Pate is saying the quiet part out loud regarding how the Big Ten/SEC views the ACC, Big 12, FBS, and even a few programs in their own conferences. I think we’re getting closer to those two coming together to form an NFL-lite league.
“There will be people, universities, programs that have to fall along the wayside for the greater good of college athletics”
- Thread starter HailToPitt725
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Pretty much. The thing they don't see is that once they fully established the SEC and BIG pro leagues, then those teams will truly be the minor leagues, and people generally don't care about the minor leagues.
If Pitt isnt in it and Rutgers, Vanderbilt, and Northwestern are then I vow to never watch one second of this new super-division and I would hope that the Big 12 propogandists would start an organized viewership boycot that would be followed by others. Part of the popularity of college football is that everyone has a team in it. Every town, every state (just about). If you are eliminating 80 teams or whatever it ends up being, you arent going to have enough casual fans to tune in to Bama vs Tennessee. I just hope our women's volleyball team lands some place good. Heather better be doing everything in her power to get us into the SEC. Tell the SEC: "What do you want?" Half of ticket sales at Acrisure? No revenue for 20 years? Need us to build a stadium? Whatever it is, we need to do it.
And the most hilarious part is once they do they will be totally shocked that few people watch. If Pitt isn’t in it I am not gonna waste my time watching Amateurs play In a half ass league of their own.
I think once we see the B1G/SEC merge forces, you’re going to see those programs relegated. I’ve said on here for years now that the end-game was always a super league with no bottom-feeding brands; the only question has been how we get there, in my opinion.
I think they’re banking on current trends (e.g., increase in CFB TV ratings during NIL era, small percentage of schools making up majority of ratings) holding firm if expanded into to a formal super league.
I honestly believe they arent this stupid. What I could see happening is that the B10 and SEC form this new pro league and then "invite" anyone who wants to join if they pay some franchise fee like the NFL, NBA, NHL, NBA, and MLS do when they add an expansion team. Either that and/or they make them agree to take a haircut on TV revenues. What this kind of reminds me of is the old "Champions Bowl" concept. Remember that from 2010 or so? The Big 12 and SEC decided to form their own bowl game and then bid it out. Well, they only did that to gain leverage with the Sugar Bowl so they can get a larger slice of the pie. College football may look much the same, just with the B10 and SEC calling the ALL the shots.
If we were smart, we’d attach our wagon to whatever Duke, Louisville, and Syracuse do moving forward. March Madness simply makes too much money to completely go by the wayside, and whatever takes its place will need those brands to be taken seriously. We’ll likely never make the super league for football, but we can still be ‘major league’ for basketball. That would be our ticket into preserving our place in major college athletics.
I've from the start said that I'm not watching anything Pitt isn't in. Pro sports, NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB are about having the best quality players, and even there there is a local component. College football had two components, your local team and your alma mater, so you choose your college team because of 2 things, it's your alma mater or you live near it, it's less about the quality of the players than those two things. So what I have always failed to understand, if your team is Pitt, either because you went to school there or live near it, are you suddenly going to pick some other school's team to follow and root for? Bama and Georgia and Michigan etc. are THE VERY BEST, Pitt is way behind teams like that usually, but I watch pretty much zero minutes of their games every year. And every minute of Pitt's season. So this pro style super league, I won't watch it, I'll be watching Pitt play UCF or YSU or whoever they're playing. Will some of you Pitt fans say, "Pitt's not at this higher level, they're not among THE BEST, I won't watch Pitt anymore, I'll watch THE BEST instead" I have no interest in some super college league, because to me anyways, college football isn't about BEST QUALITY, it's about I went to school there, or lived in that city, those people are my family, I won't watch Georgia vs Michigan instead because they have more fantastical athletes, I'll watch Pitt play in the minor leagues and be 110% satisfied.
So, the fans of the teams left out will watch this? I won't. 100% no. I'll hope Pitt keeps playing and I can still watch their games.
I agree that less fans of the teams left out will watch, but that seems to be by design. They’re attempting to appeal to a mainstream audience and pick up the same casual fans who predominately follow pro sports.
