(06-22-2012 11:32 AM)Knightsweat Wrote:  None of it matters because the big schools are going to get bigger, and get bigger paydays vs. the small, up and coming, schools that want to obtain the next level. The big 4 conferences are always going to protect themselves before they worry about college football as a whole. They're a collegiate mafia, and that's it. They've made sure that regardless of what any other school does, or where they move, they'll never be in the national championship discussion, by design.

They're already trying to position themselves into not having to play any of the so-called "small schools" even though many of us have larger enrollments and more fans than some of those in the "in-crowd". 9 game schedules, Big10/Pac12 scheduling agreement, etc. It pretty much makes me want to puke. The only "small schools" that are guaranteed games vs the big boys are the one's that don't have a snowball's chance in hell of winning.

ECU has a very good OOC slate thru 2018 I believe. It will be interesting to see what happens after that.

LOL. Small schools.....what a stuipid ******* term.

(06-22-2012 11:01 AM)blunderbuss Wrote:  

(06-22-2012 10:29 AM)attackfrog Wrote:  

(06-22-2012 10:23 AM)blunderbuss Wrote:  I didn't say it was likely. It's definately what our fans would want. Trust me, the majority of our fanbase doesn't want anything to do with Charlotte and ODU. If there were enough Eastern Indy's again it (Indy status) could work for ECU.

Heck--nothing would surprise me anymore. Houston had great success as an indy....I just dont see it as very viable these days unless you can get at least a BYU sized TV contract (6-12 million a year). I doubt many teams from the non-Big 4 could pull that off. Heck, alot of the teams IN the Big-4 probably couldnt do that.

It's like I said though, CUSA's TV deal is pretty much garbage anyway. If there's a way to swing Indy in the future we'd make up the difference in subsequent stadium expansion and ticket sales. A decent Indy schedule would be a lot better for us.

Like you said it's pretty much impossible today unless you're a certain group of schools.

Independence isn't limited to teams that can get ND's TV deal or even BYU's.

From the TV money perspective, the question is, can you make at least as much as an indy as you do in your current conference, and get the same or better TV exposure?

ECU or USM would find it easy to meet or beat their CUSA TV deal. The obstacle for them is finding an acceptable home for their other sports -- if they have as much trouble doing that as Boise is having now, it could discourage them.

What it might take to get the indy ball rolling is one or two high-profile "declarations of independence". If Texas or Oklahoma or Florida State went indy, fueled by a big stack of ESPN"s money, then several others might decide the time is right. A core of 8 to 10 indies would be enough to make their October and November football scheduling much easier.

(How about Louisville? They have enough juice on the basketball side of the Big East that they could ask the Big East to give them a "Notre Dame deal", if they wanted one.)

(06-22-2012 11:51 AM)blunderbuss Wrote:  

(06-22-2012 11:32 AM)Knightsweat Wrote:  None of it matters because the big schools are going to get bigger, and get bigger paydays vs. the small, up and coming, schools that want to obtain the next level. The big 4 conferences are always going to protect themselves before they worry about college football as a whole. They're a collegiate mafia, and that's it. They've made sure that regardless of what any other school does, or where they move, they'll never be in the national championship discussion, by design.

They're already trying to position themselves into not having to play any of the so-called "small schools" even though many of us have larger enrollments and more fans than some of those in the "in-crowd". 9 game schedules, Big10/Pac12 scheduling agreement, etc. It pretty much makes me want to puke. The only "small schools" that are guaranteed games vs the big boys are the one's that don't have a snowball's chance in hell of winning.

ECU has a very good OOC slate thru 2018 I believe. It will be interesting to see what happens after that.

I think I would say ECU is scheduled to have a very good OOC slate thru 2018.

We're seeing a LOT of buyouts of good OOC games. I think this trend will continue for a while as conferences move more and more to 9 game schedules.....

(06-22-2012 11:53 AM)Wedge Wrote:  

(06-22-2012 11:01 AM)blunderbuss Wrote:  

(06-22-2012 10:29 AM)attackfrog Wrote:  

(06-22-2012 10:23 AM)blunderbuss Wrote:  I didn't say it was likely. It's definately what our fans would want. Trust me, the majority of our fanbase doesn't want anything to do with Charlotte and ODU. If there were enough Eastern Indy's again it (Indy status) could work for ECU.

Heck--nothing would surprise me anymore. Houston had great success as an indy....I just dont see it as very viable these days unless you can get at least a BYU sized TV contract (6-12 million a year). I doubt many teams from the non-Big 4 could pull that off. Heck, alot of the teams IN the Big-4 probably couldnt do that.

It's like I said though, CUSA's TV deal is pretty much garbage anyway. If there's a way to swing Indy in the future we'd make up the difference in subsequent stadium expansion and ticket sales. A decent Indy schedule would be a lot better for us.

Like you said it's pretty much impossible today unless you're a certain group of schools.

Independence isn't limited to teams that can get ND's TV deal or even BYU's.

