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MEGA Conference Realignment and lawsuits Megathread: Stories, Tales, Lies, and Exaggerations

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DTP said:
Not sure if this is being discussed in the conference realignment thread, so please move if necessary.

The Big10 is in the process of selling a piece of their revenue to a private equity firm. They’re trading their long term money for a little bit of short term cash because even with their HUGE TV contract, some schools are still coming up short with revenue sharing. Michigan and USC are ****ed (I don’t buy the USC to the ACC hype). So one of the supposed “big two” conferences is already desperately selling themselves to the highest bidder, does that mean college football is just going to be the SEC and nobody else in a few years?
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Maudes move to conference MEGA thread where we have discussed ad nasauem.

Sugar pill for B1G. The financial grim reaper will come for those schools' souls one day and it won't be pretty.

Total ponzi scheme.

The only way it works is the opposite of what you state...B1G becomes the ONLY conference worth watching and those teams become tier 2 NFL franchises.

Northwestern? Rutgers? Maryland? Iowa and Minnesota?

Hard to see that path.
 
CaneinBroward said:
I agree that's why I was beyond surprised when the OP mentioned it in his or her post.
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I agree this is all posturing, for now. But any one of these B1G or SEC schools would leave if their conferences if the offer is good enough, especially if they have homes for their non-football sports. It will take something extraordinary (like double ND's deal), but any one of these schools would sell out their conference for the right price.
 
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DTP said:
“It’s not a loan it’s just us giving you some money upfront in exchange for a lot more money over a longer period of time.”

Totally different thing for sure.
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DTP said:
“It’s not a loan it’s just us giving you some money upfront in exchange for a lot more money over a longer period of time.”

Totally different thing for sure.
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Things is, though, schools need that additional money now.

The price to compete has gone through the roof with the players' salary cap of $21.5M kicking in this year. Those new costs come on top of the usual splashy facility enhancements, hiring and firing of coaches and so on.

Even institutions in a comparatively wealthy conference like the B1G are trying to keep their heads above water until they can cash in when the new media rights deals are up for a bid within the next 5-10 years
 
Tony4Canes said:
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Good find T4C.

Like this because CBS, CBS Sports Network, the CW, NBC, USA and the NBC Sports Network (relaunches Monday per the WSJ) are all available on Xfinity. Switching back and forth between cable and apps (like with Peecock) is a hassle and no doubt negatively impacts viewership.

Good job by the New Pac
 
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CaneinBroward said:
He's speaking some truths (although, it's 14 NFL playoff teams not 16 Dabo). However, didn't hear him being the sage voice last year when his team was getting an invite to the CFP. It's funny how it takes a dud season for this guy to come to the pulpit.

He is right about college football trying to emulate the NFL while still following a lot of the traditional college football template. It would most likely be best for the conferences to get together, hire NFL league execs, hire a commissioner, and set this thing up so it can be a truly functional league. College football is officially a pro league now. Better to be proactive. Who am I kidding? They're not going to do that.

As far as the firings go, that's what contracts are for. LSU is already trying to get out of their full buyout with Kelly, but Kelly and his lawyers are saying we'll see you in court. Enough of these schools eat big buyouts and you'll see firings be more judiciously made. FSU is already keeping their albatross until they can get the funds to get him out.
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Dabo's problem is that he refused to adapt and cut off his nose to spite his face. I can understand his frustrations with some of the places where college football is going, but I don't buy into his talking about the total number of teams in the NCAA vs NFL and then comparing how many playoff spots there are in each and then saying how you can have a losing record in the NFL and still play for something and that is why coaches are getting fired. Maybe the playoffs have cheapened the season for middle caliber teams, but the expectation for coaches at top level teams has been to win and only lose a few games max since well before the playoffs. In fact, a coach like Ryan Day is probably fired if there wasn't a playoff (and a large field at that) b/c OSU would not have had a chance to play for the championship after their loss to Michigan last year.

To me his argument works better as a case against realignment... that conferences like the SEC brought all of these schools in that are used to going ~10-2 and now mathematically some of them will go ~8-4. If Clemson has a season like they are having this year prior to the playoffs, the media and fans would still be all over Dabo and rightfully so.

The reason coaches are getting fired so quickly is that the money involved has grown dramatically and it is more important than ever to keep your fans (and boosters) engaged. Would expanding the playoffs keep fans engaged for teams where their teams would otherwise likely be out of the playoffs? Maybe... but part of what makes college football so much better than the NFL (IMO) is that games have more stakes to them.
 
Shogungts said:
Would expanding the playoffs keep fans engaged for teams where their teams would otherwise likely be out of the playoffs? Maybe... but part of what makes college football so much better than the NFL (IMO) is that games have more stakes to them.
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What does that even mean, mi amigo?

In any given season, more than 90% of teams — even before the Big XII was stripped for parts and the the Pac-12 imploded — had zero realistic chance of going undefeated. Probably 80% were extremely unlikely to finish the regular season with just two losses.

If a high stakes Miami-FSU or Michigan-Ohio State or Alabama-Auburn rivalry game seemed to be for all the marbles, what difference would that make for followers of the other 100-and-something FBS schools? College Football fans live and die with their own teams, not someone else's.

There's so many absurdities to the sport's postseason that there's a reason no other major American team sport determines its champions in such a way.
  • NFL: 32 teams/14 to the playoffs (44%)
  • NBA: 30 teams/16 to the postseason (53%)
  • MLB: 30 teams/12 to the postseason (40%)
  • NHL: 32 teams/16 to the playoffs (50%)
  • D1 college basketball: 361 teams/68 to the tournament (19%) -- likely to expand to 76 teams (21%) for the 2027 tournament next season
  • FBS college football: 12 of 136 teams (9%)
  • FCS college football: 24 of 109 teams choosing to participate in playoffs (22%)
  • D2 college football: 32 of 161 teams (20%)
  • D3 college football: 40 of 230 teams (18%)

Due to the antiquated and decaying bowl structure, the FBS is a hodge-podge of starts, stops and irregular breaks between rounds. There is literally no rhythm or flow to the postseason schedule -- a direct result of bowl officials dealing$ with college ADs and presidents over the years

College Football's greatest strength and asset (even more than the NFL) is the stadium environment for big games. In all levels other than FBS, one team hosts all the way to the championship round. College Football (again, due to the handiwork of bowl officials) cuts a deal with neutral sites for the quarterfinals on -- thus requiring additional travel for fans and eliminating home-field advantages for team who've "earned" them.

Just because something like the FBS postseason format is traditional and unique doesn't mean it's actually worth a flip
 
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Hold My Beer said:
Things is, though, schools need that additional money now.

The price to compete has gone through the roof with the players' salary cap of $21.5M kicking in this year. Those new costs come on top of the usual splashy facility enhancements, hiring and firing of coaches and so on.

Even institutions in a comparatively wealthy conference like the B1G are trying to keep their heads above water until they can cash in when the new media rights deals are up for a bid within the next 5-10 years
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Gotta love how these billion dollar entities that are just assuming the money numbers are going to keep going up infinitely. How about instead of taking out a payday advance loan to buy things they can’t afford, athletic departments stop buying things they can’t afford? ESPN/Disney has lost their *** on some of these exclusive Tv rights deals. Are we just going to assume the next one is going to be significantly higher than the current deal?
 
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