Always have to include the impact of wagering as well. A silent majority who watch the high profile national games, are almost certainly bettors with no other rooting interest in the game besides the green. I don’t know if ratings services can adequately capture what bars and casinos are tuned into but it’s almost going to be the higher profile games. The bigger game gets the most juice and higher stakes. There is more real time information reported about those games (who might be injured, who might be suspended at game time etc). So gamblers across the country (and beyond) are more likely to have the bigger game (and particularly its pregame) on.
I really dont like a divisionless ACC
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pittdan77
Athletic Director
I guess it's a great question if you were to assume Pitt would stop being broadcast every week. I mean, I can't see me adopting another college to cheer for. I would probably still watch games but I like football in general. Casual fans may not. And that sort of goes back to what I was saying about inventory and creating something the greater populous has never really wanted; an NFL substitute. I don't know.
pittdan77
Athletic Director
I hadn't considered gamblers but I don't know how much of that moves the needle. Maybe there is a big enough subset of in-game wagering. Not something I think about.
Well of course the reason for that is that no one gives a rat's arse if the people watching the games are alumni, casual fans, super fans who have five televisions tuned into five different games at once, people who have never seen a game before, or any other category. It only matters that they are watching.
The networks don't pay you because your school has a lot of alumni, or because fans of a different school watch your school, or because local fans watch you, or any of that. The networks (and the advertisers) pay for numbers. That's all that matters.
Pac-12 scraps divisions after NCAA paves way
After the NCAA Division I Council tossed out requirements that dictate how football conferences can determine a champion, the Pac-12 announced Wednesday that it was scrapping its divisional format for the coming season.
The Big Ten is going to get rid of them too. Whatever. For me, these wont be true championship games. They will be the regular season champ vs the #2 team in a resume-enhancing game.Pac-12 scraps divisions after NCAA paves way
After the NCAA Division I Council tossed out requirements that dictate how football conferences can determine a champion, the Pac-12 announced Wednesday that it was scrapping its divisional format for the coming season.www.espn.com
the best team isn't supposed to win a title?
happens in football every march. teams win the regular season but you don't get an auto bid to the tournament unless you win the tournament.
overall, i agree. i'll miss the divisions.
As a Pitt fan, if there is a super league, are you watching that league? Do those SEC games get better ratings because those teams have more dedicated fans or because more non fans of those teams watch them?
It's not a requirement, the best team probably wins more often, but it's totally normal and justified in sports with a playoff system, that sometimes the best team gets upset by a lesser team and is eliminated and the lesser team becomes champion. Happens all the time.
Think about how ridiculous it could get! Bama could play Auburn in their Iron Bowl game, then a week later play in the SEC championship game, then meet a 3rd time in the CFP. Do people want that?
Heres’s a wild idea: scrap CCGs and take the top 2 in each P5 and some at-larges, and instead of CCGs play - gasp- playoff games!
Enjoy this coming Pitt season to the max, folks. It could get pretty dicey for programs such as ours in only a couple years, the way all this is going with payola, transfers, conference shifts, the wholesale NCAA surrender, etc. I’m not even saying any of it is wrong, but none of this is intended to help programs like ours.
i thought you were lamenting that the best teams win things, which is a little odd to read. we were the best ACC team this year - we SHOULD have won.
regardless, i like the divisions. i can also see the ACC not wanting the ACC championship with a 11-1 team against a 7-5 team when there's a ranked team sitting at home.
Exactly, with no divisions, the ACC's goal is for FSU or Miami to get good again and have them be second to Clemson every year and they meet in the championship game over and over and over and they hope Pitt can never be up there anymore.
Like I said, the best teams always winning is boring, what are the most memorable title games? Not the one's where the best team wins, more like when NYG beats 18-0 New England, or 11 Loss Nova beats #1 Georgetown. Those are the ones people remember, not when Bama wins for the 3rd time in 5 years 35-10 because they are so good, nobody remembers that other than their fans.
I don’t want to trigger certain posters who denounce that there are “conspiracies.” There is no conspiracy against Pitt specifically. Let’s make that clear. But programs LIKE Pitt’s are definitely intended to be left (further) in the dust with all these things.
With all these changes in the air I’ve been assuuming in recent months it was not an if, but when, that the top 24 or whatever programs would spin off into an uber-league. But I’ve lately determined that there is still great visual use of keeping the status quo of the power conferences, as well as ditch digger programs like Pitt around as fodder for the big programs.
College fans are more apt to be traditionalists and they won’t eagerly give up on the quaint idea of the different conferences, bowls, etc etc. They like the pretense of “academics” and the pageantry and marching bands and homecoming and such. Tearing all that down to make basically a Li’l NFL comes with some risk of alienation.
Why would schools like Pitt, BC, Indiana, Rutgers, Vanderbilt, etc etc happily continue with even less chance of winning championships? Money of course. Specifically in Pitt’s case, Pitt is very engaged in keeping their non-revenue sports adequately funded (and having name opponents for them). The scrapping of the status quo conference system and cut of the TV and Bowl and tournament monies for football and basketball would put that funding into extreme danger.
