Houston Chronicle exclusive: Texas, Oklahoma reach out to SEC about joining conference.

[freescooter]

This is just Billy's opinion, but...

In the old days it was about regions and similar culture.

Now everything is driven by getting the best matchups for the available bandwidth on any given Saturday. This is what drives ratings, which is what drives advertising, which brings in the money. ESPN and Fox make the ad money and payout the tv contract money to the conferences.

They don’t care about population base. They care about marquee matchups that drive ratings. The SEC is mostly in small college towns but they have a huge ratings each Saturday because of the quality of the teams. Otherwise big city schools would dominate, but they don’t.

It’s about having top teams playing each other. ESPN doesn’t care if they all are in the same state or thousands of miles apart, as long as the matchups are good. That’s, I think, what’s going to be the catalyst for realignment.

Not exactly. If it was about the “ best teams” Texas wouldn’t be on anybody’s list at the moment. They haven’t really been a threat at a real high level since 2009. 2018 was good but not top 3-4 good. It is more a case of a Brittany Spears/Oprah/Whoever the current hot girl singer is or NFL Super Bowl halftime show approach. Lock up all the big names. People will watch even if they are past their prime. That is why, for example, you keep seeing references to FSU.

 

[billybud]

Not exactly. If it was about the “ best teams” Texas wouldn’t be on anybody’s list at the moment. They haven’t really been a threat at a real high level since 2009. 2018 was good but not top 3-4 good. It is more a case of a Brittany Spears/Oprah/Whoever the current hot girl singer is or NFL Super Bowl halftime show approach. Lock up all the big names. People will watch even if they are past their prime. That is why, for example, you keep seeing references to FSU.

Brand....

 

[billybud]

Build a brand...it will still draw...How long has it been since Michigan beat Ohio State? Yet 12 million watched that game in 2019.


Brands can recruit based on brand...FSU hasn't done much of late...but is ranked #5 in Rivals Class Rankings.

FSU is four seasons removed from 10 wins and a W over Michigan in the bowl...there is still some residual memory. That memory will serve you for only so long, so you have to use it. Take Nebraska....

 

[WestHartHusk]

Notre Dame vs UConn 2019....2.139 million

The 2019 Women's Final averaged 4.08 million.

Comparison to some football games:

Alabama-Auburn in 2019 averaged 11.25 million

Ohio-State Michigan in 2019 averaged 12.42 million.

LSU-Bama averaged 16.64 million

Damn it Billy, we don't need facts!

In fairness though, the volume of inventory you get for basketball (~18 home games) helps balance the disparity a bit.

 

[billybud]

Damn it Billy, we don't need facts!

In fairness though, the volume of inventory you get for basketball (~18 home games) helps balance the disparity a bit.

true, I think....

But the media moguls are looking at the regular season football games.....the sheer numbers that average near 2 million per game in viewers...2019...even spread all over the networks...averaged 1.8 million viewers per game....and if that was the average, the more watched are much higher in ratings.

• The 392 regular season telecasts on ABC, the Big Ten Network, BTN, CBS, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNEWS, ESPNU, FOX, FS1, NBC and the NFL Network during the 2019season averaged 1,839,000 viewers per game (a 2% increase from 2018) while reaching more than 145 million unique fans†
• CBS Sports scored the Network's best college football viewership in 29 years, averaging 7,147,000 million viewers, a 25% increase from 2018.
• College Football on FOX had its most-watched regular season ever, bringing in an average audience of 3,729,000, representing a 12% increase over 2018.
• ESPN's networks increased their audience year-over-year in every category: the regular season, bowl season, the CFP Semifinals, the CFP National Championship and "College GameDay Built by The Home Depot," which delivered its most-watched season since 2015.

 

[Hoophound]

Build a brand...it will still draw...How long has it been since Michigan beat Ohio State? Yet 12 million watched that game in 2019.


Brands can recruit based on brand...FSU hasn't done much of late...but is ranked #5 in Rivals Class Rankings.

FSU is four seasons removed from 10 wins and a W over Michigan in the bowl...there is still some residual memory. That memory will serve you for only so long, so you have to use it. Take Nebraska....

FSU is in a much better position than Nebraska on demographics and recruiting grounds alone. FSU will be highly sought after if the ACC is raided.

 

[uconndogs]

This college football model is changing dramatically. NIL, realignment, media changes, are all heading down a path of a select few programs which will own marketshare and use that money to solidify recruiting. Programs like BC, Syracuse, Wake, Boise, etc. may have infrequently been in the limelight, but historically it would happen. No more……money will assure that all top talent go or transfer to the select programs.

You can argue the ethical side of this if you want. But, the other question is what this does for the overall appeal of college football outside of the fanbases of the select programs. I’ve always maintained that as a fan you watch college football for different reasons than you watch the NFL.…..and I wonder if the powers of college football are losing sight of that.

 

[Hoophound]

This college football model is changing dramatically. NIL, realignment, media changes, are all heading down a path of a select few programs which will own marketshare and use that money to solidify recruiting. Programs like BC, Syracuse, Wake, Boise, etc. may have infrequently been in the limelight, but historically it would happen. No more……money will assure that all top talent go or transfer to the select programs.

You can argue the ethical side of this if you want. But, the other question is what this does for the overall appeal of college football outside of the fanbases of the select programs. I’ve always maintained that as a fan you watch college football for different reasons than you watch the NFL.…..and I wonder if the powers of college football are losing sight of that.