Whether that actually works (i.e., makes them more money) is anyone’s guess, but that certainly won’t stop them from trying, everyone else be damned.
pittdan77
Athletic Director
The best thing for college football is to kill college football? Got it.
Also, to add to this: I think there would certainly be a viable second-tier level of college football akin to what the G5 is to P5. There’s simply too much talent for future NFL players to only play in this looming super league. If you take the leftover power conference schools and divide them by regions, I think that’s a product that a lot of people would get behind because it’d harken to the “glory days” of college football.
So, they're thinking that maybe with this every game will be a marquee matchup because only the big brand names are included. But the thing is, if those brands are only playing each other, over time some of them will end up as the bottom feeders in this league and they'll lose the blue blood image they have now eventually.
How is that in any way, shape or form "greater good for college athletics" when less people will be on scholarship and potentially, less people will have a better outlet/exposure to say the NFL??
I don’t disagree. However, playing devil’s advocate, Nebraska is a good example of what happens when a “blue blood” declines from their past success. They still draw sellouts every weekend and have massive TV ratings, especially when they play former rivals like Colorado and Oklahoma.
I think those schools will also maintain that cache because no matter how many losing seasons they’d have in this new super league, they’d still be in the super league. Then again, that’s just my assumption; who knows how that’d actually play out over time.
No way I’m watching this “super” league shit…
I’ll watch reruns of the SuperFriends first.
I’ll watch reruns of the SuperFriends first.
But eventually some teams will be bad for a long time and when they play each other, other than their own fan base, it will have the appeal of Cleveland Browns vs Atlanta Falcons.
But that is only a trend because alumni and area fans of a school watch because they either are or believe they can be part of that mix. Once that is gone it’s like given the choice of the XFL to watch. Not quite the same as the pros or what college once was.
Ive always been a Pirates fan. I have precisely zero interest in the Yankees Red Sox games that seemingly show up on ESPN every Sunday night.
Same with the new normal in CFB. Bama is playing Texas? Ohio State-Oregon?
Pass.....im going golfing.
Same with the new normal in CFB. Bama is playing Texas? Ohio State-Oregon?
Pass.....im going golfing.
“There will be people, universities, programs that have to fall along the wayside for the greater good of college athletics”
We've been here before. That quote shares a lot of similarities with what Paterno was saying when he was driving for the division between Division 1-A and Division 1-AA. Obviously, some schools ending up in 1-AA that had some pull (e.g., the Ivies) lost it, and that might be what happens to the schools not in the Big 10 and SEC. But college football continued grow in popularity after that juncture. I don't think Big 10 and SEC are making any sort of fatal mistake.
We've been here before. That quote shares a lot of similarities with what Paterno was saying when he was driving for the division between Division 1-A and Division 1-AA. Obviously, some schools ending up in 1-AA that had some pull (e.g., the Ivies) lost it, and that might be what happens to the schools not in the Big 10 and SEC. But college football continued grow in popularity after that juncture. I don't think Big 10 and SEC are making any sort of fatal mistake.
Pitt should pull a complete boss move and use the endowment money to buy the Steelers. Already in the same facilities. The blank side of the helmet gets a script Pitt.
Then you are the only school to have multiple CFB national championships and Super Bowl championships.
Want to play professional football? Take that Ohio State!
Then you are the only school to have multiple CFB national championships and Super Bowl championships.
Want to play professional football? Take that Ohio State!
Yes, there are way too many teams who won't make it to the power league. It'll at least have strength in numbers and will hopefully be true college football with actual NIL, not boosters pay-for-play.
Well, a court ruling just came out only moments ago saying college athletes are employees of the university… that might be one way to reign in the booster’s version of pay-for-play.
For a century, the B1G has been 2 Big brands and a lot of Washington Generals. They just added 2 more big brands in USC and Oregon- the rest will be the Washington Generals.
You can't have "big brands" without the rest being Generals.
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Aside from the obvious financial considereations, is this consolidation a response to the fact that there just won't be as many players to draw from?
