(08-12-2019 12:40 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(08-12-2019 11:41 AM)GoldenWarrior11 Wrote:  

(08-12-2019 11:19 AM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  I actually think the AAC got a fairly good media deal. However, to your point, the core issue is that even a "good" media deal at the G5 level might not be sustainable for these athletic departments in the long term.

It's also a reflection that of what I've stated many times before: the "Football is all that matters!" line of thinking applies to the P5, but it isn't necessarily the best line of thinking for the G5. At the G5 level, basketball revenue has significantly more *relative* importance compared to football. (Total football revenue might be generally higher at virtually every school, even at "basketball schools", but that also comes with much higher expenses.)

The football positioning of a lot of schools (particularly in the AAC and MWC) has largely been driven more by the hope of eventually cashing in on a P5 lottery ticket than actually having a financially sustainable home in the G5. That was certainly the case for UConn. If UConn truly believed that it was going to the P5 within the next decade, then it would have sucked it up and stayed in the AAC. UConn simply got smacked in the face with the reality that it went from being a frontrunner to replacing Maryland in the ACC (a spot that eventually went to Louisville) to being an afterthought in the Big 12 expansion bake-off. Once UConn came to the self-realization that it simply wasn't ever realistically going to get to the P5, it was better off leveraging its core basketball brand to go back to the Big East.

To be sure, UConn was in the unique position of having a natural home in the Big East that may very well end up making more financial sense for them (even as a football independent). There isn't a natural home for any FBS school to have a similar setup as of now.

However, maybe some schools need to start thinking outside of the box with different setups. For instance, Gonzaga and BYU have financially outgrown the WCC, yet joining the MWC as non-football members isn't any more attractive (with less control and power in exchange for little, if any, financial gain). Could Gonzaga and BYU spearhead a western equivalent of the Big East instead? Maybe pitch schools such as Houston and UNLV with solid basketball brand names (plus schools like Boise State and Air Force that have football programs that could conceivably survive on their own) that creating a western equivalent of the Big East for basketball with independent football could yield a better financial return than staying in a G5 league as a full member. I'm not saying that this would actually end up being true or that's even viable, but the point is that the "Football is all that matters!" thinking for G5 schools needs to at least be reevaluated.

It feels like the G5 leagues are old line brick-and-mortar retailers trying to compete against Amazon and Walmart. No matter what they do, they're simply not going to be able to compete with the size and scale of the P5 conferences. The brick-and-mortar stores that are still performing well have largely all found a different niche lane compared to Amazon and Walmart. The Big East has a different lane and it has been working for them both financially and competitively. If all that you're selling is that you're a cheaper and lower-ranked version of a P5 conference, though, then that probably isn't going to be sustainable.

"Football Drives the Bus!"

Boy, I'll never get tired of laughing at that phrase. The reality is that an overwhelming majority of realignment decisions are bigger than football, or any one sport. Academic associations, prior conference affiliations, academic rankings, alumni, fan support, market, and a host of other criteria always get factored (and weighed heavily) in which leagues choose to associate themselves with. Football is just a piece of the pie - and, a good number from the current P5 would not be under consideration for P5 membership (if it wasn't a part of it) due to its lack of historical success/prestige in football. The most important aspect is the current/past institutional relationships and associations. Without those, it makes it close to impossible to move up the ladder.

Regarding the Big East's path, they are a unique case because they, essentially, had five schools that were long-time partners via association (Georgetown, Villanova, Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall), along with two newer schools that they shared a conference with (and were very like-minded in terms of athletics: Marquette and DePaul). For a possible West Coast version of the Big East, that - to me - is unlikely because there is no other larger football/non-football league split at the moment. The most likely substantial shift within the G5 is a likely C-USA/Sun Belt reorganization/merger, with more efficient divisions for travel purposes.

The Big10 distributed about 54 million to each member school--with the vast majority of that revenue due primarily to football. The latest Big East 990 Tax filing indicated the Big Distributed about 3.5 million a school. So, yeah---its kinda hard to argue that football doesnt still drives the bus. Additionally, it has to be noted that college football is second only to the NFL as the most viewed sport on television--so if your going to have an athletics department---its not really crazy to want it to participate in that very popular sport if your goal is to maximize the impact of that department.

... but as Frank noted, that's the B1G. It's not the G5. In the G5, teams get peanut payouts, such that even if most of the payout is due to football, the gross amount is very small, typically far smaller than how much football costs.

So for G5 schools, football doesn't drive the bus, in the sense of making the big money that fuels athletic department profits, rather it is the biggest cost-sink.

As I explained, IMO the only justification for such massive spending on football is to view it as a desperation play to get into a P5 conference, where suddenly those giant media payouts will cover the costs of football and more.

At the biggest schools, football costs a lot. E.g., last year, LSU spent $30m on football. That's what a G5 is competing against.