As I said the other day, the dream of winning championships is what makes college football interesting for fans of lesser programs. There is the possibility of a great run when the stars align and your team makes some waves. When that dream is removed from possibility, I think many fans will just abandon the sport.

 

[uconndogs]

As I said the other day, the dream of winning championships is what makes college football interesting for fans of lesser programs. There is the possibility of a great run when the stars align and your team makes some waves. When that dream is removed from possibility, I think many fans will just abandon the sport.

Well stated. I lived in Boston during the Flutie era. It was electric.

Watching Bama 5* recruits pull in 7 figure endorsement deals and contend every single year for a national championship is a different experience. Not my cup of tea, but maybe that’s what will draw in the biggest market.

 

[billybud]

I gave up on women's basketball when UConn women won half of the NC's since 2000. Too one sided...made Bama football look a little pale.

 

[WestHartHusk]

I gave up on women's basketball when UConn women won half of the NC's since 2000. Too one sided...made Bama football look a little pale.

Has UConn WBB been trying to rewrite the rules? I will spare you a long answer: no. In fact, it has had to overcome those who are trying too. And WBB has far more parity than CFB.

 

[uconndogs]

I gave up on women's basketball when UConn women won half of the NC's since 2000. Too one sided...made Bama football look a little pale.

The best thing for women’s basketball has been the expansion of competitive programs. You can make the argument that Geno put the sport on the map, but it won’t continue to draw nationally without competition.

 

[Stinger92860]

Notre Dame vs UConn 2019....2.139 million

The 2019 Women's Final averaged 4.08 million.

Comparison to some football games:

Alabama-Auburn in 2019 averaged 11.25 million

Ohio-State Michigan in 2019 averaged 12.42 million.

LSU-Bama averaged 16.64 million

I meant to add viewership in the state of CT only, obviously national audience is a different story.

 

[Slasher]

On the report that the AAC is going to be aggressive. Think about it this way: ESPN owns the AAC pretty much exclusively (2-3 CBS basketball games a year not withstanding.) Would they rather remove the few remaining valuable properties from the Big 12, pay the AAC a huge raise (let's say to $15M a year) and completely get out of paying the Big 12 for 1) now so-so inventory 2) paying a much higher premium for them 3) sharing the remaining so-so valuable assets with Fox - meaning you only get half the so-so games. From ESPN's prospective you also pare down on inventory a bit, which is a good thing since you're overflowing right now.

 

[billybud]

Has UConn WBB been trying to rewrite the rules? I will spare you a long answer: no. In fact, it has had to overcome those who are trying too. And WBB has far more parity than CFB.

There have been more different teams that have won the football NC since 2020 than the number of different teams that have won women's BB champions...

At the top, whether BB or FB, parity gets thin.

 

[mikedog10]

On the report that the AAC is going to be aggressive. Think about it this way: ESPN owns the AAC pretty much exclusively (2-3 CBS basketball games a year not withstanding.) Would they rather remove the few remaining valuable properties from the Big 12, pay the AAC a huge raise (let's say to $15M a year) and completely get out of paying the Big 12 for 1) now so-so inventory 2) paying a much higher premium for them 3) sharing the remaining so-so valuable assets with Fox - meaning you only get half the so-so games. From ESPN's prospective you also pare down on inventory a bit, which is a good thing since you're overflowing right now.

This is plausible. If the AAC somehow ends up expanding during this chaos, we'll know it was the mouse in Orlando pulling the strings all along.

 

[uconndogs]

At the top, whether BB or FB, parity gets thin.

Of course it does…..and now it’s heading down a road to exclusivity.

 

[Chin Diesel]

There have been more different teams that have won the football NC since 2020 than the number of different teams that have won women's BB champions...

At the top, whether BB or FB, parity gets thin.

Easy on the sample size there Cowboy!

Going all the way back to 2020. wow.

 

[CL82]

Notre Dame vs UConn 2019....2.139 million

The 2019 Women's Final averaged 4.08 million.

Comparison to some football games:

Alabama-Auburn in 2019 averaged 11.25 million

Ohio-State Michigan in 2019 averaged 12.42 million.

LSU-Bama averaged 16.64 million

Or were you?

 

[CL82]

I meant to add viewership in the state of CT only, obviously national audience is a different story.

Don’t back down. Your point is a good one. Does UConn women’s basketball draw more than best football games, absolutely not. Does it drawn more than the worst P5 football games, absolutely.

 

[Stinger92860]

Don’t back down. Your point is a good one. Does UConn women’s basketball draw more than best football games, absolutely not. Does it drawn more than the worst P5 football games, absolutely.

I really did mean in the state of CT, but failed to write that. In a streaming model, more viewers in CT would watch UConn WBB vs ND rather than Ohio State vs Michigan. Alabama vs Auburn would not be close.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[CL82]

I really did mean in the state of CT, but failed to write that. In a streaming model, more viewers in CT would watch UConn WBB vs ND rather than Ohio State vs Michigan. Alabama vs Auburn would not be close.

That’s true but it’s also true that more people across the nation would watch UConn women’s basketball rather than say USF versus Tulane. The fact that some posters try to compare woman basketball games to top football teams play each other tells you that they recognize the inherent brand value.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[billybud]

Easy on the sample size there Cowboy!

Going all the way back to 2020. wow.

lol....thanks..... 2000

Cowboy? I'm a Cracker.