Realignment talk not going away

[TrashMaster G 17551]

Colleges drafting high school players?

That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. And I've been around aggies my entire life.

[mdmost 43001]

 

[BurntOrange&White 39931]

3 minutes ago, mdmost said:

 

Your move SEC. 

 

 

I feel like there is back door communication between Warren and Sankey sec is a little too quiet through this I feel like 

 

 

[mdmost 43001]

2 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

Your move SEC. 

 

 

I feel like there is back door communication between Warren and Sankey sec is a little too quiet through this I feel like 

 

 

I bet the move is to figure out how to kill the ACC and take the pieces from each. FSU, Clemson, Miami and Va Tech to the SEC. Big 10 gets Duke, North Carolina, Virginia, and one spot left open for Notre Dame. Big 12 could grab Louisville and Pitt to give WVU some closer matchups. Maybe NC State and Georgia Tech as well. 

Edited August 19, 2022 by mdmost

[mdmost 43001]

And a little context on what Warren actually said. He didn't say "we're going to 20 teams". He was asked if he could foresee 20 teams by Bryant Gumbel and he said "yes". 

 

[Vertigo 20276]

10 minutes ago, mdmost said:

I bet the move is to figure out how to kill the ACC and take the pieces from each. FSU, Clemson, Miami and Va Tech to the SEC. Big 10 gets Duke, North Carolina, Virginia, and one spot left open for Notre Dame. Big 12 could grab Louisville and Pitt to give WVU some closer matchups. Maybe NC State and Georgia Tech as well. 

The B12 would be wise to look at the ACC as a potential merger partner in the future. It sounds like the P12 is pretty intent on suicide by arrogance. If ESPN does not do a deal with the PAC, then it becomes a 2Pac and Biggie discussion with Fox and ESPN. If the B12 does strike a deal with ESPN, then merging with the ACC as another ESPN partner makes a ton of sense. No doubt, the top 4 brands will probably be gone to the SEC and B1G, but the remaining schools could make for a nice conference. At some point you would think some of these conferences will formally dissolve and reform something to kick out the riff raff schools that bring down the revenue per school. 

Edited August 19, 2022 by Vertigo

[thunderlounge 7817]

9 minutes ago, mdmost said:

I bet the move is to figure out how to kill the ACC and take the pieces from each. FSU, Clemson, Miami and Va Tech to the SEC. Big 10 gets Duke, North Carolina, Virginia, and one spot left open for Notre Dame. Big 12 could grab Louisville and Pitt to give WVU some closer matchups. Maybe NC State and Georgia Tech as well. 

If SEC/B1G take enough pieces, and then dump off a few in the B12, the ACC dissolves.

I can see that. 

[mdmost 43001]

One thing though with ESPN losing the Big 10, they will probably fight to keep the ACC afloat and stick to the GOR through 2036. They have no incentive to let the ACC die for the benefit of Fox, NBC, and CBS. The SEC doesn't really need to expand and the teams that might be added really aren't adding that much to an already dominant league. There was some speculation that the expansion windows for the Big 10 deal would allow ESPN to get back in on the Big 10 as a TV partner.  

Edited August 19, 2022 by mdmost

[Al_4_ISU 12459]

1 minute ago, mdmost said:

One thing though with ESPN losing the Big 10, they will probably fight to keep the ACC afloat and stick to the GOR through 2036. They have no incentive to let the ACC die. 

Yeah, the ACC is just a phenomenal deal for ESPN right now.  That's possibly the best margin they have on any property in their portfolio.

[hawkfan 60]

Been saying, this is what will eventually force ND to make a decision - if we go to a 12/16 school playoff, there's margin for error for the top teams to lose a couple games, going to 10+ conference games and getting rid of the cupcakes will make the TV partners happy, but will make it tough for ND to fill a schedule if both the B1G & SEC go to 10+ conference games:
 

 

[Azbadlands 109]

9 hours ago, notre dame joe said:

 

But they are out practicing in pads right now. At ASU as well.

 

THe new arrivals may not be in the speed demographic.  They are also not yet parents of teens.  I think it take some time before they start producing teenagers commensurate with the total population. 

We got thousands of immigrants from Cali and other states in the last few years, not the normal snowbird type immigrants of the past that are retirees.. Thats gotta put some new athletes in the pipeline...

My son plays High School Football here in Gilbert, AZ and the sports teams at his school have been getting new kids from multiple states, but mostly Cali...

Edited August 19, 2022 by Azbadlands

[FORTY NINE TO ZERO 2652]

So big schools will be getting about 30 million a year more than sec?

 

We might want to think this over. Wouldn’t mind games against usc and ohio state regularly instead being stuck in the Confederacy 2.0 

Edited August 19, 2022 by ONE YARD

[camel at sea 589]

1 hour ago, hawkfan said:

Been saying, this is what will eventually force ND to make a decision - if we go to a 12/16 school playoff, there's margin for error for the top teams to lose a couple games, going to 10+ conference games and getting rid of the cupcakes will make the TV partners happy, but will make it tough for ND to fill a schedule if both the B1G & SEC go to 10+ conference games:
 

 

It'll be interesting to see what direction the Big Ten goes in getting to 20 if they land the Irish.  I assume there would be more western additions but that's probably more complicated than it seems.  If you add Stanford, then there's a ton of pressure (academic, political, logistical, new member preference, etc.) to also add Cal.  They might also want to add a team from the southeast, too.    

