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CU has rejoined the Big 12 and broken college football - talking out asses continues

www.midmajormadness.com

WAC hit by conference realignment ... again

Matt Brown reports that Southern Utah, Cal Baptist, and Utah Valley are eying exits from the much maligned league
www.midmajormadness.com www.midmajormadness.com

The WAC looks like it will finally die. All schools except Tarlenton State, Albiene Christian, and UT Arlington appears to haven't found homes just yet.
 
Creebuzz said:
tucson.com

Mailbag: The Big 12’s best bets for a super league (or the SEC or Big Ten), reverse-merger talk, Gould’s role and more

Jon Wilner's mailbag: The Big 12’s best bets for a super league (or the SEC or Big Ten), reverse-merger talk, Gould’s role and more
tucson.com tucson.com
Click to expand...
Wilner is a tool and hates Colorado big time
He puts Kansas, BYU and TTU in the B1G
Only Kansas makes sense because of AAU and research, brand and basketball, as well as a new football stadium
BYU and TTU are not AAU and are not committed to Research like CU, and TTU is not even in a decent market.
Step up and play ball Buff Admin
 
4BienemyTDs said:
Wilner is a tool and hates Colorado big time
He puts Kansas, BYU and TTU in the B1G
Only Kansas makes sense because of AAU and research, brand and basketball, as well as a new football stadium
BYU and TTU are not AAU and are not committed to Research like CU, and TTU is not even in a decent market.
Step up and play ball Buff Admin
Click to expand...
To be fair, he really didn’t put any team in the BIG. And Colorado embarrassed itself in his league for a decade plus. I think many people have a wait and see approach to Colorado’s long term commitment to sports.

But, otherwise, yeah, Wilner is a tool and he does hate the Buffs.
 
4BienemyTDs said:
Wilner is a tool and hates Colorado big time
He puts Kansas, BYU and TTU in the B1G
Only Kansas makes sense because of AAU and research, brand and basketball, as well as a new football stadium
BYU and TTU are not AAU and are not committed to Research like CU, and TTU is not even in a decent market.
Step up and play ball Buff Admin
Click to expand...
He put ASU, BYU and TTU as the top expansion candidates with Utah being the only other potential choice. His reasons were stupid, though.
 
InTheBuff said:
TTU ? so dumb

ASU, BYU or Utah have merit but so would CU if comparing to those three.
Click to expand...
His reasons were about their resources, which doesn't make much sense considering all it takes is a full commitment to the revenue sharing and meeting the "salary cap" going forward. BYU has as much or more resources than anyone in the country if they choose to go all in and they have a built in following, so I can see that, but they even with all that, they don't generate any excitement or ratings/views, which we know is priority #1. ASU and TTU feel like non starters, though, unless B1G wants a Texas program or either conference wants to expand into another time zone.

I see why Utah would be considered, but if Utah can't maintain the Wittingham success I don't see anything appealing about them.

I agree that conferences are in wait and see mode with CU, but all that would need to happen is putting a clause in CU's contract that they agree to share the maximum revenue allowed with their players.
 
Bison said:
You wanted an update on NIU, a school that recently beat Nebraska in football, and their other sports?

niuhuskies.com

NIU Sports Moving to Horizon League in 2026-27 - NIU Athletics

DeKALB, Ill. – Northern Illinois University will join the Horizon League as a full member with 14 sports set to begin competition in the League for the 2026-27 seasons,
niuhuskies.com niuhuskies.com
niuhuskies.com

NIU to the Horizon League - What They're Saying - NIU Athletics

Rashon Burno, Men's Basketball "We look forward to competing in the Horizon League. It is a conference that has been on the rise recently, as Oakland showed last
niuhuskies.com niuhuskies.com
Click to expand...

1) This is for non-football sports. Football is still joining the MWC in 2026.
2) "Recently" is doing A LOT of work in that sentence- NIU beat nebraska in 2017, since when nebraska has hired 3 different coaches, lost 50+ games, and we all navigated a pandemic. Mike Riley was the coach at the time. Hell, nebraska lost to MIKE ****ING MACINTYRE as CU head coach since NIU beat nebraska
3) More relevantly, CU plays NIU in football in 2027, but this news is irrelevant to that because see point 1).
 
