• The KillerFrogs

CBS Sports: College Football 2.0: Who gets left behind as realignment, new leadership, player empowerment reshape game?

LVH

Active Member
It's hard for me to reconcile declining viewership with the fact that the money just seems to keep growing and growing and growing.

Not long ago at all $30-40M per school was a windfall. A short time later they are talking $100M per with these latest contract talks. How is this possible?
Sponsorships can help offset traditional spot TV ads and declining ratings therein.

Think about how much Dr. Pepper pays to be the official soft drink of the College Football Playoff...
 

PurplFrawg

Administrator
It's hard for me to reconcile declining viewership with the fact that the money just seems to keep growing and growing and growing.

Not long ago at all $30-40M per school was a windfall. A short time later they are talking $100M per with these latest contract talks. How is this possible?
Lots of competing ad money from Progressive, Liberty Mutual, USAA, Farmers', et al? and the big Pharma companies...
 

BrewingFrog

Was I supposed to type something here?
It's hard for me to reconcile declining viewership with the fact that the money just seems to keep growing and growing and growing.

Not long ago at all $30-40M per school was a windfall. A short time later they are talking $100M per with these latest contract talks. How is this possible?
Because Media income streams spring from many sources, and "ratings" are only one of them.
 

Wexahu

Full Member
Sponsorships can help offset traditional spot TV ads and declining ratings therein.

Think about how much Dr. Pepper pays to be the official soft drink of the College Football Playoff...
But theoretically Dr. Pepper would pay less and less every year if viewership was going down.

It just doesn't make sense to me. It's like sports are immune from normal market dynamics.
 

Zubaz

Member
It's hard for me to reconcile declining viewership with the fact that the money just seems to keep growing and growing and growing.

Not long ago at all $30-40M per school was a windfall. A short time later they are talking $100M per with these latest contract talks. How is this possible?
Because while ratings might be falling slightly, but it's more stable than just about any other television property. Live sports is comparatively way more valuable now because other television shows (talk shows, sitcoms, dramas, television movies, etc.) have all cratered in terms of live viewership. It's one of the few things people still watch live, so it's one of the few things they can actually sell to advertisers that won't either be skipped by DVR or just streamed sometime later.
 

BrewingFrog

Was I supposed to type something here?
But theoretically Dr. Pepper would pay less and less every year if viewership was going down.

It just doesn't make sense to me. It's like sports are immune from normal market dynamics.
What price they pay has to do with how many are bidding, and what the others are willing to pay. As to normal market dynamics, there are so many facets to that we cannot even imagine.
 

westoverhillbilly

Active Member
I made a living for 30+ years selling assets from bubbles that popped (i.e. 80’s real estate bust, 2008 mortgage crisis). An old sage bankruptcy atty once told wherever there’s a big boom there’s going to be a bust.

This CFB spending acceleration has some key characteristics of a bubble that will pop someday not too far in the future. If/when this occurs, we may see a return to a product resembling what we have now, but pay for play is here to stay.
 

Peacefrog

Degenerate
I made a living for 30+ years selling assets from bubbles that popped (i.e. 80’s real estate bust, 2008 mortgage crisis). An old sage bankruptcy atty once told wherever there’s a big boom there’s going to be a bust.

This CFB spending acceleration has some key characteristics of a bubble that will pop someday not too far in the future. If/when this occurs, we may see a return to a product resembling what we have now, but pay for play is here to stay.
I made a brief living buying assets right before the bubble popped.
 

Bizarro Frog

Active Member
It’s in the best interests of the surviving Power conferences to reign in the NIL. I would imagine they will set rules and govern them to keep crazy hold out scenarios and signing bonuses under control. It’s not a sustainable model right now.
 

FrogAbroad

Full Member
The numbers are dropping, and have been. Further consolidation, abandonment of traditional rivalries, alienation of fanbases; All these result in the dwindling viewership seen of late. As has been noted, the Networks are less and less concerned with actual viewers, preferring carriage fees and other legal tricks to catering to their viewing base. It may be a success in the short term, but it won't last forever. And once those core viewers are gone, they're gone forever.
I believe "...success in the short term..." is sufficient motivation for lots of the persons and entities involved. Today's success puts wealth in some powerful pockets and potentially opens doors for the next opportunity to cash in big-time. You, know...something that resembles the Fox & Gekko ploy.
 
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