Barry Alvarez says the Big Ten will be going to a nine-game conference football schedule in a couple of years. That will mean an unbalanced home schedule every year for half of its teams, which isn’t ideal – the conference pondered going to a ten-game schedule – but what can you do when you need to feed the beast?
The beast being the Big Ten Network, that is.
“To improve our league football-wise, we all agree as directors and driven by our commissioner (Jim Delany) that our non-conference schedule has to get better,” Alvarez said. “[Delany] is going to the table to re-negotiate TV contracts and we have to improve that inventory. Our non-conference schedule is not strong at all.”
The math is inevitable. There’s just more money in TV than anywhere else. They’ll need to tweak the postseason selection process so that none of the big conferences get burned by the committee for generating more product for their homegrown networks strengthening their regular season schedules. Something tells me Delany will get that worked out sooner or later.
And you can figure Mike Slive is watching closely.
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I’ve said this all along. A 10 game conference schedule works better than a 9 game conference schedule on so many different levels. But to really make that work you need 16 teams. That’s the real reason why the SEC has to expand further.
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I hope we do get to 16 teams in the SEC, along with three other groups of 16. I just wish there had been a proactive plan to get there, not the reactive, knee-jerk actions which ignore natural rivalries travel considerations. The four 16 team conference set up should lead to better scheduling match-ups for CFB fans and a true National Champion where the finalists will come from a process where the spots are earned, not voted on by a committee or poll voters. Ten conference games and, I hope, an elimination of playing games outside those 64 schools will be a day I would celebrate. How to undo the recent mess will likely take 10+ years from the point such a decision is made though. At least my children may see this in their life time.
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From Slive’s perspective, adding a 9th game is a pretty valuable bargaining chip. I don’t know when the right time is to give it up, but rest assured it’s coming.
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If CBS isn’t willing to pony up more money for the next thirteen or so years without more product, I think you’re there now.
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A nine-game SEC schedule would have Georgia playing six SEC road games every other year.
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A nine-game SEC schedule “could” have Georgia playing six SEC road games every other year.
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That’s an easy fix. Just have UGA be the away team in Jacksonville on the odd years where we should have five SEC away games. That would give us four home games and four true away games and one neutral site game every year. I don’t think the league would have have any problem making that work. They would have to do the same with Florida.
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Oh, boy. Now you’ve done it. 😉
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Heah come da Mayor, heah come da Mayor! Splain to us again fine sir how we are disadvantaged with equal tickets, mo money, and choice of unis every other year. Oh yeah, that 30 minute flight and soft pillows.
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You keep that up and the Mayor is going to stand in a doorway of a municipal structure somewhere and pull both strings to which he has access to ensure that all your flights are separate but not equal, last more than thirty minutes with no pillow and that you have a non-transferable ticket for assigned seat 37F by the rear shitter in the fuselage together with an all-hardtail cast of stewardesses
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The real problem is that UGA would have to depend on the SEC office to schedule things so that we always have the 4-4-1 schedule every year. Ain’t gonna happen ’cause there will be years that the conference will have to have UGA at 3-5-1 (meaning 3 SEC games in Sanford) to make other SEC teams’ schedules work.
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Your attention to detail is an admirable trait to which all who owe their living to municipalities as well as those who live beyond the outer limits of a city or even those who have a duality of living because Duval is Jacksonville should, but likely do not, aspire. Which brings up the question would we, at some point, get a reciprocal 5-3-1 schedule for every 3-5-1?
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I have given up wondering which B&B, restaurant, motel, or parking lot he owns in Athens to make the color of green blind him to the facts on this game. Such a really cool tradition he would sacrifice for 20 pieces of silver, has greed no bounds?
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DIF, we are talking about a proposed 9 game conference schedule for UGA. That’s 3 SEC home games, 5 SEC away games and the WLOCP=9. 6 SEC games away from Sanford with 3 SEC games in Sanford.The flip of that would be 5 SEC home games, 3 SEC away games and the WLOCP. The most SEC home games UGA could ever have in a 9 game SEC schedule would be 5. So we could have 5 SEC home games once in a while weighed against 3 SEC home games other years. (Maybe Ole Miss, Kentucky and Vandy as the visitors). Think season ticket holders would like the 3 SEC home game years much? When you start looking at the specifics the disadvantages become obvious and apparent. An unbalanced schedule is not good for Georgia as long as we have the WLOCP. So, do you want the WLOCP or do you want a 9 game SEC schedule? You can’t have both. If the idiot above would ever sober up he’d understand that.
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“Our non-conference schedule is not strong at all.” Alvarez, later went on to say “But it is tougher than our in-conference schedule, we are the big 10.”
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So how does an ACC Grant of Rights change the impetus to go to a 9-game schedule or the ability to expand to 16 with attractive schools?
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Doesn’t affect the former, but as to the latter, it sure screws up Delany’s plans.
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