"But viewed from a wider lens, high school football is in steep, steady decline. Participation has fallen 17 percent since 2006, when more than 1.1 million boys played the sport, a larger decline than any of the other top 10 most popular boys’ sports....Participation in tackle football among kids ages 6 to 12 fell 13 percent from 2019 to 2022, according to annual survey data from the Sports and Fitness Industry Association (SFIA)." -Washington Post
"But viewed from a wider lens, high school football is in steep, steady decline. Participation has fallen 17 percent since 2006, when more than 1.1 million boys played the sport, a larger decline than any of the other top 10 most popular boys’ sports....Participation in tackle football among kids ages 6 to 12 fell 13 percent from 2019 to 2022, according to annual survey data from the Sports and Fitness Industry Association (SFIA)." -Washington Post
I currently like to watch a few SEC games a year, and a B1G fat zero Big 10 games.
If the SEC and the Big 10 ”break off” from the rest of the football world, I will have zero interest in the few SEC games I currently watch.
I guess I should be thankful that fall weather (well into December, most years) is so nice here. It looks as if I’m going to be spending more Saturday afternoon time doing outside activities.
If the SEC and the Big 10 ”break off” from the rest of the football world, I will have zero interest in the few SEC games I currently watch.
I guess I should be thankful that fall weather (well into December, most years) is so nice here. It looks as if I’m going to be spending more Saturday afternoon time doing outside activities.
I think they're wrong. They are looking to consolidate a greater overall percentage of the viewership and money, but not understanding that the larger percentage will be of a much smaller overall number.
Advertising dollars still drive the tv money to a significant degree. The numbers are going to contract. And the way video and digital media is consumed is changing. Traditional television is dying. This will change the way advertising is done.
They talked about this exact thing on Full Ride this morning in a conversation with Bob Stoops. They mentioned a handful of programs possibly getting left out (specifically mentioned Pitt, as well as 4 or 5 more) and asked him if that was a real possibility. He said, "Yeah, sure. Hey, life isn't fair and it's not the same for everybody. That's just the way it is"
Maybe, but schools "left out" of whatever hypothetical scenario they have in mind aren't just going away. There is still huge interest and a market for everybody else that currently has skin in the game.
Maybe, but schools "left out" of whatever hypothetical scenario they have in mind aren't just going away. There is still huge interest and a market for everybody else that currently has skin in the game.
Tbh, I don't think anybody really knows what the hell they are doing or trying to accomplish. It's a total cluster****
The Washington Generals are still going to make a ton of money, and have a seat at the table, no matter how precarious it is. There will be a lot of schools that are going to pray to be one of the Washington Generals.
pittdan77
Athletic Director
Maybe. There will come a time when the bigger schools start to think about why they should have to share revenue with schools that add very little and demand that the Washington Generals take far less.
That could happen, but it will still be a lot of money. If we could sign up to be one of the Generals, you know we'd all do it in a millisecond.
pittdan77
Athletic Director
I don't know what it will look like for the lesser portion of the "have's". It might be better but not great. I also don't know that Pitt would suddenly change its view on making sports such a huge priority. Honestly, I feel like if I were in leadership, I would be very careful about such a move given the lack of certainty and the lack of real power to affect decision making. The other side of this is that there is still a functional limit to what the value of this "all in" approach will be before it encroaches on the NFL's cut of TV money. We all know that the NFL isn't just going to allow for anything to take a bite out of their revenue without a fight. The precise moment there is a threat to the NFL's talent pool, will be the moment the gloves come off.
Part of me wonders if what’s happening to college football will have a similar fate to what NASCAR did in the 2000s? It was in its peak popularity around 2006, but then they tried to tweak more and more things in an attempt to become more mainstream. The result was that they lost a lot of their core fans and ratings dipped across the board. Now, they’ve tried to reverse course on several of those changes… perhaps we’ll come full-circle with college football before it’s too late.
2 thoughts.
his first point, for the greater good of college athletics is BS. it's for the greater good of 2 conferences and their members, not for the greater good of college athletics as a whole. It's the opposite, it Hurt the "greater good" and benefitted the "select few."
2nd point, his last one is valid. Many people 'banged the drum of change" as far as player compensation. well this is what happens, we all saw it, we saw it coming from a mile away. you go down this road, open this box, there will be consequences, dire ones and we are seeing that..
So all those fans that were screaming about playing players, well here you go. you got it. be careful what you wish for cause you got it and now 75% of D1 college programs are going to be left out of the party..
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