If this is indeed the case and they make a decision to add Gonzaga, I think you go for Memphis as well to counter further westward expansion by adding another east school and work with the ACC on scheduling for football with 17 teams and 18 teams in olympic sports for each conference. This could also be a case where it's adding Gonzaga for 17 olympic sports and stopping, but I think Yormark should work with the ACC for now and help both conferences out with reducing travel in their nationwide conferences and expanding conference exposure (Big 12 teams playing in ACC territory where there aren't Big 12 teams currently located and vise versa) at least until the next round of realignment. Maybe you get a shot at picking the remains of the ACC, maybe not and you get a partnership lasting decades, we shall see.

Yormark wants his basketball targets. He wants a separate media deal for basketball in 5-6 years. Gonzaga makes sense for that. I wonder if the presidents would be more willing to approve a Gonzaga (Yormark’s desire) because he was able to deliver the 4 corners which they all wanted?

(10-09-2023 06:30 AM)GoBuckeyes1047 Wrote:  

If this is indeed the case and they make a decision to add Gonzaga, I think you go for Memphis as well to counter further westward expansion by adding another east school and work with the ACC on scheduling for football with 17 teams and 18 teams in olympic sports for each conference. This could also be a case where it's adding Gonzaga for 17 olympic sports and stopping, but I think Yormark should work with the ACC for now and help both conferences out with reducing travel in their nationwide conferences and expanding conference exposure (Big 12 teams playing in ACC territory where there aren't Big 12 teams currently located and vise versa) at least until the next round of realignment. Maybe you get a shot at picking the remains of the ACC, maybe not and you get a partnership lasting decades, we shall see.

If Gonzaga and Memphis get unto the Big XII, then the WAC will be on the clock to grab Cal Baptist, Grand Canyon and Seattle. The same can be said for the AAC grabbing MTSU.

(10-09-2023 06:59 AM)BcatMatt13 Wrote:  Yormark wants his basketball targets. He wants a separate media deal for basketball in 5-6 years. Gonzaga makes sense for that. I wonder if the presidents would be more willing to approve a Gonzaga (Yormark’s desire) because he was able to deliver the 4 corners which they all wanted?

The presidents will have zero say in this as will Yormark himself, IMO. ESPN & Fox will ne making the call on this, IMO.

(10-09-2023 06:30 AM)GoBuckeyes1047 Wrote:  

If this is indeed the case and they make a decision to add Gonzaga, I think you go for Memphis as well to counter further westward expansion by adding another east school and work with the ACC on scheduling for football with 17 teams and 18 teams in olympic sports for each conference. This could also be a case where it's adding Gonzaga for 17 olympic sports and stopping, but I think Yormark should work with the ACC for now and help both conferences out with reducing travel in their nationwide conferences and expanding conference exposure (Big 12 teams playing in ACC territory where there aren't Big 12 teams currently located and vise versa) at least until the next round of realignment. Maybe you get a shot at picking the remains of the ACC, maybe not and you get a partnership lasting decades, we shall see.

Another thread solely for the purpose of saving Memphis. It just doesn't make sense.

(10-09-2023 07:58 AM)Scoochpooch1 Wrote:  

(10-09-2023 06:30 AM)GoBuckeyes1047 Wrote:  

If this is indeed the case and they make a decision to add Gonzaga, I think you go for Memphis as well to counter further westward expansion by adding another east school and work with the ACC on scheduling for football with 17 teams and 18 teams in olympic sports for each conference. This could also be a case where it's adding Gonzaga for 17 olympic sports and stopping, but I think Yormark should work with the ACC for now and help both conferences out with reducing travel in their nationwide conferences and expanding conference exposure (Big 12 teams playing in ACC territory where there aren't Big 12 teams currently located and vise versa) at least until the next round of realignment. Maybe you get a shot at picking the remains of the ACC, maybe not and you get a partnership lasting decades, we shall see.

Another thread solely for the purpose of saving Memphis. It just doesn't make sense.

To your point, to the extent that Yormark wanted another basketball brand with an FBS program, it was UConn.

The issue, of course, is money. A non-football addition could conceivably work financially since the additional rights fees payout would not need to be large and a school like Gonzaga historically brings in a ton of NCAA Tournament credit money. In contrast, any football program is going to need to bring in $31 million-plus per year just for the Big 12 to break even.

(10-09-2023 06:59 AM)BcatMatt13 Wrote:  Yormark wants his basketball targets. He wants a separate media deal for basketball in 5-6 years. Gonzaga makes sense for that. I wonder if the presidents would be more willing to approve a Gonzaga (Yormark’s desire) because he was able to deliver the 4 corners which they all wanted?

I’m skeptical that conferences are going to be able to make that
much more money from basketball in their TV contracts. As I’ve pointed out before, too many people are acting like Yormark is introducing something new. The Big Ten (consistently the most watched basketball conference - yes, it’s them instead of the ACC or Big 12) has long had its own basketball TV deal with CBS and the Big East inherently has its own basketball TV deal and they’ve all borne out to value basketball as being the same proportion of the all-inclusive all-sports deals: basketball is. around 20% of the value while football is 80%.

