With all the bellyaching about the recent decisions by the SEC and ACC to keep eight-game conference schedules, a most important point was largely missed. The scheduling setup makes competition within those conferences unfair.
Whenever there's an imbalance in the strengths of the conference's divisions, the race for the championship will become lopsided. Essentially, you'll rarely get the two best teams to play in the conference championship games.
And on top of that there's also the issue of preserving the familiarity and cohesion within the conferences. When the SEC decided to adopt the 6+1 model, with seven of the eight conference games permanently set, it means that six teams within your own conference won't set foot on your campus for an entire decade. In the case of the ACC, teams will see Notre Dame—technically not a member—more often than a few actual member schools.
There is an easy way to fix this, and it's already been put on the table: College football should dump divisions.
College basketball has been getting along just fine without divisions, even though some leagues have as many as 16 teams. Only three of the 32 conferences employ divisions, and none of the major conferences.
The divisions came into existence in 1992 when then-SEC commissioner Roy Kramer exploited a little-known NCAA bylaw in order to stage a conference championship game after the SEC expanded to 12 teams. All other major conferences followed suit. But as realignment made conferences bigger—beginning in 2014 the ACC, Big Ten and SEC will all have 14 teams—the divisional setup has become more unwieldy.
In March, the ACC in collaboration with the Big 12 submitted a proposal to drop divisions while allowing conferences to continue staging championship games. It was tabled during the NCAA's April meetings but may be considered when the board convenes again in August.
The 10-team Big 12, currently the only one of the five major conferences without a divisional setup or a title game, believes dumping divisions only makes sense as we move into the College Football Playoff era this fall.
"You wouldn't any longer have to have 12 (teams)," Big 12 commissioner Bowlsby told Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports in March. "You wouldn't any longer have to play a full round-robin in your subdivision. That would actually afford us the opportunity to have a playoff between two selected teams by whatever process we would want to select.
"Theoretically, we could say we're going to take the two highest in the BCS rankings and have them play at the end of the season."
In fact, the Big 12 has already taken steps toward making that a reality. This week the conference formally adopted a new tiebreaking procedure, tying it to the CFP poll as released by the selection committee. The same procedure obviously may be applied should it become necessary to determine the two teams to play in the conference championship game.
There is one other peripheral, though not unimportant, benefit to dumping the divisions. It is widely believed that the Big 12 will eventually expand back up to 12 teams in order to stage a conference title game. If that's no longer a prerequisite, then we might have some stability with conference memberships for awhile after five years of constant realignment maneuvers.
Showing posts with label Realignment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Realignment. Show all posts
Friday, May 30, 2014
Friday, March 21, 2014
How Penn State Could Have Saved Big East Football
Imagine the College Football Playoff beginning next season not with five, but six major conferences.
The Big East is still at the table, but not splintered into a basketball version of mostly Catholic schools and a watered-down, rebranded football version that's no longer among the big boys but has to fight for scraps.
Imagine a healthy Big East football roster with these teams: Syracuse, Rutgers, Boston College, UConn, West Virginia, Virginia Tech, Louisville, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Penn State. Oh yeah, and possibly even Notre Dame.
This conference—with or without Notre Dame—would not be relegated to the "Group of Five" as the Big East successor American Athletic Conference will be in the CFP. It would've had one of the biggest TV contracts and among the best bowl lineups. It very well might have been even bigger, having raided the northern ACC schools such as Maryland and Virginia.
All this could've happened with the change of just a single vote back in 1982.
With the NCAA tournament in full flight, ESPN touched on the demise of the once-mighty basketball conference in the excellent "Requiem for the Big East." The 30-for-30 series film touched on how football ruined the conference, that its drive to get the lucrative football TV money inevitably destroyed what was the best basketball conference in history.
But what if I told you football could've minted the Big East instead of ruined it? It came down to one vote.
In 1982, the independent football powers started to see the handwriting on the wall after the major conferences freed themselves from the bonds of the NCAA and were able to negotiate their own television deals. Penn State's Joe Paterno was contemplating the formation a new eastern football conference, but was persuaded to apply to join the nascent Big East.
By a single vote, the Big East athletic directors turned down Penn State's membership request. Needing six votes to pass, Penn State got five. Three basketball schools—Georgetown, St. John's and Villanova—voted against JoePa's Nittany Lions.
Villanova actually had played Division I football and produced NFL players including Hall of Famer Howie Long. But it shut down the football program in 1980, citing lack of support, only to bring it back four years later under pressure from the alumni. Had the vote not taken place during the 'Cats' football hiatus, Villanova would've cast the deciding vote in favor of Penn State and thus changed history.
Mike Tranghese, who was then-commissioner Dave Gavitt's right-hand man, said he told Gavitt the Big East would "rue the day" when it rejected Penn State. Tranghese would later succeed Gavitt and tried vainly to make the Big East football-relevant, but by then it was too late.
Penn State joined the Big Ten instead in 1990 and that officially began the football-and-TV-driven realignment frenzy that's still not quite finished. The Big East was raided by the Big 12, Big Ten and the ACC until it was no more.
A Big East with Penn State as the kingpin in football, however, would've thrived in this age. It would've monopolized all the big media markets on the eastern seaboard and gotten a huge windfall of television dollars. (And remember, the Big East was actually the first conference to have its own network.) Even as late as 2011, before the Big East's final collapse, it was offered a $1.1 billion TV deal, which of course it foolishly turned down.
With Penn State in the fold, Notre Dame might've joined the Big East in the '80s as well, as its fanbase has always been more eastern oriented than around its midwest-based campus. And in that case the Irish would've been a full member instead of staying independent in football when they did join the Big East in 1995.
Gavitt's vision had always been making the Big East the premier basketball conference, which was achieved to an astonishing degree in the 1980s, with the crowning moment in 1985 when three conference teams made the Final Four. But by failing to tame the beast that is football, Gavitt's beloved creation ended up being eaten alive by it 30 years later.
The Big East is still at the table, but not splintered into a basketball version of mostly Catholic schools and a watered-down, rebranded football version that's no longer among the big boys but has to fight for scraps.
Imagine a healthy Big East football roster with these teams: Syracuse, Rutgers, Boston College, UConn, West Virginia, Virginia Tech, Louisville, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Penn State. Oh yeah, and possibly even Notre Dame.
