Funny thing about all this is if the 12-team playoff was approved then there's a good chance that USC and UCLA don't bolt for the B1G. This alleged "Alliance" did more harm than good. Unless you're the B1G of course
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Official realignment thread - SEC formally invites OU and Texas to join the conference in 2025
Hookers and blow. Duh.
And the rest was wasted.
ahoelsken
Well-Known Member
Start with Clemson.
Yeah, i get it. even acknowledging their recent football success, the Allbuffs perception of Clemson value to the P2 is higher than mine.
Message boards are about bat **** crazy ideas, so I’ll toss mine out there for a bit of fun.
Let’s call this the Western League.
With football, combine the remaining 10 schools in the PAC 12 with select schools from the MWC, and Kansas and Texas Tech. All states in the western footprint get at least one team in the league, so Boise State in, but Idaho out. UNLV in, Nevada out. So you add Boise, UNLV, SDSU, New Mexico, Wyoming, and Montana. That gives you 20 football schools, covers all the western footprint.
All schools agree that they can schedule out of league games back east, but they are contractually prohibited from playing any ‘power’ school in any sport that lies within the league footprint (sorry UCLA and USC, you are in the footprint and are frozen out). At end of season, run a playoff for the top four teams and crown a champion.
All schools sign a non-solicit, non-compete contract. All coaches sign as well, with Boilerplate contracts approved by league in advance. If a coach is fired or contract expires, they are free to take any job in the league. Coaches can leave for the Big Ten or SEC as they wish with schools negotiating whatever buyout they want. This will effectively dampen poaching coaches within the league and enhance competitiveness.
For basketball, you create a huge league including all football schools above, but now you add New Mexico State, Gonzaga, St. Mary’s, Wichita State, plus, plus, plus. Try to get to 36 here. Drop the NCAA tourer, create own tourney. Shift the schedule from March Madness to May madness, which is better for students and wouldn’t compete with any other sports. It’s almost a dead period now in the calendar. Byes and seeding for all 36 teams. You would have a good basketball league and tournament.
Payout would be lower than eastern schools but there would be more balance between teams. Wasted money from over-paying coaches and stupid long term contract buyouts would be reduced. Arms race on facilities would be discouraged. You would have to get an acceptable media partner among ESPN or CBS or NBC or one of the tech giants. Media company and league would also partner with Nike, which would make all schools in western footprint Nike schools. Tourney and playoff naming rights would be Nike.
Let’s call this the Western League.
With football, combine the remaining 10 schools in the PAC 12 with select schools from the MWC, and Kansas and Texas Tech. All states in the western footprint get at least one team in the league, so Boise State in, but Idaho out. UNLV in, Nevada out. So you add Boise, UNLV, SDSU, New Mexico, Wyoming, and Montana. That gives you 20 football schools, covers all the western footprint.
All schools agree that they can schedule out of league games back east, but they are contractually prohibited from playing any ‘power’ school in any sport that lies within the league footprint (sorry UCLA and USC, you are in the footprint and are frozen out). At end of season, run a playoff for the top four teams and crown a champion.
All schools sign a non-solicit, non-compete contract. All coaches sign as well, with Boilerplate contracts approved by league in advance. If a coach is fired or contract expires, they are free to take any job in the league. Coaches can leave for the Big Ten or SEC as they wish with schools negotiating whatever buyout they want. This will effectively dampen poaching coaches within the league and enhance competitiveness.
For basketball, you create a huge league including all football schools above, but now you add New Mexico State, Gonzaga, St. Mary’s, Wichita State, plus, plus, plus. Try to get to 36 here. Drop the NCAA tourer, create own tourney. Shift the schedule from March Madness to May madness, which is better for students and wouldn’t compete with any other sports. It’s almost a dead period now in the calendar. Byes and seeding for all 36 teams. You would have a good basketball league and tournament.
Payout would be lower than eastern schools but there would be more balance between teams. Wasted money from over-paying coaches and stupid long term contract buyouts would be reduced. Arms race on facilities would be discouraged. You would have to get an acceptable media partner among ESPN or CBS or NBC or one of the tech giants. Media company and league would also partner with Nike, which would make all schools in western footprint Nike schools. Tourney and playoff naming rights would be Nike.
Forde and Wtzel talked about this today. Was presented as the Alliance possibly long play move by Warren for this exact scenario. Conspiracy and everything
Wow (if true)
Water bottles too.
Is player selection still done by recruiting and players having free choice over where they go?
If so, the arms race will never stop. Recruiting the 16/17 year old kid is the at the root of why the sport is in turmoil.
This may end up being close to the model.
I have a hard time seeing a lot of these schools continuing once they see the path that the very top programs are taking in pursuit of the almighty dollar.
When do governing boards decide that having a backup QB making more money in NIL than any professor on campus makes. Seeing the close to hundreds of millions generated just going back into the arms race instead of the school mission.