Now, the NCAA Tournament rights fees are vastly under market value, but all of college basketball is stuck with that contract until 2032. You could reasonably argue that the value of NCAA Tournament credits will eventually go up substantially after 2032. We may also see a new revenue distribution model prior to 2032 that looks more like the CFP where the P4 and Big East get larger payments per unit than everyone else. So, if there’s additional value to be extracted from basketball, it’s about both a larger NCAA Tournament pie along with the power conferences taking more of that larger pie. The problem is that the larger pie can’t happen until 2032, which os an eternity in conference realignment.

Regular season basketball games controlled by the conferences, though, are largely “keep the lights on” sports programming similar to MLB regular season games. They provide tonnage to fill out a network’s or streamer’s offerings, but there are very few regular season basketball games in a given year that draw larger audiences than even the very worst bowls. (And note that’s not how I *personally* want things to be. My alma mater of Illinois is significantly more valuable in a world where basketball is valued more, so this is a statement against my own self-interest.)

I'm sure the Oregon State and Washington State fans love hearing that Gonzaga might make it to the Big 12 over them.

I think Yormark needs Non-Football additions to justify splitting the Olympic media rights from football media rights.
- Gonzaga to the Big 12
- UConn Olympics Sports to the Big 12

Maybe more Big East teams are interested after that.

We'll see if a McMurphy/Thamel/Dellenger confirms. I'm not trusting of Seth Davis for realignment.

(10-09-2023 08:31 AM)ArmoredUpKnight Wrote:  I'm sure the Oregon State and Washington State fans love hearing that Gonzaga might make it to the Big 12 over them.

I think Yormark needs Non-Football additions to justify splitting the Olympic media rights from football media rights.
- Gonzaga to the Big 12
- UConn Olympics Sports to the Big 12

Maybe more Big East teams are interested after that.

UConn isn’t moving unless they get football membership. Once again, the Big East gets a P5-level of money for *basketball* - that’s simply not the issue for UConn. It’s entirely about a power conference home for their football program. If they can’t get that, then there’s no point in moving.

I just see Gonzaga getting lost on having to play new XII basketball slate week in and out. Its a murderers row.

(10-09-2023 07:44 AM)andybible1995 Wrote:  

(10-09-2023 06:30 AM)GoBuckeyes1047 Wrote:  

If this is indeed the case and they make a decision to add Gonzaga, I think you go for Memphis as well to counter further westward expansion by adding another east school and work with the ACC on scheduling for football with 17 teams and 18 teams in olympic sports for each conference. This could also be a case where it's adding Gonzaga for 17 olympic sports and stopping, but I think Yormark should work with the ACC for now and help both conferences out with reducing travel in their nationwide conferences and expanding conference exposure (Big 12 teams playing in ACC territory where there aren't Big 12 teams currently located and vise versa) at least until the next round of realignment. Maybe you get a shot at picking the remains of the ACC, maybe not and you get a partnership lasting decades, we shall see.

If Gonzaga and Memphis get unto the Big XII, then the WAC will be on the clock to grab Cal Baptist, Grand Canyon and Seattle. The same can be said for the AAC grabbing MTSU.

Do you mean the WCC?

(10-09-2023 06:30 AM)GoBuckeyes1047 Wrote:  

If this is indeed the case and they make a decision to add Gonzaga, I think you go for Memphis as well to counter further westward expansion by adding another east school and work with the ACC on scheduling for football with 17 teams and 18 teams in olympic sports for each conference. This could also be a case where it's adding Gonzaga for 17 olympic sports and stopping, but I think Yormark should work with the ACC for now and help both conferences out with reducing travel in their nationwide conferences and expanding conference exposure (Big 12 teams playing in ACC territory where there aren't Big 12 teams currently located and vise versa) at least until the next round of realignment. Maybe you get a shot at picking the remains of the ACC, maybe not and you get a partnership lasting decades, we shall see.

I would prefer a different approach to cooperation with the ACC. I would add 3 all sports schools to bring the total between the two conferences to 36. Then, I would subdivide these 36 into four separate conferences operating under a single media contract.

PAC
Utah, Stanford, Arizona St, Washington St, BYU, Arizona, Cal, Oregon St and Colorado

Big IX
Oklahoma St, TCU, Kansas St, Baylor, Texas Tech, Iowa St, Houston, SMU, Kansas

Big East FC
Louisville, Miami, West Virginia, Pitt, UCF, Cincinnati, Syracuse, Boston College, UConn

ACC
Clemson, Florida St, Virginia Tech, NC State, UNC, Georgia Tech, Duke, Wake Forest, Virginia

In this arrangement, the CFP could stick with the top 6 conference champs as AQ with 6 at-large, meaning G5 conference champs would have to be ranked higher than one of the P6 to get invited.

