hooraybeer
- Pittsburgh, PA
i say that ever year regarding the absolutely horrible BTN+ service for MBB but yet somehow every year I'm signing up 5 minutes before tip off to see us play Arkansas A&M Tech...
Conference Realignment
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texillwek
🔶🔹🔸🔷
Honestly, I kind of enjoy the students having a go at broadcasting. It's obviously not network-level quality, but I'd say it still schmacks.
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
Wonderful opportunity to pick up the new lingo.
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
texillwek
🔶🔹🔸🔷
He said new lingo
I appreciate you linking that breakdown as it was informative, but I didn’t catch mention of their obligation to join the ACC if they join a conference for football. It sounds like the ~$100 million fee for leaving the ACC would not free up their TV rights which the ACC still owns until 2036. If they join a conference dies that obligate their football rights to the ACC too then? If they were to join B10 in football would ACC get ND‘s football rights?
Basketball is different for me.....football I can go without.
It was new . . . In 2000 . . . that was just yesterday, wasn’t it?He said new lingo
texillwek
🔶🔹🔸🔷
sheesh, it feels like it
Noblesville Illini
- Nappanee, IN
OR is it ...
illini80
- Forgottonia
I’d have no problem with the students if they weren’t trying to squeeze the fans for a few extra bucks. Asking us to pony up $$ for an amateur production gets me riled up.
This stuff is way outside my wheelhouse but if more than 50% if teams leave it doesn’t matter anyway?
So if the big ten and sec scooped up more than half the acc those teams leave Scott free?
Serious Late
- Peoria via Denver via Ann Arbor via Albuquerque vi
I’m curious why I see people here in favor of relegation. There is a solid chance we would be relegated very quickly.
While being a doormat has been rough, at least we have a chance to play against some of the more elite teams in the country.
If we relegate down to a MAC level league…winning might be more common (though no guarantee) but it’d be against lower level teams that just don’t do it for me.
Serious Late
- Peoria via Denver via Ann Arbor via Albuquerque vi
I believe I would find more entertainment following Illinois as they battle for a spot in a higher league than I currently am watching them get waxed most years.
Also, I believe that Illinois, while not a top 80 team in some years, has the resources that would put them WELL above the bottom of the conference should the fear of relegation force that. I could see a revised format creating a more energized emphasis on the program.
Mostly though, since the idea won't happen, daydreaming about it is a fun distraction during the day.
Serious Late
- Peoria via Denver via Ann Arbor via Albuquerque vi
Forgot to mention the most important part, I would enjoy following the sport as a whole far more than whatever it appears we are headed toward.
I don't feel this need to support whatever construct leads Illinois to being in "the picture" of the new world order, at the expense of everything else surrounding the sport.
Personal opinion, if a group of smart people got together and were allowed to re-imagine the sport in a way that best appeals to fans of college football, the approach outlined in the article would be much closer to that than wherever we are headed.
It won't happen, understood. But it would be better, even for fans of teams on the border. If we can't overcome Toledo and remain among the top 80 programs, then fine. Kick us down, let's see where this ride takes us.
I like how Paul Finebaum, an SEC network reporter, and Roy Kramer, the retired SEC commissioner, is questioning the B1G growth strategy but credentials Kramer’s doubts with the more impartial sounding “Father of the BCS” instead of “Former SEC commissioner”.
Mr. Tibbs
- southeast DuPage
the SEC faithful are all butthurt that the conference is not getting all the national pub that it was getting last year with the UT & OU expansion . that , and the real possibility thr B1G ends up with a larger media rights payout .
they are puzzled that they won’t be alone on the mountain top.
they are puzzled that they won’t be alone on the mountain top.
Even though I don't see relegation happening, I certainly hope we are putting all of resources towards football anyway. There's no reason we should wait until relegation is real to go all in.
redwingillini11
White and Sixth
- North Aurora
“This would be so neat.”
Illinois immediate gets stuck in the MAC for 20 years.
People, this would be *so* bad for us. If our schedule was made up of only Ball State, Kent State, Buffalo, Akron, Ohio, etc. every year, do you really think we would be able to get even 20k fans to come out to the stadium? We would very, very quickly be in that Cal Berkley territory of “maybe Illinois should just drop football.” Even if we dominated that lower level and kept getting promoted back up, how is that going to help us stay up and finally compete with the big boys. We would just be constantly be yo-yoing back and forth every year. Is that really enjoyable?
We are staring down the near reality that we are in the most exclusive tier and lucrative club in college football, and people are out here thinking “wouldn’t it be cool if we would maybe get bounced down to the MAC?” NO, it wouldn’t.
Illinois immediate gets stuck in the MAC for 20 years.
People, this would be *so* bad for us. If our schedule was made up of only Ball State, Kent State, Buffalo, Akron, Ohio, etc. every year, do you really think we would be able to get even 20k fans to come out to the stadium? We would very, very quickly be in that Cal Berkley territory of “maybe Illinois should just drop football.” Even if we dominated that lower level and kept getting promoted back up, how is that going to help us stay up and finally compete with the big boys. We would just be constantly be yo-yoing back and forth every year. Is that really enjoyable?
We are staring down the near reality that we are in the most exclusive tier and lucrative club in college football, and people are out here thinking “wouldn’t it be cool if we would maybe get bounced down to the MAC?” NO, it wouldn’t.
redwingillini11
White and Sixth
- North Aurora
Maybe this fan base is swarming with masochists. But have some freaking pride in what a great institution the University of Illinois is. I’m sorry, but I do not want us to be associating with Illinois State or Ball State or Eastern Michigan on any level. We ARE better than that.
Serious Late
- Peoria via Denver via Ann Arbor via Albuquerque vi
I'm almost 40 and I have no memory of us "staying up". I don't see how being a perennial punching bag for the most exclusive tier in a football world that ordains the tier based on market size and historical ties is more enjoyable than an annual battle to earn a spot in the club.
I guess the difference here is that I don't buy the detrimental impact this would have on us. Even at our current state, we are a healthier program than the bottom of the top tier in the article's scenario. And if we end up battling year in and year out to remain in the top tier, then at least every game would be more impactful and a reason to tune in. Do we get less than 30,000 fans for a season ending game against (insert MAC school) for a position in the top tier? I don't have a means to determine the answer, but I know I would be more tempted to buy a ticket to the game than I am any random end of season opponent we are 2 td dogs against.
Note here, I am not down on the current program. I don't believe this would be a real issue for us. Realistically, it is more of an illusion than anything for 98% of the lower tier schools with resources 1/50th what we have. But if the argument for why I shouldn't be interested in the proposal is "do you know how bad we suck? Central Michigan would become superior to us!", then I'm out on the debate. If the worry is "we don't have the infrastructure to ensure we are a top 80 program long-term", then okay, why are we concerning ourselves with any of this?
Relegation is a phenomenally fun topic to consider. I can't think of another sports ecosystem in American athletics better suited to consider it than college football. It would be amazing to have a group of altruistic leaders who were willing to put fan interest above dollars, but they dont even do that for their players, so we can all chuckle at the doe-eyed nature it requires to even consider such an idea.
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