The two big dog conferences are now, for all intents and purposes, extensions of and beholden to their media owners. The Big 10 and SEC are “cover names” for what is in reality the Fox Sports conference and the ESPN conference. The Apple+ streaming conference just doesn’t rate. If you can’t get your product distri…
The two big dog conferences are now, for all intents and purposes, extensions of and beholden to their media owners. The Big 10 and SEC are “cover names” for what is in reality the Fox Sports conference and the ESPN conference. The Apple+ streaming conference just doesn’t rate. If you can’t get your product distributed on television and cable, you are not going to compete with the big boys and can expect your primary assets (high visibility, revenue producing flagship teams) to be strip mined by the top tier media conglomerates. The NCAA, who in theory should play some sort of oversight role to maintain stability and integrity, is impotent and irrelevant. Yes, some of this sounds a bit tin-foil-hatish but I think it is reality.
The fact that SEC and Big 10 big brass sought out or responded favorably to the new rules imposed by media (Fox/ESPN) has provided valuable cover for schools that would otherwise be in Cal’s position. I’m thinking of Northwestern and Vanderbilt – institutions where academics and research remain primary. These schools understandably found their place in major conferences when college sports operated in a different era with different rules. If either the SEC or Big 10 had bungled themselves into the predicament that the Pac 12 finds itself in, these schools would likely be facing the same doom loop that Cal is looking down the barrel at.
I am a proud Cal alum and do not like any of this at all. I fondly recall watching (as recently as the 1990’s and even early 2000’s) when Michigan or Ohio State would win their rivalry game and all the players rushed to the sideline to grab their red roses. Yes – the Rose Bowl is what we play for! Sadly, those days are long gone. Selling out to the highest bidder is the new game (think Ricky Bobby in Talladega Nights shouting out to his corporate sponsors), college sports has been fully NASCAR-ized and monetized.
This was all foreseen by sages such as Dale Brown, former head basketball coach at LSU, as well as others. Seek out some of his interviews and videos from the late 1980’s and early 1990s – he saw and sounded the alarm around where all of this was headed, long before we had the BCS, CFP, expanded CFP and NCAA tourneys, transfer portal/NIL, and media-driven conference realignment.
I would love it if somewhere in the spreadsheets and deal making that is going on behind the scenes that # of nobel laureates, history and tradition, geographic affinity, and consideration for the “student athletes” were major factors but sadly they are not. The Arizona (and presumably Arizona St) case proves this out. Would a major conference rather have (a) two average/below average academic schools in smaller media markets but with one of them bringing along the potential for top-tier, national revenue generating ability (Arizona basketball), or (b) two elite, powerhouse academic institutions in larger media markets but with little/no near-term potential for their major sports programs to be nationally relevant? I think the answer to this question is playing out before our eyes right now.
Some further thoughts ….
The two big dog conferences are now, for all intents and purposes, extensions of and beholden to their media owners. The Big 10 and SEC are “cover names” for what is in reality the Fox Sports conference and the ESPN conference. The Apple+ streaming conference just doesn’t rate. If you can’t get your product distributed on television and cable, you are not going to compete with the big boys and can expect your primary assets (high visibility, revenue producing flagship teams) to be strip mined by the top tier media conglomerates. The NCAA, who in theory should play some sort of oversight role to maintain stability and integrity, is impotent and irrelevant. Yes, some of this sounds a bit tin-foil-hatish but I think it is reality.
The fact that SEC and Big 10 big brass sought out or responded favorably to the new rules imposed by media (Fox/ESPN) has provided valuable cover for schools that would otherwise be in Cal’s position. I’m thinking of Northwestern and Vanderbilt – institutions where academics and research remain primary. These schools understandably found their place in major conferences when college sports operated in a different era with different rules. If either the SEC or Big 10 had bungled themselves into the predicament that the Pac 12 finds itself in, these schools would likely be facing the same doom loop that Cal is looking down the barrel at.
I am a proud Cal alum and do not like any of this at all. I fondly recall watching (as recently as the 1990’s and even early 2000’s) when Michigan or Ohio State would win their rivalry game and all the players rushed to the sideline to grab their red roses. Yes – the Rose Bowl is what we play for! Sadly, those days are long gone. Selling out to the highest bidder is the new game (think Ricky Bobby in Talladega Nights shouting out to his corporate sponsors), college sports has been fully NASCAR-ized and monetized.
This was all foreseen by sages such as Dale Brown, former head basketball coach at LSU, as well as others. Seek out some of his interviews and videos from the late 1980’s and early 1990s – he saw and sounded the alarm around where all of this was headed, long before we had the BCS, CFP, expanded CFP and NCAA tourneys, transfer portal/NIL, and media-driven conference realignment.
I would love it if somewhere in the spreadsheets and deal making that is going on behind the scenes that # of nobel laureates, history and tradition, geographic affinity, and consideration for the “student athletes” were major factors but sadly they are not. The Arizona (and presumably Arizona St) case proves this out. Would a major conference rather have (a) two average/below average academic schools in smaller media markets but with one of them bringing along the potential for top-tier, national revenue generating ability (Arizona basketball), or (b) two elite, powerhouse academic institutions in larger media markets but with little/no near-term potential for their major sports programs to be nationally relevant? I think the answer to this question is playing out before our eyes right now.