Quote:The share of Americans who say they watch television via cable or satellite has plunged from 76% in 2015 to 56% this year, according to a new Pew Research Center survey of U.S. adults. Some 71% of those who do not use cable or satellite services say it’s because they can access the content they want online, while 69% say the cost of cable and satellite services is too high and 45% say they do not often watch TV.

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/20...ince-2015/

The decline in cable subscriptions is happening at a much greater clip than ever before.

Age 18-29 are down to a cable subscription rate of 34% in 2021 compared to 65% in 2015. This is the future folks and its dropping at a fast pace.

Sports rights are going to be under pressure without the subscriptions. College Football needs to do something now to stop the bleeding and generate interest; a 12 team playoff.

You know---I have cable and barely watch it anymore. Sports and news programming is about all I watch on cable these days. We mostly watch streaming services when we arent watching sports.

12 means 4 first-round byes.
Byes are bad.
Stop at 8 or go to 16.

(05-07-2021 06:11 PM)Kit-Cat Wrote:  

Quote:The share of Americans who say they watch television via cable or satellite has plunged from 76% in 2015 to 56% this year, according to a new Pew Research Center survey of U.S. adults. Some 71% of those who do not use cable or satellite services say it’s because they can access the content they want online, while 69% say the cost of cable and satellite services is too high and 45% say they do not often watch TV.

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/20...ince-2015/

The decline in cable subscriptions is happening at a much greater clip than ever before.

Age 18-29 are down to a cable subscription rate of 34% in 2021 compared to 65% in 2015. This is the future folks and its dropping at a fast pace.

Sports rights are going to be under pressure without the subscriptions. College Football needs to do something now to stop the bleeding and generate interest; a 12 team playoff.

Don't worry. The new playoff will be moved to ESPN+.

(05-07-2021 06:18 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  You know---I have cable and barely watch it anymore. Sports and news programming is about all I watch on cable these days. We mostly watch streaming services when we arent watching sports.

The networks have pretty much cancelled everything worth watching.

I watch two "regular tv" shows with my kids (not including sports): The Flash and Superman and Louis.

Besides those, my son and I are eagerly awaiting season 3 of Lost in Space on Netflix.

I used to watch Stargate (various), Star Trek (various), Timeless, Agents of Shield... all gone from broadcast tv, replaced by garbage "reality" tv shows.

(05-07-2021 06:19 PM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  12 means 4 first-round byes.
Byes are bad.
Stop at 8 or go to 16.

Genuinely curious here—why do you think byes are bad? Isn’t a first round a nice incentive for teams to strive to make it in the top 4 so they can get some rest?

Cable providers sell Too many channels. If I want to watch just sports I can subscribe to sling tv or some other streaming deal.

(05-07-2021 06:18 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  You know---I have cable and barely watch it anymore. Sports and news programming is about all I watch on cable these days. We mostly watch streaming services when we arent watching sports.

Taking a look at the numbers, subscription rate isn't down as much for older people which largely populate this board or the political forums.

Its tough to quantify how disinterested the youth is on sports and news watching. That interest by the older generation harkens back to the time of newspapers and limited OTA sports and news. When cable was devised it sparked the pent up demand for sports and news programming. A demand built from generations of captive audiences on those stations.

The entertainment space is becoming more federated. Those who care about sports are buying channels for one sport a la carte style.

(05-07-2021 06:23 PM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  

(05-07-2021 06:18 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  You know---I have cable and barely watch it anymore. Sports and news programming is about all I watch on cable these days. We mostly watch streaming services when we arent watching sports.

The networks have pretty much cancelled everything worth watching.

I watch two "regular tv" shows with my kids (not including sports): The Flash and Superman and Louis.

Besides those, my son and I are eagerly awaiting season 3 of Lost in Space on Netflix.

I used to watch Stargate (various), Star Trek (various), Timeless, Agents of Shield... all gone from broadcast tv, replaced by garbage "reality" tv shows.

Cheaper to produce so better margins.

That is the "reality" of it.

