May 31, 2023 · 8:39 AM

That’s so SEC, SEC.

They haven’t even finished fucking up this round of conference scheduling and they’re already pondering their next mess.  Gotta love it.

22 Comments

Filed under SEC Football

22 responses to “That’s so SEC, SEC.”

  1. ApalachDawg aux Bruxelles
    May 31, 2023 at 8:45 AM

    fsu, clemson…come on down

    Liked by 1 person

  2. theoriginalspike
    May 31, 2023 at 8:52 AM

    When is enough enough? I’m looking at you Mizzou…

    Liked by 2 people

  3. Ran A
    May 31, 2023 at 8:54 AM

    Believe that they were ready to settle in until the Big 10 went out and got UCLA and USC. If you look at that strategy, it is TV market driven. The Big 10 now has schools located in the #1, #2, #3, #4 (Philadelphia) in the country. They also have 8 (Washington), 14 (Detroit) and 15 Minneapolis. The Big 10 is literally spread out over the entire country, asking their athletes to fly as many as 5 hours, just to get to an event. (Someone want to claim this isn’t a business)?

    SEC has 5 (Dallas), 6 (Atlanta), 7 (Houston), 13 (Tampa), 17 (Orlando), 18 (Miami) – obviously splitting with ACC.

    So you’re not going to win the market size battle. You have to win it with quality to pull in a balance of viewership, something they have been able to do for years, but I’m guessing now balancing with enough teams/size to compete with the Big 10.

    In other words… They’ve got very little choice, if they want to remain #1, they’ve got to expand. It’s just a matter of working through breaking up the ACC and splitting it up with the Big 10 and to a lesser degree the Big 12.

    Just my opinion, but this is just a matter of time; just depends on what the ‘mouse’ wants to extract from it all.

    Liked by 1 person

    • eethomaswfnc
      May 31, 2023 at 9:08 AM

      I don’t buy the TV markets nonsense, but I’m not a TV executive or a conference commissioner. Of the top 10 markets, the SEC controls the 3 that are more college sports oriented (Dallas, Atlanta, Houston). The other 7 could care less about college sports (Chicago & Philly may be the exceptions and LA as a whole may have a passing interest). College football doesn’t even register in the other 4 markets (NYC, Boston, SF, DC).

      Is that going to change if FSU, Clemson, UNC and NC State/Va Tech/UVa came into the SEC?

      Demographic shifts to the south/Sun Belt continue to favor the SEC over the long term both on the field and in the media.

      Finally, no way does Sankey take the call unless he knows for sure from Disney (or whatever PE firm owns ESPN at the time) that this will be accretive to his existing 16 members.

      Liked by 3 people

      • Ran A
        May 31, 2023 at 9:28 AM

        Thought about your post and decided to go back at ratings per week. It’s mixed, but I think it favors your argument to some degree. Example: WK 13 – Michigan/OSu was far and away the most watched game with 17.14MM viewers, next closest was Florida/FSU with 6.71MM, then Notre Dame/USC with 6.68MM – then Auburn Alabama with 6.27MM, then Iowa State TCU with 4.34MM. So while you good argue large market for Michigan/OSU – it happen to be far and away the most important game of the day. And for Florida/FSU to finish 2nd to Notre Dame/USC – that makes your argument, since ND/USC was a bigger game and fan base should have been well represented out of LA/Chicago.

        So with that, I’ll concede that TV markets are not as important as maybe I thought. I do not consider it nonsense, but do take your point sir. 🙂

        Like

        • eethomaswfnc
          May 31, 2023 at 9:41 AM

          Ran, sorry if my comment came across as calling yours nonsense. Totally not what I meant. Please accept my apology.

          It’s really more about the idea that expansion would lead to a better TV payout. I just don’t think any more expansion is going to lead the greater penetration. OU and Texas improves the eye share of the Texas markets, but it isn’t going to materially change market share in NYC or San Francisco.

          Like

          • Ran A
            May 31, 2023 at 9:43 AM

            :). It was a nick, not a stab – not that thinned skinned – promise! No apology needed; but thank you and accepted. :). I think your right.

