A new perspective (for me) on realignment

[AlohaUte]

With the going theory being that the remaining 10 of the Pac-12 are staying together, it got me thinking more about why and that led me to academics. There is real value to being aligned academically with great academic schools.  I wouldn’t be shocked if the Pac-12 is in contact with Kansas (AAU), Iowa State (AAU), Baylor, TCU and Oklahoma State working back channels hyping up how valuable it would be to be aligned with Stanford, Cal, and Washington. Not to mention the other AAU schools in the conference (Utah, UA, CU, and UO).  

School Presidents are obviously hugely focused on academics and building their school’s academic profile, being aligned to the Pac 12 would be a pretty appealing proposition for Big12 schools.

[Extra Medium]

The university presidents misguided emphasis on academics over football is what got the conference in this situation. You think the SEC cares about school? The B1G at least pretends too care but they know how the bills are paid. The PAC is dead. UW and OU are next to join after the SEC raids the ACC. We’ll be ramrodded into the BIG XII with byu and it will suck balls. Prepare yourself emotionally now. Pray with all your might that Norte Dame gets $100M a year from NBC in 2024 so they can stay out of the ACC or B1G. If not…all hell will break lose.

[PhiladelphiaUte]

That won’t happen until after 2036.  By that time, Utah could also very well be included in the next BigTen and/or SEC raids.  So if we were to add some of those top tier Big 12 teams, even if we DON’T get selected, we’ll still be in a better position than we would have been either in the Big 12 — assuming of course that we can add those Big 12 teams now.

[Extra Medium]

It’s happening before 2036. ESPN is guaging how much they want to disrupt things before Texas and OU start playing in the SEC. They are trying to figure out if the drop in viewship for CFB is blip or a trend. I think it’s a trend. Once all the regional rivalries are destroyed and all the gamers who don’t care for real sports come of age in the next 10-15 years they’ll be hurting. Fewer eye balls and less sponsor $. 

The NBC contract with Notre Dame in 2024 will determine the future alignment of college football. NBC should offer them $60-$80M per year to try and keep the entirety of CFB media being owned by ESPN and FOX. Anything less and they would look at a conference. The only other way to get Notre Dame to join is for the playoff committee to freeze them out of the playoff. I think one of the reasons schools didn’t go for the expanded playoff model (which would have given Texas, OU, USC, and UCLA motivation to stay with their conferences) was to try and force Notre Dame into a conference. Now the B1G and SEC are loving the fact the expanded playoff proposal was rejected because they’ll get at least 3 or all the spots in the playoff every year for the foresseable future. 

The ACC pay out is $30-$40M a year. If the SEC can secure a $1.2-1.5B+ media contract from ESPN for a 20 team league that includes FSU, Miami, Clemson, and North Carolina they’ll jump. That’s $60M-$75M per school, per year. Forget the Grant of Rights. The buyout is $100M. They’ll make that up in before the GoR runs out in 2036. You think those programs will happily fall behind becaue of a GoR for 12 more years while the SEC and B1G progams are taking in $60M+ per year. Do you realize how much more distance the SEC and B1G teams will put between PAC/BIG XII, and ACC if we’re only pulling in $20M-40M per year while they make $60M? NIL $, facilities, coacing resources, etc. Not a single AD or school president would hesitate to spend the $100M buyout to get out of the GoR contract to get into a power conference. You have boosters from those schools who’d pay the buyout. Don’t be nieve to think the GoR is holding it all together. They haven’t jumped because the SEC hasn’t asked…yet. 

[Central Coast Ute]

I’ve heard the buyout is much higher than $100m. OU and UT have a much smaller buyout and still aren’t leaving before the GOR is up. Where did you get that?

[PhiladelphiaUte]

It’s $400M.

[dystopiamembrane]

I agree.

[PNW Ute]

They’re university presidents. Their emphasis should absolutely be on academics over football. As much as we might all love football, university presidents are educators, not sports boosters. At least, they should be. We all love college football, but the fact that it is clearly the only thing tat matters (or at least, the money it generates) in college sports is crazy.

Not to mention that these universities still bring in many times more money for research than they ever will for football…

 

[dystopiamembrane]

Would you please post some links regarding this topic?

[PNW Ute]

Utah had total football revenues of $65.6 Million for the fiscal year ending July 2020 (last year’s wasn’t posted yet, and the year before was greatly affected by Covid, so I went back two years.)

Utah Athletic Revenues and Expenses – 2020

 

Meanwhile, Utah reported $641 Million in research funding for the fiscal year ending July 2021.

Utah Research Funding – 2021

 

So, yeah, thinking that presidents should be more concerned with athletics than academics doesn’t even make sense on an economics level. There’s a reason the Pac-12 presidents wanted to be associated with like-minded research universities. Academic prestige brings in a lot more than football prestige…

[dystopiamembrane]

Excellent. Thank you for this information. I understand the lay of the land now.

[ironman1315]

Pfft bunch of nerds trying to have higher education actually be about educating. Lame. 

[PhiladelphiaUte]

Yep.  And don’t forget about Tx Tech.  They’re a Tier-1 Research institution as well, and have a larger fanbase than any of the above.  I graduate from high school back in Texas when my father was stationed there.  Tech is very popular in cities like Dallas and San Antonio, and have a decent sized representation in Houston as well.  They’re basically everyone’s safety school who didn’t get accepted to Texas or Texas A&M.

To put their fanbase into perspective, Tech’s fanbase is over 16% larger than Oklahoma St’s, 12% larger than the combined fanbases of Kansas and Baylor, or nearly 2.5% larger than the combined fanbases of Iowa St and TCU.

Source:  AltimoreCollins

[Johnny]

LOL umm no. Your source is incorrect. I travel the world and Kansas people EVERYWHERE. Lubbock..haha nice try

[dystopiamembrane]

“LOL umm no.”

[Johnny]

Academics are bigger than athletics at most of these institutions. 

That said, UCLA is going to die on a vine trying to keep up with the legacy of how many championships their athletic department has produced. That’s why they’re so in debt.

Utah is in much a more solid ground than 10 years ago. I’d say more financially stable than 10 of the current 12 schools in the PAC12. The pandemic hurt a lot of programs. Still in recovery, not the best time to make rushed decisions.

[dystopiamembrane]

What I have seen over the last few weeks on this board is a desire to be in the top flight of college football, arguments for or against this conference or adding these schools, so that we can be in a position to continue to produce the level of sport that fans have become accustomed to over the last 6 years or so.

This may or may not happen. Our program may return to a less-competitive product during this realignment process. We might return to MWC- or WAC-level program status.

If this were to happen, which of you would stop watching University of Utah sports?

[2008 National Champ]

I don’t think my viewership of U sports would change. But my viewership of sports in general has gone down over the last few years and I don’t see that changing. Utah won’t lose me but the sports broadcasting world is doing everything they can to run me off and largely succeeding.

[dystopiamembrane]

I understand. Thank you for voicing your opinion. PS I watch sports with the sound off, generally. Years of getting the small TV in the back of the sports bar with no sound so I can watch that Utah team. 😉 Maybe that would be an avenue for you to avoid the sports broadcasting world in some small way.

[dystopiamembrane]

I am assuming that most of you would not stop watching University of Utah sports when/if we are playing at a less-competitive level.

Given that, why is there so much emphasis on the board for having a seat in the top flight when we all know that there are many factors that leave us at a disadvantage at the level – market size, relatively low coaching wages, public perception of the State of Utah, small pool of in-state talent, etc.?

[AlohaUte]

I’d watch the Utes religiously if they were in the Big Sky, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t want them in the B1G or SEC.

[dystopiamembrane]

I respect your opinion. I feel that we’d most probably become a Minnesota or a Missouri in those conferences due to our disadvantages.

[Central Coast Ute]

People just want a seat at the table. Everyone knows if you’re not Bama. GA, or OSU, it’s a long shot. But at the beginning of the season you have hope for an exciting run. If you’re not in the league at the top, you won’t have that seat. With transfer rules, and NIL the best players in the smaller leagues will be poached by the bigger league. It doesn’t sound like a lot of fun to me.

[dystopiamembrane]

I understand your opinion, and that makes a lot of sense. I watch college sports because I support the colleges that are participating. The level of play is unimportant to me. I watch OR-2A high school football games with a similar level of excitement as I do a Utah game because I support the teams competing.

[Ute2]

I’d always just turned on CFB every Saturday to support the product. Now I’ll make it a point to turn it off and just watch the last few minutes of close games, excluding off course the p12 and big 12 and mwc.

[dystopiamembrane]

I respect that.

[noneyadb]

The remaining 10 are only aligned because Oregon and Washington weren’t accepted by the B1G.