(12-10-2014 08:51 AM)He1nousOne Wrote: (12-10-2014 08:47 AM)goodknightfl Wrote: Frank has reasonable opinions, but that is all they are. If the B12 decides to grow, it is unlikely to happen for another couple of years. Ride the $$ for now.
If they expand they most likely add only 2. The only way 4 makes sense is if they get a B12 network together, then they need inventory. They can make expansion to 12 work $$$ wise until next tv deal if they went in that direction. New schools would need to make in the $10 mil range until next deal, That would be a huge raise for those schools. If they could get over 20 mil plus for champ game they already break even, or make $$$. Immediate image, long term upside, and Market size are huge.
Travel while important, is less important. Once you are on a plane, you are on a plane. ease of flying in may be small part of the equation.
It's not about how long it takes to fly.
Look at some of these West Coast games how late they are happening.
So lets say your team plays in an 8 pm start time game. You play till 10 pm. You don't get on a plane till 11 pm. You fly for two hours and land at 1 am. Oh wait...you flew two time zones east to get home. You don't get home till 3 am.
The time zones can really mess you up.
3:00 AM is no exaggeration and actually under-estimates. You aren't getting a team on an airplane one hour after the final horn. AState is an hour from Memphis International when we were in the Big West for football 6:00 am arrivals at the football complex weren't unheard of for games kicking at 6pm Pacific.
I don't know what the current agreement is but the last time Idaho was in the Sun Belt, they had a 2:05 PM Pacific time curfew. They could not kickoff a conference game later than that.
The other item overlooked is you need helmets, pads, shoes, and jerseys. Not many schools can afford to fly that gear as cargo. They take it by tractor-trailer.
Remember the gross pic that went around a few years ago of the Boise State equipment truck? They hit a cow enroute to Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Boise is among the strong G5 financially and they trucked their gear.
Let's take an easy trip. Austin to the Rose Bowl Stadium to play UCLA. We will assume it is the 3:30 Eastern ABC game. We will assume Texas does the Friday night walk-through without gear. Equipment truck needs to be at the Rose Bowl Stadium at least five hours before kick to allow for any minor problems. That's 7:30 AM game site time. The equipment truck would have to roll out of Austin at 1:30 PM Friday assuming no stops longer than diesel, bathroom and meal and no cushion if there is any significant problem.
Now assume Texas is playing at Oregon. Equipment truck has to leave at 1:30 AM on Friday to get the same arrival time and you are assuming you don't get bogged in traffic in Phoenix, LA or Sacramento doing that. You can route up via Salt Lake but then you are running your truck over higher mountain passes and running a slightly higher chance you get a weather problem crossing the mountains further north at higher elevations.
The idea that you just hop on a plane and poof you step off a plane in a few hours ignores the real logistics involved in moving a team from point A to point B.