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From yesterday but timely discussion:
-> As for Kelly’s proposed 64-team football conference — that sounds neat and tidy, but what incentive do the SEC and Big Ten have to join forces with the less-valued ACC and Big 12? “Every year, we (would) play seven games against the West Coast teams, and then we play the East — Syracuse, Boston College, Pitt, West Virginia, Virginia. Then the next year you play the South, while you still play your seven (West Coast) teams.” That’s . . . not an attractive schedule. Fox is paying you guys $65 million a year to play Ohio State and Penn State, not Syracuse and Boston College.
As I’ve written every couple of months for the past five years, when conference consolidation comes, the magic cutline won’t be 64; it will be 32 or less. It will be the very top brands that drive the overwhelming majority of the television value banding together. Especially once the courts inevitably rule that schools must share their revenue with the athletes and/or pay them a salary. Ohio State, with its $250 million in annual athletics revenue, can afford to cut those checks without breaking a sweat. Maryland, whose overall budget is less than half that ($114 million), would have a much tougher time of it. <-
-> As for Kelly’s proposed 64-team football conference — that sounds neat and tidy, but what incentive do the SEC and Big Ten have to join forces with the less-valued ACC and Big 12? “Every year, we (would) play seven games against the West Coast teams, and then we play the East — Syracuse, Boston College, Pitt, West Virginia, Virginia. Then the next year you play the South, while you still play your seven (West Coast) teams.” That’s . . . not an attractive schedule. Fox is paying you guys $65 million a year to play Ohio State and Penn State, not Syracuse and Boston College.
As I’ve written every couple of months for the past five years, when conference consolidation comes, the magic cutline won’t be 64; it will be 32 or less. It will be the very top brands that drive the overwhelming majority of the television value banding together. Especially once the courts inevitably rule that schools must share their revenue with the athletes and/or pay them a salary. Ohio State, with its $250 million in annual athletics revenue, can afford to cut those checks without breaking a sweat. Maryland, whose overall budget is less than half that ($114 million), would have a much tougher time of it. <-