College Football Realignment

[dabvu2498]

Originally Posted by Caveat Emperor

The SEC West needs a Vanderbilt-style punching bag. Bring Tulane home! We'll gladly take an 0-fer in SEC play to balance things out.

I say get Sewanee back also so Vandy can have 2 teams in the conference they can beat. Bowl eligible, baby!!!!

[Hoosier Red]

Originally Posted by WMR

Meh, it just shows that dollars are driving the bus not W/L records.

It also shows why basketball is so relatively unimportant in this, at least when compared to football.
Has anyone made any offer to try to get Kansas? Obviously, they'd have their own drawback because they'd likely bring Kansas State with them, but if they were as popular and profitable in football as say Oklahoma, there'd be a lot more interest.

[Unassisted]

ESPN's Doug Gottlieb says on Twitter: Source confirms #TexasAM to join #SEC; #Clemson, #FloridaSt, #Missouri also likely to join.

[WMR]

Originally Posted by Hoosier Red

It also shows why basketball is so relatively unimportant in this, at least when compared to football.
Has anyone made any offer to try to get Kansas? Obviously, they'd have their own drawback because they'd likely bring Kansas State with them, but if they were as popular and profitable in football as say Oklahoma, there'd be a lot more interest.

No one wants Kansas, which I find sort of amusing since they hate Kentucky so badly... if you can't bring big football dollars and eyeballs with you, you might as well be a leper.

[WVRed]

Originally Posted by Slyder

The Big East still has one really really key trump card they can pull out if they need to. They're the last of the major conferences to renegotiate a tv deal. If the rumors are true (plus if the ACC losses one of or some combination of Va Tech, Clemson, Florida State, etc.) then the Big East deal is going to put the ACC to SHAME (some rumors are the Big East already walked out on a 15 mil per school per year deal with ESPN).

FYI the new ACC tv deal pays ~$13 mil per year per school average.

Here's the deal according to news networks.
http://www.aolnews.com/2010/05/17/re...sion-contract/

This is the problem though, TV deals are a thing of the past.

A CBS/ESPN/NBC might pay for the rights, but the colleges and conferences are ultimately looking to pick up their own networks. The Big East may receive a sweet TV deal, but if a team can offer their own conference network with participating revenue sharing such as the B10 Network, I don't see any Big East team saying no to that.

With adding Texas A&M and others for a superconference, I look for a SEC Network to come soon. Same will likely go for the Pac-12 (16?)

The two big draws in all of this is football and media markets. The Big East may survive in all of this because there is such an unstable mix. WVU is probably the only football school in the Big East, but the SEC already has a presence in the state with UK. OTOH, Rutgers, Pitt, and Syracuse offer major media markets, but bring nothing if little to the table in football.

[WVRed]

Originally Posted by WMR

No one wants Kansas, which I find sort of amusing since they hate Kentucky so badly... if you can't bring big football dollars and eyeballs with you, you might as well be a leper.

I bleed blue just as much as you do, but if Kentucky would ever look to bolt the SEC, they would have the exact same problem if not worse. There really isn't much difference in Lexington and Lawrence.

[Slyder]

Originally Posted by WVRed

This is the problem though, TV deals are a thing of the past.

A CBS/ESPN/NBC might pay for the rights, but the colleges and conferences are ultimately looking to pick up their own networks. The Big East may receive a sweet TV deal, but if a team can offer their own conference network with participating revenue sharing such as the B10 Network, I don't see any Big East team saying no to that.

With adding Texas A&M and others for a superconference, I look for a SEC Network to come soon. Same will likely go for the Pac-12 (16?)

The two big draws in all of this is football and media markets. The Big East may survive in all of this because there is such an unstable mix. WVU is probably the only football school in the Big East, but the SEC already has a presence in the state with UK. OTOH, Rutgers, Pitt, and Syracuse offer major media markets, but bring nothing if little to the table in football.

Big East Commish and WVU AD Oliver Luck's friend has been doing some work behind the scenes toward a "Big East Network". His name? Former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue. There has been some rumors that the NFL network has been working on this "solution" for a couple seasons since the Big East went from Traghese to this new guy.

[WMR]

Originally Posted by WVRed

I bleed blue just as much as you do, but if Kentucky would ever look to bolt the SEC, they would have the exact same problem if not worse. There really isn't much difference in Lexington and Lawrence.

Wv... "If Kentucky would ever look to bolt the SEC"... No. Just... no. That has less than zero percent chance of happening. We're a founding member, btw.

And you should check the attendance numbers before you go riding down the annual support the football team receives no matter how lean the years have been.

[WMR]

http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/...8ffc9080650d5b

Kentucky was 25th in overall Division I FBS attendance for 2010 and Kansas averaged about 22,000 less fans per game over their 7 home games.

[IslandRed]

The SEC decides not to invite Texas A&M...

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/st...nvite-texas-am

... for now.

Most people I'm reading seem to think this is a "not yet" instead of a "no." The SEC obviously wants to make sure they can get the team they want as #14, and consider whether there will be a #15 and a #16. And the #14 needs to start play at the same time as A&M, which would have been problematic for many potential targets if the Aggies were going to join for 2012.

So I guess we get to keep hearing about it for awhile.

[Unassisted]

Originally Posted by IslandRed

The SEC decides not to invite Texas A&M...

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/st...nvite-texas-am

... for now.

Most people I'm reading seem to think this is a "not yet" instead of a "no." The SEC obviously wants to make sure they can get the team they want as #14, and consider whether there will be a #15 and a #16. And the #14 needs to start play at the same time as A&M, which would have been problematic for many potential targets if the Aggies were going to join for 2012.

Still, it's an embarassment for the folks in College Station. They overplayed their hand and they made themselves look silly.

This kind of negotiation is best conducted privately, rather than in the media.

[KronoRed]

Yeah the lack of a 14 is killing this for now had to
know that when espn talked absurd schools like Clemson or fsu

[Slyder]

Originally Posted by KronoRed

Yeah the lack of a 14 is killing this for now had to
know that when espn talked absurd schools like Clemson or fsu

ESPN is hoping to prolong the existance of the Big 12 long enough for someone to deliver the death blow to the Big East as a football conference. They don't want NBC getting a piece of the pie. They also know full well that the B12 survivors would likely end up together in the big east that is likely to be looking at 20 mil a year per team.

[WVRed]

Originally Posted by WMR

Wv... "If Kentucky would ever look to bolt the SEC"... No. Just... no. That has less than zero percent chance of happening. We're a founding member, btw.

And you should check the attendance numbers before you go riding down the annual support the football team receives no matter how lean the years have been.

I understand its never going to happen, but even with attendance figures UK is not that attractive. It's a basketball school in a small state. The only point I am making is that outside of basketball, Kentucky doesn't bring much of a following in anything else.

It's a moot point though, Kentucky is going nowhere.

[WMR]

Originally Posted by WVRed

I understand its never going to happen, but even with attendance figures UK is not that attractive. It's a basketball school in a small state. The only point I am making is that outside of basketball, Kentucky doesn't bring much of a following in anything else.

It's a moot point though, Kentucky is going nowhere.

UK would be a much more attractive candidate than Kansas to a prospective conference, period. IDK why you want to discredit it, but averaging 65-69k fans per game year after year is a huge deal, especially when considering how generally lackluster Kentucky's football teams have been.

Stadium size and attendance are huge lynchpins in any school's desire to join/move conferences.

I do agree that your initial point about "Kentucky looking to bolt" was silly.