(05-17-2021 09:30 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(05-16-2021 11:39 PM)Crayton Wrote:  Combined, the Big Ten and SEC get a little less than half the field, on average, regardless of if it is 4 or 8 or 12. Theoretically, they'd each enjoy a quarter of the value of that mid-December round.

But, in reality, the money from that round is going to be shared among all Power conferences with a significant portion being given to the non-Power teams too. A single Wild Card Game, however, could be valued at $30M and arranged to give nearly half of the revenue to each participant (conference). That could be worth the same amount to the Big Ten and SEC as a mid-December round; plus it would give them a decided edge over the ACC, Pac-12, and Big 12.

IMO, since those "wild card" games are cross-conference, and in effect are playoff games, the P5 would agree to split that money equally. They would not adopt a payout that largely go to the conferences of the two teams playing, rather the dollars would be folded in to the general CFP pot. Which would not give much of a revenue boost to the conferences that play in it.

Remember, with the current CFP, the great bulk of revenues is collective. Each P5 gets a guaranteed $60 million or something, if you place a team in the playoffs you get only $6 million for a team in the playoffs, just 10% more.

So I would expect that if your scheme was adopted, the great bulk of the playoff money would be guaranteed, and not dependent on how many teams in the playoffs. Conferences want money certainty, and that would include revenue from those wild card games.

Gotta admit, I think you are right. Of the $30M, maybe $5M goes to each participant while the rest goes to a pot. There are ways to reduce uncertainty (like what is used for NCAAT credits); and that can be coupled with higher payments per game appearances.

Perception --> Reality. Dominating Wild Card Game appearances and getting what appears to be a 2nd CCG, will put the SEC/B1G on a TV-pedestal the other Power conferences won't be able to access too often. They could even slip a "poison pill" of allowing divisionless CCGs, knocking out the potential for, say, one of Oregon/Stanford or FSU/Clemson finishing in the Top 8 and in WCG contention.