Why did Nbe invitees and Arseco ignore known data?
The tv audience and tv dollars were basically known from the git go. This Navy provision was not an overnight thing; my guess is Navy put that in from the git go....based on their review of known data. Regarding Navy, my guess is their acceptance is based (or their continued membership in Nbe) on absolutely NO week nite games.
It seems to me that the Nbe has gone exactly backwards in pursuing the tv contract. What should have been done is to make a proposal of so many teams with so many divisions across so many sections of this country. Then take the proposal to tv to bid on. If the results were unsatisfactory, the tweak, add, delete, whatver, to get issues resolved. And then take the proposal back to tv. If no acceptable tv contract is obtained, then don't go thru all the turmoil and wasted time and energy to form a conference that, in the words of Darrell Royal, this dog won't hunt.
What has happened is the exact reverse. A conference was formed, many schools made drastic changes, and all this was done without a known tv contract. My view is that hopes caused many people to ignore reality with one exception, Navy.
The Nbe tv contract forever documents the total failure of Nbe. Supposedly, the worst schools were dropped (Tulsa, Marshall, UAB, Rice, UTEP) and four outstanding schools were added (UConn, Cincy, Temple, and Navy). Yet, for the Nbe invitees, their payout per school increased only marginally, from $1.2M to $1.8M or whatever, a very marginal increase.
A very marginal increase despite the fact that many week nite games are agreed to be telecast and despite the fact that the whole inventory of Nbe games are telecast....Nbe is getting practically nothing in return for all this new televised inventory now available to ESPN.
Nbe keep, keep, keep coming up with excuses. ESPiN is screwing us!!! It is an ESPiN conspiracy!!! How many times have we heard that? Yet, once C7 separated, FOX immediately put a $3M per C7 school offer on the table with oooodles of tv telelcasts. Folks, what is the REAL signficance of this action by C7, that is, to withdraw from Nbe? The C7 schools KNEW the KNOWN tv data, just like Navy.
Nbe fans will counter and say look at the great exposure? Really? The exposure is due primarily to the new tv platforms and technologies now available, which has really benefitted the NonAQ world. The increase in exposure touted by Nbe is not due to the "power," of old and new elite Nbe schools; but rather to the new technologies and platforms. ESPN needs "filler" games for its less viewed sports channels.
If Nbe expansion never occurred, my guess is CUSA would probably have ended up with about the same contract in terms of exposure and probably also boosted its payout. When CUSA renegotiates its contract in a few years, CUSA will probably end up with a tv contract that looks pretty much like Nbe. FOX and CBS...and NBC will all be there.
Nbe not only ignored known data (while Navy and C7 didn't), but Nbe also ignored the realities of the BCS conferences putting just about every one of their conference games on tv. This really increases the competition, especially for the casual tv viewer, the bread and butter audience for NonAQ teams and conferences.
A few other comments. Fresno State fills its football stadium on Saturdays but Fresno's tv audience does not seem to extend beyond the city limits. It appears to me that this is a similar situation for ECU, USF, and UCF. Their tv appeal is not the statewide appeal of a UF or FSU.
I see the Houston U boyz are back at it again, touting themselves as one of the elite 4. Really? The way I view Houston is the most failed IA football program in the USA. By any measure whatsoever, Houston should be in B12. But it isn't. Houston U administration, alumni, and fans were asleep at the switch. Here we are! A big university! A big town! A big football crazy state! SEC and B12, leave your invitations on our doorstep and we will get back to you in due time.
The significance of the Nbe expansion is that, like Houston U, the NonAQ Nbe was also asleep at the switch.....while BCS put in an expanded playoff and pushed the NonAQ teams and conferences further down and out.
Remember how Nbe fans and Arseco were touting a "special" bowl to be set up by BCS especially for Nbe? And Nbe, with that "special" bowl of its own, would be amongst the Big 5? The reality is this: Good-bye Champs Bowl, good-by Charlotte Bowl, and adios Pinstrible Bowl.
What was need at the git go was a coordinated and cooperative effort by the NonAQs to fight off BCS and do this battle in the arena of public opinion, the only hope for NonAQs to make any dent in opening up a better situation in the larger bowls and playoff.
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