To the surprise of absolutely no one, Orrin Hatch wasn’t satisfied with Bill Hancock’s response to his BCS inquiry.
“Today, the BCS simply confirmed what most fans of college football have known for some time, that the BCS system is biased, secretive and harmful to schools and competitors,” Hatch said in a statement.
“I agree that university presidents and conference commissioners should be able to make the proper decisions regarding college football,” Hatch said. “The problem is that the small number of privileged schools that participate in the closed system have been unwilling to provide students, athletes and fans with what they deserve a fair, unbiased system like the kind they have in literally every other NCAA sport. No one wants to see Congress get involved here, including me. But if this response is any indication, there may not be any other option.”
Ooh, a threat! Whatever will they do?
Probably keep slyly passing threatening innuendos of their own through their buddies in the media.
… The smart people I know who are handicapping this thing tell me that if expansion comes, the odds are better that the conferences will go back to the traditional bowl structure (Big Ten, Pac-10 in the Rose, SEC in the Sugar, ACC in the Orange, etc.) than forming any kind of playoff.
Yeah, whatever.
Hatch’s real problem is that he can’t legislate us into having to watch Utah football, which is a little lacking in viewership these days.
… Which brings us to the local schools. What are the odds that Utah or BYU would be invited to join, say, the Pac-10 or the Big 12?
Based purely on population — more specifically, on TV sets — neither school is particularly attractive as a primary target. The Salt Lake market (which includes all of Utah and parts of Idaho, Wyoming and Nevada) has grown. And moved up the rankings — we’re now No. 31.
But the estimated 944,060 TV-equipped homes here constitute only .822 percent of the national total. That doesn’t make a Utah-based school particularly attractive.
That’s what college football socialism is for.
Get The Picture 
“The Salt Lake market (which includes all of Utah and parts of Idaho, Wyoming and Nevada) has grown. And moved up the rankings — we’re now No. 31.”
Anybody know how big the Tuscaloosa/Birmingham market is? What about the Opelika/Montgomery market?
Blacksburg, Virginia…Morganown, West Virgina…Clemson, South Carolina????
Please also note that of the four biggest tv markets/cities only one, Los Angeles*, as a resident bigtime football program. New York has none and Houston and Chicago rely on prgrams in cities over two hours away (Texas and Notre Dame respectively)
For something closer of a comparisson…how big is the Eugene/Portland market for the PAC10’s Oregon? Or, look immediately east and let us know what the Lincoln/Omaha market size is for the Children of the Corn.
The point is that with big time conference membership big time college football programs can be grown in small time tv markets.
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*but they can’t support a pro team as well.
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Well, not ‘immediately” east…but close enough. It ain’t like Denver is doing wonders for that rec team they have in Boulder.
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No argument with that. The question is how you do the “growing”.
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Well, the system that is currently in place doesn’t seem to accomplish that goal. But, given the results of the past year, perhaps we are too leary of hoping for any more change for fear of what we might get.
/wankery
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Asked and (self) answered:
http://www.tvb.org/rcentral/markettrack/US_HH_by_DMA.asp
Notice that of the SEC schools only UGa (#8 – Atlanta) and Vandy (#29 – Nashville) reside in or very close to a TV market bigger than the ridiculed SALT LAKE CITY.
If you play quality games, we will watch!
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Of course, Hatch’s response could be that the lack of access hurts those ratings.
Also, I would not be so quick to discount market size and HH markets when it matters.
Yes the SEC is tops in ratings but the national rating is 4.4/10. The 2009 SEC championship had a 11.1/29 which was the highest since 1992. That game featured 2 undefeated teams, the Nickitator, CUM, and “CFGPOE.” It was the perfect storm.
Personally, I think we will see softer SEC TV ratings this year and perhaps for the next several years.
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