(04-10-2017 10:13 AM)AntiG Wrote: (04-09-2017 12:07 AM)Transic_nyc Wrote: http://www.1500espn.com/shows/saturday-sportstalk/
More "off-season banter" (I put it in quotes since college baseball is still ongoing) but Saturday SportsTalk in Minnesota mentions OU to the Big Ten within five years. Start at 20:30
Texas and Oklahoma, they said.
This stuff came up because of Lee Corso's remarks at a Houston speaking opportunity he had. Somebody asked him about further realignment within the P5 and he said that he wouldn't be surprised if Texas and Oklahoma left the Big 12 in 4-5 years and did what A&M did. He wasn't referring to the SEC, just to leaving.
Well the press guys took this and added their own spin to it with Scott speculating they would go the SEC or Big 10, another guy I didn't know remarking about the Big 10, a third one speculating that Texas would head to the PAC and OU would head to the SEC, etc. etc. I think these guys in Minneapolis/St.Paul had picked up on one of these spin off stories and remarked about it. Flug did the same.
Corso was merely pointing out that OU and UT had no real peers in the Big 12 and if the rest of them wouldn't cooperate those two would bolt. That's the whole story with no spin.
I could see the Big 10 being interested in both as would any conference. But I seriously doubt that ESPN will let Bevo off of his tether. OU on the other hand is pretty much free to move anywhere.
The rumors I never bought were about Kansas to the Big 10 with Oklahoma. Given the fact that the Big 10 essentially already has most Kansas markets why would you buy the cow if you can steal the milk. Furthermore the Big 10 needs football cred not basketball cred and they will still prefer larger markets. At least OU is national somewhat in following and would be a strong brand to add to Nebraska in the West. Kansas was 81st in the FBS in attendance at football games last year average 25,000 in attendance. Folks U Conn beat that by 2,000 per game. I just don't see the Big 10 taking on Kansas in spite of them being a major basketball brand (something you don't need) and then suffering through another major hamstring in attendance that would make Rutger's numbers look phenomenal.
Here's the latest data although the financial figures are still stale by a year (it will be April of 2018 before the 2016-7 fiscal figure are released) but these are the mot current.
The mean averages for gross total revenue:
SEC: $121,000,000
B1G: $108,000,000
B12: $102,000,000
PAC: $ 89,000,000
ACC: $ 87,000,000
The mean attendance averages:
SEC: 77,000
B1G: 66,000
B12: 57,000
PAC: 50,000
ACC: 49,000
Face it guys the revenue and attendance gaps are growing. The Big 10 will get a 5 million boost in TV revenue per school from FOX next year so that gap with the SEC will shrink by about half. Your attendance totals were always within about 4 or 5 thousand of ours until you added Maryland and Rutgers. Their attendance numbers sank you conference average by about 6,000 per game.
I make these point to say this: Why on earth would the Big 10 want to tank those attendance numbers significantly more for Kansas to add a product they already have, and to pick up a state smaller than Iowa and one in which they already have the carriage?
I think that both the SEC and Big 10 would obviously be interested in OU an UT if they were ever serious about moving. But, both of us could truly further our goals out of the ACC. Yeah they are tied up until 2034 with a GOR. But look at the differences in MEANS. They are 34 million behind the SEC in MEAN Gross Total Revenue and 21 million behind the B1G. They don't earn enough to attract N.D. all in so future Irish affiliation remains in some doubt. The revenue of the B1G and SEC has an accretion of about 3% per year. Will will be up 6% irrespective of contract renewals before they get the network operational. The accretion of the BTN and SECN will outpace that of the ACC when they are up and running.
My point is the ACC's GOR expires in 2034. With a 10 year differential of 210 million with the Big 10 and 340 million with the SEC in total revenue the top brands of the ACC will be facing some massive questions about their business models before long. As our gap with them grows the profitability of buying out the remaining GOR will be a matter that is very doable by 2025.
I have to wonder if either of our conferences will want to pounce on anyone other than OU and UT prior to that time.