(05-07-2021 06:28 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  

(05-07-2021 06:19 PM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  12 means 4 first-round byes.
Byes are bad.
Stop at 8 or go to 16.

Genuinely curious here—why do you think byes are bad? Isn’t a first round a nice incentive for teams to strive to make it in the top 4 so they can get some rest?

I can’t speak for Hokie Mark but I don’t like byes for college football playoff because it’s not profit maximizing given the constraint of limited playable games (weeks). If you expand to 12, that means one more week for the first round. Why not expand to 16, and take more revenue?

Having said that, the revenue maximizing format is not always the most enjoyable in my opinion. NBA and MLB play way too many games probably because of revenue. For college football, I think eight is the max not to lose too much interest in season games and bowls while limiting the total number of maximum games to 16 (12 season games + 1 CG + 3 playoff games).

(05-07-2021 10:14 PM)random asian guy Wrote:  

(05-07-2021 06:28 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  

(05-07-2021 06:19 PM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  12 means 4 first-round byes.
Byes are bad.
Stop at 8 or go to 16.

Genuinely curious here—why do you think byes are bad? Isn’t a first round a nice incentive for teams to strive to make it in the top 4 so they can get some rest?

I can’t speak for Hokie Mark but I don’t like byes for college football playoff because it’s not profit maximizing given the constraint of limited playable games (weeks). If you expand to 12, that means one more week for the first round. Why not expand to 16, and take more revenue?

Having said that, the revenue maximizing format is not always the most enjoyable in my opinion. NBA and MLB play way too many games probably because of revenue. For college football, I think eight is the max not to lose too much interest in season games and bowls while limiting the total number of maximum games to 16 (12 season games + 1 CG + 3 playoff games).

Ya. There is no way 12 lasts more than a couple years before they realize they'd rake in more money having Alabama, Ohio State, Oklahoma, and Clemson play in that first round.

Now, that doesn't mean 16 is superior to 12 for determining a champ (4 may be best). But networks aren't going to let inventory go unused if administrators give the green light for any additional round(s).

(05-07-2021 06:28 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  

(05-07-2021 06:19 PM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  12 means 4 first-round byes.
Byes are bad.
Stop at 8 or go to 16.

Genuinely curious here—why do you think byes are bad? Isn’t a first round a nice incentive for teams to strive to make it in the top 4 so they can get some rest?

College football is already played on a VERY uneven playing field. That's why you can still count every team that's ever played for a national championship (including semi-finals) over the last 25 years on your fingers and toes with one left over...

Giving the top 4 teams a bye only increases the advantage those teams already enjoy. Imagine, for example, UCF trying to knock off Alabama... now imagine it after UCF already had to beat Florida the week before while Bama rested. The mountain just keeps getting higher and higher to climb.

And, yeah, maximize revenue too.

(05-07-2021 10:14 PM)random asian guy Wrote:  I can’t speak for Hokie Mark but I don’t like byes for college football playoff because it’s not profit maximizing given the constraint of limited playable games (weeks). If you expand to 12, that means one more week for the first round. Why not expand to 16, and take more revenue?

They don't want to maximize possible revenue, they want to maximize expected profits. Having eight games in the first week means that the games start of canibalize each other's ratings ... indeed, they can't help it since there will have to be games scheduled at the same time as each other to fit them all in ... but getting those games requires paying the participants playing those games. Four games in the first week gives much more predictable ratings.

(05-08-2021 07:52 AM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(05-07-2021 10:14 PM)random asian guy Wrote:  I can’t speak for Hokie Mark but I don’t like byes for college football playoff because it’s not profit maximizing given the constraint of limited playable games (weeks). If you expand to 12, that means one more week for the first round. Why not expand to 16, and take more revenue?

They don't want to maximize possible revenue, they want to maximize expected profits. Having eight games in the first week means that the games start of canibalize each other's ratings ... indeed, they can't help it since there will have to be games scheduled at the same time as each other to fit them all in ... but getting those games requires paying the participants playing those games. Four games in the first week gives much more predictable ratings.

Do you believe the round of 16 games would play on the same day? Do all of the sweet 16 games play on the same day for college basketball?