[Azbadlands 109]

15 hours ago, bullet said:

In Arizona????  Flagstaff is fine, but you can't stay outside in Phoenix for any length of time.

It is downright brutal.  I was building a chicken coop in the backyard this past July for my wife...Picked the wrong month to work outside for sure in Phoenix..I don't ever remember it being as bad to work outside in Texas in the Summertime as it is here...The only advantage we have is less insects.  I remember swarms of insects; especially, mosquitos attacking all Summer long in Texas...The insects here have to be prehistoric badasses to survive in this heat..

[Augustus 3061]

19 hours ago, Azbadlands said:

Yep, even the AZ Cardinals have some of the same issues, there are so many transplants in Phoenix from other states that they are usually going to Cardinals games to watch the other team they are playing against...

Haven't been to a Cardinals game but every Diamondbacks game I've attended it feels like the visiting team has larger contingent of fans in attendance.

[mdmost 43001]

1 hour ago, ONE YARD said:

So big schools will be getting about 30 million a year more than sec?

 

We might want to think this over. Wouldn’t mind games against usc and ohio state regularly instead being stuck in the Confederacy 2.0 

They wouldn't be regularly if we're in a 18 team Big 10. It would be every 5-6 years...about what how much we currently play them. We have Ohio State on our schedule in 2-3 years. I don't want to be in a conference where we're stuck playing Illinois, Iowa, Northwestern, Purdue, Indiana, and those cucks in Nebraska. I'd rather be in the SEC and play USC and Ohio State in our OOC schedule. 

[Texas Wahoo 3393]

1 hour ago, ONE YARD said:

So big schools will be getting about 30 million a year more than sec?

 

We might want to think this over. Wouldn’t mind games against usc and ohio state regularly instead being stuck in the Confederacy 2.0 

No.  

 

[Satchel 6938]

1 hour ago, mdmost said:

They wouldn't be regularly if we're in a 18 team Big 10. It would be every 5-6 years...about what how much we currently play them. We have Ohio State on our schedule in 2-3 years. I don't want to be in a conference where we're stuck playing Illinois, Iowa, Northwestern, Purdue, Indiana, and those cucks in Nebraska. I'd rather be in the SEC and play USC and Ohio State in our OOC schedule. 

How is that materially different from being stuck playing Kentucky, Mississippi State, and Ole Miss? 

[Hurtlocker 2212]

2 hours ago, ONE YARD said:

So big schools will be getting about 30 million a year more than sec?

 

We might want to think this over. Wouldn’t mind games against usc and ohio state regularly instead being stuck in the Confederacy 2.0 

Yeah it won't be that much, $5-10m?   Maybe.   That increase has to involve expansion, so you'd have:

• $1b / 16 = $62.5m/team
• $1.4b/20 = $70m

The SEC will be in that ballpark.   They'll both make the same off the playoffs and the NCAA and all that crap.   The only difference is will BTN provide a greater benefit due to the equity stake than the SEC has with the SEC Network.

If the SEC makes $10m less per year, but gobbles up all the exposure, gets the best talent, and keeps winning, who the fuck cares?

[statsman 5457]

What seems to make sense would be UW, Oregon, Cal and Stanford joining to get the B1G to 20. Those are quality programs. Oregon would be the only one counting on recruits from other areas (and Phil Knoght isn’t living forever). They would have the six oldest PAC schools. They could almost claim the Rose Bowl game as well. 

[Hurtlocker 2212]

9 minutes ago, statsman said:

What seems to make sense would be UW, Oregon, Cal and Stanford joining to get the B1G to 20. Those are quality programs. Oregon would be the only one counting on recruits from other areas (and Phil Knoght isn’t living forever). They would have the six oldest PAC schools. They could almost claim the Rose Bowl game as well. 

That would probably cause the Four Corners to take the Big 12 to 16 too.  

[mdmost 43001]

40 minutes ago, Satchel said:

How is that materially different from being stuck playing Kentucky, Mississippi State, and Ole Miss? 

Most people enjoyed their trip to Ole Miss. Kentucky is meh but how often are we playing them since they would be in the totally different division? Once every 4-5 years? Mississippi State has Leach. Everyone on here has a hard on for him. I can name the coach of each of those 3 schools. Now do the same for Purdue, Illinois, Northwestern, and Indiana. Don't know and don't care. I'll gladly play a better brand of football than boring ass Big 10 football where you occasionally get a decent matchup with Michigan, USC, or Ohio State. There's an f-ton more meh games with a Big 10 schedule. It's boring ass football and moving there for money is a waste of time. 

[bullet 1596]

1 hour ago, Hurtlocker said:

Yeah it won't be that much, $5-10m?   Maybe.   That increase has to involve expansion, so you'd have:

• $1b / 16 = $62.5m/team
• $1.4b/20 = $70m

The SEC will be in that ballpark.   They'll both make the same off the playoffs and the NCAA and all that crap.   The only difference is will BTN provide a greater benefit due to the equity stake than the SEC has with the SEC Network.

If the SEC makes $10m less per year, but gobbles up all the exposure, gets the best talent, and keeps winning, who the fuck cares?

The SEC DOES have a profit sharing arrangement with ESPN.  Its probably similar to UT's in the LHN (except that they might actually hit the target).  If profits are over X, conference gets a share of that.

