Big 12 in position to poach Pac 12 schools?

[CountryFrog]

not defending Kliavkoff or the Pac-12 at all, they screwed this up ten ways til Sunday but after reading the Apple deal I was very intrigued by its potential and could have been a better deal then the B12 in the long term.

There were no subs to sell for Pac-12 Network it followed the traditional linear network and relied on cable and satellite carriage for its revenue. You can not buy a Pac-12 network subscription as a stand along option. Larry Scott really screwed up two things…he stupidly agreed to a favored nation clause in his deal with the top cable companies which effectively prevented them from being on DirecTV and he stupidly agreed to a 12 year deal instead of a six year deal which put the conference in an awful situation financially for the final half of the contract.

It doesn't sound like you understand what the PAC 12 Network was. There was an umbrella network that I believe did what you're describing. But then there were regional networks in each of the PAC states which were to be sold as team centric for those regions and were subbed out. And nobody wanted it.

Also, as far as the carriage thing goes, what you're describing is exactly what the SEC and BIG networks do and they're both thriving. You know why? Because there is significant demand for those and people will push their cable/sat provider to add them to their sports package or switch to another provider who does carry them. The PAC didn't have that kind of demand, though.

So you can slice it however you want to on all these different options but the fact remains there was no real demand by people to pay for PAC games. It's why the Apple deal was a no go for everyone in the conference except the two schools who had no other options whatsoever and why the conference fell apart.

They would've struggled mightily to get 1 million subscribers and they all knew that.

 

[CountryFrog]

I will say it's mellowed ever so slightly without Briles there, but yeah this is correct. Sic semper Baylor.

I'm sure I'm in the minority here but I've almost completely lost all Baylor hate post-Briles. The hate didn't all leave at once with him, but it has slowly and continually faded year after year. And now with Aranda I just can't hardly muster any hate for them at all outside of the 3.5 hours that we play them each year.

Their fans are obviously super dorky but I almost feel sorry for them at this point with how the Frogs have owned them for so many years now. ALMOST feel sorry.

 

[Fred Garvin]

Norte Dame is peddling Cal and Stanford out there to the ACC. LOL. not sitting well, since it’s ND telling other schools to join a conference.

SMU Successful Negotiations:

SMU - Taking nothing for media fees for 7 years doesn't get us in the ACC?
ACC - Correct
SMU - What if we agree to no payments through 2036?
ACC - No
SMU - How about we pay you $5MM a year and take no media fees?
ACC - No
SMU - $10MM a year?
ACC - Make it $20MM a year, pay all of it up front and we have a deal
SMU - Done!
ACC - We welcome your money to the conference
SMU - The joke's on you. We would have paid $50MM a year
ACC - The joke's on you. We won't be a conference by the time you start playing our teams.

 

[Limey Frog]

This ACC just seems incoherent and desperate. Same as when SDSU and SMU were clamoring to be in the Pac: it's a pathetic Band-aid on a gaping wound. By the time you're asking "is SMU the solution to our problems?" the answer is already "there is not a good solution to your problems".

 

[82 Frog Fever]

SMU Successful Negotiations:

SMU - Taking nothing for media fees for 7 years doesn't get us in the ACC?
ACC - Correct
SMU - What if we agree to no payments through 2036?
ACC - No
SMU - How about we pay you $5MM a year and take no media fees?
ACC - No
SMU - $10MM a year?
ACC - Make it $20MM a year, pay all of it up front and we have a deal
SMU - Done!
ACC - We welcome your money to the conference
SMU - The joke's on you. We would have paid $50MM a year
ACC - The joke's on you. We won't be a conference by the time you start playing our teams.

Deriving pleasure from one’s own pain and suffering.
Sounds a little like Sado Masochism University.

 

[dawg]

Mannnnn, you are in your own reality if you’re really thinking the PAC had a chance with the Apple deal.

MLS just brought in arguably the greatest soccer player to ever play the game and STILL, by most recent accounts I believe, hasn’t gotten to a million subs. That’s one of the fastest growing sports in the states, with possibly the greatest player of all time in its league, and they’re not seeing much movement.

