Media: Eh, what’s Kirby Smart done at Georgia? Compare his first five years to Mark Richt’s!
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Daily Archives: August 16, 2021
Payday
That certainly ups taking the offensive linemen out for ice cream after a game.
Filed under Georgia Football, It's Just Bidness
“All the motivations are the same,” he said. “They’re spelled G-R-E-E-D.”
If you don’t have a subscription to The Athletic, it’s a shame, because this the-more-things-change-the-more-they-stay-the-same piece ($$) about conference realignment and the money chase is a classic.
In February 1990, Notre Dame, one of the founding members and driving forces behind the CFA, broke away from the organization’s all-for-one, one-for-all TV package to sign an exclusive deal with NBC. The CFA howled, but the hypocrisy was obvious. “The CFA is a big group of haves that wanted to segregate themselves from the have-nots,” wrote the “South Bend Tribune”. “Notre Dame has just taken this premise a step further.”
That’s what they all say.
Filed under College Football, It's Just Bidness
Andy Staples’ Four Million Club
Today, he delves ($$) into why the ACC, Big Ten and Pac-12 are chasing an alliance of some sort. His theory is both obvious and questionable.
… if the plan includes a scheduling alliance to create more games in the Four Million Club for each league, then it could be a valuable partnership for all of them. It also could benefit the viewers by giving us more interesting games to watch.
What’s the Four Million Club? It’s the group of football games that draw more than four million viewers.
These are the games networks are willing to pay premium prices for, and they’re also the type of games the SEC’s addition of Oklahoma and Texas will add to that league’s inventory. In conversations with television executives and consultants, conference officials and athletic directors, it has become clear that the hunt for premium television product will drive this round of realignment (or, in the case of the alliance, rearranging).
Here’s the list of the teams that played in at least ten regular season games from 2015 to 2019 that have topped four million viewers.
That certainly explains the last two SEC expansion moves. It might even explain why the Big Ten wants an alliance.
… by creating a few more with the help of some friends, the Big Ten could stay relatively even and continue to distribute as much or more to each school as the SEC will once Oklahoma and Texas join and a new ESPN deal replaces the below-market deal CBS enjoys for the best SEC game each week.
On the surface, that seems plausible, but again, the devil’s in the details. How much of the public is jonesing for, say, a Rutgers-Washington State showdown? And what games are the Big Ten willing to jettison to make that happen?
I see that list and think the more efficient move for the Big Ten would be to eliminate the middleman and just go for a Big Ten-SEC Challenge. Or just say the hell with it and go for a super-conference model that ditches every weak scheduling link in every P5 conference.
There just isn’t enough there there in this alliance proposal. But I bet it makes a lot of folks feel good to discuss it.
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UPDATE:
One thing I will say in defense of Mike Slive and his relatively poor record handling the conference’s broadcast rights is that he saw the promotional value of the SEC on CBS deal.
Filed under ACC Football, Big Ten Football, Pac-12 Football, SEC Football
“Being the oldest guy probably in the locker room…”
LOL. “Probably”?
If you include the coaches, he’s right.
Here’s hoping he has a terrific season.
Filed under Georgia Football
A comforting thought
Just remember, even if you catch yourself behaving badly on occasion…
… you’ll never be as big an asshole as Danny Kanell.
Filed under Georgia Football, Media Punditry/Foibles
Get The Picture 
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