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Topic: Big XII Realignment
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Thumper · « **Reply #28 on:** July 28, 2021, 09:53:09 AM »

Thinking in terms of how attractive this league would be to TV. In conference matchups have proven to draw about 800,000 viewers, not quite on a par with the AAC which averages around 1 million. Out of conference is a much different scenario. If the OU-OSU game continues, it has proven to draw 3.5 million, If ISU continues with Iowa, that could be a big one. When TCU played Ohio State, that was around 3 million.
Just spitballin' but what if they stay at 8 teams so they can schedule more OOC matchups? ESPN is going to owe Fox some compensation for the SEC poaching OU & Texas so they might help with some marquee scheduling?
If they stay at the original 8, they should also be able to claim maximum damages from OU & Texas for leaving.

CWSooner · « **Reply #29 on:** July 28, 2021, 12:14:02 PM »

I have to say that I don't like the trend toward mega-conferences stacked with giants, with the little teams kicked to the curb.

There's no charm in them. There are no rags-to-riches stories. There's no Bill Snyder making K-State into a winner. There's no Matt Campbell at Iowa State beating OU twice in four years. There's no Pat Fitzgerald making woebegone Northwestern into a dangerous program in the B1G West. Those programs would all be relegated to lower divisions. There's no Dabo Swinney turning mediocre Clemson into a monster. Clemson too would have been banished to a lesser league.

And there will be fewer brilliant seasons. No OU's 2000 season out of the blue. Nothing but a slog through an impossible schedule, maybe winning the conference with an 8-4 record, and staggering into the playoffs held together with first-aid tape and ace bandages. And far fewer showdowns of undefeated teams late in the season or in the post-season.

More like the NFL, in other words.

And I do not watch the NFL.

utee94 · « **Reply #30 on:** July 28, 2021, 12:21:56 PM »

Quote from: CWSooner on July 28, 2021, 12:14:02 PM

I have to say that I don't like the trend toward mega-conferences stacked with giants, with the little teams kicked to the curb.

There's no charm in them. There are no rags-to-riches stories. There's no Bill Snyder making K-State into a winner. There's no Matt Campbell at Iowa State beating OU twice in four years. There's no Pat Fitzgerald making woebegone Northwestern into a dangerous program in the B1G West. Those programs would all be relegated to lower divisions. There's no Dabo Swinney turning mediocre Clemson into a monster. Clemson too would have been banished to a lesser league.

And there will be fewer brilliant seasons. No OU's 2000 season out of the blue. Nothing but a slog through an impossible schedule, maybe winning the conference with an 8-4 record, and staggering into the playoffs held together with first-aid tape and ace bandages. And far fewer showdowns of undefeated teams late in the season or in the post-season.

More like the NFL, in other words.

And I do not watch the NFL.

I think you know I echo these sentiments, almost 100%.

So I really only see a few choices for myself.

1) Get angrier and more bitter as the days go by
2) Stop caring about the sport completely
3) Decide just to enjoy the games for what they are. Watch what happens inside the white lines, for 60 minutes, on a lovely Saturday afternoon in the Fall, without worrying about the national implications of every little thing. Enjoy the games as entertainment, which is all they were ever supposed to be, anyway.

I can tell you I've done a lot of choices 1 and 2 over the past couple of decades.

But doesn't #3 sound a lot more pleasant and enjoyable? I don't know if I'll be able to practice what I'm preaching here, but I think I've decided to try.

And there's some urgency here, because honestly, with all of the CTE and other health and liability issues mounting against the sport, I honestly don't think we have more than a couple decades of it left, anyway. Possibly a lot less time than that. So I'm going to try to make the choice, to enjoy what little time we have left.

CWSooner · « **Reply #31 on:** July 28, 2021, 01:06:45 PM »

Yeah, #3 has to be the desired course of action.

I don't know how much younger you are than I am (I sense 15-20 years), but, as I just posted to Mr. Nubzz on the Big Ten board, I'll probably retire from teaching (my second retirement counting the Army 22 years ago).