[utee94 15814]

1 hour ago, mdmost said:

Most people enjoyed their trip to Ole Miss. Kentucky is meh but how often are we playing them since they would be in the totally different division? Once every 4-5 years? Mississippi State has Leach. Everyone on here has a hard on for him. I can name the coach of each of those 3 schools. Now do the same for Purdue, Illinois, Northwestern, and Indiana. Don't know and don't care. I'll gladly play a better brand of football than boring ass Big 10 football where you occasionally get a decent matchup with Michigan, USC, or Ohio State. There's an f-ton more meh games with a Big 10 schedule. It's boring ass football and moving there for money is a waste of time. 

Eh, I view this as sort of grasping.  Playing shitty dregs in the B1G is no different than playing shitty dregs in the SEC, which is also no different than playing shitty dregs in the B12.

The major benefit in going to the SEC, is getting to play all three of our traditional rivals, which would never be able to occur in the B1G.  Added bonus of occasionally playing LSU, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida, is also nice. But I'd also be very happy getting the occasional games in the B1G against Michigan, USC, and Ohio State.

Still not enough to balance out getting our three traditional rivals though.  Playing in the SEC in a couple of years and beating the shit out of OU, Arkansas, and A&M again, is going to be a shitload of fun!

 

 

Edited August 19, 2022 by utee94

[mdmost 43001]

8 minutes ago, utee94 said:

Eh, I view this as sort of grasping.  Playing shitty dregs in the B1G is no different than playing shitty dregs in the SEC, which is also no different than playing shitty dregs in the B12.

The major benefit in going to the SEC, is getting to play all three of our traditional rivals, which would never be able to occur in the B1G.  Added bonus of occasionally playing LSU, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida, is also nice. But I'd also be very happy getting the occasional games in the B1G against Michigan, USC, and Ohio State.

Still not enough to balance out getting our three traditional rivals though.  Playing in the SEC in a couple of years and beating the shit out of OU, Arkansas, and A&M again, is going to be a shitload of fun!

 

 

And I agree with this. I'm fine with playing the dregs in the SEC because we get the benefit of traditional rivalries again and playing a lot more marquee teams than the Big 10 has. Again, we have Michigan and Ohio State on our OOC. We played USC a couple years back and could very easily schedule them again. We could get the benefit of playing Big 10 teams by simply adding them in the OOC if they and we are willing to do it. We don't have to join a boring conference just for the sake of more money and maybe getting 3 marquee teams every few years. 

[bullet 1596]

2 hours ago, utee94 said:

Eh, I view this as sort of grasping.  Playing shitty dregs in the B1G is no different than playing shitty dregs in the SEC, which is also no different than playing shitty dregs in the B12.

The major benefit in going to the SEC, is getting to play all three of our traditional rivals, which would never be able to occur in the B1G.  Added bonus of occasionally playing LSU, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida, is also nice. But I'd also be very happy getting the occasional games in the B1G against Michigan, USC, and Ohio State.

Still not enough to balance out getting our three traditional rivals though.  Playing in the SEC in a couple of years and beating the shit out of OU, Arkansas, and A&M again, is going to be a shitload of fun!

 

 

There are a lot more shitty dregs in the Big 10, especially in the west (not that conferences are likely to keep divisions).  And the middle of the SEC is much stronger than the Big 10.

That is, stronger than the Big 10's middle.

[Sandbagging Steve 982]

I think it's possible the B1G wants to temporarily stop at 16 in order to let emotions subside. Hypothetically, if the next move is Stanford, Notre Dame, Oregon and Washington, you probably want to let the political ****show play out in California before making that move. Cal may be in the mix for the B1G, but if they aren't, you definitely want to break the news after UCLA dodges bullets. Right now, it still looks like Cal has a home in the PAC with Stanford and the rest of the gang. This also sends a message to the PNW states that Washington and Oregon don't have much of a choice but to leave OSU and WSU behind, if given the opportunity.

[ChickenNuggets 1626]

7 hours ago, Azbadlands said:

It is downright brutal.  I was building a chicken coop in the backyard this past July for my wife...Picked the wrong month to work outside for sure in Phoenix..I don't ever remember it being as bad to work outside in Texas in the Summertime as it is here...The only advantage we have is less insects.  I remember swarms of insects; especially, mosquitos attacking all Summer long in Texas...The insects here have to be prehistoric badasses to survive in this heat..

But it does cool off at night in Phoenix right? I haven't spent more than 6 weeks of my life in Arizona, but I seem to remember things not being 97 degrees at 10:30pm like In Austin.

[Satchel 6938]

4 hours ago, mdmost said:

Most people enjoyed their trip to Ole Miss. Kentucky is meh but how often are we playing them since they would be in the totally different division? Once every 4-5 years? Mississippi State has Leach. Everyone on here has a hard on for him. I can name the coach of each of those 3 schools. Now do the same for Purdue, Illinois, Northwestern, and Indiana. Don't know and don't care. I'll gladly play a better brand of football than boring ass Big 10 football where you occasionally get a decent matchup with Michigan, USC, or Ohio State. There's an f-ton more meh games with a Big 10 schedule. It's boring ass football and moving there for money is a waste of time. 

The B1G can do the same thing the Sec did - copy the B12 offensive style of play. Problem solved.

[bullet 1596]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jason Scheer

 

@jasonscheer

·

9h

 

FYI, the AD isn’t Dave Heeke or Ray Anderson.

