Yep it's looking like it's going to play out, exactly how the Amazon guy said in this article 5+ years ago, I posted before, regarding ......
"Again, back to my friend at Amazon. “We’re still seven or eight years away,” he said, “but if we had to restructure the landscape today, we would not start by negotiating with a conference. We don’t care about the SEC, Big 12 of Big 10 as a whole. In our opinion, those entities are not our focus. “Instead, we would want to identify 30 or 40 teams that command the biggest audience. That may be by reputation or location, but generally we all know that there are members in every one of these conferences that frankly don’t move the needle. “We would not want to pay for broadcast rights for a team with a fraction of the audience when we could use most of our available cash to tie down high profile teams.
(May 30, 2018) Conference re-alignment will come -
“Conference realignment will come,” he said (high ranking executive at Amazon), “but probably not in the way you’re thinking.”
so you're not going to follow UConn sports anymore?Another vote that people who went to one school will suddenly become diehard fans of another school. Sure.
We have a pretty good model for what is going to happen to sports, because television and movies already went streaming, in case people hadn't noticed. And the result was massive fragmentation of viewing, not a consolidation. People's entertainment tastes are different, and they don't all want to watch what they are ordered. Networks got away with that for about 20 years, and then cable came along, and fragmented the audience, and then streaming came along, and really fragmented the audience.
I do not feel like arguing with people who think we will accept only being allowed to root for 30 colleges in the future. I predict the sport will die if it gets anywhere close to that, because even hardcore fans won't be interested in college sports if no one else is interested in college sports.
2023 | Michigan | B1G |
2022 | Georgia | SEC |
2021 | Georgia | SEC |
2020 | Alabama | SEC |
2019 | LSU | SEC |
2018 | Clemson | ACC |
2017 | Alabama | SEC |
2016 | Clemson | ACC |
2015 | Alabama | SEC |
2014 | Ohio State | B1G |
2013 | Florida State | ACC |
2012 | Alabama | SEC |
2011 | Alabama | SEC |
2010 | Auburn | SEC |
2009 | Alabama | SEC |
2008 | Florida | SEC |
2007 | LSU | SEC |
2006 | Florida | SEC |
2005 | Texas | SEC |
2004 | USC | B1G |
2003 | LSU | SEC |
2002 | Ohio State | B1G |
2001 | Miami | ACC |
2000 | Oklahoma | SEC |
1999 | Florida State | ACC |
1998 | Tennessee | SEC |
1197 | Michigan | B1G |
1997 | Nebraska | B1G |
1996 | Florida | SEC |
1995 | Nebraska | B1G |
1994 | Nebraska | B1G |
1993 | Florida State | ACC |
1992 | Alabama | SEC |
1991 | Miami | ACC |
1991 | Washington | B1G |
1990 | Colorado | Big 12 |
1990 | Georgia Tech | ACC |
1989 | Miami | ACC |
1988 | Notre Dame | Ind |
1987 | Miami | ACC |
1986 | Penn State | B1G |
1985 | Oklahoma | SEC |
1984 | BYU | Big 12 |
1983 | Miami | ACC |
1982 | Penn State | B1G |
1981 | Clemson | ACC |
1980 | Georgia | SEC |
1979 | Alabama | SEC |
1978 | Alabama | SEC |
1978 | USC | B1G |
1977 | Notre Dame | Ind |
1976 | Pittsburgh | ACC |
1975 | Oklahoma | SEC |
1974 | Oklahoma | SEC |
1974 | USC | B1G |
1973 | Notre Dame | Ind |
1973 | Alabama | SEC |
1972 | USC | B1G |
1971 | Nebraska | B1G |
1970 | Nebraska | B1G |
1970 | Texas | SEC |
1970 | Ohio State | B1G |
Its also the generations behind us simply don't care about sports like we do. My son and his friends play football. If you take them to a game they'll enjoy it. Now get them to watch a whole game on TV. Good luck. I thought it was just my kid, turns out they're all like that, at least the ones i asked. They'll watch a quarter, play Madden with friends with sometimes a good game on a side monitor. The leagues know that hook future generations the game itself isn't enough.The college football’s ideal fan is no longer a crazed Auburn message board poster or the sort of guy who sets up his weekend tailgate sometime around Wednesday afternoon. It’s instead a bored, distracted, unaffiliated gambling aficionado who doesn’t really care about college football but will look up from his phone when the television is showing a game with a brand-name team he recognizes.
