Ross Dellenger report on SEC spring meetings

[StPaulCyclone]

Saw a really interesting clip recently. What we should really be asking is, "What is the net income?" My guess is Iowa State would be much better positioned because of JP's accounting prowess.

I’m sure. My concern is our small donor base means we are lagging behind all of P4. Instead of only complaining about price increases from the AD, we should also be questioning the fans that aren’t contributing financially to the AD. What is else is the AD supposed to do. I know questioning the fanbase is a no go here but based on where we suspect season ticket are, our small donor base is tapped out. Enough excuses, time for more fans to pitch in. This is arguably the greatest time in Cyclones sports history.

 

[Al_4_State]

Pate’s mouth only moves when Sankey’s hand moves.

 

[Frak]

Pate is right. The 4-4-2-2-1 would make the regular season more impactful and make championship weekend better. Plus we would have 2 B12 teams in minimum every year. I just don’t like that it relegates our conference to second class status in perpetuity. Now, if they said 4-4-2-2-1 for three years then revisit, I’d be on board.

My plan would be to have 13 auto bids like the 4-4-2-2-1, but it wouldn’t be set in stone who gets them. At minimum, all P4 conferences get 2 and the G5 gets 1. But, the remaining 4 auto bids are handed out at the beginning of every season based on some kind of power ratings. Yeah, the SEC and B10 will likely usually snap up those 4, but it at least gives the flexibility to allow for the B12 and ACC to move up and take one if they have a bunch of high level teams going into a year.

This gives us the benefits of the AQ model without legislating that those two conferences are at another level indefinitely. Not perfect, but it’s better that the options we have now.

 

[cykadelic2]

My plan would be to have 13 auto bids like the 4-4-2-2-1, but it wouldn’t be set in stone who gets them. At minimum, all P4 conferences get 2 and the G5 gets 1. But, the remaining 4 auto bids are handed out at the beginning of every season based on some kind of power ratings. Yeah, the SEC and B10 will likely usually snap up those 4, but it at least gives the flexibility to allow for the B12 and ACC to move up and take one if they have a bunch of high level teams going into a year.

This gives us the benefits of the AQ model without legislating that those two conferences are at another level indefinitely. Not perfect, but it’s better that the options we have now.

There are some crazy a$$ ideas for the CFP, including multiple conference AQs, but using pre-season power ratings to determine the number of multiple AQs for each conference makes a bad solution even worse.

 

[SolterraCyclone]

The absolute worst case scenario for ISU and the B12 is a playoff with no AQs.

I’m really worried fighting against the 4-4-2-2-1 was cutting off our nose to spite our face

 

[ISUTex]

I disagree with the value of winning the conference bball tourney. The regular season title is a more meaningful accomplishment in P4 hoops.

I would bet there is no P4 fanbase in the country that values the tourney title as much as ISU. Our overperformance in that event and a general affinity in our fanbase for partying in KC for a long weekend overly inflates our view of the value of P4 conference tourneys.

I don't think it's the "big prize" for a season, but it's still an auto bid and a conference championship. Teams can play their way in to the ncaa tourney by winning games in their conference tourney. It isn't any less important than football. I mean, did Ohio St even play in the Big 10 title game in football?

 

[CascadeClone]

There are some crazy a$$ ideas for the CFP, including multiple conference AQs, but using pre-season power ratings to determine the number of multiple AQs for each conference makes a bad solution even worse.

Hey Okie Light would have got in last year! What's the problem?

 

[CascadeClone]

I think it absolutely is.

If the NBA is with 7 billion a year, college football is worth way more than that.

Is it though?

NBA has ~1200 games, plus maybe 90(?) playoff games.
P4 has about 400 games, plus maybe 25 postseason games.

There's a lot of detail in the number of G5 games to add, the fact CFB is 98% only on saturdays, the number of games with <500k viewers (no value), the number of games with 5M+ viewers (big value), etc etc. And I am not gonna excel that today.

But maybe the ~3Bish that CFB is getting isn't that far off.