Quote Tweet

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

John Canzano

 

@johncanzanobft

· 9h

Pac-12 AD says conference is "Now at the plate... energized." Plus: • Why the Big Ten signed a 7-year deal. • Exploring escalator-clause hype. • Apple and Amazon as Pac-12 bidders

ie, its not the Arizona or Arizona St. ADs saying the Pac is energized.  Canzano seems to get a lot from the Washington St. AD.

Fittingly, Washington St. is probably going to become the Crimson & Gray window Cougars, replacing the red and blue window cougars.

[bullet 1596]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jason Scheer

 

@jasonscheer

·

55m

 

Double sided comment, but again, everybody wants to stay. It just comes down to whether or not ESPN makes it worth it. Also, there’s no world that exists where you’re getting an honest answer about other possible movement

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jason Scheer

 

@jasonscheer

·

3h

 

Realignment is cool and all, but I need the college football season to start like tomorrow.

 

Jason Scheer Retweeted

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bob Thompson

 

@rltsports

·

4h

 

Interesting. Never seen a clause for additional members that had a specific dollar attached to it already. Seems rather unusual to me but anything is possible. Maybe Warren is waiting to get home from the Rose Bowl meetings before he puts another knife in Kliavkoff’s back.

[utee94 15814]

13 minutes ago, bullet said:

There are a lot more shitty dregs in the Big 10, especially in the west (not that conferences are likely to keep divisions).  And the middle of the SEC is much stronger than the Big 10.

That is, stronger than the Big 10's middle.

I mean, you can certainly think that. But it doesn't make it true or make anyone else believe it.  If Texas A&M and Arkansas weren't longtime rivals, they'd just be more shitty dregs.  Do you think Alabama gets excited about playing either one of them?

The new SEC has Alabama, Georgia, Florida, OU, and LSU.  The new B1G has Ohio State, Michigan, USC, and Penn State. 

Outside of that, I think of all of the other teams in both conferences as middlin' to negligible.  Auburn and Tennessee are roughly the same as Wisconsin and Nebraska.  And I don't give even one half of a rat's ass about Ole Miss, Miss State,   Missouri, South Carolina, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, or South Carolina.

[TKthunder2 4990]

18 minutes ago, utee94 said:

I mean, you can certainly think that. But it doesn't make it true or make anyone else believe it.  If Texas A&M and Arkansas weren't longtime rivals, they'd just be more shitty dregs. 

You are a dipshit.  I hate both these schools and now I’m having to defend them. They are both top 25 in all time wins and top 20 in number of bowls bids.

They are good middle of the road teams for the SEC, comparable to other middle of the road B1G teams like Iowa and Michigan State. Comparing them to Indiana, Rutgers, Purdue, Maryland, and Illinois is just idiotic.

Also anyone talking about Ole Miss as a bad conference member has clearly never been to The Grove.

[utee94 15814]

10 minutes ago, TKthunder2 said:

You are a dipshit.  I hate both these schools and now I’m having to defend them. They are both top 25 in all time wins and top 20 in number of bowls bids.

They are good middle of the road teams for the SEC, comparable to other middle of the road B1G teams like Iowa and Michigan State. Comparing them to Indiana, Rutgers, Purdue, Maryland, and Illinois is just idiotic.

Also anyone talking about Ole Miss as a bad conference member has clearly never been to The Grove.

Eh, fuck you, asshole.

 

 

Edited August 20, 2022 by utee94

[Francisco 2.0 32389]

Hmmm.  

 

 

Apparently, Rutgers had to borrow $48 million in two loans to the B1G conference when they joined, and to date, they have paid back $10 million.  This was in addition to receiving smaller payouts than the rest of the conference (absent Nebraska and Maryland).

 

Quote

But in a wide-ranging interview Friday with NJ Advance Media, Hobbs said discussions are underway to potentially adjust the revenue streams for Rutgers, Maryland and Nebraska. Upon joining the conference a decade ago, the three schools needed to go through a six-year integration that saw their conference-distribution checks pale in comparison to their Big Ten rivals.

The Big Ten didn’t make UCLA and USC go through the same integration, announcing the Southern California schools would join the league as full financial partners in 2024.

Hobbs told NJ Advance Media top officials at Rutgers, Maryland and Nebraska are working with the Big Ten in order to address the previous financial inequities going forward.

 

 

Quote

“We’re actually looking at all of that right now,” he said. “Obviously the conference, in the financial integration for USC and UCLA, made the decision that it was in the best interest of the conference to bring them in as full-share members. Ourselves, Maryland and Nebraska came in under a financial integration model and there were things done then in order to try to make sure that we could be competitive. In the interest of fairness and equity, the conference, along with the presidents and chancellors, are taking a look at Rutgers, Maryland and Nebraska specifically to make sure that in this new (16-team) world that we have that some level of fairness and equity gets returned to Rutgers and those two schools.”

 

 

Quote

Documents obtained by NJ Advance Media show Rutgers already has paid back $10 million from the $48 million loan over the past two years.

Asked whether he sees the potential for the Big Ten to forgive the remainder of the loan, Hobbs said: “That I would not see.”

Still, he said there’s potential for Rutgers to receive a larger percentage of the Big Ten’s annual revenue stream in the next four years.

