TKthunder2

This is just a straight up single homicide. This board will get pretty full if we just start thread every time on of those happens. It’s like some of you want to desensitize people by sensationalizing gun violence.

Games will be streamed but they will be streamed on ESPN/FOX or a streaming service like Amazon Prime Video still. The SEC or Big Ten isn’t likely to launch their own service like the PAC12 attempted. And don’t discount old/poor people still watching OTA (that’s where the Big Ten was really smart in prioritizing OTA content). The SEC’s contract is about to be renegotiated with UT/OU joining and going to 9 conference games. The 7 don’t need invites to the SEC/B1G, simply getting invited to the Big12 will get them paid. ESPN (even without FOX chipping in) will pay the ACC teams more in the Big 12 than they would make staying in ACC. This is why I suspect ESPN will give over more money now to keep its ACC inventory from FOX in exchange for 9 conference games and better OOC matchups (organized by ESPN against the SEC/B12).

I don’t normally call out posts, but other than ND as #1, UNC is clearly #2 if all expansion candidates. FSU is #3. Football means a ton and UNC is a B-/C+ in that category, but they are basically an A in every other category. They are a school that the both sets of presidents (who vote on expansion) would vote for even if it cost them a little money in the short term. The Big 12, outside of a strange merger situation with UNC and all their pals, has basically no realistic chance of picking them up as a free agent expansion candidate. The B1G/SEC are just offering giant fat stacks of cash that the Big12 has no chance at matching. (Also if the Big 12 adds Wake Forest then they are dumb as shit)

I think we’re about to be past the point of arguing about professionalism. The players are about to get paid whether we like it or not and that will have direct consequences. You can’t have your cake and eat it too in this scenario, But you keep going back to what the PEOPLE want, which only matters if you giving the people what they want turns into $$$, which it is not as the mid majors are depressing the value not raising it if you look at the dollars directly. Even then, even most purists would agree that Division I is way too big and is ripe for division. A DII team can beat a DI team (remember) but that doesn’t mean we let DII teams into the DI tournament. Getting the number of eligible teams down to around 200 would be a major improvement to the 360 some odd teams in there now. The P5 and the next two best fb conferences MWC/American, plus basketball private school conferences Big East/WCC were the only conferences to receive multiple bids. The other 23 conferences only got a single bid and 18 of those lost in the first round. There has to be room for improvement here as those 18 games are near worthless, and even the 5 upsets are only watched in the last 10 minutes (which again doesn’t generate much money). Just limiting the tournament to FBS+Big East/WCC would keep every seed from 1-11 and cut the bottom 20 of 22. Cutout the dumb first four games at you’d have 16 additional seeds to put into the field of 64. That could easily be filled by quality teams many with 20+ wins that just miss the cut and go to the NIT (UNC, Okie St, Oregon, Clemson). Indiana/UNC would be a highly watched 4/12 game while Indiana/Drake was not. And yes this will cut out some of the ‘magic’ it won’t all go away. UNT who won the NIT would have likely been a 14 seeds under this model and still could have provided a worthwhile midmajor upset like FAU did this year.

Correct on gamblers, but for casual fans you’re falling into the romanticism trap. The numbers prove this every year. The final minutes of the upset get big ratings but that’s a very short window of time. In aggregate the 8/9 game is far better for the broadcasters/advertisers because more people watch those. 25 million people watching the last 10 minutes of a 14/3 upset does not make as much money as 10 million people watching 2 hours of the 8/9 game. People making brackets is fun and I’ll agree that draws in some additional casual interest, but unless they are watching all the games (stats prove otherwise) that’s not driving value and thus not making money. I think a full 64 team P5 tournament would be interesting (OU missed the tournament and beat #1 seed Alabama) but admit that even simply reducing it to FBS+Big East would still improve everything despite it allowing final four possibilities like this year. I’ve seen proposals of requiring conferences to “pay to play” in the tournament. Make it a money losing proposition for those single bid conferences. To break even, you either need two bids or to win a single game. This would likely drive out most of these single bids leagues and allow those like the Big East, WCC, A10 to remain.

Agree somewhat, but getting back together with their regional foes like Pitt, Louisville, Syracuse, and Virginia Tech will appeal more to their fans and admin than playing K State and Texas Tech. Also the more teams the Big 12 adds West of Colorado the more you strain their travel budgets and non-revenue teams. Just like the discussions we’re having about USC/UCLA, jumping more than 1 time zone is difficult so trading away Eastern schools for those West of (or near) the Mississippi will likely help both conferences. The money would have to be close, but I could see them making a switch if its less than $10 million a year difference.

I agree. Currently there is no reason for West Virginia or whoever to join the ACC, but if FSU/Clemson and others leave you’d have to assume the media rights are addressed. I wouldn’t think the Big 12 will fight too hard to keep them if both leagues want to make their footprints more regionalized. I think Cal with their stadium debt won’t stay all high and mighty once Stanford abandons them. Going independent isn’t feasible for them so unless a Big Ten invite comes they swallow their pride.

