puppet consultants are telling them otherwise.
None of that last paragraph is going to happen no matter how many ADs/Retired TV execs/etc want it to. That cat it out of the bag.
Washington State and Oregon State weren't 'destroyed'. They just ended up at a level more in line with where their budgets/fan support/corporate ad revenue actually lie without being artificially propped up by TV money funneled to them because people wanted to watch SC and Oregon. There is nothing about those two schools that says 'Power League' Institution other than joining up with other state schools before electricity was widely adapted and there were still hitching posts in front of every business.
What is the conventional wisdom on this?
Am I an idiot to think the continued existence of the ACC as a “power” conference is good for the Big 12?
If the SEC and Big 10 were to strip it of its “brand name” schools wouldn’t the perception of a P2 be strengthened?
The conference champion bye would almost certainly go away. A 13-0 Big 12 champion is probably still playing a true road game, and a 10-3 champ is going to be sweating the outcome of the MWC, AAC, and Sun Belt title games most years.
Do you have this copied and saved in a word document? I swear I have read this exact same post from you 20x.
Regarding your last paragraph, the powers that be (espn/fox) don’t want that. The big brands don’t want that. So why do you think it will happen? Because they’ll feel sorry for more teams being left out?
I agree with you. A competitive ACC could be good for the B12 in that it maintains the illusion of a P4, and allows the B12 access to the CFP. If the ACC collapses, that’s one less obstacle for a Super League forming.
The other school of thought is that of the Prisoner’s Dilemma. If we don’t kill the ACC, the ACC will kill us.
I go back and forth on which I agree with depending on the day.
Yeah, I get it.
It is still better for ISU to be in a Big 12 competing with the MWC for a playoff spot than in the MWC while KU and and Arizona compete for ACC basketball titles.
Yeah and I will keep posting the same as long as you and others here dismiss the intent of the CST and Rudy/Smash initiatives and don't understand the negative and destructive impact on ISU and potentially 25 other schools if those initiatives don't shake up the status quo of CFB media rights controlled by ESPN and Fox.
And duh, obviously the powers that be (ESPN/Fox) don't want the status quo completely shook up. That is why ESPN and Fox are holding a gun to the head of B10 and SEC Presidents/ADs to not participate in the CST and Rudy/Smash forums hosted by B12 and ACC schools. And that is why JP has publicly stated that Fed intervention of some sort will likely be required to break up the status quo.
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We are not dismissing the intent or initiatives of CST or what the repercussions of the current path is for ISU.
We are questioning of any of it ever happening because the loudest and most powerful voices in the room don’t want that. How confident are you in the actual likelihood hood in fed intervention? I
Claiming Wazzu and Oregon St weren't destroyed by Fox and the B10 is idiotic. It was selective relegation by Fox and the B10 against their wishes and not only their ADs are being destroyed, their relegation has a profound impact on admissions and enrollment. CFB is the only American sport where media rights holders have the power to selectively relegate schools/franchises as they see fit instead of the schools/franchises themselves. And if the path continues at the behest of ESPN and Fox, ISU will be joining them and to endorse that potential relegation for ISU is even more idiotic on your end.
B12 & ACC Presidents/ADs know what is coming and proactively have the wheels in motion to prevent their own schools from getting relegated in the same manner.
I am confident in it if 25-30 more schools are facing destructive relegation and that is the current path. That should move the needle for intervention and those are JP's words, not mine.
Yeah the feds aren’t getting involved man
3 or 4 senators will release strongly worded statements and it'll be gone two days later.
Of course JP WANTS the feds to get involved but the chances of it happening are near zero.
Everybody not in the Big Ten/SEC has already been relegated whether or not they choose to believe or accept it or not.
Spartan is absolutely correct. In fact, the new administration will want as many bad things as possible to happen to as many universities as possible.
Relegated to some extent financially compared to the SEC/B10 but not near to the extent where the majority of existing B12/ACC schools are facing annual payout cuts of 50%-75% starting in 2031 if ESPN and Fox have their way.
25-30 schools facing relegation, many with Republican Senate/House representation including Iowa, will be enough to spur intervention whether it be via anti-trust or other legal avenues, especially when millions are being left on the table due to ESPN/Fox control of the sport for their sole financial benefit. Hell, even Sankey and Pettiti acknowledge the pending anti-trust threat given the attendance of anti-trust lawyers at their recent meetings.
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My room temperature take comes from listening to what they've all been saying for nearly 10 years now...especially the last 3-4 years.