“Obviously those loans were real both for ourselves and for Maryland,” Hobbs said. “There’s going to be an examination of that in the context of this new agreement and the new revenue flows. I wouldn’t want to speculate on the amount of that adjustment. (The Big Ten presidents) recognize that there is an equity and fairness component to it.”

 

[Azbadlands 109]

1 hour ago, ChickenNuggets said:

But it does cool off at night in Phoenix right? I haven't spent more than 6 weeks of my life in Arizona, but I seem to remember things not being 97 degrees at 10:30pm like In Austin.

Depends on the time of year.  In the middle of Summer, it can still be in the high 90s late into the night..It usually starts significantly cooling down at night in late August/ early September.

[notre dame joe 187]

1 hour ago, ChickenNuggets said:

But it does cool off at night in Phoenix right? I haven't spent more than 6 weeks of my life in Arizona, but I seem to remember things not being 97 degrees at 10:30pm like In Austin.

More like 101 at midnight.

[wildturkey8 24]

SEC shitty dregs > B1G shitty dregs.  By the way Lexington Kentucky is a great place to visit with the bourbon distilleries, the horse farms and Keeneland racetrack.

[TKthunder2 4990]

By all time wins:

Tier 1: Blue bloods and almost blue bloods

B1G: (5) Michigan, Ohio St, Nebraska, Penn St, USC

SEC: (6) Alabama, Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Georgia, LSU

Tier 2: Solid middle

B1G: (4) Wisconsin, Michigan St, Minnesota, Iowa

SEC: (5) Auburn, aggy, Florida, Arkansas, Missouri

Tier 3: hopefully they have stuff other than football…

B1G: (6) Maryland, Rutgers, Purdue, UCLA, Illinois, Indiana

SEC: (4) Ole Miss, Kentucky, South Carolina, Mississippi St

Smart private schools:

B1G: (1) Northwestern

SEC: (1) Vanderbilt

 

Not perfect, I’d probably drop Nebraska/Tennessee/Missouri down a level and bump Florida/OleMiss/UCLA up a level but for the most part it illustrates my point.  The SEC has far better football and the “dregs” are far better than the Big Ten.  If anyone disagrees please show your work, I’m curious on how anyone could justify otherwise.

[TKthunder2 4990]

Non-SEC/B1G list (for reference)

Again based on all time wins

Tier 1: Blue bloods and almost blue bloods

(1) Notre Dame

Tier 2: Solid middle

B12: (1) West Virginia

ACC: (8) Clemson, Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh, Georgia Tech, Syracuse, North Carolina, Boston College, Virginia

PAC: (5) Washington, Colorado, Utah, Oregon, Cal

Smart private schools:

PAC: (1) Stanford

ACC: (1) Duke

Everyone else is Tier 3 (historically speaking) again some pretty big misses using this method (Florida St/Miami were late to the football game, and other ACC teams and WVU are overvalued from playing in previously small weak Big East and filling up schedules with small G5/FCS competition) but it still gives you an idea about the perception of the leagues when viewed from this lens. 

[bullet 1596]

3 hours ago, utee94 said:

I mean, you can certainly think that. But it doesn't make it true or make anyone else believe it.  If Texas A&M and Arkansas weren't longtime rivals, they'd just be more shitty dregs.  Do you think Alabama gets excited about playing either one of them?

The new SEC has Alabama, Georgia, Florida, OU, and LSU.  The new B1G has Ohio State, Michigan, USC, and Penn State. 

Outside of that, I think of all of the other teams in both conferences as middlin' to negligible.  Auburn and Tennessee are roughly the same as Wisconsin and Nebraska.  And I don't give even one half of a rat's ass about Ole Miss, Miss State,   Missouri, South Carolina, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, or South Carolina.

You're about the only one who doesn't.  Auburn and Tennessee have MNCs in the BCS era.  Ole Miss, Miss. St., Missouri and South Carolina all have top 10 finishes in the last decade and they are the bottom part of the conference.

All time winning %-Big 10 5 in top 25-#1 OSU, #5 MI, #8 USC, #9 NU, #10 PSU.  SEC 9 in top 25, #2 AL, #6 OU, #7 UT, #11 TN, #13 UGA, #14 LSU, #19 FL, #20 Auburn, #25 aggy.

[bullet 1596]

2 hours ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

Hmmm.  

 

 

Apparently, Rutgers had to borrow $48 million in two loans to the B1G conference when they joined, and to date, they have paid back $10 million.  This was in addition to receiving smaller payouts than the rest of the conference (absent Nebraska and Maryland).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nebraska had to pay nearly $60 million in entrance fees.  Maryland was much bigger.  Rutgers was huge.  There were a couple of years where they were getting $43 million less than the full members.  Nebraska would have been, with Tier 3 (assuming $5-$7 million similar to OU), probably $70-80 million better if they simply stayed in the Big 12 until 2017.  They would still be $30-$50 million behind even with full membership for the last 5 years.

 

Next time one of those Big 10 people talks about how equal the Big 10 is,....

[hawkfan 60]

Yeah, the obvious difference being that USC/UCLA are coming in the year a new TV contract starts and that contract is being negotiated on the open market with knowledge of their membership.  Once the new deal was negotiated, they got the full share just like everyone else.

That wasn't the case for any of Rutgers, Nebraska, or Maryland.  And if any of them want to complain, I'm sure the conference would let them leave.  Especially Rutgers, I'm sure the B1G front office would like a do over on that one anyway.