So it's too easy to get maudlin and see my twilight years as coinciding with the twilight years of college football. And it's hard to know how I would see all of this if I were in my 30s instead of my 60s. Maybe it would all seem wonderful.

Don't want to go down the road where all I see is things either falling apart or consolidating in destructive ways.

"Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?"

(It would be Mickey Mantle for me.)

utee94 · « **Reply #32 on:** July 28, 2021, 01:34:35 PM »

I will be hitting the half-century mark on my birthday this year. A little ways behind you.

I sometimes wish I'd been born earlier so I could have enjoyed more it, but I feel like I at least got to see the end of the Golden Era of college football. I was aware of it during the 70s, and fully engaged in it during the 80s.

I feel like the tail end of the 80s is when things started changing so dramatically. The money got so much bigger, the scandals got bigger. Then in the late 80s/early 90s, ESPN assaulted us simultaneously with the 24/7 sports news cycle, and the intentional nationalization of the sport, so that they could more easily homogenize it and package it for mass consumption.

Then the money continued to get even bigger, television-revenue-focused B1G expansion and SEC expansion forced the demise of the SWC and the creation of the B12, and ever since then we've been in an endless cycle of further nationalization and increased homogenization of the sport.

Someday I think I might write a book about it all. But I'd only do it if I could force myself to present it as a celebration of the greatest sport the world has ever known. I

Gigem · « **Reply #33 on:** July 28, 2021, 02:06:08 PM »

Quote from: CWSooner on July 28, 2021, 12:14:02 PM

I have to say that I don't like the trend toward mega-conferences stacked with giants, with the little teams kicked to the curb.

There's no charm in them. There are no rags-to-riches stories. There's no Bill Snyder making K-State into a winner. There's no Matt Campbell at Iowa State beating OU twice in four years. There's no Pat Fitzgerald making woebegone Northwestern into a dangerous program in the B1G West. Those programs would all be relegated to lower divisions. There's no Dabo Swinney turning mediocre Clemson into a monster. Clemson too would have been banished to a lesser league.

And there will be fewer brilliant seasons. No OU's 2000 season out of the blue. Nothing but a slog through an impossible schedule, maybe winning the conference with an 8-4 record, and staggering into the playoffs held together with first-aid tape and ace bandages. And far fewer showdowns of undefeated teams late in the season or in the post-season.

More like the NFL, in other words.

And I do not watch the NFL.

I feel so much the same way. I often speak fondly of the original Big 12 because it's the only football conference I ever knew. I started in the fall of '96, went to the first A&M Big 12 game vs CU. We had some pretty good games there during my time and some developing interstate rivalries. KSU and A&M had a pretty good one, A&M and oSu, even had some good ones vs NU through the years. Not to mention the memorable A&M UT games. I just wish we could have been more competitive during the 00's, especially vs OU. OU was the dragon we never could slay, and even when we did we somehow found ourselves on the wrong end of the stick like in 2010 when we whipped them on the field and tied them in the conference but they received the nod to the CCG. I can only imagine how Texas felt having been in the same position many times.

Now at only 10 years in the SEC I feel like we are just now getting our feet under us, maybe even challenge Bama this year, having a good start to an interstate rivalry revival with LSU winning 2/3 (wasn't '19 a game for the ages!). Now the conference changes again, different divisions/schedules. Much is the same now as it was in the Big 12 with Ole Miss and MSU being our stand in for oSu and KSU. Bama will probably not be on the schedule any more every year, and possibly we won't play them but twice a decade.

Mr Tulip · « **Reply #34 on:** July 28, 2021, 02:10:53 PM »

I'm sure there was skullduggery going on in the 60's and 70's but no one cared. If you earned a degree from your University, you were all but assured to out earn a professional football player. Colleges were wanting to be selected for "the football game" singular on TV every week.

Clearly, things have changed.