You’re telling me that the PAC, which has struggled for relevancy the last decade anyway, would suddenly increase its viability, popularity, and legitimacy by moving to Apple….the same company that couldn’t even figure out its own audio issues for Messi’s reveal….?

100%. IIRC Apple added over 500K subs since Messi joined, and I’d also wager a fair number of those are international Messi fans and/or Barça/Argentina supporters. And they still haven’t crossed 1m. PAC wasn’t getting anywhere near Apple’s targets.

 

[cheese83]

100%. IIRC Apple added over 500K subs since Messi joined, and I’d also wager a fair number of those are international Messi fans and/or Barça/Argentina supporters. And they still haven’t crossed 1m. PAC wasn’t getting anywhere near Apple’s targets.

Wonder how many of those are free T-Mobile subs? If you have a T-Mobile plan you get the MLS package for one year free.

 

[tcudoc]

Wonder how many of those are free T-Mobile subs? If you have a T-Mobile plan you get the MLS package for one year free.

Then you spend 6 months trying to talk to a human so you can cancel it...

 

[Purp]

So it is really just your opinion, not anyone else's. Regardless of other issues discussed or the fact that the SEC and B1G tried and are leaving divisions. Got it.




So only those that won count and not the possibility of them winning since obviously there would be no upsets in a CCG. Kind of like no unranked teams picked 7th in their conference would ever make the CFP title game.

With a quick glance from a couple years of teams that could have had an upset while being notably lower than other conference champions in the rankings.

2022: 8-4 Purdue made the B1G title game

2018: 7-5 Pitt made the ACC title game

2016: 8-3 Florida made the SEC title game

2015: 8-4 USC made the Pac title game

I'm not sure why this matters. The 12 team playoff will open up slots for a tOSU or whomever else who may lose in a CCG to a lesser opponent. All we've wanted since the BcS was created (and even before with multiple arbitrary polls anointing their own national champions) is a TRUE champion. We aren't really worried about the best team being the champion at the end of the season. The best teams lose championships to lesser teams all the time. That's why we play the games.

The 12 team playoff makes all of these points moot. Say Georgia, tOSU, Clemson, and TCU are the best teams in their respective conferences and all lose in the CCG to a 7-5 or 8-4 team. All 4 CCG winners will get into the playoff and so will those other 4 CCG losers and there'll still be room for the next best 4 to join them. That will make for a really riveting playoff and allow for the team playing best at the end of the season to make an improbably run.

So to divisions or pods or whatever other configuration people come up with, I say, "Who cares?!?!?!" The best teams with a chance to win a national title will still be in the playoff and we'll have even better post-season theater than we'd usually expect.

 

[82 Frog Fever]

I'm not sure why this matters. The 12 team playoff will open up slots for a tOSU or whomever else who may lose in a CCG to a lesser opponent. All we've wanted since the BcS was created (and even before with multiple arbitrary polls anointing their own national champions) is a TRUE champion. We aren't really worried about the best team being the champion at the end of the season. The best teams lose championships to lesser teams all the time. That's why we play the games.

The 12 team playoff makes all of these points moot. Say Georgia, tOSU, Clemson, and TCU are the best teams in their respective conferences and all lose in the CCG to a 7-5 or 8-4 team. All 4 CCG winners will get into the playoff and so will those other 4 CCG losers and there'll still be room for the next best 4 to join them. That will make for a really riveting playoff and allow for the team playing best at the end of the season to make an improbably run.

So to divisions or pods or whatever other configuration people come up with, I say, "Who cares?!?!?!" The best teams with a chance to win a national title will still be in the playoff and we'll have even better post-season theater than we'd usually expect.

3 each SEC & BIG, 2 each B12 & ACC, 1 Group, 1 Wildcard sounds way too easy.

I hear there is a move being proposed by the SEC & B1G to move to the top 12 ranked teams, which would give them a chance for 4.

 

[Eight]

Then you spend 6 months trying to talk to a human so you can cancel it...

wait, you tried to cancel your subscription with gil as well?

 

[Purp]

Am I not remembering correctly or does the ACC GoR not have a loophole where Clemson and FSU (and others) could leave if the conference added new members? It seems like the last round of speculation after USC and UCLA bolted to the B1G revealed that the only way Clemson or FSU would leave early was if the ACC voted to add programs changing the make-up of the membership structure or something like 50% of the members all decided to leave at once nullifying the GoR. Those who would know please clarify my memory for me.