Edited August 20, 2022 by hawkfan

[utee94 15814]

Since w

5 hours ago, bullet said:

Nebraska had to pay nearly $60 million in entrance fees.  Maryland was much bigger.  Rutgers was huge.  There were a couple of years where they were getting $43 million less than the full members.  Nebraska would have been, with Tier 3 (assuming $5-$7 million similar to OU), probably $70-80 million better if they simply stayed in the Big 12 until 2017.  They would still be $30-$50 million behind even with full membership for the last 5 years.

 

Next time one of those Big 10 people talks about how equal the Big 10 is,....

Now this is something I agree with.  Standard B1G fan rhetoric is that Texas ruined the B12 and all of college football by wanting more than its fair share, despite the fact that Nebraska and A&M voted in favor of unequal revenue sharing every single time it came to up for a vote.  And the wondrous and egalitarian B1G was high and mighty, far above such pettiness.

Until they weren't.

Hypocritical douchebags.

Edited August 20, 2022 by utee94

[hawkfan 60]

17 hours ago, camel at sea said:

It'll be interesting to see what direction the Big Ten goes in getting to 20 if they land the Irish.  I assume there would be more western additions but that's probably more complicated than it seems.  If you add Stanford, then there's a ton of pressure (academic, political, logistical, new member preference, etc.) to also add Cal.  They might also want to add a team from the southeast, too.    

Honestly, I wonder if the political drama playing out in a way that forces UCLA to stay wouldn't work out best for the B1G, you pretty much get LA with USC, and if UCLA is forced to stay you could grab Stanford instead to get the bay area exposure, then add Oregon/Washington and one of Colorado/Utah (in addition to ND) - both AAU members and add an entirely new time zone/state to the footprint.  I feel like USC pretty much delivers LA.

You could also stop at 18 with Oregon/Washington/Stanford if UCLA backed out and wait for ND.

I highly doubt the politicians are going to force UCLA to stay back and bankrupt their athletic department, but it's a possible outcome.

Edited August 20, 2022 by hawkfan

[Francisco 2.0 32389]

LA Times published a piece on the dude from Minnesota (Flugaur).  

 

https://www.latimes.com/sports/usc/story/2022-08-19/greg-flugaur-minnesota-fan-broke-usc-move-big-ten

 

Quote

March 31 felt like a pretty normal Minnesota spring day to Greg Flugaur. He took care of his elderly parents who live with him. It was cold, but not frigid by the standards of his northern tribe, so as night fell he went to a gas station to vacuum the inside of his 14-year-old dark grey Toyota Prius, the annual seasonal cleanse.

As the vacuum gobbled up the long winter, Flugaur’s phone buzzed. When he saw who was calling, he quickly stopped and answered.

 

Quote

It was his friend, the man he calls Big Ten Man — BTM for short. In recent years, BTM had become a benefactor of sorts for the 54-year-old Flugaur. The way it went, BTM, a big-moneyed University of Minnesota booster, would call Flugaur with information about the Golden Gophers and direct him to put it out there. Often that meant a message board post from Flugaur’s account on GopherIllustrated.com, the 247Sports.com-affiliated website for Minnesota fans, but these days, it also meant a tweet from Flugaur’s increasingly influential Twitter account, @flugempire.

 

 

Quote

There was nothing routine about this call from BTM, however. The words shook Flugaur deep to his Midwestern core. He put the vacuum away, drove back to his home in a suburb northwest of Minneapolis, braced himself and logged onto Twitter. His tweet began with an emoji of a bomb.

“USC is watching.

New Big Ten media evaluations have come in during current negotiations. …

Everything Trojan is back on the table.”

 

 

Spoiler

Flugaur (pronounced FLOOG-AHR), thanks to BTM, had earned cachet among Minnesota fans as a mostly reliable source of information, even though he was just a guy who used to work in the printing business and had never been a sports reporter. But news about USC and the larger tectonics moving beneath college sports? That seemed a bit far-fetched.

Later that evening around 1 a.m. as March turned to April, BTM called Flugaur again. BTM told Flugaur he was now being followed by a Big Ten official.

On April 1, Flugaur, feeling invigorated yet cautious, tweeted that he would not be revealing more until April 2.

“I do not want to confuse anybody of tweets of USC/Big Ten with April Fools day. Eventually [soon] this story will be picked up by big media.”

On April 2, Flugaur continued, “I’m a nobody. So why would the Big Ten offices care about any of my tweets? They don’t. Except they want to make sure there is not a real leak inside of their offices. … But there is a story [USC] brewing. Let’s see where it goes.”

On April 4, Flugaur released a two-minute video on Twitter to further explain his tweets. The camera was closely cropped on his face as he spoke with conviction.

“The USC called the Big Ten,” he said, pausing for effect.

“How do I know this? Everybody who knows me knows that I am a nobody. But everybody who knows me knows that I’m a nobody who knows a somebody, and that somebody has been breaking stuff since 2014.

“The USC, University of Southern California, is in the process of making sure that the stratification that has been happening at the top level of college sports, that USC remains on the top of that line. … Part of that process is calling the Big Ten, and they did that a while ago. We just learned about it Thursday night. … But USC called. They called alone, and this is where we are today. … Take care.”

With that, Flugaur signed off. As the world now knows, the guy was right about his most important point. USC was watching the Big Ten, indeed. But one of his other predictions did not hold true at all:

His news would not be picked up by any media.