This conference—with or without Notre Dame—would not be relegated to the "Group of Five" as the Big East successor American Athletic Conference will be in the CFP. It would've had one of the biggest TV contracts and among the best bowl lineups. It very well might have been even bigger, having raided the northern ACC schools such as Maryland and Virginia.
All this could've happened with the change of just a single vote back in 1982.
With the NCAA tournament in full flight, ESPN touched on the demise of the once-mighty basketball conference in the excellent "Requiem for the Big East." The 30-for-30 series film touched on how football ruined the conference, that its drive to get the lucrative football TV money inevitably destroyed what was the best basketball conference in history.
But what if I told you football could've minted the Big East instead of ruined it? It came down to one vote.
In 1982, the independent football powers started to see the handwriting on the wall after the major conferences freed themselves from the bonds of the NCAA and were able to negotiate their own television deals. Penn State's Joe Paterno was contemplating the formation a new eastern football conference, but was persuaded to apply to join the nascent Big East.
By a single vote, the Big East athletic directors turned down Penn State's membership request. Needing six votes to pass, Penn State got five. Three basketball schools—Georgetown, St. John's and Villanova—voted against JoePa's Nittany Lions.
Villanova actually had played Division I football and produced NFL players including Hall of Famer Howie Long. But it shut down the football program in 1980, citing lack of support, only to bring it back four years later under pressure from the alumni. Had the vote not taken place during the 'Cats' football hiatus, Villanova would've cast the deciding vote in favor of Penn State and thus changed history.
Mike Tranghese, who was then-commissioner Dave Gavitt's right-hand man, said he told Gavitt the Big East would "rue the day" when it rejected Penn State. Tranghese would later succeed Gavitt and tried vainly to make the Big East football-relevant, but by then it was too late.
Penn State joined the Big Ten instead in 1990 and that officially began the football-and-TV-driven realignment frenzy that's still not quite finished. The Big East was raided by the Big 12, Big Ten and the ACC until it was no more.
| Team | Big East Member | Current Membership |
| Boston College | 1979-2005 | ACC |
| Cincinnati | 2005-2013 | American |
| Connecticut | 1979-2013 | American |
| Louisville | 2005-2013 | ACC |
| Maryland | Never a member | Big Ten |
| Notre Dame | 1995-2013 (non-football) | ACC (Independent football) |
| Penn State | Rejected for membership in 1982 | Big Ten |
| Pittsburgh | 1982-2013 | ACC |
| Rutgers | 1991-2013 | Big Ten |
| Syracuse | 1979-2013 | ACC |
| Temple | 1991-2005, 2012-2013 | American |
| Villanova* | 1980-2013 | Big East (FCS football) |
| Virginia | Never a member | ACC |
| Virginia Tech | 1991-2004 | ACC |
| West Virginia | 1991-2012 | Big 12 |
A Big East with Penn State as the kingpin in football, however, would've thrived in this age. It would've monopolized all the big media markets on the eastern seaboard and gotten a huge windfall of television dollars. (And remember, the Big East was actually the first conference to have its own network.) Even as late as 2011, before the Big East's final collapse, it was offered a $1.1 billion TV deal, which of course it foolishly turned down.
With Penn State in the fold, Notre Dame might've joined the Big East in the '80s as well, as its fanbase has always been more eastern oriented than around its midwest-based campus. And in that case the Irish would've been a full member instead of staying independent in football when they did join the Big East in 1995.
Gavitt's vision had always been making the Big East the premier basketball conference, which was achieved to an astonishing degree in the 1980s, with the crowning moment in 1985 when three conference teams made the Final Four. But by failing to tame the beast that is football, Gavitt's beloved creation ended up being eaten alive by it 30 years later.
Friday, January 4, 2013
Win or Lose, Notre Dame Already Won Big
No matter what happens Monday night in the BCS championship game against Alabama, Notre Dame will be the big winner for 2012, and many more years to come.
Call it the luck of the Irish if you want, but they could not have picked a better time to put together a dream season.
As recently as the end of last season, it was legitimate to question whether Notre Dame was even relevant. Squeezed out - on its own volition, no less - of the mad conference realignment money-grab, Notre Dame has become a perennial also-ran in a landscape increasingly dominated by the SEC and other power conferences. The Irish had lost 10 of their last 12 bowls games, including nine in a row from 1994-2006. And their TV ratings have slipped so much that they were even mocked by their own network.
All it took was a 12-game winning streak to fix all that.
Expectations weren't high as the Irish began their third season under Brian Kelly, unranked in the preseason AP poll with a brutal schedule that included Michigan, Stanford, Oklahoma and top-ranked USC, with the latter two on the road. They were an independent outfit, an anachronism from a bygone era.
But as it proved this season, Notre Dame is uniquely qualified to strike out on its own. And independence is a vital part of its identity as the team rang up victories and cash registers alike.
Win or lose on Monday, Notre Dame will collect $6.2 million this season by playing in a BCS bowl game, which dwarves the payout to any given conference member. The Pac-12 teams, which lead the rest, will collect $2.48 million each this season by virtue of having two conferences members in BCS games to divide $29.8 million 12 ways.
Notre Dame went with a winner-take-all approach in the first eight years of the BCS, during which it earned $27.5 million by appearing in two BCS games. Starting in 2006, it opted for a more risk-averse route, accepting a smaller but guaranteed annual payment with a bonus in years it qualifies for a BCS game. Even if the Irish fail to make a BCS bowl next season, they will have collected at least $21.6 million over eight years, an annual rate of $2.7 million that outstrips every school during that timespan.
With the arrangement of BCS 2.0, Notre Dame likely will increase the BCS payout gap on its conference-affiliated competition. With six bowls and a total of 12 slots available annually, the Irish will have a better chance to become a fixture in the new setup, especially if Kelly can build on his success this season with more banner recruiting classes. In the new scenario, Notre Dame should qualify for a BCS game every season with two losses or fewer, not a particularly high bar considering it'll be playing at least five ACC foes per season by 2014.
And it gets better (if you're a hater, it might be a good time to close the browser now). Notre Dame's renaissance comes just in time as negotiations for a new TV contract heat up. NBC pays Notre Dame a reported $15 million annually in an eight-year deal that expires after 2015. And this year's TV ratings for the Irish, capped by a blockbuster 10.3 in the regular-season finale at USC and maybe double that for the BCS title game, will only reinforce their brand power and value.