Notre Dame could be given an ultimatum: if you want to put your Olympic sports in one of these four conferences (and they agree to take you), you must agree to play 7 games against these 36 teams every year, three of which may be annual rivals by mutual agreement, and the other 4 against a team from each of the four conferences on a rotating basis selected by the conferences.

Teams would play a full round robin in conference, and one game OOC against a team from one of the other three conferences. All 36 schools would share media revenues equally, and each conference would decide how to divide revenues from post season play. ESPN would have to agree to reduce the length of its GoR agreement in exchange for bringing all four conferences under the ACC Network, which would be renamed to reflect the national scope of this alliance.

(10-09-2023 08:31 AM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  We'll see if a McMurphy/Thamel/Dellenger confirms. I'm not trusting of Seth Davis for realignment.

He’s not going to publish that article if it was just made up and his editors would not allow him to do that anyway. That’s a little too conspiratorial for my taste.

This makes sense. 10:30 or 10:45pm ET game weekly or biweekly. Aside from Zona, the west coast package is very weak for the Big 12. Whereas the B1G is going to be throwing USC/UCLA on a rotating basis which is a much stronger draw in the deep winter months.

(10-09-2023 08:58 AM)thespywhozaggedme Wrote:  

(10-09-2023 08:31 AM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  We'll see if a McMurphy/Thamel/Dellenger confirms. I'm not trusting of Seth Davis for realignment.

He’s not going to publish that article if it was just made up and his editors would not allow him to do that anyway. That’s a little too conspiratorial for my taste.

IWokeUpLikeThis did not suggest Seth Davis "just made up" the information. Instead, he perhaps wonders (and I do, too) if Davis either 1. got misinformation from what he felt was a legit source; or 2. was a bit sloppy in gathering his info.

(10-09-2023 09:12 AM)bill dazzle Wrote:  

(10-09-2023 08:58 AM)thespywhozaggedme Wrote:  

(10-09-2023 08:31 AM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  We'll see if a McMurphy/Thamel/Dellenger confirms. I'm not trusting of Seth Davis for realignment.

He’s not going to publish that article if it was just made up and his editors would not allow him to do that anyway. That’s a little too conspiratorial for my taste.

IWokeUpLikeThis did not suggest Seth Davis "just made up" the information. Instead, he perhaps wonders (and I do, too) if Davis either 1. got misinformation from what he felt was a legit source; or 2. was a bit sloppy in gathering his info.

How the heck did you get all of that from what he posted? That’s some hard-core extrapolation. Lol.

Gonzaga is an ESPN property. If they leave the WCC, ESPN can save some money on that league to help offset the extra payment to the Big 12.

Gonzaga's other upgrade options are non-ESPN properties (MWC/Big East).

ESPN doesn't want to lose Gonzaga, so they made the original suggestion to Yormark about Gonzaga late last year.

We'll see.

(10-09-2023 09:17 AM)CougarRed Wrote:  Gonzaga is an ESPN property. If they leave the WCC, ESPN can save some money on that league to help offset the extra payment to the Big 12.

Gonzaga's other upgrade options are non-ESPN properties (MWC/Big East).

ESPN doesn't want to lose Gonzaga, so they made the original suggestion to Yormark about Gonzaga late last year.

We'll see.

ESPN does not have MWC property. That is what I am trying to say. The best way that the PAC 12 for staying as a P5 is to grab all the best schools in the MWC.
Boise State, Air Force, Fresno State and San Diego State.

(10-09-2023 09:15 AM)thespywhozaggedme Wrote:  

(10-09-2023 09:12 AM)bill dazzle Wrote:  

(10-09-2023 08:58 AM)thespywhozaggedme Wrote:  

(10-09-2023 08:31 AM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  We'll see if a McMurphy/Thamel/Dellenger confirms. I'm not trusting of Seth Davis for realignment.

He’s not going to publish that article if it was just made up and his editors would not allow him to do that anyway. That’s a little too conspiratorial for my taste.

IWokeUpLikeThis did not suggest Seth Davis "just made up" the information. Instead, he perhaps wonders (and I do, too) if Davis either 1. got misinformation from what he felt was a legit source; or 2. was a bit sloppy in gathering his info.

How the heck did you get all of that from what he posted? That’s some hard-core extrapolation. Lol.

No, the only person who did hard-core extrapolation was you when you claimed I was making up a conspiracy theory that Seth Davis made everything up in the report. There wasn't a single thing in my post suggesting that.

Bill dazzle actually used common sense and recognized the far more likely reason I'd need confirmation from McMurphy/Dellenger/Thamel is because Seth Davis doesn't have a track record of reliability for realignment. He could have sources, but he hasn't demonstrated a track record of reliable sources -- and those are hard to come by in realignment.

Like bill dazzle said, there could be elements of truth in Seth's report (Yormark presented on Gonzaga) but there could also be misinformation from unreliable sources (Big XII is negotiating with Gonzaga). That's why I'd like confirmation from Dellenger/McMurphy/Thamel.