Three months after Flugaur received that call from BTM about the call, USC and UCLA announced they were leaving the Pac-12 for the Big Ten, stunning the nation. And one-and-a-half months after that, on Thursday morning, The Los Angeles Times reported the Big Ten signed a media rights deal that will approach an unprecedented $8 billion over seven years. The two events are fully related, and a “nobody” from Minnesota signaled the match was coming before anyone else.

Why Greg Flugaur? Well, only BTM knows.

“I’ve tried to think to myself, who could Big Ten Man possibly be, and why Greg?” says Ryan Burns, who runs GopherIllustrated.com. “I don’t know if they’re childhood friends. I don’t know if it’s a neighbor. I just find it fascinating that, of all people, these two guys are intertwined and have done some things together. To break a coaching search is one thing. To do the whole USC and UCLA thing … BTM must really have a sense of humor.”

Flugaur grew up in Minnesota loving the Golden Gophers and following college sports closely. He was born deaf and had to take speech therapy throughout his entire adolescence. His childhood was difficult, and his affinity for college sports helped lift him through some hard times.

“I love the history of it,” Flugaur says. “There’s a passion involved that isn’t with the NFL. One example is, in college football, when the home team wins the game and they’re a big underdog, the fans rush the field. You don’t see that in the NFL. It just doesn’t mean as much. This sport runs deep with its fans.”

Ironically, after everything he went through to hear and speak, Flugaur would major in speech communications at nearby St. Cloud State University. Twenty years ago, he married his wife, Mireya. About seven years ago, his parents moved in, becoming Flugaur’s top priority.

It was around that time that Big Ten Man started reaching out to him with info. As the holidays approached in 2016, Minnesota had finished with an 8-4 record — a mark to be celebrated most seasons for the Gophers — under first-year coach Tracy Claeys. But BTM let Flugaur know that plans were in motion to fire Claeys, and it was expected to occur 212 hours from when they first spoke. BTM also said that Western Michigan’s hot young coach, PJ Fleck, would be the top target.

Flugaur went to Burns’ message board and posted. Given the successful season, many questioned the veracity. A 140-page thread unfurled. The Gophers traveled to San Diego and beat Washington State in the Holiday Bowl to finish 9-4. At 212 hours after Flugaur’s post, even he began to get a little nervous.

But, around hour 216, the news came down officially. Claeys was out.

A few days later, Minnesota hired Fleck. BTM, and Flugaur in turn, were proven right in legendary fashion.

“He took my entire site for a wild ride in those 48 hours between Tracy Claeys and PJ Fleck, and he nailed it,” Burns says.

Flugaur is the first to admit that he and BTM are not always right. He tried his hand at some smaller assistant coach hires back in the early days, and some of them went haywire. But there are some loftier areas where Flugaur’s intel should raise antennas, according to Burns, and conference realignment is apparently one of them.

“BTM sits on a certain perch in which he knows what big-money boosters want to have happen,” Flugaur explains. “I call that the money perch. Before, if you wanted to get a good taste of what was going to happen, you would talk to an administrator. But now administrators aren’t really making those big decisions. It’s the money.”

Through Flugaur’s voice, the money talks.

“I have made it known that most of the time there’s a motivation behind what I’m writing,” Flugaur says. “In fact, when I did those short videos about USC, there was a definite motivation. They call it a ‘soft push.’ ”

Flugaur’s “I am a nobody” video about USC calling the Big Ten came off more like a hard shove at Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren, who roiled stakeholders across the conference footprint when the league canceled the 2020 season because of the pandemic before later reversing course with an abridged schedule under immense pressure to play on.

In the video, Flugaur plainly states that “Kevin Warren has to act” on USC. It was BTM’s desire that Flugaur deliver that personal message above all.

“BTM described that the leak came from Los Angeles,” Flugaur says. “A big money booster in L.A. sent word to a big money booster in Big Ten country. Big Ten money people were still hurting from the pandemic and also weren’t sold on Warren. They wanted to make sure the Big Ten knew the opportunity had arisen to expand to Los Angeles. The big boosters in the Big Ten were very excited.”

Throughout the spring, Flugaur continued priming USC to the Big Ten pump. But, aside from some other schools’ message boards and Reddit pages — and that Big Ten official, of course — few seemed to notice.

On June 19 — 11 days before USC and UCLA made their move official — Flugaur tweeted, almost quietly:

“Sensitive time for Kevin Warren and Big Ten.”

June 30 was a fun day to be Greg Flugaur. USC was now officially on its way to the Big Ten (BTM’s intel did not rope in UCLA’s involvement).

Flugaur reposted his April 4 video, saying, “I’ve lost a few pounds since this video. OK … maybe I haven’t.” He topped off the joke with an emoji of a beer mug.

One USC fan tweeted, “People asked me today if I was surprised being an SC guy. I told each person no and the reason is because I started following a writer named Greg Flugaur months ago who was talking about it in detail back then. Kudos to you!! You deserve all the credit for breaking this 1st!”

In another tweet, Flugaur said:

“Big Ten Network just said no one saw this coming.

By the next day, July 1, BTM had called Flugaur again with fresh info.

“USC is recruiting Notre Dame into Big Ten,” Flugaur tweeted, quoting BTM directly. “They are active. USC has been active for months. Aggressive. USC’s Athletic Director knew his school’s value and knew its leverage points and brought it and still is bringing it.

