OT: Realignment?

[WestCoastHusky]

ESPN pays for conference broadcast rights. It doesn't give a rat's ass whether Vandy gets a piece of it or not.

Streaming makes it possible to pay Alabama $100M while paying Vandy $2. This is the new reality.

 

[upstater]

Why will it get worse?

Balance of power. It has shifted significantly. It was a reasonable argument for a recruit to go to Michigan where the level of play was slightly below the SEC but the league was full of NFL players (SEC is 1st with 340, B1G #2 is 2nd with 270). But now, especially with the NILs and with Texas and OU joining, the SEC is going to hoover up a ton of talent. This is a big blow to the B1G.

 

[upstater]

I think they are going for a super league but the only way to really do it is to blow it all up. Some schools like Mississippi St and Vandy have to hit the road.

Will be hard to imagine all of this without Oregon, USC, UCLA, Michigan, Wisconsin, OSU, Penn State, Clemson, FSU, Notre Dame and I'll throw in North Carolina and Miami.

There are about 12 schools outside the SEC who have bonafide national status. But Missouri, Arkansas, Vandy, South Carolina and Mississippi State do not. Ole Miss is marginal but they are good ole boys so they're in.

 

[ScottVib]

They'll be an adjustment. The SEC does and will continue to suck up a lot of talent.. but they'll also spit a lot of it back up. You may get your deal as a hot recruit, but once you find yourself buried on the bench a couple of years, no booster is paying you money to block up a scholarship and you can't make the league from the bench.

I think there will be constant churn, the SEC will transfer in a bunch of big talent guys and soak up big recruits. They're going to spit out a lot of big talent guys who never get their break or who get recruited/transferred over.

 

[CL82]

Streaming makes it possible to pay Alabama $100M while paying Vandy $2. This is the new reality.

True, but ESPN doesn’t care one way or the other. They just want to get the most valuable content at the cheapest cost.

 

[Chin Diesel]

I am anxiously awaiting the carousel music to start playing and the phrase "any port in a storm" to become part of the lexicon for certain schools and their media darlings.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

They'll be an adjustment. The SEC does and will continue to suck up a lot of talent.. but they'll also spit a lot of it back up. You may get your deal as a hot recruit, but once you find yourself buried on the bench a couple of years, no booster is paying you money to block up a scholarship and you can't make the league from the bench.

I think there will be constant churn, the SEC will transfer in a bunch of big talent guys and soak up big recruits. They're going to spit out a lot of big talent guys who never get their break or who get recruited/transferred over.

It is more significant than that. Players need to play to get paid NIL. I think a lot more kids will be less enamored of the brigth lights of the SEC and a few thousand in an envelope when they can go somewhere else and start and make real money.

 

[Eavesdrop]

I am anxiously awaiting the carousel music to start playing and the phrase "any port in a storm" to become part of the lexicon for certain schools and their media darlings.

Would "a harbor in a tempest" suffice?

 

[Chin Diesel]

Would "a harbor in a tempest" suffice?

Not a chance. Way too elegant.

 

[CAtlantic]

 

[jdb50]

Unless the GOR's can be vamoosed the break up of the big 12 will not hit every conference. Schools will covet the money but contractually they will be stuck. Players will still want to be on the field, and sitting the bench in SEC programs that are getting drilled by the top dogs of the conference so that University's can make big dineros will not change this. I have been watching less college football lately due to the amount of blowouts that occur. The NFL has been more entertaining with the head coach and QB dynamics being in the lead. Watching college mismatches is a waste of time quite frankly. Players wanting to get on the field could help keep the game alive outside the new cabal.

 

[UConnJim]

The big changes coming to sports markets are the streaming services like Netflix, Amazon, YouTube,... Amazon and Google (YouTube) have much larger market caps than Disney:

Amazon = $1.9 Trillion
Google = $1.8 Trillion
Disney = $325 billion

Some other competitors: Comcast = $278 billion, Viacom (CBS) = $27 billion, Netflix = $229 billion

When the streaming services go fully after sports, the legacy companies will be in a difficult battle and I would expect the value of some sports rights to surge again as you now have new deep pocket bidders.

Amazon signed a 10 year deal with the NFL for Thursday Night football starting in 2023. In my opinion, this is just the start.

 

[Jbirdp5]

Love how we get a nice little shot at Rutgers from Patrick here!

 

[CAtlantic]

 

[The Funster]

well. those PAC12 folks are cunning linguists, no?

 

[Drew]

 

[Drew]

 

[CAtlantic]

 

[huskymedic]

 

[goldendomer]

FSU is just the first to complain in the ACC. I assume more will be coming.

 

[TRest]

FSU is just the first to complain in the ACC. I assume more will be coming.

If i’m The Sec take Clemson and FSU and trash the ACC for good.

 

[billybud]

I think the fact that Texas=Oklahoma are invited to okay in the 2025-26 season in the SEC leads some credence to the GOR...if you don't break one with a few years left, when will you?

 

[WestCoastHusky]

I think the fact that Texas=Oklahoma are invited to okay in the 2025-26 season in the SEC leads some credence to the GOR...if you don't break one with a few years left, when will you?

I think if X number of schools leave the conference at the same time, the conference is dissolved and GOR is meaningless. For the B12, I believe it's 4. Not sure what is for the ACC. If it is something doable, you bet your butt Fox or someone else will try to destroy the conference like what ESPN did to the old Big East and now to the B12.

 

[hoopsfan22]

Safest place to be right now is either B1G or $EC. Everyone else is 'bout to find out they aren't as pretty as mom has been telling them all of their lives.

 

[billybud]

The full FSU quotes from the President say a lot more than some have tweeted...

In full context it sounds different.

“At the end of the day, it’s all about money,” Thrasher said. “It’s all about TV revenue, contracts. Nobody can leave a conference without a significant buyout penalty, including us, so it would have to be something very special for us to leave.

“On the other hand, that doesn’t mean we can’t attract some other people. I think the ACC, when you put the academic side of what it’s about today against any of the other conferences, we’re head and shoulders above, I think. That, to me, is attractive to some of the universities out there. Preparation, options, all that’s on the table. We’re getting prepared for whatever happens.

“The Oklahoma, Texas thing, in my opinion, is the tip of the iceberg. It’s there, but it’s certainly going to be much broader than that when it’s said and done.”


Saying that...I am a little woried that the incoming President is not a sports guy...Vice Provost for Research at Harvard...former Vice Provost for Research at Carnegie Mellon.