(05-07-2021 06:28 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  

(05-07-2021 06:19 PM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  12 means 4 first-round byes.
Byes are bad.
Stop at 8 or go to 16.

Genuinely curious here—why do you think byes are bad? Isn’t a first round a nice incentive for teams to strive to make it in the top 4 so they can get some rest?

Because he wants to give the teams 9-12 an advantage over the top seeds.

(05-08-2021 06:29 AM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  

(05-07-2021 06:28 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  

(05-07-2021 06:19 PM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  12 means 4 first-round byes.
Byes are bad.
Stop at 8 or go to 16.

Genuinely curious here—why do you think byes are bad? Isn’t a first round a nice incentive for teams to strive to make it in the top 4 so they can get some rest?

College football is already played on a VERY uneven playing field. That's why you can still count every team that's ever played for a national championship (including semi-finals) over the last 25 years on your fingers and toes with one left over...

Giving the top 4 teams a bye only increases the advantage those teams already enjoy. Imagine, for example, UCF trying to knock off Alabama... now imagine it after UCF already had to beat Florida the week before while Bama rested. The mountain just keeps getting higher and higher to climb.

And, yeah, maximize revenue too.

Yes, that's the perfect setup. Penalizing UCF for playing no one all season and then requiring them to beat 2 SEC teams in 4-5 days. No one will question how good they are if they accomplished that feat. Otherwise, Alabama should just pick terrible opponents, go undefeated and gear up for playoffs.

(05-08-2021 12:05 PM)Scoochpooch1 Wrote:  

(05-08-2021 06:29 AM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  

(05-07-2021 06:28 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  

(05-07-2021 06:19 PM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  12 means 4 first-round byes.
Byes are bad.
Stop at 8 or go to 16.

Genuinely curious here—why do you think byes are bad? Isn’t a first round a nice incentive for teams to strive to make it in the top 4 so they can get some rest?

College football is already played on a VERY uneven playing field. That's why you can still count every team that's ever played for a national championship (including semi-finals) over the last 25 years on your fingers and toes with one left over...

Giving the top 4 teams a bye only increases the advantage those teams already enjoy. Imagine, for example, UCF trying to knock off Alabama... now imagine it after UCF already had to beat Florida the week before while Bama rested. The mountain just keeps getting higher and higher to climb.

And, yeah, maximize revenue too.

Yes, that's the perfect setup. Penalizing UCF for playing no one all season and then requiring them to beat 2 SEC teams in 4-5 days. No one will question how good they are if they accomplished that feat. Otherwise, Alabama should just pick terrible opponents, go undefeated and gear up for playoffs.

So you're good with the same teams in the playoffs every year for the next 20 or so?

(05-08-2021 12:03 PM)Scoochpooch1 Wrote:  

(05-07-2021 06:28 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  

(05-07-2021 06:19 PM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  12 means 4 first-round byes.
Byes are bad.
Stop at 8 or go to 16.

Genuinely curious here—why do you think byes are bad? Isn’t a first round a nice incentive for teams to strive to make it in the top 4 so they can get some rest?

Because he wants to give the teams 9-12 an advantage over the top seeds.

Since when does less of a handicap equal an advantage? UCF (or for that matter, VT) will NEVER have an advantage over Alabama in football. Speaking for VT, I'm not asking for an advantage - just a playing field that's a little more level.

The inconvenient truth of a 16 team playoff and why I don’t think we will see one that large (more like 12) is that it probably means inviting all 5 G5 champs to the playoff.

The P5 don’t want that but they are going to have a hard time justifying why 4 more of their own teams should be in the field instead. (I’m comparing a 12 team model with a 16 team model here).

ESPN isn’t going to want to try and air an opening round in mid December that includes 8 games. 8 games means playing games simultaneously. Seeds 1-4, with home field advantage are likely to pulverize these auto bid recipients and routes are not good for television.

To me it’s 8 or 12. Both have their merits and both will be lucrative.

it’s all rigged in a few different ways for different things, iam starting to lose interest