            Liked by 1 person

            • eethomaswfnc
              May 31, 2023 at 10:04 AM

              It would be very interesting to look at the data on a market by market basis. For example, take the last week of the regular season. I bet in Chicago, Two Mules Fighting over a Turnip had an overwhelming market share. I bet in Atlanta COFH was the leading game with Two Mules a close 2nd because of the playoff implications.

              Liked by 1 person

      • unionjackgin
        May 31, 2023 at 9:52 AM

        The absolute most important tv market for college football is Atlanta. Of the Top Ten, Atlanta is the only one where college football is the dominant sports news/talk topic.

        Conference expansion is still tv market driven but it is diminished as streaming has grown. Collecting the valuable teams is now the game with an eye toward creating its own basketball tournament too.

        Apparently Gonzaga is in talks with the Big 12 – as is UConn.

        Liked by 1 person

    • Stones Fan
      May 31, 2023 at 6:48 PM

      Lots of fans/viewers, etc. in small town across the south

      Like

  4. eethomaswfnc
    May 31, 2023 at 8:55 AM

    Mark Stoops, Shane Beamer, Sam Pittman and Zach Arnett ask Greg Sankey, “How are we only going to play 8 SEC games with a 20 team conference? We still need our bowl game bonuses.”

    Mama needs a brand new kitchen for the lake house.

    Liked by 2 people

  5. MagnusDawgus
    May 31, 2023 at 9:01 AM

    I mean, we are on the verge of conferences being meaningless vestiges from the days of yore. Look at the pie fight over a 9 game schedule and the grumbling about having to play in an SEC Championship game when others rest up for the 12 team playoffs. I know the SEC collectively negotiates media rights, but how long before we see a situation where Alabama, Georgia, LSU, etc. threaten to break free like Clemson and others are doing in the ACC?

    Liked by 1 person

    • eethomaswfnc
      May 31, 2023 at 9:15 AM

      What are they going to do? They have signed agreements that will not allow them financially to move … that’s the problem the ACC members have right now short of voting to dissolve the league or fighting it out in court for a decade. They decided becoming a big business (it always was a business) was the best thing for their institutions. Now they get to deal with the problems associated with being a big business.

      Liked by 2 people

  6. debbybalcer
    May 31, 2023 at 9:04 AM

    Sadly instead of focusing on sports they are focusing on making money at the expense of sports. For everything except football trying to schedule competitions which occur on weekdays and more often than once a week hurts the student part of student athletes studies.

    Liked by 3 people

    • eethomaswfnc
      May 31, 2023 at 9:12 AM

      Ms. Debby, that horse left the barn decades ago. It’s one of the reasons I believe college sports are on the downside of the product lifecycle curve. They say fans won’t turn it off if the players are deemed employees, but the unintended consequences of the players becoming employees certainly have the risk of turning off the consumer/viewer/fan.

      Liked by 2 people

  7. W Cobb Dawg
    May 31, 2023 at 9:42 AM

    Ya know, I was fairly happy with the way the P5 conferences were set up not so long ago, at least from a football perspective. Generally 16 members per conference, split into two 8 team divisions. It made sense geographically. And there simply aren’t sufficient numbers of top/competitive schools to justify adding more.

    Now it’s becoming a ridiculous mishmash. There’s zero demand for a Rutgers vs. UCLA game – neither in the respective markets nor nationally. Besides ruining the Pac, I think the Big10 has shot themselves in the foot and it’s just a matter of time before they realize what a mess they’ve gotten themselves into.

    I also think we’re seeing the networks re-thinking this. CBS just plain walked out. ESPN/ABC appears to have no stomach for throwing more money into the ring for seasonal games. They have the bowls and will likely wait until the results are in for playoff revenues. NBC wants nothing other than Notre Dame. Forget about any significant TV money if you’re a Pac, Big12 or ACC member. I’d be damn cautious before considering expansion again.

    Liked by 1 person

    • eethomaswfnc
      May 31, 2023 at 10:17 AM

      WCD, CBS and NBC both have pieces of the B1G’s package in 2024. Neither is ever going to get 2 Mules Fighting over a Turnip (Fox will get that for Big Noon every year). It looks like NBC is getting the prime time game that would have been on ABC in the past and I think CBS is holding on to the 3:30 spot for a B1G game (even though it will likely be significantly outwatched by ESPN).

      Like