“Notre Dame’s Board of Trustees is the next piece. Notre Dame’s Athletic Director has kept them informed for the last few months. Not starting from scratch. Boosters are engaged and will green light move to Big Ten if called upon.

“NIL is the hammer. Big brands want to play against big brands more often and if they can’t they still want to play in biggest markets. Big Ten markets buy products and services of its advertisers. LA markets will increase wealth all around Big Ten.”

Amid the BTM barrage, Flugaur tweeted a photo of a golden statue of Mother Mary and said, “Kevin Warren to Mary …” with a link to a YouTube video of a Guns N’ Roses song called “Patience.”

The Big Ten announced its massive new media rights package Thursday without Notre Dame being a part of it. Flugaur remains adamant the Fighting Irish will lose much of their leverage to chart the future course of the Big Ten if they don’t act within the next year as scheduling formats are set by the 16 league members.

One may wonder, though: Is that actually true, or just what Big Ten Man wants to be true?

“I can assure you,” Burns says, “if Greg is talking about things, it’s because somebody wants him to be talking about it.”

Says Flugaur, who now has more than 7,200 Twitter followers (300 more than this professional scribe), “Now, is it unethical for me? I don’t know. Not to get political, but Fox News and MSNBC, they just tend to report whatever makes their audience get revved up. They pick and choose. And of course I’m doing the same thing. I’m getting out the information that certain people want out. So there’s a filter before I get it. So that’s kind of unethical, but I’m not a reporter. Like, I’m a nobody.”

Flugaur’s most intense critic is another random Twitter account that has gained traction putting out realignment information in the year since Texas and Oklahoma left the Big 12 for the Southeastern Conference. The college football fan behind the account, @Genetics56, prefers to remain anonymous. He has a source that works within a Big Ten athletic department and has reported information about the future of college sports when deemed appropriate.

The man behind the account views Flugaur and BTM as “not reliable information, and playing to the emotions of fanbases to create a following is wrong in my view.”

The @Genetics56 account tweets so often about all things realignment that it makes you question how he has time for his day job as a software salesman who happens to have some Big Ten athletic departments as clients. He does not hide that he is rooting for more realignment at the top of the sport.

“When I was growing up you, had Colorado visiting Michigan for a nonconference game,” he wrote in a Twitter direct message interview. “Miami traveled all the way to Madison, Wisconsin. As the years passed, those type of nonconference games became fewer and fewer and scheduling became about ‘buying wins.’ There’s a reason why attendance and viewership as a whole has decreased over the years. Therefore, fast-forwarding to today, consolidation of the biggest university names for college football is the only path forward that I see where we can regain the big matchups of yesteryear.”

Consolidation also means the loss of tradition. The Big 12 and now the Pac-12 are dealing with that painful reality, and Flugaur has had to be the bearer of bad news for countless fan bases who are in danger of being left out of the Big Ten and SEC endgame.

“I honestly think this thing isn’t over yet,” Flugaur says. “There’s still so much pressure to consolidate, for the bad of it, and for the good of it. However you want to phrase it, there’s still that pressure, that proxy war between ESPN and Fox, and the Big Ten presidents want Notre Dame, they want Stanford, and we think that’s going to happen.”

Flugaur has no plans to slow down now, as long as BTM wants to keep him informed. Last week, he started his own YouTube channel, where he posts episodes of “CFB: Peek Around The Corner with Greg Flugaur” nearly every day.

His first 30-minute episode — titled “CFB has changed forever!” — has been viewed more than 2,000 times.

“ok so who is BTM?” commented one viewer.

The mystery of how some guy from Minnesota broke the story of USC’s Big Ten interest is growing right along with Flugaur’s audience.

“It’s a great story to tell,” Burns says. “I continue to say, ‘Why Greg Flugaur and not [the Athletic’s] Bruce Feldman, or [ESPN’s] Pete Thamel?’ Or, if this BTM guy is a big Minnesota fan, it’s very easy to get in contact with me. So why Greg Flugaur? I have no idea, but I know that man loves to be along for the ride.”

 

 

[camel at sea 589]

I think the Big Ten has a fairly elaborate (blogs, message board posters, twitter, etc.) online PR/narrative steering operation.  Flug is definitely part of that in some way.  

[BevoSwag 272]

So if the B1G has negotiated a huge payout per school, equally, including USC and UCLA, how would adding four more to dilute the pot of gold be received by the old members?

Edited August 20, 2022 by BevoSwag

[LTbear 4168]

14 hours ago, utee94 said:

d I don't give even one half of a rat's ass about Ole Miss, Miss State,   Missouri, South Carolina, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, or South Carolina.

This man REALLY doesn't like South Carolina.

Edited August 20, 2022 by LTbear

[LTbear 4168]

11 hours ago, bullet said:

You're about the only one who doesn't.  Auburn and Tennessee have MNCs in the BCS era.  Ole Miss, Miss. St., Missouri and South Carolina all have top 10 finishes in the last decade and they are the bottom part of the conference.

All time winning %-Big 10 5 in top 25-#1 OSU, #5 MI, #8 USC, #9 NU, #10 PSU.  SEC 9 in top 25, #2 AL, #6 OU, #7 UT, #11 TN, #13 UGA, #14 LSU, #19 FL, #20 Auburn, #25 aggy.

Ya this shit isn't close and everyone but him realizes it