This makes sense.
Boise State can go independent and park their sports in the Big Sky Conference until they get a P5 invite which doesn't appear to be coming anytime soon so they very well could just go to the AAC whether they want to or not.
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Official realignment thread - SEC formally invites OU and Texas to join the conference in 2025
This makes sense.
Boise State can go independent and park their sports in the Big Sky Conference until they get a P5 invite which doesn't appear to be coming anytime soon so they very well could just go to the AAC whether they want to or not.
If they wanted to go crazy, there's a path to 20 with a Pac-10 & Mountain-10.
Put SDSU & UNLV with the original Pac-8.
To UA, ASU, Utah & CU we add Boise, BYU, Houston, TCU, OSU & TTU.
I don't think we'd like the cross-division scheduling limits, but we'd certainly own the West for media footprint.
Something like that could be in the works, but there are a lot of steps between where we are now and that arrangement. And while those schools, by themselves, add very little in terms of eyeballs and TV sets, they do command a very large geographic area that is necessary for media distribution.
The first thing they will have to do is figure out how the whole conference agreement with the B1G and ACC will work. I think that has to be at the top of the agenda for all three conferences. Figure that out, then move from there.
If you wanted to drive some really fun late season games with high viewership/ratings for middling teams, bifurcate the 20 team league into two football tiers, sell the media rights separately, with the two tiers getting different payouts, and... create a relegation system.
I actually think the threat of getting relegated might be the only thing that gets our university leadership (regents and presidents) to actually do anything to help with football success.
But damn, would you create some really interesting late season games among teams that in the current system no one cares about.
The Mountain West is (by definition) a regional conference. The AAC is a national league. Moving is a clear upgrade in terms of exposure. I don't really understand what could possibly be the downside for CSU to moving.
You do realize that it's not a one way door down, right? Teams would move up too.
You'd probably need to do a slide down/ratchet up on the payouts so that AD's budgets literally don't drop off a cliff, but until schools (and CU in particular) start actually losing money and prestige from playing ****ty football, they're not going to change.
For many, many years the most profitable NFL franchise was the same franchise that lost the most games (Tampa). Then the NFL changed some of their rules, and being a ****ty team was no longer a path to extra profits.
I have no problem with a college conference that does the same thing - in fact, I'm beginning to think that's the only way CU will ever get moderately good football again.
I could be wrong with some of these numbers, but my quick and dirty assessment seems to support my current feelings on this situation:
The CU AD historically runs a relatively balanced budget hovering around $90M. Before the pandemic, they realized almost $24M in ticket sales revenue (mostly from Football). The AD is filled with fixed costs, not the least of which is Salaries, and ~$10M per year in financing costs for the Champions Center. It will get everyones attention if people stop going to games and the AD is faced with borrowing significant sums from the University in order to meet its obligations......or significantly cut overhead.
So this is where I currently am; I am no longer motivated to support this with my time and $$, until I feel reciprocal support from the leadership of the University. Full stop
Yeah - there's just nothing I see from anyone at CU that they have any idea of the cliff they are heading towards.
I expect full on panic next spring when season ticket renewals, well don't.
Exactly. I won't throw out the annual number we contribute to this endeavor, but it isn't insignificant. There are many others I know that see the writing on the wall, and are preparing to halt support. I would hope that RG catches wind of it before going over the edge of a cliff, but I am not holding my breath. The next 8-10 months should be very interesting to see how it plays out.
CU fans have appeared to continue going to CU football games and still fill up Folsom Field despite subpar football dating back to the Dan Hawkins days. That gave the administration the impression that CU fans are going to come no matter what product is put out on the football field just like Husker fans.
I do realize that, but CU will never make the kind of investments that USC, Oregon, or even places like ASU and Washington make. I would see the system you describe as a quasi-permanent relegation for CU, with the permanently lower revenues that would result.
That's just it - we don't have to get that level to be average.
I'm just sick and tired of 11th or 12th. A consistent 5th-8th would be a solid improvement at this point.
We see a lot of arguments like that which go to the extreme. "We can't recruit like Bama. We can't spend like UT." How about we try to catch and pass programs like Iowa State?
This is going to be very hard to take for a lot of fan bases but I see an eventual complete re-organization of college football based almost entirely on the financial capacity and willingness of the schools involved to keep up with the arms race we are seeing in facilities and coaching and even more so in athletes being paid in excess of tuition books room and board.
We will see a top tier, mostly schools in the Southeast and Midwest plus a few coastal schools (USC, Oregon, Washington) who become essentially a professional football organization. 25-40 programs.
Next tier will be most of the rest of the current P5 plus a few top G5 schools who are willing to step up to the second level. 40-60 programs
The rest of G5 plus the top of FCS goes to the next level playing on a regional basis with more modest budgets. 40-80 programs.
Then what is mostly current D2 plus some current FCS schools dropping down for lower budgets as well.