From the TV money perspective, the question is, can you make at least as much as an indy as you do in your current conference, and get the same or better TV exposure?

ECU or USM would find it easy to meet or beat their CUSA TV deal. The obstacle for them is finding an acceptable home for their other sports -- if they have as much trouble doing that as Boise is having now, it could discourage them.

What it might take to get the indy ball rolling is one or two high-profile "declarations of independence". If Texas or Oklahoma or Florida State went indy, fueled by a big stack of ESPN"s money, then several others might decide the time is right. A core of 8 to 10 indies would be enough to make their October and November football scheduling much easier.

(How about Louisville? They have enough juice on the basketball side of the Big East that they could ask the Big East to give them a "Notre Dame deal", if they wanted one.)

CAA would take ECU's other sports in a heartbeat. I'd be interested if we could swing a TV deal with MASN. Right now our local NBC affiliate gets our 3rd tier games.

(06-21-2012 02:14 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(06-21-2012 12:39 PM)Wedge Wrote:  The playoff still doesn't offer enough money to be as important to conferences as TV rights. Not even close.

Once the SEC renegotiates and the PTN and BTN get up to full subscriber and advertising levels, those three leagues will be giving each member more than $30 million a year in TV money. The playoff, based on the projections reported in the media, will only deliver, at most, about $2 million a year to each SEC school and less to everyone else, or less to everyone including the SEC if they decide on a more even split.

If the playoff offers good access to football indys, and if ESPN or other networks are willing to shell out good money to big-name programs who make the leap to independence... that might be the next wave. Once you get a critical mass of indys, say at least 8 to 10 of them, then football scheduling becomes easier for them.

Agreed. I don't think the playoff will matter that much regarding realignment. Regular season TV dollars are where the power conferences really make their money.

Actually, for many schools, don't booster contributions dwarf tv revenue?

(06-22-2012 11:59 AM)DeacKillsaDevil Wrote:  

(06-21-2012 02:14 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(06-21-2012 12:39 PM)Wedge Wrote:  The playoff still doesn't offer enough money to be as important to conferences as TV rights. Not even close.

Once the SEC renegotiates and the PTN and BTN get up to full subscriber and advertising levels, those three leagues will be giving each member more than $30 million a year in TV money. The playoff, based on the projections reported in the media, will only deliver, at most, about $2 million a year to each SEC school and less to everyone else, or less to everyone including the SEC if they decide on a more even split.

If the playoff offers good access to football indys, and if ESPN or other networks are willing to shell out good money to big-name programs who make the leap to independence... that might be the next wave. Once you get a critical mass of indys, say at least 8 to 10 of them, then football scheduling becomes easier for them.

Agreed. I don't think the playoff will matter that much regarding realignment. Regular season TV dollars are where the power conferences really make their money.

Actually, for many schools, don't booster contributions dwarf tv revenue?

It used to be that way.

In 2009-2010, Florida got $39 million in contributions. Assuming that stays flat, it will take a while for the tv contracts to catch up.

it'd be interestign to see that number a year later, after Tebow had left....

It is true that Emmert said recently he thought another round of realignment would be triggered, after the playoff format and revenue distribution model were finalized.

But so far, I haven't seen anything proposed that will make a difference to realignment. I think Emmert made an assumption that a conference champ requirement might force some movement, but they don't seem to be moving in that direction.

Maybe he also thought some process would force movement to the 4 big conferences, but that doesn't seem to be happening, either.

(06-22-2012 12:06 PM)DeacKillsaDevil Wrote:  In 2009-2010, Florida got $39 million in contributions. Assuming that stays flat, it will take a while for the tv contracts to catch up.

You asked about MOST schools, not Florida. At this point TV deals trump MOST schools booster contributions. I'd be willing to bet that statement holds true for MOST of the "Big 5" conference schools.

UVA - 34 million
Texas - 37 million
South Carolina - 24 million
Oregon - 73.8 million Although they only got 17.9 the year before
Bama - 33.7 million
FSU - 23 million
Iowa - 26.7 million
Kentucky - 13.1 million

(06-22-2012 12:09 PM)TripleA Wrote:  It is true that Emmert said recently he thought another round of realignment would be triggered, after the playoff format and revenue distribution model were finalized.

But so far, I haven't seen anything proposed that will make a difference to realignment. I think Emmert made an assumption that a conference champ requirement might force some movement, but they don't seem to be moving in that direction.

Maybe he also thought some process would force movement to the 4 big conferences, but that doesn't seem to be happening, either.

I am beginning to think that what has happened may effect some moves that were expected to happen and that may trigger some movement.

I realize that a lot of the programs that have moved know they are never going to be real players and are simply trying to position their programs to make as much money as possible, and that makes since.

The real impact of what has happened will be its effect on the thinking of the ‘power programs’ that the college football world really revolves around. I think they will begin to be proactive in doing whatever they can to insure that they have the easiest path possible to the playoffs. Texas has had that mindset from the get-go.