 

[1SEIACLONE]

I’m sure. My concern is our small donor base means we are lagging behind all of P4. Instead of only complaining about price increases from the AD, we should also be questioning the fans that aren’t contributing financially to the AD. What is else is the AD supposed to do. I know questioning the fanbase is a no go here but based on where we suspect season ticket are, our small donor base is tapped out. Enough excuses, time for more fans to pitch in. This is arguably the greatest time in Cyclones sports history.

I hate to be a Debbie Downer here, but even if the ISU fan base kicked in another 10% per person, it will not make much of a difference. ISU is the number two school in a small population state, and while we are gaining on EIU, we are still behind them in the total number of fans that support each school. The state does not have mineral wealth to rely on to bring in large amounts of money, so no oil or coal money is going to be rolling into to its coffers. We do not have many large multinational corporations in the state throwing money at the university, there is no Phil Knight out there willing to give hundreds of millions to ISU. Look at the students we are graduating, we do not offer a lot of majors that allow a person to make hundreds of thousands a year in salary, so we do not get a lot of doctors, dentists, lawyers and those types with money donating to the university, nor do we have a large medical school like they do over east, with lots of good paying jobs they provide, to help kick in money.
ISU has done very well getting to the point we are at, Pollard deserves a lot of that recognition, he has done an outstanding job keeping ISU relevant, but this new $20 million a year deal is going to stretch the money even tighter, and we might as well figure, that while the new Cy Town is going to help a little, its not going to be a game changer here.

 

[Frak]

There are some crazy a$$ ideas for the CFP, including multiple conference AQs, but using pre-season power ratings to determine the number of multiple AQs for each conference makes a bad solution even worse.

Does it though? It’s a hell of a lot better than just handing the SEC and B10 4 auto bids. And the 5-11 would result in our conference getting even less bids. I’d guess we’d average 1.5 a year. I know preseason power ratings aren’t perfect. But at the very least there’s some flexibility and if the B12 shows during a season they were undervalued, the next year they can correct it if there are a bunch of good teams.

 

[1SEIACLONE]

Does it though? It’s a hell of a lot better than just handing the SEC and B10 4 auto bids. And the 5-11 would result in our conference getting even less bids. I’d guess we’d average 1.5 a year. I know preseason power ratings aren’t perfect. But at the very least there’s some flexibility and if the B12 shows during a season they were undervalued, the next year they can correct it if there are a bunch of good teams.

Is it fair, no, but the SEC and B10 are going to be getting most of the bids anyway. Whether we like it or not, those two leagues are going to get 9 to 10 bids each year, its better for both the ACC and B12 to take the two guaranteed bids and hope for that once in a decade year we get a third, then to let them come up with some formula that is going to make it nearly impossible for both the ACC and B12 to even get two teams in each year. Our SOS will not make it possible, while the SEC and B10 will always have a stronger SOS just by having more name teams and the better talent, year in and year out.

 

[BryceC]

Is it though?

NBA has ~1200 games, plus maybe 90(?) playoff games.
P4 has about 400 games, plus maybe 25 postseason games.

There's a lot of detail in the number of G5 games to add, the fact CFB is 98% only on saturdays, the number of games with <500k viewers (no value), the number of games with 5M+ viewers (big value), etc etc. And I am not gonna excel that today.

But maybe the ~3Bish that CFB is getting isn't that far off.

I like the NBA and watch it over college.

The TV packages also include CBB.

So you’re getting CFB and CBB, so there are definitely just as many games, and there are a lot more CFB games with big viewership than NBA games.

 

[NY Chicago Fan]

I’m sure. My concern is our small donor base means we are lagging behind all of P4. Instead of only complaining about price increases from the AD, we should also be questioning the fans that aren’t contributing financially to the AD. What is else is the AD supposed to do. I know questioning the fanbase is a no go here but based on where we suspect season ticket are, our small donor base is tapped out. Enough excuses, time for more fans to pitch in. This is arguably the greatest time in Cyclones sports history.

If most fans will be making less (or equal) than what the players will be getting paid in NIL money per year then how can the answer be to ask the fans to pitch in more money then they already are if they pay to watch on TV or go to the games.

