USC and UCLA to the Big Ten by 2024?

[sju88grad]

All of this makes me sad for the future of college athletics….I know this is driven by football but how do you have a basketball conference tournament when there are 20-24 schools in a conference? Even looking at the football side, what’s the point of sharing a conference with a school that you may play only once every few years? (I know the answer is money but it’s just depressing).

[GoldenWarrior11]

All of this makes me sad for the future of college athletics….I know this is driven by football but how do you have a basketball conference tournament when there are 20-24 schools in a conference? Even looking at the football side, what’s the point of sharing a conference with a school that you may play only once every few years? (I know the answer is money but it’s just depressing).

Not our problem. Even when we expand, we aren't going beyond 18 schools again.

[Django]

Did someone forget to tell UCLA that B1G teams don’t advance past the first weekend? I guess they chose mediocre football over ever getting back to the S16

[DeltaV]

Huh. Did not see this coming. Always thought that distance would keep the PAC12 from being the first to implode...now I guess we see if they raid the Big12 to survive, or the SEC comes hunting as well.

I guess timing is everything, when it comes to those TV rights.

If the PAC isn't immune, and has FOX driving the bus, neither is the ACC. Like has been said, those northeastern schools are probably in trouble, but would they drop football? I still think there will be enough football playing former ACC/Old Big East schools that they'll make another AAC type conference. If I were them, I wouldn't start making my march travel plans to Madison Square Garden just yet.

[butlerguy03]

All of this makes me sad for the future of college athletics….I know this is driven by football but how do you have a basketball conference tournament when there are 20-24 schools in a conference? Even looking at the football side, what’s the point of sharing a conference with a school that you may play only once every few years? (I know the answer is money but it’s just depressing).

The NFL will decide if college football lives. College football went after high school Friday nights, why won't the NFL go after Saturday afternoons?

NFL could have half of their teams on national TV each week:
2 at 1, 4, and 7pm eastern Saturday and Sunday, Thursday at 8, Monday at 8. That's 16 teams. That would KILL college football and, eventually, modern college athletics.

[Xudash]

All of this makes me sad for the future of college athletics….I know this is driven by football but how do you have a basketball conference tournament when there are 20-24 schools in a conference? Even looking at the football side, what’s the point of sharing a conference with a school that you may play only once every few years? (I know the answer is money but it’s just depressing).

The NFL will decide if college football lives. College football went after high school Friday nights, why won't the NFL go after Saturday afternoons?

NFL could have half of their teams on national TV each week:
2 at 1, 4, and 7pm eastern Saturday and Sunday, Thursday at 8, Monday at 8. That's 16 teams. That would KILL college football and, eventually, modern college athletics.

I certainly do not have data to support my conclusion, but I have to imagine that there are millions of football fans who only care about college football and who could care less about pro football. I’m not sure your statement is correct. Besides, that would be a very big, toxic PR mistake by the NFL to do something like that.

[kayako]

I certainly do not have data to support my conclusion, but I have to imagine that there are millions of football fans who only care about college football and who could care less about pro football. I’m not sure your statement is correct. Besides, that would be a very big, toxic PR mistake by the NFL to do something like that.

Worst case, maybe CFB is reduced to the South and the Midwest.

[butlerguy03]

I certainly do not have data to support my conclusion, but I have to imagine that there are millions of football fans who only care about college football and who could care less about pro football. I’m not sure your statement is correct. Besides, that would be a very big, toxic PR mistake by the NFL to do something like that.

Worst case, maybe CFB is reduced to the South and the Midwest.

Things can change quickly. All it takes is bad PR and one generation.

No one would have thought in 1995 that NASCAR and IndyCar would be essentially relegated back to niche sports. Cigarette money and alcohol money disappeared, and so did the advertising. Both series made critical mistakes and alienated the casual fan. Then, both made mistakes in race locations, and now NASCAR is essentially southern again, and IndyCar is midwestern and California. Both opened the door for a competitively worse euro version to make up ground in the US (F1).

It took 1 generation to go from sell outs and highly public to niche. Football, and especially college sports, are starting to turn people away. My son is 13 and cares about college sports about 10% of what I did.

[Xudash]

I certainly do not have data to support my conclusion, but I have to imagine that there are millions of football fans who only care about college football and who could care less about pro football. I’m not sure your statement is correct. Besides, that would be a very big, toxic PR mistake by the NFL to do something like that.

Worst case, maybe CFB is reduced to the South and the Midwest.

Things can change quickly. All it takes is bad PR and one generation.

No one would have thought in 1995 that NASCAR and IndyCar would be essentially relegated back to niche sports. Cigarette money and alcohol money disappeared, and so did the advertising. Both series made critical mistakes and alienated the casual fan. Then, both made mistakes in race locations, and now NASCAR is essentially southern again, and IndyCar is midwestern and California. Both opened the door for a competitively worse euro version to make up ground in the US (F1).

It took 1 generation to go from sell outs and highly public to niche. Football, and especially college sports, are starting to turn people away. My son is 13 and cares about college sports about 10% of what I did.

Fair point. A cursory peak at a few "at risk program" fan boards (e.g. Syracuse, Boston College, Wake, Pitt) contain posts stating they'll walk away from watching college football if it consolidates into 2 behemoth conferences. Other fans may feel the same way.

Kayako makes a good point though: college football in the Southeast is very much a protected thing. Trust me - I live in the middle of it here. Same holds true for the midwest, given the B1G's presence there.

Back to your point, though. No sport is ever fully protected from bad decisions in the front office(s). It seems to me that baseball certainly doesn't have the standing it used to enjoy. Its business model with respect to revenue is certainly a problem. While the NFL has balance, in particular with its media agreements, making even smaller MSA market franchises capable of being competitive, baseball screwed the pooch; it is very hard for smaller market teams to compete at a level that could bring World Series appearances.

The Cincinnati Reds franchise is the oldest professional baseball team in existence. Yet it now is competing against a professional soccer team in town that plays in its own shiny new stadium. The newish soccer team is outpacing Reds attendance in 2022. Go back in time and tell anyone who would listen in the mid-70's, with the Reds coming off back to back World Series wins, that the Reds would be in the back seat in the summer time to professional SOCCER in Cincinnati by the early 20's and you probably would have been laughed at rather vigorously.

[gtmoBlue]

Sooo. SC/UCLA to the B1G is the death knell to college football? The MLB/Nascar move to kill the sport?
Gee, thanks for the info guys. So Cincinnati soccer it is!