Since most of the major conferences have recently signed new TV deals worth at least 20 million annually to each school, expect NBC to match that to keep Notre Dame home games on the Peacock Network. At the very least, Notre Dame's new deal should exceed the $17 million per school the ACC is getting, but no one should be surprised if the new TV contract pays the Irish $25-$30 million a year.
All in all, things have worked out swimmingly for the Irish this year. They beat the posse out of the fast-imploding Big East by putting all their Olympic sports teams in the ACC. The five-football-games-per-year agreement with the ACC allows the Irish to play a high-profile schedule without being too severely challenged. All the while they get to maintain their cherished independence as the only truly national program in college football.
And if they manage to beat Alabama and Nick Saban on Monday night? It's a prospect that just might be too terrifying for some to contemplate.
(FULL ARTICLE @ SB NATION)
Call it the luck of the Irish if you want, but they could not have picked a better time to put together a dream season.
As recently as the end of last season, it was legitimate to question whether Notre Dame was even relevant. Squeezed out - on its own volition, no less - of the mad conference realignment money-grab, Notre Dame has become a perennial also-ran in a landscape increasingly dominated by the SEC and other power conferences. The Irish had lost 10 of their last 12 bowls games, including nine in a row from 1994-2006. And their TV ratings have slipped so much that they were even mocked by their own network.
All it took was a 12-game winning streak to fix all that.
Expectations weren't high as the Irish began their third season under Brian Kelly, unranked in the preseason AP poll with a brutal schedule that included Michigan, Stanford, Oklahoma and top-ranked USC, with the latter two on the road. They were an independent outfit, an anachronism from a bygone era.
But as it proved this season, Notre Dame is uniquely qualified to strike out on its own. And independence is a vital part of its identity as the team rang up victories and cash registers alike.
Win or lose on Monday, Notre Dame will collect $6.2 million this season by playing in a BCS bowl game, which dwarves the payout to any given conference member. The Pac-12 teams, which lead the rest, will collect $2.48 million each this season by virtue of having two conferences members in BCS games to divide $29.8 million 12 ways.
Notre Dame went with a winner-take-all approach in the first eight years of the BCS, during which it earned $27.5 million by appearing in two BCS games. Starting in 2006, it opted for a more risk-averse route, accepting a smaller but guaranteed annual payment with a bonus in years it qualifies for a BCS game. Even if the Irish fail to make a BCS bowl next season, they will have collected at least $21.6 million over eight years, an annual rate of $2.7 million that outstrips every school during that timespan.
With the arrangement of BCS 2.0, Notre Dame likely will increase the BCS payout gap on its conference-affiliated competition. With six bowls and a total of 12 slots available annually, the Irish will have a better chance to become a fixture in the new setup, especially if Kelly can build on his success this season with more banner recruiting classes. In the new scenario, Notre Dame should qualify for a BCS game every season with two losses or fewer, not a particularly high bar considering it'll be playing at least five ACC foes per season by 2014.
And it gets better (if you're a hater, it might be a good time to close the browser now). Notre Dame's renaissance comes just in time as negotiations for a new TV contract heat up. NBC pays Notre Dame a reported $15 million annually in an eight-year deal that expires after 2015. And this year's TV ratings for the Irish, capped by a blockbuster 10.3 in the regular-season finale at USC and maybe double that for the BCS title game, will only reinforce their brand power and value.
Since most of the major conferences have recently signed new TV deals worth at least 20 million annually to each school, expect NBC to match that to keep Notre Dame home games on the Peacock Network. At the very least, Notre Dame's new deal should exceed the $17 million per school the ACC is getting, but no one should be surprised if the new TV contract pays the Irish $25-$30 million a year.
All in all, things have worked out swimmingly for the Irish this year. They beat the posse out of the fast-imploding Big East by putting all their Olympic sports teams in the ACC. The five-football-games-per-year agreement with the ACC allows the Irish to play a high-profile schedule without being too severely challenged. All the while they get to maintain their cherished independence as the only truly national program in college football.
And if they manage to beat Alabama and Nick Saban on Monday night? It's a prospect that just might be too terrifying for some to contemplate.
(FULL ARTICLE @ SB NATION)
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
College Football With an NFL Flavor
What if college football was, say, organized like the National Football League?
With the sport's powers-that-be rapidly moving toward another segregation of the haves and have-nots - just like when Division I football was split into I-A and I-AA in 1978 - the days of the super conferences hoarding just about every last dollar to themselves will be upon us soon enough.
They have the power and the clout to ditch the NCAA if they want to. So what if they did and formed a super division of top-echelon college football teams? We can have a balanced schedule, a sensible playoff, and above all, a legitimate champion every season. There will be less griping and more football. Who'd be against that?
It's probably not going to happen, but since we do traffic highly in hypotheticals, let's say it did ...
1. First, we have to determine who's IN the big boys' club. The easy thing to do is to include the five conferences that will comprise BCS 2.0 starting in 2014 - the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC - and their 64 members, plus Notre Dame. But to have balance, we need an even number of 72, which makes the math easier, and there are a few worthy candidates to choose from.
Boise State would be a no brainer, as are UConn and Cincinnati, which probably will both end up in a BCS conference at some point anyway. That leaves us with four more to pluck, and we would go with BYU for its pedigree, SMU and Houston, former members of the Southwest Conference now on the upswing, and San Diego State, which just edged South Florida for the last spot.
2. Then, we need to divide them up neatly and sensibly. With 72 members, this allows us to form two 36-team conferences, within each four divisions of nine tams. And to make sense geographically, we'd have a Union League composed of Big Ten and Pac-12 teams plus Notre Dame, and a Dixie League composed of SEC, ACC and Big 12 teams - plus a few variations.
For geographical reasons, we'll reassign Syracuse, Pitt, Boston College and Iowa State to the Union League, as well as add UConn, Cincy, BYU, Boise State and San Diego State. Naturally, SMU and Houston will join the Dixie League. Now you can draw a boundary along state lines from Chesapeake Bay to El Paso and the teams will neatly fall on either side of this divide.
3. Next, we can put together a balanced schedule. With each conference composed of four nine-team divisions, each team will play a full round-robin divisional schedule, plus games against a team from each of the conference's three other divisions and a game against a team from the other conference, for a total of 12 regular season games.
