The SEC
- Thread starter 1vagamecock
- Start date
I think it’s hilarious that Durkin, Petrino, and Jimbo got their asses handed to them. Jimbo just raking to take Ls. 
I'm not disappointed to see Alabama lose but I do like it when the SEC is the best,
Not sure this is the case anymore.
Not sure this is the case anymore.
Jimbo Fisher might be the most under achieving coach in the country.
I agree. They're not. They just haven't shown anything in the playoff the last two seasons.
I generally a "root the SEC team" guy, but I draw the line at rooting for a 3rd straight Georgia national title. I just don't have a lot of confidence in a non-SEC team beating UGA, though. Hopefully they get upset during conference play.
I suppose. But what is even the value of playing a tough OOC game? Georgia seems to have figure it out. If they win the SEC, they get into the playoff regardless.
I guess Bama did win the playoff without winning the conference and they probably beat a quality team in the OOC season. So I guess you could make that argument.
I definitely don't see any reason for us to schedule UNCarolina when we already play Clemson. It's not like getting into the playoff is some big concern of ours.
We will play whoever the SEC and ESPN want us to play. UGA picks Clemson back up next year.
I don't view the SEC as any sort of "family". They are just some other schools, to me.
I only care about South Carolina.
I only care about South Carolina.
If you like the money the league is going to make from television deals, and want it to continue beyond the present contract cycle, then you'd better care about the status of the brand. It depends on whipping @$$ against good teams in good leagues more often than not. Right now, it ain't happening.
The B1G gets more money than the SEC and they are a two team conference. TV knows the SEC and the B1G have fan bases that will watch games no matter how the teams do. That is what drives the tv money.
ACC is a basketball conference, Pac 12 is (was) a group of schools with fan bases that really don't care about football in any big way. Big XII is (was again?) a bunch of has bens and OK.
TV money follows the eyeballs, not the head to head records.
You're talking about demographics now. The answer is perceived quality. CBS made the SEC a national product, a product people liked. That's why the league has the deal it has, one which will keep it financially competitive, although I rue the loss of the CBS connection.
Eyeballs follow perceived quality. If the quality be undermined, the eyeballs will eventually be focused elsewhere. The SEC could become the ACC if that were allowed to happen. You can't bolster your appeal by getting your @$$ beat OOC a bunch.
Again, we're talking about demographics. These are big schools with huge alumni bases that have migrated all over the country. They have great representation in all the major Southern cities and even places like Hilton Head. It doesn't work the same for the SEC, or not nearly to the same extent. Michigan has a major webcast that comes out of DALLAS. Check it out sometime.
Exactly, one conference's OOC record really doesn't make much difference in the size of the audience and the size of the audience drives the tv contract money. USC has 340,000 living alumni, UF has 450,000, UGA has 350,000, UT has 430,000. The rest of the SEC is comparable. Eyeballs drive the tv money, not win/loss records in OOC games.
They have greater dispersion of a lot of people. That's why they will be expanding down here in the next round, something we wouldn't be able to do, even if desired. But understand, you can't discount the college football fans that aren't in either constituency but still love to watch games. They are going to opt for the better product. Most people would.
I’m going to jump in the tv contract part of this thread for a minute…
I feel like the PAC 12 collapse is perhaps an early rumble of instability, kind of like the 2008 housing crisis and the collapse of the first bank. It’s the PAC 12! That’s a big deal. Sure, we are currently insulated in our spot in the SEC. But ESPN has been sending out signals that they are not great financially (layoffs, etc). And yes they have money, but are they going to want to keep spending it? If ESPN ever truly collapses, the entire model of paying so much money to colleges will collapse with it. And the SEC just moved all of our eggs to the ESPN basket, while the B1G just diversified.
One of the models that has been floated (which I thought was truly ridiculous) was a kind of “Premier League” where the top 20 or so schools overall pull out and form one major conference, etc. It will never happen! Unless, of course, the financial model starts to collapse. Then see how quickly Bama and LSU and Florida and Georgia will walk away.
Just a few thoughts on the business model.
I feel like the PAC 12 collapse is perhaps an early rumble of instability, kind of like the 2008 housing crisis and the collapse of the first bank. It’s the PAC 12! That’s a big deal. Sure, we are currently insulated in our spot in the SEC. But ESPN has been sending out signals that they are not great financially (layoffs, etc). And yes they have money, but are they going to want to keep spending it? If ESPN ever truly collapses, the entire model of paying so much money to colleges will collapse with it. And the SEC just moved all of our eggs to the ESPN basket, while the B1G just diversified.
One of the models that has been floated (which I thought was truly ridiculous) was a kind of “Premier League” where the top 20 or so schools overall pull out and form one major conference, etc. It will never happen! Unless, of course, the financial model starts to collapse. Then see how quickly Bama and LSU and Florida and Georgia will walk away.
Just a few thoughts on the business model.
Espn won’t collapse they just might get sold to Apple which I’m not so sure isn’t a bad thing.
If Apple bought ESPN (or if anyone bought ESPN for that matter) I doubt they would have any interest in continuing the insanely expensive rights deals ESPN has negotiated with the conferences and sports leagues. ESPN is contractually on the hook for tens of billions of dollars over the next decade or so from the rights deals they have made with conferences. If cable subscriptions continue to decline and streaming revenue doesn't make up the difference, which it won't come close to doing, ESPN may not have the money to pay its obligations under the broadcast rights contracts.
CBS knew much better what income tv rights to sporting events generate through advertising than ESPN. That is a big reason CBS walked away from the SEC deal. They knew the numbers ESPN were offering would not work in the long run. Apple would have the benefit of seeing all the numbers before they bought ESPN so I don't know if they would honor those contracts if they weren't profitable.
The SEC bubble is a cozy place for us fans. The rest of the college football world doesn't enjoy the huge numbers of faithful fans the SEC does. Look at Miami's game against aTm Saturday. Miami is a legitimate football program and they couldn't come close to filling up their stadium against a ranked SEC opponent. I don't think it will be long before the ESPN/TV money stream starts to dry up or at least slow down and then you will see true chaos.
Just because espn is sold does not mean they can void the contract correct. They would still have to abide by what espn negotiated. Or am I wrong not that. I’m not a contract lawyer so…..
That's OK. And it's just athletics. I just like anything of which I'm a partisan to be at the top. I'm even that way about church, which I would never even attempt to excuse. But there are financial considerations attached to this - long term - as well as bragging rights.
We need @Rogue Cock to weigh in. I think that, if you buy a company, you buy its assets, liabilities, and contractual commitments.
Not a lawyer, but that's typically what happens. Unless it's an asset purchase, which I doubt is what would happen here. In that case ESPN would dissolve post acquisition. I guess the contracts could be considered an asset for ESPN, so I don't know applicable that would be.
Having said all that, I've never been involved in M&A of this magnitude. My assumption would be that the only thing Apple would be able to do is try to work with the other parties to restructure the deals.
Stock purchase….yes, you buy everything. Asset purchase….not necessarily. But in this case I can’t see them not buying all the ESPN programming. Disney could kick in money to help complete the purchase. Most of my M&As have been small to medium…..mostly asset purchase and a couple of 1031s. Worked on one big M&A early in my career, but my responsibility was mostly tax impact….it was a stock purchase.
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