InTheBuff said:
I'd put CU's chances below 1% in joining the B10.
Click to expand...
Why?
Colorado is the hottest brand and has always had all the behind the scenes benefits
AAU, Large Research Funding, Large Market, Great Viewership numbers, National Brand that is recovering its mojo
Prime is critical, but if all the infrastructure returns and Prime stays long enough to build it back up, we can remain the most viable program
I could see Miami, North Carolina, Georgia Tech, Kansas, Colorado, and Arizona State being the best programs for the B1G beyond Notre Dame and possibly Stanford.
 
CU's average viewers in 2024 was 3.55m which was good for 9th in the country and behind only Ohio State and Michigan in the B1G and a full 1.1m/game ahead of Nebraska, Oregon and Penn State who are B1G3/4/5 on the list. CU also did that without any marquee brand opponents outside of Nebraska.

Even if the Prime effect faded a bit and those ratings were cut in half down to 1.77 - 1.8m/game, that would still put CU around 22nd-23rd in the country and 7th in the B1G, and that's with the schedule CU currently has, not a schedule that would have them playing some of the other marquee programs in the B1G.
 
The Alabaster Yak said:
CU's average viewers in 2024 was 3.55m which was good for 9th in the country and behind only Ohio State and Michigan in the B1G and a full 1.1m/game ahead of Nebraska, Oregon and Penn State who are B1G3/4/5 on the list. CU also did that without any marquee brand opponents outside of Nebraska.

Even if the Prime effect faded a bit and those ratings were cut in half down to 1.77 - 1.8m/game, that would still put CU around 22nd-23rd in the country and 7th in the B1G, and that's with the schedule CU currently has, not a schedule that would have them playing some of the other marquee programs in the B1G.
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We do not need Prime forever, but if CU could get into the B1G right now and Prime stayed for 3 more years, we would be set for good.
Is RG ready and able to make all this happen, or is the Prez and Chancellor ready to step up.
The B1G is actually more about Academics, which gets the entire school on board, even the Endowment because of the research step up that we want to remain a part of!!!
 
4BienemyTDs said:
Why?
Colorado is the hottest brand and has always had all the behind the scenes benefits
AAU, Large Research Funding, Large Market, Great Viewership numbers, National Brand that is recovering its mojo
Prime is critical, but if all the infrastructure returns and Prime stays long enough to build it back up, we can remain the most viable program
I could see Miami, North Carolina, Georgia Tech, Kansas, Colorado, and Arizona State being the best programs for the B1G beyond Notre Dame and possibly Stanford.
Click to expand...
I don't disagree with the pluses you bring up.
Problem being is even now there's zero chatter about Colorado.
I keep hearing Stanford, Kansas and ASU if the B10 looks west after gobbling up what they want from the ACC.
 
Be on the lookout for private capital happening soon for the Big12. What does that do for all of their members?
I'm pretty sure BY knew this ACC stuff was going to happen and that his conference needs to step it up.
 
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I don't see CU going anywhere after 2031. Maybe after the next media rights cycle but it's going to be very difficult to convince people that CU will take football seriously after Coach Prime eventually leaves the program.

As for the other 4C schools:

UA: They are definitely not going anywhere and they are a basketball school which is what the B12 will be going forward.
ASU: They are AAU now and probably first in the line for the B10 when it comes to the 4C schools.
Utah: It's debatable if they are ahead of the Buffs when it comes to the B10 but that will be as long as the NFL doesn't have a team in SLC.
BYU:

Cracking Up Lol GIF by reactionseditor
 
InTheBuff said:
Be on the lookout for private capital happening soon for the Big12. What does that do for all of their members?
I'm pretty sure BY knew this ACC stuff was going to happen and that his conference needs to do step it up.
Click to expand...
I actually have a different take on this comment. Colorado, BYU, Kansas, and ASU are not likely totally on board with PE, especially with today's news about the ACC. Those 4 schools would want out and not create another tie to the Big12 because things are happening fast and the Big12 is a cute league, but not the NFL. This is like the Broncos in 1960. Yormark did his thing, ACC is not doing its thing, and it likely just speeds up the final Super League that is B1G and SEC just like NFL and AFL merger
 
Bison said:
I don't see CU going anywhere after 2031. Maybe after the next media rights cycle but it's going to be very difficult to convince people that CU will take football seriously after Coach Prime eventually leaves the program.

As for the other 4C schools:

UA: They are definitely not going anywhere and they are a basketball school which is what the B12 will be going forward.
ASU: They are AAU now and probably first in the line for the B10 when it comes to the 4C schools.
Utah: It's debatable if they are ahead of the Buffs when it comes to the B10 but that will be as long as the NFL doesn't have a team in SLC.
BYU:

Cracking Up Lol GIF by reactionseditor
Click to expand...
Take Football Seriously? Really
Even in bad years, there is a strong support, and the student body is more onboard than ever
Are you really that cold on CU's overall future?
 