As for the postseason, the eight divisional winners would qualify for the playoffs, with first-round winners matched up for the conference championship and then conference winners would play in the College Football Championship, staged annually at the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1. At the most, a team would play 15 games in a season, exactly the same number as the setup in BCS 2.0.
4. And the divisions, with an eye on preserving and restoring college football's cherished rivalries, would look like this:
Northern League
With the sport's powers-that-be rapidly moving toward another segregation of the haves and have-nots - just like when Division I football was split into I-A and I-AA in 1978 - the days of the super conferences hoarding just about every last dollar to themselves will be upon us soon enough.
They have the power and the clout to ditch the NCAA if they want to. So what if they did and formed a super division of top-echelon college football teams? We can have a balanced schedule, a sensible playoff, and above all, a legitimate champion every season. There will be less griping and more football. Who'd be against that?
It's probably not going to happen, but since we do traffic highly in hypotheticals, let's say it did ...
1. First, we have to determine who's IN the big boys' club. The easy thing to do is to include the five conferences that will comprise BCS 2.0 starting in 2014 - the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC - and their 64 members, plus Notre Dame. But to have balance, we need an even number of 72, which makes the math easier, and there are a few worthy candidates to choose from.
Boise State would be a no brainer, as are UConn and Cincinnati, which probably will both end up in a BCS conference at some point anyway. That leaves us with four more to pluck, and we would go with BYU for its pedigree, SMU and Houston, former members of the Southwest Conference now on the upswing, and San Diego State, which just edged South Florida for the last spot.
2. Then, we need to divide them up neatly and sensibly. With 72 members, this allows us to form two 36-team conferences, within each four divisions of nine tams. And to make sense geographically, we'd have a Union League composed of Big Ten and Pac-12 teams plus Notre Dame, and a Dixie League composed of SEC, ACC and Big 12 teams - plus a few variations.
For geographical reasons, we'll reassign Syracuse, Pitt, Boston College and Iowa State to the Union League, as well as add UConn, Cincy, BYU, Boise State and San Diego State. Naturally, SMU and Houston will join the Dixie League. Now you can draw a boundary along state lines from Chesapeake Bay to El Paso and the teams will neatly fall on either side of this divide.
3. Next, we can put together a balanced schedule. With each conference composed of four nine-team divisions, each team will play a full round-robin divisional schedule, plus games against a team from each of the conference's three other divisions and a game against a team from the other conference, for a total of 12 regular season games.
As for the postseason, the eight divisional winners would qualify for the playoffs, with first-round winners matched up for the conference championship and then conference winners would play in the College Football Championship, staged annually at the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1. At the most, a team would play 15 games in a season, exactly the same number as the setup in BCS 2.0.
4. And the divisions, with an eye on preserving and restoring college football's cherished rivalries, would look like this:
Northern League
- Northeast Division: Boston College, Connecticut, Syracuse, Rutgers, Maryland, Pittsburgh, Penn State, Ohio State, Cincinnati.
- Great Lakes Division: Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Indiana, Purdue, Northwestern, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota.
- Northwest Division: Washington, Washington State, Oregon, Oregon State, Boise State, Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, Iowa State.
- Pacific Division: California, Stanford, USC, UCLA, San Diego State, Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, BYU.
- Southwest Division: Texas, Texas A&M, Houston, TCU, SMU, Baylor, Texas Tech, Arkansas, LSU.
- Central Division: Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Kentucky, Louisville, Tennessee, Vanderbilt.
- Deep South Division: Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Florida, Florida State, Miami (Fla.).
- Atlantic Division: West Virginia, Virginia, Virginia Tech, North Carolina, N.C. State, Duke, Wake Forest, South Carolina, Clemson.
5. Finally, this is how the 2012 season would've turned out had this alignment and format been in place. Keep in mind we discarded results from conference championship and bowl games (AP regular-season ranking):
Of course, something this sensible and logical will never happen. That's why you own an XBox or PS3, right?
(FULL ARTICLE @ SB NATION)
- 1. Notre Dame 12-0 (Great Lakes winner) vs. 8. Stanford 11-1 (Pacific winner)
- 3. Ohio State 12-0 (Northeast winner) vs. 5. Oregon 11-1 (Northwest winner)
- 7. Kansas State 11-1 (Central winner) vs. 9. LSU 10-2 (Southwest winner, by virtue of head-to-head win over Texas A&M)
- 2. Alabama 11-1 (Deep South winner, assumed winner over Florida) vs. 11. South Carolina 10-2 (Atlantic winner, by virtue of head-to-head win over Clemson)
Of course, something this sensible and logical will never happen. That's why you own an XBox or PS3, right?
(FULL ARTICLE @ SB NATION)
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
College Football's Real God: Almighty TV
While the Big East scrambles to stave off its imminent collapse, whether it's by enticing Fresno State and UNLV to join up or begging UConn and Cincinnati to stay put, it can make no tangible promises because there's no TV dollars to back any such pledge.
Basically, the Big East blew it by not locking down a good TV deal when the going was good.
Television money is now the lifeblood of college sports - specifically college football, which has become the second-most valuable property to television networks after the NFL. With the advent of DVRs and streaming services, sports is about the only thing left that can still deliver huge live audiences that advertisers crave. And that, in turn, brings in big bucks.
The Los Angeles Lakers signed a 20-year, 3 billion exclusive deal with the fledgling Time Warner Sportsnet, which commands a whopping $4 per subscriber fee and won a staredown with DirecTV.
Just up the street, the Dodgers are expected to one-up that, with a new 25-year deal expected to be worth north of $6 billion. And then there's the mother of all monster deals - the NFL's next TV contract, scheduled to kick in for 2014, is worth about $5 billion annually.
College football certainly has gotten in on the act, with the five major conferences each inking billion-dollar deals in the past two years. The annual payouts roughly go like this:
Basically, the Big East blew it by not locking down a good TV deal when the going was good.
Television money is now the lifeblood of college sports - specifically college football, which has become the second-most valuable property to television networks after the NFL. With the advent of DVRs and streaming services, sports is about the only thing left that can still deliver huge live audiences that advertisers crave. And that, in turn, brings in big bucks.
The Los Angeles Lakers signed a 20-year, 3 billion exclusive deal with the fledgling Time Warner Sportsnet, which commands a whopping $4 per subscriber fee and won a staredown with DirecTV.
