Latest Realignment Rumor - Big Ten Getting 4

[Trojanbulldog19]

Couple of things here:

- Travel costs seem to be out the window. You're still getting on the plane, taking off and landing. The cruising altitude part of the trip is the cheapest part. So around 800 miles to Oregon, or 2,200 miles to Pennsylvania. Does it really matter?
- I'm not buying the Clemson and Florida State thing, for reasons already discussed. Too many things there for it to actually happen. If the B1G ever comes to the southeast I think the first one they take is Miami.

Yes it does matter for every sport but football. Some of these schools are losing sight of all their other sports at the cost of travel plus fans. One of the things that makes the old geographic based conference alignments was travel and commonality between people and places. These wide spread conferences spread all over the country don't have that. Nothing in common. Hard for fans to travel.

 

[Perd Hapley]

I generally agree with you, so I don't mean this in an argumentative way - but Ohio State was an eyelash from beating Georgia last year. Even Smart admits they got lucky. Ohio is a good recruiting area, as is Pennsylvania. I think they will be fine. USC and UCLA have southern California as well. The rest - yeah I agree.

That’s true, but it took them playing their best game in multiple years and UGA sleepwalking, and they still lost.

Ohio State, pride and joy of the B1G for 30+ years, with no one even close to equal to them within that conference over that period, would be the 4th best SEC program in 2023….at best. And some years they’d probably slip to 5th or 6th

 

[OG Goat Holder]

Yes it does matter for every sport but football. Some of these schools are losing sight of all their other sports at the cost of travel plus fans. One of the things that makes the old geographic based conference alignments was travel and commonality between people and places. These wide spread conferences spread all over the country don't have that. Nothing in common. Hard for fans to travel.

That left a long time ago.....but I do agree that what's makes a conference great. That's what makes the SEC what it is.

But, all that is leaving slowly. It started back when they quit playing historical rivalries (Oklahoma vs. Nebraska was one that comes to mind).

Either way, travel is the last thing on the minds of these AD. It's just a number in a budget.

 

[vhdawg]

I usually bypass these because they seem so crazy, but I'm seeing enough of this specific one on Twitter to start a thread on it. The big rumor running right now is that the Big Ten is going to announce the addition of four teams this week:
Washington
Oregon
Clemson
Florida State

I wasn't surprised to see Washington and Oregon. They're both name brand AAU schools that could reduce travel costs for USC and UCLA and Colorado leaving last week put the writing on the wall for the rest of the Pac-12.

The big surprises here (and what makes me think this rumor might be BS) are Clemson and Florida State. They're both name brands, sure, but these two would be the first non-AAU admissions into the Big Ten and, to my knowledge, there have been no loopholes found in the ACC grant of rights. That being said, there's another rumor floating around that FSU has negotiated a $300 Million buyout of its grant of rights and a 10 year annual installment plan ($30 Million/year would be about half of what they would get from a Big Ten payout). If there is an outside chance this is true, I would call this an opening salvo from the Big Ten towards the SEC more than anything else.

Lol there is no WAY the hoity toity academics in the Big Ten take FSU.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

Lol there is no WAY the hoity toity academics in the Big Ten take FSU.

Yeah as I understand it FSU is a lot like USM - started as a teacher's college or similar. I'm not hating here - if anything I'm much more USM than say, Purdue. But agree.

FSU will be headed for the SEC whenever that time comes.

Sidenote - both FSU's and USM's uniforms were so much better in the late 80s/early 90s.

 

[Dawgg]

Rumors on Twitter say that Arizonia will announce. their move to the Big 12 within two weeks. The same rumor says ASU isn't going to move that fast, if at all.

Rumors I’m seeing around the Pac-12 deal are like $200 million per year from Apple for all streaming on Apple TV+ or some mix of Amazon and syndicated OTA television, which would be just $20-$22 million per year per team.

 

[patdog]

Rumors I’m seeing around the Pac-12 deal are like $200 million per year from Apple for all streaming on Apple TV+ or some mix of Amazon and syndicated OTA television, which would be just $20-$22 million per year per team.

Well, this explains why the PAC-12 has delayed announcing a new deal. Of course, we knew that all along. That's just not going to be good enough. Not even close.