Fans have real life expenses that I think it is silly to think are trumped by wanting their college to win more games. Even those who are doing well financially have families to take on vacation, or kids to help with college, or their own retirement to think about.

And you could say I'm not a real fan because I will not contribute. I have no problem with that. If times have changed and the only way to be a fan of college sports is to pay that's not going to change anything for myself and I guess many others.

 

[Clonehomer]

My plan would be to have 13 auto bids like the 4-4-2-2-1, but it wouldn’t be set in stone who gets them. At minimum, all P4 conferences get 2 and the G5 gets 1. But, the remaining 4 auto bids are handed out at the beginning of every season based on some kind of power ratings. Yeah, the SEC and B10 will likely usually snap up those 4, but it at least gives the flexibility to allow for the B12 and ACC to move up and take one if they have a bunch of high level teams going into a year.

This gives us the benefits of the AQ model without legislating that those two conferences are at another level indefinitely. Not perfect, but it’s better that the options we have now.

This could be an interesting idea. Maybe rather than the beginning of the season you could do them in October. Maybe something like wrestling where there are criteria that would earn the AQ spots. Would drive more competitive games early in the season to get those bids and then the back half of the season would be entertaining to then win those bids.

Yes, the SEC would gobble up many of them, but it could put the Big10 on the outside as well which could be useful in negotiations around those selection criteria.

 

[goody2012]

This could be an interesting idea. Maybe rather than the beginning of the season you could do them in October. Maybe something like wrestling where there are criteria that would earn the AQ spots. Would drive more competitive games early in the season to get those bids and then the back half of the season would be entertaining to then win those bids.

Yes, the SEC would gobble up many of them, but it could put the Big10 on the outside as well which could be useful in negotiations around those selection criteria.

We could really spice up the non-conference by having games between the 4 power conferences and the results of those would determine the AQs for the year.

 

[CascadeClone]

We could really spice up the non-conference by having games between the 4 power conferences and the results of those would determine the AQs for the year.

If you mandated 9 conference games, and 2/3 non-con had to be P4... you'd almost have enough useful data to compare conference strengths (60-odd non-con P4 games). The G5s and FCS would get hurt though, missing buy games. Maybe they are going to die anyway so there won't be as many left to play those non-cons.

Snakey would never agree to it though, because the recruiting rankings and pre-season polls pump up his jam so why change?

 

[StPaulCyclone]

The absolute worst case scenario for ISU and the B12 is a playoff with no AQs.

I’m really worried fighting against the 4-4-2-2-1 was cutting off our nose to spite our face

As soon as Sankey was against it, I was for it.

 

[Frak]

This could be an interesting idea. Maybe rather than the beginning of the season you could do them in October. Maybe something like wrestling where there are criteria that would earn the AQ spots. Would drive more competitive games early in the season to get those bids and then the back half of the season would be entertaining to then win those bids.

Yes, the SEC would gobble up many of them, but it could put the Big10 on the outside as well which could be useful in negotiations around those selection criteria.

Exactly. I was kind of thinking it could be like wrestling as well. Seems like it would be the most fair and inclusive way to do it. Better than signing up to make your conference 2nd class in perpetuity. We'd get our 2 and although the SEC and B10 would usually take the other 4 autos and a majority of the at larges, at least if one of those conferences falls off some, we could steal one. My biggest issue with the 4-4-2-2 is the long term effects, not the short term ones.

 

[1UNI2ISU]

We could really spice up the non-conference by having games between the 4 power conferences and the results of those would determine the AQs for the year.

That's 'This Time it Counts' All Star Game bad...

 

[Clonehomer]

Exactly. I was kind of thinking it could be like wrestling as well. Seems like it would be the most fair and inclusive way to do it. Better than signing up to make your conference 2nd class in perpetuity. We'd get our 2 and although the SEC and B10 would usually take the other 4 autos and a majority of the at larges, at least if one of those conferences falls off some, we could steal one. My biggest issue with the 4-4-2-2 is the long term effects, not the short term ones.

My biggest issue with 4-4-2-2 is the P2 absolutely dominating the CCG weekend attention with their additional play-in games. With 5-11, you’d at least still have the exclusive spotlight for the Big12 championship game.