Just up the street, the Dodgers are expected to one-up that, with a new 25-year deal expected to be worth north of $6 billion. And then there's the mother of all monster deals - the NFL's next TV contract, scheduled to kick in for 2014, is worth about $5 billion annually.
College football certainly has gotten in on the act, with the five major conferences each inking billion-dollar deals in the past two years. The annual payouts roughly go like this:
- Pac-12: $250 million ($20.83 million per school)
- Big Ten: $248 million ($20.67 million)
- Big 12: $200 million ($20 million)
- ACC: $240 million ($17.14 million)
- SEC: $205 million ($14.64 million)
- Notre Dame: 15 million
So who's missing here? Yep, the Big East, the erstwhile member of the big boys' club that's about to get tossed out on its ear after the 2013 season.
The Big East was essentially done in by its own greed. In April 2011, the much-maligned former commissioner John Marinatto had a nine-year, $1.17 billion deal with ESPN on the table, which would've paid its full members about $13.8 million per season and the basketball-only schools $2.5 million. While it wasn't Big Ten money, it was more than commensurate with what the Big East was worth.
But the Big East presidents, including the ones in the "Catholic 7," rejected the deal, thinking they would be able to squeeze more out of it. Turns out, it was a gargantuan miscalculation that left the Big East in today's mess.
The Big East's current TV deal expires after this basketball season and the next football season. With the mass defections this the past month, the value of that next contract is dwindling, and no network is all that eager to jump in to make a deal when more schools might abandon ship before long. The latest estimate has the conference getting about $40-$50 million per year - and that's assuming everybody stays put.
An optimistic model of $50 million yields a payout of about $4.17 million per year for the nine full members and $3.13 million per year for the four football-only schools (Boise State, San Diego State, East Carolina and Navy in 2015). It's dwarfed by the payouts in the major conferences, though it's still substantially more than what the Mountain West pays, which is around $1 million per school per year.
There is a tug-of-war between the remnants of the Big East and the MWC, vying to be the kingpin of the Group of Five in BCS 2.0. The Big East wants to continue to raid the MWC to pump up its value to potential TV suitors, while the MWC aims to lure Boise State and San Diego State back (though technically they haven't left yet). Both conferences would love to pick off BYU, but neither is likely to succeed because the Cougars are getting about $5-6 million per year from its own TV deal with ESPN as a football independent.
Without Boise State and San Diego State (and BYU), the Mountain West is unlikely to substantially improve on its current TV contract, which is set to expire after the 2014 season. There is much uncertainty surrounding the future of the MWC, with the Big East menacing it as an existential threat.
As for the Big East, being demoted in the new BCS landscape is the lesser of its problems, as it's at risk to further disintegrate from more defections the longer it takes to lock down a TV deal. And if the worst-case scenario should happen - UConn and Cincinnati find new homes while Boise State and San Diego State get cold feet before next July - the Big East becomes Conference USA Lite, circa 2004. In that case, it should expect not much more than Conference USA money.
How much is that? C-USA signed its most recent TV deal in early 2011 with FOX and CBS, worth $14 million per year, total.
(FULL ARTICLE @ SB NATION)
(FULL ARTICLE @ SB NATION)
Friday, December 14, 2012
The End of the Big East
It's been said that the Holy Roman Empire was neither Holy, nor Roman and not much of an empire. Kinda like the modern-day Big East Conference. And the Big East, as a football power conference, is about to join the Holy Roman Empire in the ash heap of history.
The seven non-football members of the Big East are expected to pull out - maybe as soon as next week - leaving a rump conference constituted of basically members of Conference USA, circa 2004. While the BCS likely will keep the Big East as an AQ conference in 2013, that'll simply mark the end of its football relevance.
Even if nothing else changes, by the 2014 season, only one of the Big East's seven founding members - Connecticut - will still be in the conference. In fact, UConn will be the only member at the end of the 2004 season that will still remain in the Big East. Of the 12 teams currently expected to play a Big East schedule in 2014, eight used to play in Conference USA, two in the Mountain West, plus Temple, a one-time Big East football member that was invited back in after getting booted.
OK, take a deep breath and let your head stop spinning. Here's our best guess for what the major conferences might look like by 2014-15:
The seven non-football members of the Big East are expected to pull out - maybe as soon as next week - leaving a rump conference constituted of basically members of Conference USA, circa 2004. While the BCS likely will keep the Big East as an AQ conference in 2013, that'll simply mark the end of its football relevance.
Even if nothing else changes, by the 2014 season, only one of the Big East's seven founding members - Connecticut - will still be in the conference. In fact, UConn will be the only member at the end of the 2004 season that will still remain in the Big East. Of the 12 teams currently expected to play a Big East schedule in 2014, eight used to play in Conference USA, two in the Mountain West, plus Temple, a one-time Big East football member that was invited back in after getting booted.
OK, take a deep breath and let your head stop spinning. Here's our best guess for what the major conferences might look like by 2014-15:
- Big Ten (16 teams): Add Rutgers, Maryland, Virginia, Kansas
- ACC (14 teams): Lose Maryland, Virginia, Florida State; add Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Louisville, Cincinnati, UConn
- Big 12 (10 teams): Lose Kansas; add Florida State
- Pac-12 (12 teams): No change
- SEC (14 teams): No change
- Mountain West (12 teams): Add Boise State, San Diego State, Utah State, San Jose State
- Big East (8 teams): Temple, South Florida, Central Florida, Memphis, SMU, Houston, Tulane, East Carolina
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
A Crystal Ball for Conference Realignment
Colorado is headed to the Pac-10 a year early after posting bail. Nebraska paid its own ransom to be released from the Big 12. BYU has declared independence. The WAC is suing Nevada and Fresno State like a jilted lover.
And the fun is only beginning.
The 2011 season is going to look a lot different from the 2010 season. But take this to the bank: The 2013 season is going to look a lot different from the 2011 season. More teams will move. More BCS berths will be negotiated.
The lynchpin of all this movement will be the Big Ten. Should it decide that adding Nebraska achieved its goals, fine. But should it decide it must have Notre Dame (and three other teams), then look out.
The domino effect will hit the Big 12 and Big East hard. But even if the Big Ten stands pat, the Big 12 might have another play up its sleeve anyway. And that's going to help blowing up the Mountain West, or meld it back with the WAC.
