College Football '10 - Conference switching chaos!!

[Boris Godunov]

Oregon moves up a bit

1. Alabama
2. Florida
3. Texas
4. TCU
5. Cincinnati
6. Boise State
7. Oregon
8. Georgia Tech
9. Pittsburgh
10. Ohio State

The Oregon-Arizona game was incredible. The Ducks can be relied on to be the most entertaining team in college football.

BEST MOMENT: Arizona fans flooding the sidelines, prepared to storm the field... only to see Masoli & Co. tie it up with 6 seconds left. Get back to your seats, *******s!

I honestly have no clue as to who is going to win the SEC championship--it's a coin toss, so I'm not bothering with bowl projections. Except of course: Oregon vs. Ohio @ Rose Bowl.

[Boris Godunov]

Charlie Weis is a dead man walking.

Is this a reference to Weis' job status or the fact that he's a massive coronary waiting to happen?

A little of column A, a little of column B...

Been that way for a couple of weeks. The Navy loss did him in.

I dunno, DanS, I think if he had won this game and used the momentum going into Stanford to win there (since they're clearly not invincible at home), he may have been able to cling on for another season. But you're probably right, it's just this loss certainly sealed his fate.

[Drake Tungsten]

What TV territory does Iowa State help the Big 10 with?

What TV territory are the other potential Big Ten additions going to bring in? ND would help the most (though not as much as you might think; the ratings for ND games on NBC have gone down the toilet), but you've already said that ND won't join the Big Ten. Pitt is probably the second-best, but I'm unsure how many viewers Pitt would bring in that Penn State hasn't already. Louisville would probably be the third-best option.

Nebraska would be better than all of the above, but while the idea of Nebraska in the Big Ten is a tempting one, I don't think there's a realistic shot of pulling Nebraska away from the old Big 8 schools. There's simply too much history there. Same goes for Missouri. Kentucky would be a great get for basketball, but you'd have to pry them away from the SEC.

The simple fact of the matter is that the Big Ten doesn't really have any slam-dunk options for expansion outside of Notre Dame. All the schools that would provide access to significant new TV markets are already tied up in other, better conferences. As such, the Big Ten can choose to spend another decade or more losing out on the potential revenue from a conference title game while waiting for Notre Dame to finally be forced to see reason by financial difficulties, or they can just pick up a twelfth team now (Pitt, Louisville, Iowa State, whatever) and start raking in that sweet, sweet conference title dough.

Or they can kick Penn State back out and go back to the way things used to be, which may just be the best option.

[Boris Godunov]

Drake doesn't read magazines with naked pictures of the BCS Top 25 football teams.

Link?

[DanS]

Think critically, Drake. This is all about the New York television market.

And as for ND losing its TV contract, that might happen. But it's super-cheap programming for NBC. I don't think ND's prime objective is the money on the TV contract.

[Drake Tungsten]

This is all about the New York television market.

How, exactly? New York is a pro sports town and no college football team (not even Rutgers) is going to deliver the NYC television market to the Big Ten.

[DanS]

By no means would anybody deliver the New York market to the Big Ten. But they are aiming for a foothold there. Rutgers may provide a suitable foothold, although I haven't checked the numbers on that. Seems that Rutgers is unable to make the investments that are de rigeur in the Big 10, but the Big 10 might take a longer view.

[Drake Tungsten]

I remain unconvinced that Rutgers has any significant appeal to the NYC television market. It's a traditionally weak football school in New Jersey, the most despised part of the New York metro. Any number of national powers (Michigan, Ohio State, Florida, Texas, etc.) probably draw in more New York viewers.

[DanS]

What's a championship game pay?

[Imran Siddiqui]

I know I've heard constantly that some Big 10 officials, in addition to Paterno, are interested in trying to get Rutgers. Most likely for the NY market and let's be honest they have more interest in the NY market than Iowa State or other potential ideas (Syracuse, Louisville).

After all, no one in NY cares about Pitt, but when Rutgers was in the Top 10, they let the Empire State Building scarlett red.

[Drake Tungsten]

What's a championship game pay?

The reality is BCS conferences don’t need the bowls, whether they use the present system to determine a “national champion” or conduct a playoff. They proved as much when they began staging conference championship games - in effect creating their own “bowls” - which have turned out to be extremely profitable. To wit: The 2007 SEC championship game grossed $13.7 million in revenue and distributed almost $12 million to conference schools, according to Yahoo!com.

http://sportsvortex.blogspot.com/2008/12/bcs-should-listen-to-critics.html

[DanS]

And what does the Big Ten Network bring in?

[Drake Tungsten]

I don't see how that's relevant, so why don't you just tell us? You could also tell us how having Rutgers in the Big Ten is going to increase Big Ten Network subscriptions in NYC in a way that Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State haven't already.

[DanS]

I don't know what the figure is (probably around $100 million), but suffice it to say that it dwarfs championship game proceeds. Don't get me wrong, nobody's going to turn up their noses at championship game money, but the bigger picture is that a championship game is not driving the decisions here. IIUC, in most Big 10 areas, the Big 10 Network is part of the extended cable package.

[Drake Tungsten]

I don't know what the figure is (probably around $100 million), but it dwarfs championship game proceeds.

So what? The Big Ten could have both revenue streams if they'd just forget about Notre Dame and add a twelfth team.

Don't get me wrong, nobody's going to turn up their noses at championship game money, but the bigger picture is that a championship game is not driving the decisions here.

This would make sense if there were a realistic addition to the Big Ten that would provide access to a significant new TV market, but there really isn't. The Big Ten is passing up $10+ million a year waiting for a perfect candidate for expansion that doesn't exist.