And that leads us to this...
View attachment 94903
This X100. Kids under 25 do not obsess over sports like the prior generations. They like a few bites, don't really eat the whole dish. A viewing party for a game? Never see that happen and I did that all the time 20 years ago.Its also the generations behind us simply don't care about sports like we do. My son and his friends play football. If you take them to a game they'll enjoy it. Now get them to watch a whole game on TV. Good luck. I thought it was just my kid, turns out they're all like that, at least the ones i asked. They'll watch a quarter, play Madden with friends with sometimes a good game on a side monitor. The leagues know that hook future generations the game itself isn't enough.
Unless they're gambling on it, and even then they may only watch during the last quarter.Its also the generations behind us simply don't care about sports like we do. My son and his friends play football. If you take them to a game they'll enjoy it. Now get them to watch a whole game on TV. Good luck. I thought it was just my kid, turns out they're all like that, at least the ones i asked. They'll watch a quarter, play Madden with friends with sometimes a good game on a side monitor. The leagues know that hook future generations the game itself isn't enough.
A generation of nerds. They don't drink, get laid, watch sports, drive...Its also the generations behind us simply don't care about sports like we do. My son and his friends play football. If you take them to a game they'll enjoy it. Now get them to watch a whole game on TV. Good luck. I thought it was just my kid, turns out they're all like that, at least the ones i asked. They'll watch a quarter, play Madden with friends with sometimes a good game on a side monitor. The leagues know that hook future generations the game itself isn't enough.
They do all of those things except aren't immersed in watching sports.A generation of nerds. They don't drink, get laid, watch sports, drive...
They do all of those things way less than previous generations.They do all of those things except aren't immersed in watching sports.
Can we talk viewing parties??This X100. Kids under 25 do not obsess over sports like the prior generations. They like a few bites, don't really eat the whole dish. A viewing party for a game? Never see that happen and I did that all the time 20 years ago.
He's just rooting for the death of football.so you're not going to follow UConn sports anymore?
He's just rooting for the death of football.
Basketball, ironically, is already super fragmented, with 300+ teams - it actually suits the future model much better,
Bingo. This is the problem. My attitude is, hell with those 30 schools.Which school will you root for if you have to choose from among 30 or so Super-P2's? Will you follow them in football and basketball?
I’ll just bet on the NFLBingo. This is the problem. My attitude is, hell with those 30 schools.
Edit: I will tell every big mouthed P2 fan I know and meet, “I don’t watch anymore, the P2 thing sucks”. I encourage everyone else to do the same. Unfortunately, online gambling will provide them an audience that has nothing to do with fandom. People will deny it being a factor, but most of my UConn fan friends bet on P5 games regularly. They enjoy gambling on the games far more than the games themselves. Gambling may make the P2 work. I hope not.
Which school will you root for if you have to choose from among 30 or so Super-P2's? Will you follow them in football and basketball?
Any, and all, opponents of Alabama, Ohio State and Notre Dame.Which school will you root for if you have to choose from among 30 or so Super-P2's? Will you follow them in football and basketball?
Bingo. This is the problem. My attitude is, hell with those 30 schools.
Edit: I will tell every big mouthed P2 fan I know and meet, “I don’t watch anymore, the P2 thing sucks”. I encourage everyone else to do the same. Unfortunately, online gambling will provide them an audience that has nothing to do with fandom. People will deny it being a factor, but most of my UConn fan friends bet on P5 games regularly. They enjoy gambling on the games far more than the games themselves. Gambling may make the P2 work. I hope not.
I'm a full-blown UConn football and basketball fan, and an alumnus. I follow my school, period.
I might look at Clemson scores to converse with my many friends from there, but that's about it.
Almost all college fans feel this same way. They watch college sports because their favorite school is in the mix in some way, shape or form. Take their school out of it, and they won't give a spit. Which means consolidating fans down to two conferences of 16-18 schools each is going to cause fan interest in the product to collapse.
Even the pros realize this. They have expanded to just about every city that can possibly support a major league team, because the pros realize that expanding the footprint expands the fanbase for the entire sport. Yet for some reason, the Big 10 and SEC think that they can contract the sports and all the fans will come running to Georgia and Michigan. We may find out soon enough if they are right.