If you assume everyone is at 16 (meaning the Big 12 has added the 4C schools) then their are only 12 spots and that list contained exactly 12 but didn’t include Oregon, Washington, Stanford, or Cal. If the Big 12 hadn’t expanded then those numbers could be really clean, but it never works that way in real life. I do think Syracuse, Boston College, and Wake Forest are most likely to be left out though. Maybe they join up with the Big East and get them to a nice 16 team league as well with STL or VCU. If ND joins anytime soon my money would be on them going to the Big Ten with Stanford, Oregon, and Washington. Leaving the ACC intact for now. SEC eventually takes FSU/Clemson/UNC/UVA then the ACC can still backfill with WVU/Cincy/UCF/UConn and the Big 12 grabs Memphis/Tulane/SDSU/Cal. That gets you to 4 conferences of 72, not 60. The only way we go down to 60 is if the SEC/B1G say fuck everyone else and just do an NFL type Super Bowl both expanding to 30 each, or if there is a true breakaway league formed with the biggest brands, cutting away the Mississippi States and Purdues of the world where invites are strategically considered by the blueblood/near bluebloods and TV partners looking at markets, ratings, history, and growth potential.

People say this shit all the time but the numbers don’t lie. Other than watching the final minutes of a midmajor upset, no one watches those games. This year should have been the wet dream of everyone who loves the underdog aspect of the tournament, with only a single P5 team making the final four…and guess what… https://nypost.com/2023/04/04/mens-march-madness-final-tv-ratings-hit-record-low/ https://thespun.com/college-hoops/sports-world-reacts-to-mens-final-four-television-ratings Forth lowest final four ever (only saved from last place due to the Miami/UConn game) and the LOWEST men’s basketball championship game ever recorded by Neilson. I get it, unpopular opinion but the mid majors are costing the P5 teams money, it’s a simple fact and a weird inverse. Nobody watches mid major games (omitting some Big East teams and Gonzaga) until the final minutes if they have a realistic chance at an upset. If the upset happens then sport writers (and now social media) romanticize the “underdog” story and hype it after the fact. The problem is that after the fact doesn’t make money for the broadcasters and advertisers. The games that make the most money are your 8/9 games between mid level ACC and Big 12 teams that people watch from beginning to end, but those aren’t as fun to write about or read about nationally the next day. Sports journalists love the underdog but the broadcasters do not (see this year as a reason why) because no one will watch their next game either, they just assume they’ll lose so why tune in. An all P5 tournament would get higher ratings for the broadcasters, which allows them to sell more commercials, and in turn allows the schools to make more money..,and that’s before accounting for the fact that the P5 makes less than 1/3 of the payout while accounting for nearly half the field. Just doubling their take home would be a win before you even factor in the higher ratings/advertising. You could expand it to include all FBS and the Big East but then you could still end up with the same stinker of a final four that we had this year. But even so that new setup would still drive higher ratings overall. Either way the basketball tournament is in for a shake up in the coming years and the underdog fans likely will not be pleased with the changes.

Changing multiple time zones is also an added complication.

I just love how they pick random dates. Honestly he could have said we were 7-8 against the SEC since the creation of the BCS but just had to shrink that window down by 1 year lol to cut out our 99 Cotton Bowl win.

Would be interesting to see Ukraine, Georgia, and Chechnya all kneecap Russia taking away access to their Southern seas and cut them off from everything South of Volgograd. But I think it’s far more likely Russia agrees to a peace treaty recognizing the original borders of the Ukraine in exchange for dropping the economic sanctions. Once this happens Ukraine gets fast tracked membership to the EU and more importantly NATO.

If Stanford and Cal stay the PAC expansion will be as minimal as it can be. WaSU, OrSU, Stanford, Cal +SDSU - to keep them relevant in SoCal +SMU, Rice, Tulane - smart formerly SWC/SEC private schools that have fb history and allow them to hold their nose over the rest of the MWC “riff raff” like Boise, Fresno, and UNLV. This gets them 7 games. The original PAC teams will get their rivalry games for 8 then they just need 1 more to fill out a schedule. Maybe they bring in Hawaii fb but I doubt it as Stanford probably wants the flexibility to play USC and ND annually plus 3 other OOC games.

I mean, he still might not turn it over if he loses and become dictator in truth, but the fact is that these elections were important to his appearance of not being a dictator and as a result his blustering on Sweden/NATO was not going away until after. That seems like a completely reasonable point of view that many seemed to think was…I’ll just say ‘incorrect’ and leave it at that.

This is impossible, I was told by people in this thread that he was a dictator and had no chance of losing an election.

@Brisketexan

and yes, please take Mizzou with you.

Fuck your face hole Al with the cock knife from the movie Seven. (just trying to make sure you don’t get too comfortable)

You think Walker Little would still commit to Stanford in a PAC12-USC/UCLA. Similar to Q Johnson committing to TCU in a Big 12 without UT/OU. Can it still happen…sure, but will it be a regular occurrence? Nope.

So…SEC, B1G, and elite academic institutions (all of which are realistic B1G candidates). I don’t think this proves the point you think it proves.

Yep. The Big12 is losing it’s A teams after this year and lost its B teams years ago. The PAC12 is losing its A teams and it’s B teams are will leave as soon as they can. The ACC still has it’s A and B teams. So when you look at the talent disparity, of course the conference that still has its bread winners and top supporting cast looks the best on paper, but that’s part of the appeal of the Big 12. They are attractive because they are stable. Despite their lack of elite recruits, they will still put people in the NFL. Chaos is coming for the PAC12/ACC it’s only a matter of when. Those A&B teams will not remain content while their peer groups are lapping them in money and exposure. The Big 12 just has to sit, and wait.

https://awfulannouncing.com/college-football/pac-12-tv-deal-layoffs-kirk-schulz-washington-state.html PAC12 Waiting to sign/announce deal due to layoffs at mystery partners (ESPN/Amazon?)

Flying to Orlando as we speak. Will video any fun stuff for this thread. Wish me luck.