How will an 18-team conference tournament work?

[RU-Choppin-Ohio]

That has absolutely nothing to do with making money for the conference. Nebraska a storied program needed to be the 12th member and add the Championship game to monetarily validate their entrance to the other members. They were not going to vote to take less money, without it they were a no vote.

I owned BTN before Maryland's and Rutgers entrance. It was International Harvester and Menards commercials. After they added NY/NJ and DMV nothing but AT&T and Ford commercials. What happened? Did Michigan and OSU suddenly become good, no, it was the opening of these markets which drew advertisers. The next contract exploded. Rutgers and Maryland got credit for none of that.

It was we were all buying equal equity into BTN not into the B1G. We were to get an equal 1/14th share into BTN. Suddenly the new Commissioner came in and changed everything. He gave UCLA/USC full share without paying a dime into BTN. Is that fair, no, business isn't fair. Rutgers has every right to ask for a forgiveness in loans when conditions were changed to gain equal equity into BTN.

Yes !

Media is not just TV ratings, it's alao demographics. The high income areas in New York, New Jersey, Maryland, DC are worth more to advertisers to lower income areas like Nebraska even if Nebraska has higher TV ratings.

AD Hobbs said he and the Maryland AD were going to petition the B1G for some loan and/or advance forgiveness after USC and UCLA got full shares.

 

[Eagleton96]

Stewart Mandel is probably very close to where things are ultimately headed.

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The problem with this is that too many people will lose interest. Lots of the eyeballs on TVs are from fans of teams that aren't on this list. If their team is permanently relegated out, they may lose interest in the whole franchise of college football and the sport will lose critical mass and national appeal.

 

[Fat Koko]

Yes !

Media is not just TV ratings, it's alao demographics. The high income areas in New York, New Jersey, Maryland, DC are worth more to advertisers to lower income areas like Nebraska even if Nebraska has higher TV ratings.

AD Hobbs said he and the Maryland AD were going to petition the B1G for some loan and/or advance forgiveness after USC and UCLA got full shares.

Thanks for your comments. I agree demographics matter, but so do psychographics, meaning market research that reflects a market's psychology.

The New York and DC metros have higher income levels than Nebraska. However, the enthusiasm for watching college sports in the New York and DC areas are far lower than Nebraska and other legacy B1G markets. This has been true for decades, and is unlikely to change, even if Rutgers wins 6 games and plays in a bowl game.

Where did Hobbs say he will go for foregiveness of Rutgers financial obligations to the B1G?

 

[Russ Wood]

The problem with this is that too many people will lose interest. Lots of the eyeballs on TVs are from fans of teams that aren't on this list. If their team is permanently relegated out, they may lose interest in the whole franchise of college football and the sport will lose critical mass and national appeal.

Maybe, maybe not.

I know plenty of people whose alma mater sucks at football but every Saturday they watch at least one college football game. Usually a game between ranked teams.

They tell me that they just want to see a good football game.

I grew up on NFL football but I'll watch Alabama, Georgia, LSU or Florida play pretty much any week.

 

[Eagleton96]

Maybe, maybe not.

I know plenty of people whose alma mater sucks at football but every Saturday they watch at least one college football game. Usually a game between ranked teams.

They tell me that they just want to see a good football game.

I grew up on NFL football but I'll watch Alabama, Georgia, LSU or Florida play pretty much any week.

Yup. Maybe maybe not. Seems like a big roll of the dice with not enough consideration for the possibility of some significant downside risk.

 

[Russ Wood]

Yup. Maybe maybe not. Seems like a big roll of the dice with not enough consideration for the possibility of some significant downside risk.

People watch the MAC, MWC, AAC and the teams in those conferences aren't likely to play for a national championship, even with a 12 team playoff.

Hell, there are teams currently in the P5 that aren't likely to play for a national championship but lots of people still watch their games. Rutgers for example.

 

[Doctor Worm]

Why did Rutgers and Maryland buy the same exact equity piece from the same network for different prices?

B1G expansion policy was and is (UCLA and USC being exceptions) that during the six year buy in period, the new member would be "made whole" by getting what they would have gotten from their prior conference.

Maryland would have gotten more from the ACC than we would have gotten from the AAC. Hence, Maryland got more from the B1G.

Was that fair? I think so, but fairness is subjective. And at this point, it's also irrelevant.

 

[BigEastPhil]

Getting back on topic, do you think conference will have all 18 schools participate in the meeting conference tournament?

I hope so albeit there will now be 2 games on Tuesday and 4 games on Wednesday.

ACC will have same dilemma

Hopefully the tourney comes east again though I think with addition of western schools it becomes less likely.

Can see a tourney in Vegas which would be great !

 

[Russ Wood]

My understanding is that Nebraska got the same crappy deal we got, along with Maryland. Oregon and Washington are in the same boat. There's nothing to do about USC and UCLA. They added a lot of value to the TV deals. Thankfully, that's in the rear-view mirror - except paying back some loans.

USC and UCLA are also national brands. Maryland and Rutgers aren't.

Btw, Maryland negotiated some kind of travel allowance (I'm not sure if that's the correct term) when it joined the league. Idk how many years that allowance lasted tho.