Conference Expansion

Florida State Taps JPMorgan for Equity Raise as ACC Decision Looms – Sportico.com

 

Please sell yourselves to the Saudis.

 

Wow!! I think that is a very short-sighted interim approach. It might help raise money now to help with the buy-out, if even feasible, but it is a whole different animal having to report to an equity fund and ensure an annual profit. Most of the athletic departments are not constructed to make money. The equity partnership will, for example, very likely decimate FSU’s ability to participate in the non-revenue sports.

 

ORWA to the B1G right now isn't a certainty. USC doesn't want any more west coast schools to join at this time. Arizona got approval from the BIG12 to move, but didn't get approval from the Arizona BOR last night. ABOR has the ability to keep Arizona from moving, and/or to force Arizona and ASU to stay together. ASU doesn't want to to go to the BIG12, and is still holding out for a decent PAC option.

Like I said earlier, not sure what will happen. Only, it's going to be messy.

Personally, I hope Arizona stays in the PAC, and Apple presents a good enough deal through 2030. It's not ideal, but neither is the BIG12, which is guaranteed to remain a 2nd rate conference. And has no guarantee ESPN and FOX will continue to broadcast games past 2030.

Meanwhile, the future of sports on TV will be more and more streaming, and Apple has deep pockets, and the MLS with Messi now. Disney is looking to either find an equity partner or sell off ESPN, and who else besides Apple and Amazon have the money? Comcast/NBC is the only other possibility in my opinion.

Stay in the PAC, get a guaranteed playoff spot for a few years, and have a modicum proof of concept success with Apple, and PAC teams will potentially set themselves up for a good future come 2030. Go BIG12, and Arizona is stuck there for a long time, especially with the BIG12 GOR being for 99 years, and buyout north of $100million.

 

I am all for tiers in the conference to improve quality of games. Any new entry would have to start in the lower tier and make less money
and play the better teams less until over a 5 year rolling period lower teams in the top tier are pushed into the lower tier and the best lower tier teams are promoted to the upper tier. Games against Vandy and MSU excite no one.

 

The good ol boy Southern redneck club won’t care about that. They only care about foosball!

 

Both B12 and what ever the PAC ends up being will always be a 2nd tier conference.
It would be a slow slide into irrelevance either way.

 

Hold the phone..

Oregon, Washington to Big Ten has become 'coin toss' as Pac-12 makes last attempt to salvage league

 

Agreed. If the PAC exists long term, it will be 2nd rate. But there's value in the the TV networks having west coast teams. The 4th TV window isn't as profitable as the other windows, but it's profitable nonetheless. And only schools in the MTN and PAC time zones will ever agree to start times 10:00 PM EST or later.

If there is to be two super-conferences, both will want a west coast presence. If there are three super-conferences, a third containing the best of the current remaining PAC plus top ACC schools could compete. If the third is the BIG12, then yes, it will remain 2nd rate forever. Maybe holding on to college football playoffs because the BIG12 would have enough basketball firepower to allow them to hang around. And March Madness is profitable too.

Agreed that the BIG12 is losing just like the PAC, just a little more slowly. The BIG12 does have a 5-year contract with FOX and ESPN, but after that, no guarantee of anything. If the PAC schools stay together, their future is murky as well, but at least there are potential options.

 

It’s been blown up. Saban winning at the rate he has is nothing but buying the top talent for years. The price just went up is all.

 

It is apparently just a quicker transition to for profit college sports. FSU is talking about basically selling their athletic department to a private equity firm. I'm guessing that the PE firm has most of their interest grounded in making money. I predicted that pay for play would eventually make universities just license their athletic trademarks to some outside group who will run their professional league and rent their stadium to play games in. If FSU moves in that direction, it seems to be pivoting to that model more quickly than I realized

 

Would be funny if f$u did all this and then STILL wasn’t extended an invite by the SEC and we took Clemson and North Carolina instead.

 

All joking aside, UNC would be more profitable for the SEC than either FSU or Clemson.

 

UW UO are going to the B10

 

I have never been confident about UW/OR to Big-10. I would actually be a little surprised if it did happen. USC made it clear when they agreed to join Big-10 that it specifically didn't want Oregon in the Big-10, because Oregon has been out recruiting them in LA for several years now. They may say no other "West Coast" teams, but Oregon is the real problem.

At the same time, as of 30 minutes ago, ESPN is reporting UW and Oregon are in fact getting an invitation. Link

I'll believe it when I hear it. But even if the Big-10 offered, you know it's going to be at a significantly reduced payout, which I'm not confident Oregon/WA will agree too, especially with the increased costs to be incurred with travel.

I hadn't heard that the AZ BOR didn't give approval. That is interesting. My guess is that they want to approve both at the same time and ASU isn't sure yet.

I'm not sure what better deal the remaining Pac-12 is going to get.

In all fairness, the Pac-12 became a second tier conference as soon as USC and UCLA announced they're leaving. If they have an automatic playoff spot in the 12 team format, it's no better than the automatic playoff spot the Big-12 or ACC will also have. They might even lose the spot if they don't have enough teams.

There is certainly a future in streaming, but if I were a betting man, I'd say the bulk of subscriptions and revenue is going to go to whoever bundles the most content, which is likely to be ABC/ESPN. I believe the number of people who are going to be willing to pay for multiple sports streaming services to follow individual teams is going to be fairly limited, like Bally is finding out with MLB. So I'm not sure putting all your eggs in the Apple TV or NBC basket is a great idea.

 

It’s done dude.

 

The FSU admin. is saying the grant of rights will not be the issue that keeps them in the ACC, but I just do not believe that. They have to get out of the grant of rights, somehow, before anyone will make them an offer to join another conference. How to they expect to add value, when their own value is unknown. I also have real problems believing there is an obvious way out of it that FSU can trigger alone. I also think that if FSU thought they had a way, they would have done it by now...

 

you know what deserting a sinking ship.

 

The dominoes will start falling now.

Oregon, Washington on verge of joining Big Ten: Charter Pac-12 members leaving league in 2024, per reports