TentakilRex
- Land O Insects between Quincy-Macomb-Jacksonville
College Sports / Conference Realignment
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TentakilRex
- Land O Insects between Quincy-Macomb-Jacksonville
It would be the leaser brands first!
The amount of research this dude puts in his videos is insane. But basically the TL;DW version is:
- Isolating both network and opponent+network in MAC tv ratings for conference games over 12 years, NIU’s ratings were 27% above average. Second was Toledo at 4%.
- NIU’s ticket revenue (adjusted for inflation) declined roughly 60% once 2 home MACtion games became permanent around 10 years ago.
- There’s a historical review of newspaper quotes the NIU AD made in 1985 when NIU left the first time. It was a bunch of delusional stuff mentioning NIU eventually getting in the Big Eight, B1G, Metro, or creating a BB conference with Marquette/DePaul.
- There’s year-by-year maps of NIU’s conference history, starting with a league I’ve never heard of called the “Little 19” that had 20-25 IL schools.
- Isolating both network and opponent+network in MAC tv ratings for conference games over 12 years, NIU’s ratings were 27% above average. Second was Toledo at 4%.
- NIU’s ticket revenue (adjusted for inflation) declined roughly 60% once 2 home MACtion games became permanent around 10 years ago.
- There’s a historical review of newspaper quotes the NIU AD made in 1985 when NIU left the first time. It was a bunch of delusional stuff mentioning NIU eventually getting in the Big Eight, B1G, Metro, or creating a BB conference with Marquette/DePaul.
- There’s year-by-year maps of NIU’s conference history, starting with a league I’ve never heard of called the “Little 19” that had 20-25 IL schools.
But Cal and SMU fit in the conference perfectly.
It's not the first time they've been a west coast based conference. They were in the Big West in the early 90s with some of their soon to be new conference foes.
The move will also help the next TV deal that the Mountain West gets as their CBS and Fox deals end in 2026. Mountain West's TV deal is far more lucrative than the MAC which was one of the reasons that NIU was interested in the move.
Mountain West says they're going to pause on adding any new members with NIU now in the fold.
Serious Late
- Peoria via Denver via Ann Arbor via Albuquerque vi
Out of all the dumb, pointless re-alignments, this is up there. And I'm uniquely positioned to be among the few to actually benefit.
Go Lobos, see ya in DeKalb!
Go Lobos, see ya in DeKalb!
MoCoMdIllini
- Montgomery County, Maryland
Best of luck to the Mountain West playing at that altitude in DeKalb.
Air...so...thick...like playing in soup...
Air...so...thick...like playing in soup...
Sense isn't required when money is involved. The MAC media deal is a nightmare, the weeknight home games are awful. NIU's Atheltic Department is struggling yet they continue to punch above their weight class. They should take the millions more and not look back.
redwingillini11
White and Sixth
- Batavia
Is the Mountain West really going to still have a better media deal next time around? I really have a hard time believing that the NM, NMSU, Nevada, Wyoming, Hawaii, Air Force conference is going to have that much better of a media deal than the MAC.
It's many times better, most of the MAC is in two states, not much of a media market.
Illwinsagain
- Cary, IL
Just think about the road schedule for the players though. Going to Hawaii every other year has to appeal to a high school kid.
That's probably the next step if further expansion moves soem of those teams up. NIU can take in a lot of talent without much restrictions, they're adjacent to a large media market, and they have some room to grow if they play their cards right.
NIU gets them in the Chicago (or at least Chicago adjacent) market. They've already got schools in several markets on the west coast and will also be adding Grand Canyon and UC Davis when NIU comes in though UC Davis will only be in the conference for sports other than football, where they'll be staying in the Big Sky.
BZuppke
- Plainfield
The issue is and in the last 30(?) years has been $$ versus amateur athletics. It has NOT always been about the money. The goal of earning lots of money for your athletic program for the first 100 years or so was simply so you could fund facilities and athletes needs. This private equity drive purpose is solely about making money as a private business. There’s a big difference here. It would turn college football into another pro league and alter it beyond recognition. This is what happens at many levels in our society much to our cultural loss.
Agreed re: PE in CFB/college athletics generally. The P4 are already earning big dollars and PE would likely just complicate the issue for little gain. College athletics are a key pillar of the collegiate experience and mucking that up would likely dilute the experience for players, students/alum, and fans.
It seems to me that, with the advent of NIL, NCAA football has become a pro league in everything but name. So many wanted the players to get a share of the profits. I think the players would welcome anything that would potentially increase that share. I'd like to read an unbiased, factual assessment of how PE would dilute the experience for players, students/alum, and fans
I’d reverse the question. How does PE improve anything? What might they add to the experience?
Is there not enough money involved already? Do we need another entity to siphon some of it off?
It's a head scratcher. Private equity is just investing to get a future cash flow stream. A school gets some up front money but loses future cash flow. The only way it makes sense is if a university is just getting out of the 'business' of running an athletic program and plans to use the money elsewhere, or if the investment by the private equity firm allows for an investment that will generate more cash flow than would be generated otherwise. If I am not mistaken, the main sources of revenue are ticket sales and broadcast rights. There is some merchandise money and perhaps some social media revenue.
Maybe for a mid-tier private school it could make sense? To pick a random school, say Rice in Houston. Perhaps the PE money could be used for NIL to dramatically upgrade their roster. Being in a large metro area, they start filling their stadium. Rice goes and has an undefeated season and makes the CFP. The national interest in the program rises, and with a couple years of success they get asked to join a P4 conference.
MustangWally
- Mayfield
'We like the freedom': Notre Dame committed to staying independent, AD says
Notre Dame remains bullish in its belief that its independent status is the right choice and has the Irish "in a very good spot now," athletic director Pete Bevacqua told ESPN on Friday.
it’s usually right after these public denials that big news breaks'We like the freedom': Notre Dame committed to staying independent, AD says
Notre Dame remains bullish in its belief that its independent status is the right choice and has the Irish "in a very good spot now," athletic director Pete Bevacqua told ESPN on Friday.www.espn.com
ND won’t be forced to join a league until all B1G & SEC schools refuse to schedule them . As long as they can get 3 decent games per year , they won’t . The path to CFP is just too easy that way
+1 - I expect them to keep saying this right up to the day they join a conference, so zero stock in the sincerity.
Not sure NDs thoughts, but not being in a conference cost them a bye this year... In ACC they likely would have had one, which makes the path to a Natty a bit harder with an extra game, which would seem to be some incentive to join a conference. (I think Delaney was the one pushing for this, maybe he had ND in mind?)
Now with all the talk of bracket imbalance & bye teams losing there opener, changes seem to be coming & maybe the auto-bids to conference champions is dropped & ND becomes eligible for a bye down the road.
illini_minas
- Cary, NC
Didn't every team with a bye lose this year? Those teams had 20+ days off versus the non-bye teams had roughly 10 days before their first game and another 10 days before the second game. Those 10 day gaps are kind of ideal for a football team. They get regular live reps but sufficient time to rest up before the next one. Normally, I'd be all for a bye but it seems like in this case the 20 day layoff works against that convention.
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