 

[Hemingway]

Am I not remembering correctly or does the ACC GoR not have a loophole where Clemson and FSU (and others) could leave if the conference added new members? It seems like the last round of speculation after USC and UCLA bolted to the B1G revealed that the only way Clemson or FSU would leave early was if the ACC voted to add programs changing the make-up of the membership structure or something like 50% of the members all decided to leave at once nullifying the GoR. Those who would know please clarify my memory for me.

Where would they go? ESPN and Fox are tapped out for this cycle

 

[Purp]

Do you really think people are going to switch from the Apple app to the ESPN app to the Fox app on their TVs every time they want to check in on a game? It’s technology going backwards. They can just switch channels now in microseconds and keep up with multiple games, and DVRs give it even greater flexibility. I hate it when we have games on ESPN+ already, and those are the games I’m least likely to channel surf during.

I think they are grossly miscalculating how people watch cfb if they think streaming is the future.

I'm just adding TVs in the living room to solve the streaming problem. I'll just move the wife's decorations over to make room for the tailgate TV when there's a streaming game I need to watch.

 

[Limey Frog]

Am I not remembering correctly or does the ACC GoR not have a loophole where Clemson and FSU (and others) could leave if the conference added new members? It seems like the last round of speculation after USC and UCLA bolted to the B1G revealed that the only way Clemson or FSU would leave early was if the ACC voted to add programs changing the make-up of the membership structure or something like 50% of the members all decided to leave at once nullifying the GoR. Those who would know please clarify my memory for me.

It's not that there's a loophole as such, but some have speculated that new membership not approved by the schools who bolted might be cited in court as grounds for nullifying the contract. That seems as dubious an argument as any of the others they might try, but it's possible that the fear of pushing them to try it might keep other members from approving new members.

 

[Planks]

I'm not sure why this matters. The 12 team playoff will open up slots for a tOSU or whomever else who may lose in a CCG to a lesser opponent. All we've wanted since the BcS was created (and even before with multiple arbitrary polls anointing their own national champions) is a TRUE champion. We aren't really worried about the best team being the champion at the end of the season. The best teams lose championships to lesser teams all the time. That's why we play the games.

The 12 team playoff makes all of these points moot. Say Georgia, tOSU, Clemson, and TCU are the best teams in their respective conferences and all lose in the CCG to a 7-5 or 8-4 team. All 4 CCG winners will get into the playoff and so will those other 4 CCG losers and there'll still be room for the next best 4 to join them. That will make for a really riveting playoff and allow for the team playing best at the end of the season to make an improbably run.

So to divisions or pods or whatever other configuration people come up with, I say, "Who cares?!?!?!" The best teams with a chance to win a national title will still be in the playoff and we'll have even better post-season theater than we'd usually expect.

1) As the 12 team playoff is currently configured, only the top four conference champions are eligible for a bye in the playoff. If we have an 8-4 school from a bad division pulling an upset and winning the Big 12 championship, there is a fairly good chance a G5 champion, such as an 11-1 Boise State or Tulane or someone, surpasses the Big 12 champion and grabs one of the four byes that otherwise would have gone to the Big 12.

2) The biggest problem with divisions with a conference this large is that you basically never get to play schools from the other division. Two eight team divisions with a nine game conference schedule means that there would be schools that would only come to Fort Worth once every eight years. Might as well just be two separate conferences at that point.

 

[Brog]

I'm just adding TVs in the living room to solve the streaming problem. I'll just move the wife's decorations over to make room for the tailgate TV when there's a streaming game I need to watch.

And some of us will be opening up our guest room to make room for you after you "move the wife's decorations over...).

 

[Purp]

Where would they go? ESPN and Fox are tapped out for this cycle

If the ACC breaks up so does the TV contract. ESPN would continue to broadcast the same teams under a different banner. Just shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic.

 

[Purp]

And some of us will be opening up our guest room to make room for you after you "move the wife's decorations over...).

I'll put them all back when the games are over.

 

[Eight]

If the ACC breaks up so does the TV contract. ESPN would continue to broadcast the same teams under a different banner. Just shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic.