Sec big whatever

[Ute2]

Does anybody else think these morons might by killing the goose laying the golden eggs?

I mean, doesn’t college football work because 120 fan bases are invested in their teams and believe (even if it’s kind of a mirage) that they’re all in the same stratosphere?(it is a big stratosphere on this, context haha)

And by that are interested in college football writ-large?

What if this gets to be such a joke that fan bases from 80 jilted colleges tune out because they’re not interested in AAA football, snooty money grubbers club, and might even be spiteful of it?

[UteThunder]

This is exactly what they are doing. They believe they have their own “NFL Lite” and if they can just cut the G5 and the fringes of the P5, they will grow their own pot ten fold. But, what they don’t take into consideration is that college football is a regional sport that only enjoys national support because every region has their own teams they are tied to either because they went to school there or they live near there. Cutting out the G5s and schools like Washington State will kill national interest. Boise State fans aren’t going to suddenly start supporting Texas or Alabama just because BSU has been tossed to the side.

Without the national support of the G5 and the fringe P5, college football will eventually become a whole lot less lucrative to the networks which means the SEC & Co.’s big payday will be shortlived. ESPN isn’t going to pay more money for fewer overall viewers.   

[Duhwayne]

Smaller pie, fatter slices

[Dwight89]

This is the problem. National support will likely decrease. But….there will be far fewer slices of pie to hand out at the table. So even though the pie is smaller, the slices themselves will be bigger. For those at the table, that is. 

[Central Coast Ute]

Yep. They’re still going to make their money. More of it in fact.

[dystopiamembrane]

How would y’all feel about this re-alignment process if Utah was included in the SEC?

[UteThunder]

I’d still hate it.

[dystopiamembrane]

I doubt it. @utethunder.

[noneyadb]

Likely be worried about being pushed out. $1-2 billion payout/yr is going to bring a lot of suitors with more prestige.

[dystopiamembrane]

Utah is prestige, @noneyadb.

[Charlie]

At one point I think everyone was trying to grow there own conference to a better state. We have clearly crossed the line now where some are happy to hurt or kill other conferences for gain. I think the SEC is guilty of listening to someone that promises more money. ESPN, on the other hand, is the one that has hatched an evil plan of control. Likely, only antitrust structures can be used to rein in ESPN and save college football. Even the NFL knows they need to treat all teams the same and have created structure to promote parity. Could you imagine the NFL allowing ESPN to restructure teams into conferences based on games they televised? We need central control like the NFL or we gift control to ESPN to structure football and control even the playoffs. With the risk of some schools leaving the NCAA, I think it is time for the universities and conferences to vote to allow the NCAA to control media revenue and playoffs for college football. However, I do think there should be subdivisions of D1 so Wyoming does not have to compete with Alabama.

[Sanders]

From what I’ve read the new rumor of the AAC looking to pick off the remaining BIG 12 members probably has some truth to it. If it happens OK & TX wouldn’t have to pay their exit fees, the AAC protects itself from being dissolved and ESPN will have TV rights to both the SEC & AAC.

I think the future of college football is now in the hands of the BIG 10. The PAC 12 will react to whatever the BIG 10 does/doesn’t do. I’m guessing that the BIG 10 will aggressively reach out to Notre Dame to join them and if they do then they’ll come hunting the top schools in PAC 12 and the left-overs will join the MWC. I’m curious to know if Notre Dame was contacted by ESPN and BIG 12 to join the SEC along with Ok & TX.

[Central Coast Ute]

It can’t happen the way you describe it. Apparently ND has it in their contract with ACC that if they join a football conference, it has to be the ACC. Something to do with their basketball team being in the ACC and their contract with the conference.