A lot of schools will initially try their hands at playing a level higher than they are willing or able to fund but will eventually be forced to drop down to a more reasonable level. With the media attention (and revenue) focused on the higher levels schools will see that their return on investment isn't justified and drop down. We will also see some schools drop football all together.
A school like Wyoming is going to be stuck in this scenario. Their fans are rabid and faithful but there simply are not enough of them. They can't generate the money needed from ticket sales. With the move away from fossil fuels the economic boost provided by energy is fading so both taxes and donations are declining and not likely coming back anytime soon.
Wyoming (and likely Utah State and many others) would probably be much better off being big fish in the FCS level rather than marginal at best at the bottom of G5 and left behind as their conference mates head off other directions.
They would be much better off competing on an even basis with the schools from neighboring Montana, the Dakotas, etc.
I could read that as outright asking for NIL sponsors
Holy ****... I just realized the next move for the SEC- they're going to add USC and UCLA.
LOL...you don't have to read every thing literally. That Pony Up thing is a marketing thing and also their hand gesture. Think of it as SMU's version of the Hook Em gesture that Texas is well known for. This is something that five minutes of Google research will get you.
Mustang Musings: It’s Time To Pony Up!
It's something that admitted students to their law school see: https://www.smu.edu/Law/Admissions/AdmittedStudents/Pony-Up
1. Of course I don't, and in this case, I didn't.LOL...you don't have to read every thing literally. That Pony Up thing is a marketing thing and also their hand gesture. Think of it as SMU's version of the Hook Em gesture that Texas is well known for. This is something that five minutes of Google research will get you.
Mustang Musings: It’s Time To Pony Up!
smuad.blogspot.com
It's something that admitted students to their law school see: https://www.smu.edu/Law/Admissions/AdmittedStudents/Pony-Up
View attachment 47177
View attachment 47178
2. I'm aware SMU uses that expression in their athletic marketing
3. Please note, my comment was "I could read it..." And not "I am reading it...". I feel you may have misread my post, based on your response.
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Its a good thing too because theyd probably beat us this year.
What's next for realignment?
sports.yahoo.com
From top to bottom, conference realignment is gripping college sports. Here's what's next.
Although the SEC and Big 12 have made recent moves, the landscape of college football, and all of college sports, isn't even close to settled.
sports.yahoo.com
I don't believe I've ever before called out someone for doing "a Miami", but I feel compelled to note that not only did I post a link to that last night (two posts above yours), but you even 'liked' it.What's next for realignment?
From top to bottom, conference realignment is gripping college sports. Here's what's next.
Although the SEC and Big 12 have made recent moves, the landscape of college football, and all of college sports, isn't even close to settled.
For good or just for now? Are both of them banking on a Big 12 invite? BSU would give them a top 3 mid major brand and a MTZ team and SDSU would get the Big 12 into SoCal and make them the first conference spanning all four time zones.
it doesn't appear that I'm the only one lost in the details and repercussions of this NLRB ruling, but it appears to be a BFD.
usatoday link
Just wait til OSHA shows up for workplace safety and workers comp claims.
This should have been done years ago.
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this is a good point. I would imagine that many employers are concerned enough over the risk of triggering an OSHA visit, where the inspectors will undoubtedly find much more than non-vax violations, that they'll enforce it even if they have leanings not to.Just wait til OSHA shows up for workplace safety and workers comp claims.
This should have been done years ago.
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I'm much more confident for SDSU getting a P5 invite than Boise State. Boise State will not get into even the Big 12 if they don't elevate their research tier to 1 from 2. Memphis was also tier 2 and that is why they didn't come to the Big 12 and even had FedEx money ready to grease the wheels for that invite. What is interesting is that the Big 12 has BYU, Baylor, and TCU who are tier 2 private schools.
Believe it or not, every SEC school is tier 1 unlike the Big 12. Every other Big 12 school including UCF, UC, and Houston are tier 1 schools. Wake Forest is another P5 school that is not tier 1.
With CSU leaving the MWC if that happens, that will leave the MWC with UNM, Hawaii, UNR, and UNLV as their tier 1 schools.
Another thing going against BSU to the Big 12 is that BSU ($50M) is going to have to find an extra $20-25M in their athletic budget to get them in position. UCF ($69M), UC (a little under $69M), and Houston ($75M) budgets plus $20M extra from the media rights deal would put them at the level of ISU, KSU, TT, and WVU. SDSU's ($54M) new stadium and debt service on that stadium should get them within striking distance. BSU fans have been talking about another set of suite boxes on the other side of the stadium but will it be enough to get them up to $60-65M? CSU's move to the AAC would get them closer to $60-65M. Air Force is already at $60M. Those two have the biggest athletic budgets in the MWC not BSU & SDSU. Those numbers were taken from the most recent data from the Knight Commission.
I think BSU and SDSU are going to regret the decision to stay in the MWC.