(01-20-2023 10:09 PM)World Wide Swag Wrote: The logistical challenges are pretty obvious. Bob Huggins and WVU complained for years about the travel issues in the Big 12, and I think their farthest road trip is about equal to what USC and UCLA’s closest road trip will be outside of each other. This will create a massive competitive disadvantage, not to mention an enormous burden on student athletes that I think will hurt recruiting.
Football will be the easiest sport for the travel issues, and it will still be a bear. UCLA will not be competitive. USC will be, but four trips a year to Big Ten country (plus perhaps ND depending on how the schedule rotation shakes out) is going to be really tough on a team. And if they slip up and lose games they should win and it costs them a CFP spot or a bye in the playoff, the fans obviously won’t be thrilled. Speaking of fans, relatively easy road trips to Phoenix, Salt Lake City and the Bay Area have been replaced with Champaign, Piscataway, State College and East Lansing.
Stop!!!! Think about what type of institution USC is and what type of students go there. It's not your ordinary John Does like you & me. You are talking about doctors, lawyers, and people of that ilk. They can afford Champaign, Piscataway, State College, etc.
UCLA would be hit far worse than USC in this regard, IMO. But, keep in mind, the majority of revenue doesn't really come from attendance anymore. It comes from the media!!
Quote:Yes, the money will be better, but UCLA will have to pay their toll to Cal and who knows where these media rights valuations go in the next cycle as more people cut the cord and non-sports fans no longer subsidize ESPN’s insane carriage rates. Lastly, if you haven’t been paying attention to Europe, they’re going insane over climate change…gluing themselves to airport runways and literally restricting citizens’ movement. That will soon come to America and California will be an early adopter, which will lead a lot of people to ask why all of an LA university’s sports teams are being flown to New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania, etc for games.
True, but, why isn't this happening in Asia?? China specifically. Why aren't the Asians going insane over climate change?? Yes, European trends are important to the US, but so are Asian trends. If you don't think we're not keeping an eye on Asia, you're sadly mistaken.
The real threat to really worry about, IMO, is StuxNet. Google StuxNet & Nitro Zeus sometime. Now
that is some pretty scary stuff!!! And yes, Asia is very familiar with StuxNet!!!
Quote:The easy solution is add Oregon and Washington to alleviate the travel burden, but they’re likely dilutive to the revenue pie and thus apparently nonstarters for the current Big Ten membership. So what if it doesn’t work out?
I don't think it's because they're dilutive to the revenue pie, but rather , the states of Oregon & Washington are not known as recruiting hotbed like California, Texas, Florida, and Ohio are. Those schools in recruiting hotbed want to keep the best recruits to themselves and not let a potential rival, who has few recruits in their own state, access. The B1G teams are also concerned about dilutive recruiting as opposed to dilutive revenue, IMO. You would be surprised to know how important recruiting is, IMHO.