I know "the portal" kind of altered this, but the kids still really to care about their team. That's what differentiates it from the NFL to me (I just can't get past the idea that these are contractors working under their present assignment). That illusion will likely become harder and harder to project, but I'll try to enjoy it while it lasts.

utee94 · « **Reply #35 on:** July 28, 2021, 02:16:23 PM »

Quote from: Mr Tulip on July 28, 2021, 02:10:53 PM

I'm sure there was skullduggery going on in the 60's and 70's but no one cared. If you earned a degree from your University, you were all but assured to out earn a professional football player. Colleges were wanting to be selected for "the football game" singular on TV every week.

Clearly, things have changed.

I know "the portal" kind of altered this, but the kids still really to care about their team. That's what differentiates it from the NFL to me (I just can't get past the idea that these are contractors working under their present assignment). That illusion will likely become harder and harder to project, but I'll try to enjoy it while it lasts.

Indeed, all true I'd say.

Good to see you droog. Burny and I were just texting how we think Jon would have enjoyed lampooning all of the current goings-on in college football.

utee94 · « **Reply #36 on:** July 28, 2021, 04:30:24 PM »

Apparently on some of the B12 message boards, the leftover schools are now being referred to as the "Irate Eight."

Or, IR8 for short.

That's kinda funny.

utee94 · « **Reply #37 on:** July 28, 2021, 04:55:09 PM »

Anyway, there's a thread on surlyhorns where posters are trying to determine the value of some of the Irate 8 to other conferences, based on viewership numbers. I found this kind of interesting.

The top rated B12 games last year in viewership, that didn't involve Texas or OU, were the following:

ISU-OkState: 2.81M
KSU-TCU: 2.36M
TT-OkState: 2.12M
ISU-KSU: 1.98M
OkState-KSU: 1.92M
TT-ISU: 1.38M

Those would have ranked 3rd, 5th, 7th, 8th,9th, and 10th in the PAC, last year.

Only Oregon-USC (3.85M) and USC-UCLA (3.24M) came in above ISU-OkState.

So, I'm not so sure that the PAC can't still find some value there. Several B12 teams are outdrawing all but the very top of the PAC for TV ratings.

Gigem · « **Reply #38 on:** July 28, 2021, 05:07:55 PM »

Quote from: utee94 on July 28, 2021, 04:55:09 PM

Anyway, there's a thread on surlyhorns where posters are trying to determine the value of some of the Irate 8 to other conferences, based on viewership numbers. I found this kind of interesting.

The top rated B12 games last year in viewership, that didn't involve Texas or OU, were the following:

ISU-OkState: 2.81M
KSU-TCU: 2.36M
TT-OkState: 2.12M
ISU-KSU: 1.98M
OkState-KSU: 1.92M
TT-ISU: 1.38M

Those would have ranked 3rd, 5th, 7th, 8th,9th, and 10th in the PAC, last year.

Only Oregon-USC (3.85M) and USC-UCLA (3.24M) came in above ISU-OkState.

So, I'm not so sure that the PAC can't still find some value there. Several B12 teams are outdrawing all but the very top of the PAC for TV ratings.

Holy Crap! That's stunning.

Thumper · « **Reply #39 on:** July 28, 2021, 06:16:45 PM »

That is a good list, utee. Glaring omissions are Baylor & Kansas but they are also top BB schools.

utee94 · « **Reply #40 on:** July 28, 2021, 06:41:15 PM »

Quote from: Thumper on July 28, 2021, 06:16:45 PM

That is a good list, utee. Glaring omissions are Baylor & Kansas but they are also top BB schools.

The Kansas viewership numbers were shockingly low. Like, I knew they'd be at the bottom, and even I was surprised how bad they were. There's a table out there on surlyhorns with all of the games' viewership numbers (also what network and timeslot they were in). I'll see if I can copy and re-post over here.

Ah just found it.

Gigem · « **Reply #41 on:** July 28, 2021, 07:25:14 PM »

I was about to point out how low TCU viewership was but TTU is just as bad.

I wonder how TTU would do if they were winning like during the Leach era.

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Topic: Big XII Realignment

Thumper

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CWSooner

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utee94

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CWSooner

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utee94

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Gigem

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Mr Tulip

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utee94

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utee94

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utee94

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Gigem

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Thumper

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utee94

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Gigem

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