Schools like Bama, tOSU, even Nebraska, don't care what it looks like, they want to win at any cost but eventually I don't see a lot of the current P5 staying on that course.
You lost me at all states get equal votes. Wyoming? Why should those ****-heads receive a windfall?
Keep in mind that when college football became huge in the United States, back in the 1950s-1960s the NFL had enough trouble just building the brand. Baseball was America's most popular game, boxing and horse racing were what most people gambled on, more than a few NFL franchises struggled to sell seats.
Now things are different. The NFL dominates sports media 12 months per year, we just saw a franchise sell for close to $5 billion.
Don't think for a moment that the NFL doesn't see conference payouts reaching $100 million per year per team. For a money making machine like the NFL that is hard to ignore. They may not make it public but I guarantee that the league already has people working on how they can get their hands on that money.
If a minor league had the NFL badge, the NFL promotional machine behind it, and the best players knew it was the path to league there is no question that they would get the networks on board and the public watching.
Sure college football would hang on. Huge numbers of people go because it is an excuse to reconnect to their school, see friends, and enjoy a game but for those people what will be left won't be the same product as we see now.
Totally agree except that there is no way that minor league football would draw the type of audience that college football does, consequently they would not eat into that revenue stream, nor would the minor league teams be able to pay as well as NIL.
KU, Arizona, and Duke are like "Basketball matters, right guys? Guys?"
I think it might for programs like that which have such big followings. While basketball itself doesn't do much to move the needle, the number of fans who will pay for a streaming service would matter. Those 3 have huge followings.
I think the point being you go back to the understanding the COLLEGE football is amateur and your “compensation” is your education, room and board, travel, swag, and the opportunity to go pro. At least that would be my vision.
Which I thiiiiink would actually drive those that would be taking in those high dollar NIL deals toward a minor league team, thereby making that league a little more entertaining.
The fan loyalty to the college teams is an obstacle to overcome but absolutely not one that can't be overcome.
Think about the NFL coming to the table next time their broadcast rights are up for renewal and telling the networks (not asking) that the agreements also include $XXX millions of dollars for broadcast rights to their minor league operation, and by the way the time slots are going to be on Saturdays and Friday nights. Don't take the minor league and you don't get rights to show regular games. And by the way Amazon and Apple and two or three others are ready to jump in and take your share of the the games.
TV networks are already facing a tough enough time retaining viewers with all the streaming services and other entertainment options. The NFL is absolutely the gorilla in the room in terms of driving viewership.
They might negotiate some time to allow the networks to move out of their college football commitments but there is zero question that the major networks would pick the NFL over college games, even over the new look SEC/B1G.
Once the NFL publicity machine got a hold of it they would make it work, at the expense of coverage given to college football.
And as someone else mentioned the best players are going to go where they have the best chance to get to the league. As the level of exposure drops, as the money for the big programs drops, you will also see a corresponding drop in NIL.
Not saying this all will happen but it would absolutely not be a shock if it did. NFL has a hard time seeing that much money that could be theirs going to somebody else.
Pretty good argument here Mtn.
On top of that, they could position the league to the players as the “the best way to get ready for the NFL” or the “clearest path to the NFL” much like club sports has done to HS athletics.
it gives them the further benefit of having developmental opportunities for foreign born players, and expanding their international presence, which is becoming a thing.
I’m still not sure that the economics make the investment worth it, but with the broncos going for 4.8 Billion, you can see that it certainly might.
Virtually everyone agrees that greed is killing the golden goose that is college football, and viewership is going to suffer.
Dammit Mtn! You might be right.
The problem with your (and most people’s) vision is that it was unconstitutional.
I don't see how something can be considered amateur when someone, in this case the athletic departments, make up to 200m USD a year primarily because those amateurs play 12-15 football games or 40 basketball games.
I read a quote from a players agent awhile back. He said that NIL is the best thing that ever happened to agents because they don’t have to front cash to college players any more.
the system is still by design exploitive of the players. Conferences sign huge tv deals on the backs of the labor of kids. NFL gets a free farm system. Realignment only makes it all that much worse. The difference now is going to be there are so many no-shot programs that talent and money are going to even further consolidate.
the whole thing is dirty. the sec and big are like the 5 families in ny consolidating power. It is all still dirty as ****, but now it is an organized dirty run by a slightly different time of criminal.
the system is still by design exploitive of the players. Conferences sign huge tv deals on the backs of the labor of kids. NFL gets a free farm system. Realignment only makes it all that much worse. The difference now is going to be there are so many no-shot programs that talent and money are going to even further consolidate.
the whole thing is dirty. the sec and big are like the 5 families in ny consolidating power. It is all still dirty as ****, but now it is an organized dirty run by a slightly different time of criminal.
Because they see what is basically their minor league system in the colleges making billions per year. They know that they can run a developmental league for a fraction of that and leverage it into a money making operation. Baseball and basketball don't have the leverage to force their minor leagues onto TV.