Is your head spinning yet? Good. The Guru will now break it all down.
Let's review the 11 I-A conferences and the independents. What they look like now, what they will look like next year, and what they might look like even before the current BCS contract runs out:
2011 Season-
SEC, ACC, Big East, C-USA, MAC and Sun Belt - unchanged from 2010.
Pac-10 - Adds Colorado and Utah in 2011. Two divisions (Washington and Oregon schools plus Colorado and Utah in the North; California and Arizona schools in the South), with the winners meeting in the Pac-12 title game.
Big Ten - Adds Nebraska in 2011. Two division winners meeting in the Big Ten title game.
Big 12 - Loses Nebraska and Colorado in 2011. Conference championship game eliminated.
Mountain West - Loses Utah and BYU and adds Boise State, Fresno State and Nevada (the latter two pending a lawsuit by the WAC).
WAC - Loses Boise State, Fresno State and Nevada. Only six teams remain in the conference.
Independents - BYU joins Notre Dame, Army and Navy.
2013 Season (Scenario 1: Big Ten does nothing)-
Big Ten, Pac-10, SEC, ACC, Sun Belt and Independents - unchanged from 2011.
Big 12 - Adds TCU and Houston. Both added to the South Division with four Texas schools while the North Division has six non-Texas schools. Restores conference title game.
Big East - Adds Villanova (moving up from I-AA).
Conference USA - Loses Houston and adds Temple.
MAC - Loses Temple.
Mountain West* - Loses TCU.
WAC* - Adds Montana (moving up from I-AA).
* The MWC and WAC may decide to merge if, a) Montana stays in I-AA, b) San Jose State drops football or moves down to I-AA, c) Louisiana Tech leaves for the Sun Belt, d) Hawaii becomes independent in football and joins the Big West or WCC in other sports. Should at least two of those scenarios materialize, then a 12- or 14-team new conference is a possibility.
2013 Season (Scenario 2: Big Ten goes for it)-
Pac-10, SEC, ACC and Sun Belt - unchanged from 2011.
MWC, WAC, C-USA and MAC - unchanged from Scenario 1.
Big Ten - Adds Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Missouri and Kansas. Notre Dame and Pittsburgh join the North Division with Michigan, Nebraska, Iowa, Michigan State, Minnesota and Northwestern. Missouri and Kansas join the South Division with Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin, Illinois, Purdue and Indiana.
Big 12 - Loses Missouri and Kansas. Adds TCU and Houston. Remains a 10-team conference.
Big East - Loses Pittsburgh and adds Villanova (moving up from I-AA).
Independents - Loses Notre Dame. Army, Navy, BYU and maybe Hawaii remain.
Yes, this is a little hard to digest. But all this maneuvering should make life easier for the BCS. A weakened MWC, without Utah, BYU and also TCU, has no chance of landing an automatic BCS bid. Even a MWC-WAC merger, with no marquee school other than Boise State still in it, should not be enough to produce an AQ-worthy conference.
So as they say, plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. Bet you didn't know the BCS was invented by the French.
And the fun is only beginning.
The 2011 season is going to look a lot different from the 2010 season. But take this to the bank: The 2013 season is going to look a lot different from the 2011 season. More teams will move. More BCS berths will be negotiated.
The lynchpin of all this movement will be the Big Ten. Should it decide that adding Nebraska achieved its goals, fine. But should it decide it must have Notre Dame (and three other teams), then look out.
The domino effect will hit the Big 12 and Big East hard. But even if the Big Ten stands pat, the Big 12 might have another play up its sleeve anyway. And that's going to help blowing up the Mountain West, or meld it back with the WAC.
Is your head spinning yet? Good. The Guru will now break it all down.
Let's review the 11 I-A conferences and the independents. What they look like now, what they will look like next year, and what they might look like even before the current BCS contract runs out:
2011 Season-
SEC, ACC, Big East, C-USA, MAC and Sun Belt - unchanged from 2010.
Pac-10 - Adds Colorado and Utah in 2011. Two divisions (Washington and Oregon schools plus Colorado and Utah in the North; California and Arizona schools in the South), with the winners meeting in the Pac-12 title game.
Big Ten - Adds Nebraska in 2011. Two division winners meeting in the Big Ten title game.
Big 12 - Loses Nebraska and Colorado in 2011. Conference championship game eliminated.
Mountain West - Loses Utah and BYU and adds Boise State, Fresno State and Nevada (the latter two pending a lawsuit by the WAC).
WAC - Loses Boise State, Fresno State and Nevada. Only six teams remain in the conference.
Independents - BYU joins Notre Dame, Army and Navy.
2013 Season (Scenario 1: Big Ten does nothing)-
Big Ten, Pac-10, SEC, ACC, Sun Belt and Independents - unchanged from 2011.
Big 12 - Adds TCU and Houston. Both added to the South Division with four Texas schools while the North Division has six non-Texas schools. Restores conference title game.
Big East - Adds Villanova (moving up from I-AA).
Conference USA - Loses Houston and adds Temple.
MAC - Loses Temple.
Mountain West* - Loses TCU.
WAC* - Adds Montana (moving up from I-AA).
* The MWC and WAC may decide to merge if, a) Montana stays in I-AA, b) San Jose State drops football or moves down to I-AA, c) Louisiana Tech leaves for the Sun Belt, d) Hawaii becomes independent in football and joins the Big West or WCC in other sports. Should at least two of those scenarios materialize, then a 12- or 14-team new conference is a possibility.
2013 Season (Scenario 2: Big Ten goes for it)-
Pac-10, SEC, ACC and Sun Belt - unchanged from 2011.
MWC, WAC, C-USA and MAC - unchanged from Scenario 1.
Big Ten - Adds Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Missouri and Kansas. Notre Dame and Pittsburgh join the North Division with Michigan, Nebraska, Iowa, Michigan State, Minnesota and Northwestern. Missouri and Kansas join the South Division with Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin, Illinois, Purdue and Indiana.
Big 12 - Loses Missouri and Kansas. Adds TCU and Houston. Remains a 10-team conference.
Big East - Loses Pittsburgh and adds Villanova (moving up from I-AA).
Independents - Loses Notre Dame. Army, Navy, BYU and maybe Hawaii remain.
