I'm sitting here contemplating the potential fallout if the ACC gets 2.5 (including Notre Dame) teams in the playoff and the SEC only gets 3. I don't think the SEC would do anything rash, but remember how FSU responded to being left out of the playoff? They threw a giant fit and then publicly attempted to leave the ACC. This might not change long term ambitions, but it could speed up things that were already being contemplated.
I don't like the playoffs, but they are a cash cow. They are bringing in over a billion a year. That's a lot of money and it's being distributed in some weird ways. For instance over 100 million goes to the so called group of 5. Why is that? For the privilege of including one charity case a year? It's not worth paying 100 million dollars to watch Boise State.
Of the teams in the playoffs, there's only one non-SEC or Big 10 team anyone actually cares about. Notre Dame. The rest? You can remove them from the list and the legitimacy and ratings won't change in a meaningful way. People are going to tune in to watch SEC and Big 10 teams play.
In fact, those two conferences have cherry picked all of college football to the point that I can only think of 4 nationally relevant football brands left outside of those conferences. Notre Dame, FSU, Clemson and Miami. That's it, the rest of college football is darn near irrelevant. I actually tried to come up with a third conference to rival the SEC and Big 10 by combining the top programs in other conferences and after those 4 the list turned to crap.
Part of the problem is despite the huge revenue being brought in by the playoff, it's still being distributed to garbage conferences. Sure the SEC and Big 10 get around 20 million per school, but the Big 12 still gets 12 million per school and the ACC gets 13. Why? The Big 12 is getting almost 200 million dollars to give the playoff Arizona State?
I've never really wanted the SEC to just start stacking football powers, and this year we saw the downside of it. If Alabama had played North Carolina or Miss. State instead of Oklahoma they'd be playing a home playoff game. But we're here now, so why turn back?
If the SEC and the Big 10 form their own playoff, they won't have to share money with programs no one actually cares about. The issue of course is there are a few left, but why not just take them and be done with it?
The SEC is in a unique position to raid the ACC. Both due to geographic local and the fact that both conferences share a deal with ESPN. If for instance FSU were to raise funds and propose a buyout, then the SEC could encourage ESPN's help in negotiating. While the ACC would be getting the short end of the stick, at least they'd get a windfall like the remaining Pac-12 schools got rather than eventually meeting the same fate without any recompense.
I'm not sure which teams should go where, I honestly wouldn't like the SEC to take all the football powers, but I imagine first picks might be something like FSU to the SEC and Notre Dame to the Big 10. From there, I think North Carolina and Miami probably find a landing spot, with Clemson and Virginia trying to find a lifeboat as well. I'm honestly not sure it really matters after those schools, there wouldn't be much of value left.
If this were to happen, the SEC and the Big 10 (with a combined 38-40 programs) would be able to form their own playoff. They could stick to the 12 team format, perhaps doing 6 teams from each conference.
They'd have removed the riffraff and have a very handsome payout in the process. If for instance this playoff were worth a less valuable 1 billion a year, that's still at least 25 million per school.
I'm not saying this should happen, or would happen... but these are the sort of forces at work here. Right now the SEC and Big 10, despite a monster share of the market when it comes to ratings and football powers are still playing nice with the conferences whom they have already taken the best teams from.
What happens when they truly decide to consolidate power?
I don't like the playoffs, but they are a cash cow. They are bringing in over a billion a year. That's a lot of money and it's being distributed in some weird ways. For instance over 100 million goes to the so called group of 5. Why is that? For the privilege of including one charity case a year? It's not worth paying 100 million dollars to watch Boise State.
Of the teams in the playoffs, there's only one non-SEC or Big 10 team anyone actually cares about. Notre Dame. The rest? You can remove them from the list and the legitimacy and ratings won't change in a meaningful way. People are going to tune in to watch SEC and Big 10 teams play.
In fact, those two conferences have cherry picked all of college football to the point that I can only think of 4 nationally relevant football brands left outside of those conferences. Notre Dame, FSU, Clemson and Miami. That's it, the rest of college football is darn near irrelevant. I actually tried to come up with a third conference to rival the SEC and Big 10 by combining the top programs in other conferences and after those 4 the list turned to crap.
Part of the problem is despite the huge revenue being brought in by the playoff, it's still being distributed to garbage conferences. Sure the SEC and Big 10 get around 20 million per school, but the Big 12 still gets 12 million per school and the ACC gets 13. Why? The Big 12 is getting almost 200 million dollars to give the playoff Arizona State?
I've never really wanted the SEC to just start stacking football powers, and this year we saw the downside of it. If Alabama had played North Carolina or Miss. State instead of Oklahoma they'd be playing a home playoff game. But we're here now, so why turn back?
If the SEC and the Big 10 form their own playoff, they won't have to share money with programs no one actually cares about. The issue of course is there are a few left, but why not just take them and be done with it?
The SEC is in a unique position to raid the ACC. Both due to geographic local and the fact that both conferences share a deal with ESPN. If for instance FSU were to raise funds and propose a buyout, then the SEC could encourage ESPN's help in negotiating. While the ACC would be getting the short end of the stick, at least they'd get a windfall like the remaining Pac-12 schools got rather than eventually meeting the same fate without any recompense.
I'm not sure which teams should go where, I honestly wouldn't like the SEC to take all the football powers, but I imagine first picks might be something like FSU to the SEC and Notre Dame to the Big 10. From there, I think North Carolina and Miami probably find a landing spot, with Clemson and Virginia trying to find a lifeboat as well. I'm honestly not sure it really matters after those schools, there wouldn't be much of value left.
If this were to happen, the SEC and the Big 10 (with a combined 38-40 programs) would be able to form their own playoff. They could stick to the 12 team format, perhaps doing 6 teams from each conference.
They'd have removed the riffraff and have a very handsome payout in the process. If for instance this playoff were worth a less valuable 1 billion a year, that's still at least 25 million per school.
I'm not saying this should happen, or would happen... but these are the sort of forces at work here. Right now the SEC and Big 10, despite a monster share of the market when it comes to ratings and football powers are still playing nice with the conferences whom they have already taken the best teams from.
What happens when they truly decide to consolidate power?
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