InTheBuff said:
TCU is also a school I hear about. Nowhere do I hear Colorado :(
Click to expand...
Colorado has been mentioned by a lot of the Media savvy commentators, and there are enough Top 25 factors for CU to be a strong and likely candidate in any final expansion. Do you not think that Colorado would be a top 48 program in any model? History, DMA, Academics, Airport, Viewership, Social Media Presence, etc. We are going to be included, and TCU or TTU might look cool, but they are not.
 
A source is telling Andy Staples that a school could pay $200M to leave the ACC once the settlement goes through Tuesday.

That figure falls 'well below ' $100M should a school wish to exit the league after the 2029-2030 school year.
 
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The answers on expansion candidates are determined by who is making the decisions.

For example, the following things mean a ton to B1G Presidents while FoxSports DGAF about any of them:

1. R1 designation for highest level of research intensity in the Carnegie ratings.

2. STEM focus of research which has qualified the university for AAU membership.

3. ARWU/Shanghai ranking among the top 100 in the world.

4. Location in a state which produces a high number of qualified college applicants, preferably with a history of sending a lot of students to current B1G member institutions, and with a sizable B1G alumni base in the state.

5. If a state university, preference for it being a land grant university along with cultural factors which makes it fit as "one of us".

For the media partners, the only consideration is the number of eyeballs the school attracts when it plays a football game. This includes considerations like the size of its local and national market even when they're having an irrelevant season but is mostly about the overall brand strength (for instance, Notre Dame can often justify a national network broadcast even if unranked and playing a nobody).

Maybe where the two interests align is on "tradition & prestige". That's somewhat subjective, but whether a university and its football program are considered "big time" has a lot to do with how strong it is as a brand all conference stakeholders will want to align with.
 
I'm to the point with these B1G/SEC super-league takeover predictions/rumors of: "I'll believe they will cut the pie when I actually see it." No question the SEC/B1G are jockeying for supremacy, but I do not see value in rendering of large parts of the country "a fly-over" for college football, when they compete against the NFL. If CU/CSU/AFA and the Kansas teams are out, then the Broncos and Chiefs just get stronger. Rendering Texas teams meaningless is great for the Cowboys and Texans, then the NFL then reigns supreme. IMO, to a decent extent college football relies on its entire fan-base (i.e. once certain schools even smaller schools are done, CFB fans watch the other teams), and if that is turned-off then the sport suffers. This is where I see teams like Boise State ending up having appeal outside their own state.

People ask me are you huge Broncos fan? A: yes, I'm almost a CO native, however I really do my football on Saturdays. I think there are a lot of fans that do this, no matter what school that they are rooting for/against--they are college football fans. If nationwide access does not exist, do they remain interested? I sort of reach this conclusion a bit through what professional golf is encountering. We have LIV, PGA, Euro (DP ) tours and now an ESPN simulator tour, but the end result is all those tours (not the ESPN simulator) have suffered fan loss or LIV very limited success, and overall the sport has suffered. Some general golf fans have moved interests elsewhere.

I do NOT see the B1G/SEC expanding to Super-Conference without cutting their own conference dead weight (Rutgers, Vandy+++) . . . and I do not know how that would even be approached OR received, although some have floated relegation. Same thing with the smaller schools in B1G/SEC country--will Ohio, Michigan etc... want to break their own universities (no Western Michigan types etc...) down to their studs, which some play to fill their schedules and in large part to help their own state university systems.

This is a great topic for reporter clicks and speculation, but could it just be fear mongering? I guess I could see it happening in two circumstances: (1) if universities/colleges just find decide fielding a is just too expensive (i.e. CSU, Wyoming, UNLV, even Stanford and Cal with travel expenses) so they throw in the towel cutting football as a sport; or (2) the TV $$ becomes more scarse, so TV$$'s cannot support much more than a super-league, which at present looks like a long-shot. IMO, although college football is expensive, it's indirect value to the schools and local/state economies is too substantial to let them throw in the towel.
 