Yes, this is a little hard to digest. But all this maneuvering should make life easier for the BCS. A weakened MWC, without Utah, BYU and also TCU, has no chance of landing an automatic BCS bid. Even a MWC-WAC merger, with no marquee school other than Boise State still in it, should not be enough to produce an AQ-worthy conference.
So as they say, plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. Bet you didn't know the BCS was invented by the French.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Why BYU's Independence Makes Sense
(Latest Simulated BCS Standings)
By John Cownover
Guest Column
I have read some columns that said that essentially said it is embarrassing that "BYU is leaving the MWC for the WCC" … which is really only a half-truth (if even that). Does it really matter what athletic conference you are in for anything besides football? The short answer is no!
Quick question: What's Butler's conference? Maybe you know, but I don't … and they were a half-court prayer away from beating mighty Duke in the title game. My point is that conferences don't matter in "Olympic" sports (including basketball).
Not only are the WCC schools a better academic and cultural fit for BYU, consider the resulting exchange in markets. BYU goes from the likes of Laramie, Albuquerque and Colorado Springs to Los Angeles, San Francisco and Portland. BYU loses the Fort Worth market, but keeps San Diego; the weak sister is either Provo/Salt Lake or Spokane … big step up from the sad sack MWC markets.
In my opinion, the basketball competition in the WCC is bit of an upgrade (but certainly not a huge one) from the MWC. Other than basketball and football, nobody (besides coaches, athletes and their families) care about the rest of the sports. Case in point, did you know that BYU won the national championship in men's volleyball in 1999, 2001 and 2004? And that they also and a national title in rugby in 2009? Neither did I until I looked it up last week.
Obviously ESPN extends BYU's exposure exponentially, but does football being broadcast on BYUtv really make a difference? As a BYU alumnus and an active Mormon, the answer is unequivocally yes. Admittedly, very few non-LDS people even know BYUtv exists, much less watch it. But many members are BYU alumni, former students, have children attending BYU or are just fans … those folks would love an convenient location to watch BYU football.
Anecdotally, I have DirecTV and get 120 channels or so, but I don't subscribe to the package that allows me to get The Mtn. Although I am an alumnus, I'm not enough of a fanatic to pay for The Mtn just so I can watch BYU play Wyoming … or New Mexico … or Air Force in football. But I do get BYUtv and, assuming it's convenient, I will watch most every game they play next year.
BYU detractors will point to the inarguable fact that Boise State, Utah and TCU have all been better than BYU in football for 10 years or so. Having said that, BYU has been a relevant football school for approaching 40 years. I would be interested to know how many times over the past 40 years BYU has finished the season ranked in the top 25. My guess is that it's very close to the number of times that TCU, Utah an Boise State have combined finishes in the top 25 over the same time frame.
Plus, BYU has a national championship in football during that period (which trumps all BCS bowl appearances, by the way). I know it was 25 years ago … and counting. But, the Pittsburgh Steelers are still 6-time Super Bowl champions even though four of those titles came five years or more before BYU won a national title.
Please do not think I am suggesting BYU is on par with Notre Dame, Alabama, Michigan, Nebraska, Texas, etc. (or the Pittsburgh Steelers for that matter). They are more like UCLA (in football), Washington, Arkansas, Purdue, etc. (or maybe the Chargers in the NFL … except BYU has won a title). Certainly not blue bloods, but not historical slouches either.
And about BYU getting the Notre Dame BCS exception. Obviously they won't get the top 8 inclusion. But I think it's entirely possible they get a top 6 exception and fully expect they will get a top 4 exception. More that anything this will prevent the BCS to from committing to the Mountain West.
For argument sake, let's assume BYU is treated exactly like Notre Dame (even though we know that won't happen). How many times in 10 years will BYU finish in the BCS top 8? At most, two. If I'm the BCS I'd take my chances with the possibility of giving BYU an invite once every four or five years as opposed to being locked into Boise State, TCU or heaven forbid, Wyoming or New Mexico, every single year.
Now to Texas and the Big 12/Pac-10. I live in SEC country and all the talk is "How can Texas (and OU/A&M) justify getting more money that the rest of the schools? Why do those other schools let them get away with it?"
We can sit around reading Mother Goose stories pretending it's not true, but the whole realignment chaos was/is controlled by four factors. We need to admit that #1 is light years ahead of #2, which is light years ahead of #3, which is virtually interchangeable with #4. The factors are 1) TV markets, 2) football relevance, 3) basketball relevance and 4) academics.
With that as a backdrop, most schools within a given conference are in the top 2 or 3 in one of the above factors. Likewise, most schools are not in the top 2 or 3 in ALL of the factors. Take the SEC, for instance … Alabama is a football behemoth and delivers huge TV numbers (because they are a national brand). Now, do they even have their own basketball arena or do they just share one with the local high school? … or with Auburn?
Academically, they are really not all that much different from the rest of the SEC, except Vanderbilt. Vandy, of course, is dreadful in football, but they are okay in basketball, deliver a very nice local market and are an academic giant. From my perspective, the only real freeloaders in the SEC are Mississippi and Mississippi State.
This is virtually identical for all BCS conferences … except the ten-school Big 12. We'll do TV last because that's the most interesting and dramatic.
Historically best football programs: Oklahoma, then Texas is a very close second; Texas A&M is a distant third; then et al.
Historically best basketball programs: Kansas by a mile, then OU, then Texas; Baylor is good now, but not too long ago Dave Bliss was covering up an on-team homicide … and Texas Tech has only moderate interest because of the ghost of Bobby Knight.
Best academic institution: Texas, and it's not real close. A&M is second and I don't have a clue after that.
If you're scoring at home, Texas Oklahoma and A&M are routinely 1, 2 or 3 so far … now to TV. A colleague of mine recently sent me the most current population statistics for all U.S. DMAs (that's Designated Market Areas, which is basically TV markets). If you look at the markets that University of Texas football dominates (Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Austin … not to mention all the ancillary markets like Midland/Odessa and Corpus Christi), the four major markets combined (which is what Texas football delivers) are larger than any DMA in the country except New York.
Now tell me, why does Texas get the majority of the money? Because they do the majority of the work … in the classroom, on the basketball court, on the football field and where it matters most … on TV!
