Pac12 defections?? Big10 gains??

[socalstroke]

How could you not like the Bay Area media market? It is the brands that are the problem. What are they willing to invest to be competitive? Maybe it is better for Cal and Stanford to face the music now. It is only a matter of time before the other Power conferences dissolve in favor of two super leagues, at which point they might get kicked to the curb anyways.

[fullmetal]

The Bay Area sports market is really, imo, dominated by professional teams, and unless Cal is doing well, I don't think there will be a groundswell of collegiate fervor there.

[FullSend]

How could you not like the Bay Area media market? It is the brands that are the problem. What are they willing to invest to be competitive? Maybe it is better for Cal and Stanford to face the music now. It is only a matter of time before the other Power conferences dissolve in favor of two super leagues, at which point they might get kicked to the curb anyways.

Owners themselves in the Bay Area don't seem to like the market (As trying to leave, Raiders left twice, there were rumors GSW might have moved before they hit on Steph and Draymond and blew up).

I think it's wildly unfair to the fans there, but it certainly seems like there are a ton of sports fans but something doesn't translate to actual revenues (if I had to guess I would say corporate types drive up prices without actually engaging much. They built stadiums in strange spots that are difficult for fans to get to, etc.

[socalstroke]

What does that have to do with the media market? All three Oakland franchises left because of stadium financing/location.

[Slim]

So far the rumors are a merger with the Mountain West, Stanford going independent, the B1G potentially bringing Stanford and Cal on at a cut cut rate, and the Big12 adding Oregon State and SDSU.

In the meantime: https://pac-4.com/

[eightsaresuperior]

How could you not like the Bay Area media market? It is the brands that are the problem. What are they willing to invest to be competitive? Maybe it is better for Cal and Stanford to face the music now. It is only a matter of time before the other Power conferences dissolve in favor of two super leagues, at which point they might get kicked to the curb anyways.

All collegiate athletics money is in football. There is no media market in the Bay area for Cal and Stanford... they can't even fill their stadiums halfway

[Remomex]

Also worth keeping an eye on what could happen with the ACC. FSU is on its way out and depending on how that happens maybe Clemson follows and from there the conference is hanging on by a thread.

Ironic through all this that the NCAA has no say/statement on any of it. In a few years we went from fining programs for athletes getting impermissible benefits in some cases worth a few hundred dollars to the entire landscape of college sports changing over hundreds of millions of dollars in media rights

[FullSend]

What does that have to do with the media market? All three Oakland franchises left because of stadium financing/location.

I'll put it differently, the Bay Area wasn't a top ten market for the Super Bowl when they played in it. It's not a particularly good media market for sports, and even less so for college football which is driving the whole situation.

https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2020/0 ... -bay-area/

I love the Bay Area, there are plenty of media consuming fans there, but it's not an overly desirable sports media market (especially for CFB). If it was that big of a deal, the Pac 12 wouldn't be dying or the Bay area schools would be poached already.

[oldman]

Also worth keeping an eye on what could happen with the ACC. FSU is on its way out and depending on how that happens maybe Clemson follows and from there the conference is hanging on by a thread.
...

They go and it leaves Virginia, Syracuse, Duke, Louisville, Notre Dame, Miami, Boston College, North Carolina .. unless someone else bolts. Am I misinformed?

[Slim]

Also worth keeping an eye on what could happen with the ACC. FSU is on its way out and depending on how that happens maybe Clemson follows and from there the conference is hanging on by a thread.
...

They go and it leaves Virginia, Syracuse, Duke, Louisville, Notre Dame, Miami, Boston College, North Carolina .. unless someone else bolts. Am I misinformed?

The ACC grant of rights is really tough to get out of. The ACC owns the broadcast rights to all the home games of its schools through 2036. So FSU is looking at a 52 million dollar exit fee and the value of those broadcast rights - so something in the neighborhood of $2-300m to get out of the ACC.

[Remomex]

Also worth keeping an eye on what could happen with the ACC. FSU is on its way out and depending on how that happens maybe Clemson follows and from there the conference is hanging on by a thread.
...

They go and it leaves Virginia, Syracuse, Duke, Louisville, Notre Dame, Miami, Boston College, North Carolina .. unless someone else bolts. Am I misinformed?

The ACC grant of rights is really tough to get out of. The ACC owns the broadcast rights to all the home games of its schools through 2036. So FSU is looking at a 52 million dollar exit fee and the value of those broadcast rights - so something in the neighborhood of $2-300m to get out of the ACC.

It's definitely much harder to get out of, but I think the writing is on the wall.

And to go back to the earlier reply - yeah it leaves a lot of schools, but as has already been mentioned, this is all about football and football revenue (media rights). Yeah UNC and Dook get you a little bit of basketball money, but that is dwarfed by college money and neither of those schools is a premier football program (as much money as UNC has tried to throw at its program). Miami is a shadow of its former self, Notre Dame is independent as far as football goes. The rest are inconsequential in the world of big money football.

It's only a matter of time until the Saudi PIF comes knocking.

Whether good or bad is a topic that can be debated ad nauseaum, but the entire landscape of college athletics has been fundamentally altered. It's been a joke for decades but maybe now we can truly get rid of the "student" part of the term "student athlete."

Anyway, the real losers in all this are the non-revenue generating sports. Cross-country trips week in and week out to play your opponents. You get nothing (save a few NIL deals) while your ADs make tens of millions.

Wouldn't surprise me to see another round of sport cutting in the next few years.

[oldman]

Losing cross-country trips week in and week out is a bad thing? We are talking rowing, yes? Am I on rowingillustrated or a 24-hour sports talk show (fooball, bazball, basket)? Virginia, Syracuse, and Duke rowing will survive.

[Remomex]

?? In a world where conferences lose all semblance of regionality (yes, I realize this has been a long time in the making), teams will have to travel further than before and more often than before. That means more time traveling, less time in class, less hometown fans traveling to see teams, fewer parents able to see their kids play.

Not sure how you read it in the completely opposite way.....

[SQUAREdown]

Epic road trips ahead for the ACC if they add Stanford and Cal. On the plus side that’s lots of frequent flier miles for coaches and athletes!

[fullmetal]

Time zone changes, travel days, missed class, less time for homework/papers/projects, time away from group projects, missed office hours, missed workouts: all that adds up.