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GRM said:
I'm to the point with these B1G/SEC super-league takeover predictions/rumors of: "I'll believe they will cut the pie when I actually see it." No question the SEC/B1G are jockeying for supremacy, but I do not see value in rendering of large parts of the country "a fly-over" for college football, when they compete against the NFL. If CU/CSU/AFA and the Kansas teams are out, then the Broncos and Chiefs just get stronger. Rendering Texas teams meaningless is great for the Cowboys and Texans, then the NFL then reigns supreme. IMO, to a decent extent college football relies on its entire fan-base (i.e. once certain schools even smaller schools are done, CFB fans watch the other teams), and if that is turned-off then the sport suffers. This is where I see teams like Boise State ending up having appeal outside their own state.

People ask me are you huge Broncos fan? A: yes, I'm almost a CO native, however I really do my football on Saturdays. I think there are a lot of fans that do this, no matter what school that they are rooting for/against--they are college football fans. If nationwide access does not exist, do they remain interested? I sort of reach this conclusion a bit through what professional golf is going encountering. We have LIV, PGA, Euro (DP ) tours and now an ESPN simulator tour, but the end result is all those tours (not the ESPN simulator) have suffered a fan loss or LIV has very limited success, and overall the sport has suffered. Some general golf fans have moved interests elsewhere.

I do NOT see the B1G/SEC expanding to Super-Conference without cutting their own conference dead weight (Rutgers, Vandy+++) . . . and I do not know how that would even be approached OR received, although some have floated relegation. Same thing with the smaller schools in B1G/SEC country--will Ohio, Michigan etc... want to break their own universities (no Western Michigan types etc...) down to their studs, which some play to fill their schedules and in large part to help their own state university systems.

This is a great topic for reporter clicks and speculation, but could it just be fear mongering? I guess I could see it happening in two circumstances: (1) if universities/colleges just find decide fielding a is just too expensive (i.e. CSU, Wyoming, UNLV, even Stanford and Cal with travel expenses) so they throw in the towel cutting football as a sport; or (2) the TV $$ becomes more scarse, so TV$$'s cannot support much more than a super-league, which at present looks like a long-shot. IMO, although college football is expensive, it's indirect value to the schools and local/state economies is too substantial to let them throw in the towel.
Click to expand...

Lots of correct thoughts and assumptions, but the horses are out of the barn
The best option now is to have 3 distinct levels of football and to have each level of football have real rules and guidelines so as to have parity
Each level then needs to be celebrated and promoted like no other and have championship playoffs within their levels

POWER
GROUP
CHAMPIONSHIP

Some programs may surprisingly drop football, some will drop down a level, and some will double down if offered a spot in the top level.
There cannot be relegation, that just does not work, unless in a unique situation, like NFL Expansion

The Conferences are stupid and useless for Football, but are great for all other sports and they should go all the way back to regional leagues for the other sports, besides MBB, possibly WBB, and possibly Baseball and Hockey

Following up on Buffnik's points about the B1G, he is pretty much describing everything about COLORADO, and I wholeheartedly think that if CU in its current form with leadership as it is chooses full commitment and said to the B1G that we are ready, that they would come invite us, even over the other yahoos from the ACC that think they are a good fit.

Based on his bullet points, the best schools are Colorado, Arizona State, Kansas, North Carolina, Georgia Tech, Miami, and Notre Dame, plus Stanford if they wanted to also be committed, but not sure they do.
 
Sounds like the Big 10 and Big 12 TV contracts end in 2030 and now it's been reported that the ACC buyout goes down to $60m in 2030.

We need to push now to maximize our leverage in 2028/29 in preparation for the next set of conference musical chairs which will be concluded in 2030.
 
64 team league. 16 team playoff. 8 divisions of 8 teams spread geographically throughout the country. 14 game season where you play everybody in your division once and one team from each other division annually.

This is the logical outcome of the madness we are seeing. Every step in the process gets us a little closer to this outcome. Throw in the potential for relegation/promotion of the bottom two teams in the 64 league and the top two teams from the lower division to make for some helluva great end of the year play-in/play-out games. It’s a broadcasters wet dream.

I expect it’ll be around 2040 by the time this actually comes to fruition.
 
4BienemyTDs said:
Take Football Seriously? Really
Even in bad years, there is a strong support, and the student body is more onboard than ever
Are you really that cold on CU's overall future?
Click to expand...

You are correct that attendance has been solid despite subpar performance by the football team. The fans have done everything to make CU relevant. The problem is the administration support over the years. Despite having a new system president that supports the football team and also a new chancellor, it's going to take years to change the overall perception of the CU administration from outside the CU alumni base and fan base.
 
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