As others have convincingly posted, the big programs have incentive to keep us around as well, as opponents for their own non revenue programs, but also because they want to be able to pad their W-L records. Cannibalism with each other would be a bad look. I originally thought it wouldn’t bother Alabama to win the championship with a 8-4 record but have come around to the idea that they like that big hefty W total every year. Having the big programs pull out and leaving dozens of programs in ashes such as Minnesota, Illinois, NC State, Maryland, Oregon State, and on and on…will cause some hurt feelings in those states, and possible political problems for the new Uber-league. Far better to leave as is and jimmy the processes to assure dominance for the same 24 or so, but safely out of reach of meddling politicians.
So I’m fearing less and less that the big programs will pull away. But to the detriment of our overall ability to compete.
And the opportunities for programs that aren’t that bad, but we’ve reduced to permanent loser because we’ve put them in the tough division, will now be increased.
Honestly, I’m just really excited that Indiana will finally have a path to program success once this is all over. They deserve it.
pittdan77
Athletic Director
The Big12 has been playing a conference championship without divisions for five years, now. Six different schools have played in that game in five years and the two powerhouses have only met once.
pittdan77
Athletic Director
I don't understand why Alabama playing Auburn (or whatever matchup you want to pick) would be any more or less attractive to watch either way. If two good teams are playing and it's a good game, then two good teams are playing and it's a good game.
I know that some people say that they can't watch sports unless they have a rooting interest involved, and that's fine, but that's simply not the way that most fans work. Most fans want to watch good games. Kind of by definition.
As to your question on those SEC games, the answer is obviously both. Alabama has more dedicated fans than Pitt. And more non-Alabama fans watch Alabama than Pitt, because Alabama is perennially near the top of the sport and fans like to watch good teams play.
There's less a chance 8-4 Pitt gets in without divisions but more concerned how they balance the 5/5 schedule.
They a had a good balance in the Coastal home/away etc.
Ticket sales, sos, and recruiting areas. There's a chance Pitt's draw there will suck.
They a had a good balance in the Coastal home/away etc.
Ticket sales, sos, and recruiting areas. There's a chance Pitt's draw there will suck.
pittdan77
Athletic Director
A 7-5 Pitt team would have made the ACC championship in 2018 without divisions. They just happened to lose to three ranked teams during their OOC schedule. 8-4 under that scenario puts them at 7-1 in the conference. That's going to be in the top two or three just about every year.
I'm not sure about that? I know a lot of people, A LOT, who only watch Pitt or the Steelers. Sure they might watch another game or parts of games here and there randomly, but I think more people are like me, they make time for their teams, and if they have nothing else to do, might watch some other games.
You keep saying this and I really don’t get what your point is?
There’s going to be a prime time game on Saturday.
A certain segment of the sports viewing world will not tune in because they do not care about any team that isnt’ theres and there team isn’t playing.
A certain segment of the sports viewing world will tune in because it’s their team that is playing.
And a certain segment is willing to tune in even if their team isn’t playing.
And the question for television execs is what games best allow you to attract the most from that last group?
You would agree with that, right?
Sure, I can agree. I guess it's foreign to me to get very excited about a league or games with teams I don't care about, and I never got into gambling at all other than playing fantasy football for a decade, so that angle so that isn't a draw to me either.
It makes more sense if you remember that he basically only watches games that he has a rooting interest in and he thinks that everyone else looks at sports the same way that he does.
Just out of curiosity, I watch every Pitt and Steelers game all season, that's like 7-8 hours of viewing every weekend for 3-4 months? I also randomly watch other games, or parts of them, and in the time slots the Steelers aren't playing, I often watch NFLRZ. How many hours of college football do you watch on a typical Saturday? NFL on a typical Sunday? Do you watch sports every day of the week? Sometimes, even on a Saturday night in the fall, I just decide/choose to do or watch SOMETHING ELSE, do you? or are you glued to the biggest time CFB game every week?
For college football it depends if Pitt is playing at home or not, because I go to all the home games. If Pitt is on the road or not playing and I'm at home with nothing else to do I would have college football on the television all day long. There will be times when I am doing something else and a game will just be on in the background. But a game will typically be on.
On an NFL Sunday, again, if I'm at home not doing anything I'll have a game on at least in both afternoon windows. Again, not always paying the utmost attention to it, but it will be on. The Sunday night game depends on who is playing, I might watch it all, I might just watch some. I watch the Walking Dead on Sunday nights so generally I watch that rather than football, but if it's a game I want to watch I'll record that and watch the game.
I do not watch sports every day of the week, but there certainly are weeks where I watch sports every day. I don't watch much "regular" television, I'd rather watch sports. And like some people put the radio or music on for "background noise", I do the same thing with sporting events. I don't have to pay full attention, but when something interesting is happening I watch more closely.
We're not really all that different to be honest. Sometimes if I get hooked on some Netflix show or something, I might watch that for weeks instead of sports and I often have a game on TV while not really watching it, Pitt and Steelers though, I'm hanging in every play.