TV is also why the Mountain West, even with BYU, Utah and Boise State, had zero chance of ever getting into the BCS unless they add the Cotton Bowl to the existing rotation (which I think is likely to happen). I know the arguments for dropping the Big East and adding the Mountain West, but do you really think the networks would be okay with dropping the northeast markets for the MWC markets?
Not a chance!
By John Cownover
Guest Column
I have read some columns that said that essentially said it is embarrassing that "BYU is leaving the MWC for the WCC" … which is really only a half-truth (if even that). Does it really matter what athletic conference you are in for anything besides football? The short answer is no!
Quick question: What's Butler's conference? Maybe you know, but I don't … and they were a half-court prayer away from beating mighty Duke in the title game. My point is that conferences don't matter in "Olympic" sports (including basketball).
Not only are the WCC schools a better academic and cultural fit for BYU, consider the resulting exchange in markets. BYU goes from the likes of Laramie, Albuquerque and Colorado Springs to Los Angeles, San Francisco and Portland. BYU loses the Fort Worth market, but keeps San Diego; the weak sister is either Provo/Salt Lake or Spokane … big step up from the sad sack MWC markets.
In my opinion, the basketball competition in the WCC is bit of an upgrade (but certainly not a huge one) from the MWC. Other than basketball and football, nobody (besides coaches, athletes and their families) care about the rest of the sports. Case in point, did you know that BYU won the national championship in men's volleyball in 1999, 2001 and 2004? And that they also and a national title in rugby in 2009? Neither did I until I looked it up last week.
Obviously ESPN extends BYU's exposure exponentially, but does football being broadcast on BYUtv really make a difference? As a BYU alumnus and an active Mormon, the answer is unequivocally yes. Admittedly, very few non-LDS people even know BYUtv exists, much less watch it. But many members are BYU alumni, former students, have children attending BYU or are just fans … those folks would love an convenient location to watch BYU football.
Anecdotally, I have DirecTV and get 120 channels or so, but I don't subscribe to the package that allows me to get The Mtn. Although I am an alumnus, I'm not enough of a fanatic to pay for The Mtn just so I can watch BYU play Wyoming … or New Mexico … or Air Force in football. But I do get BYUtv and, assuming it's convenient, I will watch most every game they play next year.
BYU detractors will point to the inarguable fact that Boise State, Utah and TCU have all been better than BYU in football for 10 years or so. Having said that, BYU has been a relevant football school for approaching 40 years. I would be interested to know how many times over the past 40 years BYU has finished the season ranked in the top 25. My guess is that it's very close to the number of times that TCU, Utah an Boise State have combined finishes in the top 25 over the same time frame.
Plus, BYU has a national championship in football during that period (which trumps all BCS bowl appearances, by the way). I know it was 25 years ago … and counting. But, the Pittsburgh Steelers are still 6-time Super Bowl champions even though four of those titles came five years or more before BYU won a national title.
Please do not think I am suggesting BYU is on par with Notre Dame, Alabama, Michigan, Nebraska, Texas, etc. (or the Pittsburgh Steelers for that matter). They are more like UCLA (in football), Washington, Arkansas, Purdue, etc. (or maybe the Chargers in the NFL … except BYU has won a title). Certainly not blue bloods, but not historical slouches either.
And about BYU getting the Notre Dame BCS exception. Obviously they won't get the top 8 inclusion. But I think it's entirely possible they get a top 6 exception and fully expect they will get a top 4 exception. More that anything this will prevent the BCS to from committing to the Mountain West.
For argument sake, let's assume BYU is treated exactly like Notre Dame (even though we know that won't happen). How many times in 10 years will BYU finish in the BCS top 8? At most, two. If I'm the BCS I'd take my chances with the possibility of giving BYU an invite once every four or five years as opposed to being locked into Boise State, TCU or heaven forbid, Wyoming or New Mexico, every single year.
Now to Texas and the Big 12/Pac-10. I live in SEC country and all the talk is "How can Texas (and OU/A&M) justify getting more money that the rest of the schools? Why do those other schools let them get away with it?"
We can sit around reading Mother Goose stories pretending it's not true, but the whole realignment chaos was/is controlled by four factors. We need to admit that #1 is light years ahead of #2, which is light years ahead of #3, which is virtually interchangeable with #4. The factors are 1) TV markets, 2) football relevance, 3) basketball relevance and 4) academics.
With that as a backdrop, most schools within a given conference are in the top 2 or 3 in one of the above factors. Likewise, most schools are not in the top 2 or 3 in ALL of the factors. Take the SEC, for instance … Alabama is a football behemoth and delivers huge TV numbers (because they are a national brand). Now, do they even have their own basketball arena or do they just share one with the local high school? … or with Auburn?
Academically, they are really not all that much different from the rest of the SEC, except Vanderbilt. Vandy, of course, is dreadful in football, but they are okay in basketball, deliver a very nice local market and are an academic giant. From my perspective, the only real freeloaders in the SEC are Mississippi and Mississippi State.
This is virtually identical for all BCS conferences … except the ten-school Big 12. We'll do TV last because that's the most interesting and dramatic.
Historically best football programs: Oklahoma, then Texas is a very close second; Texas A&M is a distant third; then et al.
Historically best basketball programs: Kansas by a mile, then OU, then Texas; Baylor is good now, but not too long ago Dave Bliss was covering up an on-team homicide … and Texas Tech has only moderate interest because of the ghost of Bobby Knight.
Best academic institution: Texas, and it's not real close. A&M is second and I don't have a clue after that.
If you're scoring at home, Texas Oklahoma and A&M are routinely 1, 2 or 3 so far … now to TV. A colleague of mine recently sent me the most current population statistics for all U.S. DMAs (that's Designated Market Areas, which is basically TV markets). If you look at the markets that University of Texas football dominates (Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Austin … not to mention all the ancillary markets like Midland/Odessa and Corpus Christi), the four major markets combined (which is what Texas football delivers) are larger than any DMA in the country except New York.
Now tell me, why does Texas get the majority of the money? Because they do the majority of the work … in the classroom, on the basketball court, on the football field and where it matters most … on TV!
TV is also why the Mountain West, even with BYU, Utah and Boise State, had zero chance of ever getting into the BCS unless they add the Cotton Bowl to the existing rotation (which I think is likely to happen). I know the arguments for dropping the Big East and adding the Mountain West, but do you really think the networks would be okay with dropping the northeast markets for the MWC markets?
Not a chance!
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