Now we can discuss, the true point of power. National Television.
4 big channels- CBS, ABC, NBC and ESPN.
ESPN- Entrenched as the dominant College Football Sports Station.
They have a 15 year contract with the SEC for 2.25 Billion Dollars for the next 14 years.
These individual conference contracts (Big 10 network) are not relevant if they cannot get on the big channels and let the superstars from the south see them.
Only die hards will pay extra to watch these teams.
The SEC also has CBS locked up for 14 years 825 million.
Espn will be broadcasting the SEC into 58% of the country on just the regional games and killing the other conference time slots.
Notre Dame has NBC.
That leaves only ABC, which already shows the Pac 10, Big 10 and Big 12.
Slim choices when you consider the West Coast still does not clamour watch football games on TV.
The whole thing was a effort to take back the media from the SEC, but only winning titles will do that.
j
1 comment:
I don't think I ever viewed it as anything but a money issue. These conferences now function like any large corporation, looking to maximize revenue and basically increase their shareholder (member schools) value.
Delaney, Slive, etc. function like CEO's and won't survive unless they bring revenue growth to their members. The strong attack the weak, and the weak look to form partnerships with the strong.
Nebraska does fit the Big 10 profile as a football school, and the brand will be useful to them. No doubt Nebraska hated the Texas centric attitude in the Big 12.
There is no mistaking that Texas is arrogant and as long as everyone courts them, it won't change. I for one like the idea of a major conference in the middle of the country instead of them ending up in the SEC or Pac 10. I have no real desire to see conferences any larger than what we have now. But now Scott & Delaney have their conference championship games to bring more revenue.
S
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