First, the money in basketball is just not equal to the money in football. That is why Nebraska adds more value than Kansas.
Second, the Big Ten Network does not make their money from advertisements, so it doesn’t matter who watches the channel. They make their money from subscriptions. As long as somebody demands it (and they do during football season), the BTN can put anything they want on, including wrestling 24 hours a day.
Basketball is nice, but it won’t bring in extra money in any significant way.
Even though I am an alum and fan of a Big Ten school, I am not exactly a fan of the Big Ten’s commissioner*, Jim Delany, who strikes me as someone who would throw a monkey wrench in the system just to throw a monkey wrench in the system. It’s bad enough that he’s seen as the #1 Public Enemy of BCS playoffs (and it just so happens that Joe Paterno, the one guy in the entire conference who could call him out but won’t because he doesn’t go in for insubordination). Somehow I can just see Delany saying, “Lookiee here Big X, I’m gonna take Kansas and Missouri right out from under you. You say they’re a financial liability? Well, I ain’t broke…but you’re gonna be broke tomorrow.”
*I liked his predecessor, Uncle Wayne, much better…
They get money from subscriptions, but in parts of the country other than the midwest, is the Big 10 network included with every cable package?
If you want to make your network appealing to other parts of the country, having elite year-round programming is a good way to do so. And if people want to watch, then they will shell out for their sports package, which means the Big 10 generates more revenue.
The thing is though that Kansas would pretty much bring Basketball and that’s it. They would not help in football, they are not seen as academically on par with the rest of the conference, so there would be no desire to bring in another school to split revenues with unless they provided more than that.
There’s been a lot of discussion to the effect that a program that’s bad now is doomed to always be bad, and vice versa. 'Tain’t so. Given a better revenue stream, and more energetic coaching and recruiting (better not go there, sorry), any program can pull itself up. Happens all the time. Being in the Big 10 would help KU do that.
:shrug: And Nebraska is?
They’d bring in the Kansas City market, FWIW - half of the main attraction Mizzou offered.
For now, it seems they are staying in the Big 12, which puts a halt to the Pac-10’s current mega-conference plans.
Texas was also a big player for the Big 10, as they wanted Texas to be their southern boundary. Texas doesn’t feel like Big 10, and they didn’t want to go Big 10, so I think they made the right choice.
Here’s the thing. Texas is still in the driver’s seat. They can make a move now, a year from now, or whenever they want, as long as they don’t have to break a TV contract. So they are sitting big.
As is ND.
Which brings me to the Big 10. Now that it has 12 teams, is it finished? If ND joins, they’d probably want to get a 14th team. But without ND, are they through with expanding? At this point, what’s the motive? They have their conference game, so the only other motive is increasing their footprint and making more money for the schools through the BTN.
What are the current rumors with the Big 10?
Also, with the Pac-10 boned, I can see them chasing Utah.
The Big 12 may grab Memphis if the Fed Ex $10 million is true.
Not generally I don’t think…they apparently have a nationwide deal with Time Warner though, as Big Ten Network has been on my “sports tier” here in San Antonio, TX since Sept '08. On the other hand, my parents have Dish Network outside Atlanta and they called to ask for the Big Ten Network and they were told it wasn’t available to to them at any price because of where they live, which I found very odd (all the more annoying for them, they did get it as a “preview” for the first football season the Network was running in 2007).
Obviously if they land Notre Dame down the line, that’s a huge new audience of people who will be demanding the Network.
JoePa is a prick. Outside of my mother-in-law, I believe God keeps him alive just to keep him under my skin.
If he had something to say, he’d say it. JoePa is an old bugger who can’t/won’t let go. He doesn’t give a crap about insubordination, unless of course, someone does it to him. And in JoePa’s mind, there isn’t anyone between him and God, so I doubt he worries about much.
When JoePa croaks, I think we’ll see a lot of things change on the college landscape, especially the eastern schools. And that will be a good thing for college football.
Pat Forde’s column makes the good point that maintaining the status quo (for the most part) works out well for Texas because it allows them to plan their future a little more deliberately. On the other hand, Texas apparently isn’t a fan of the SEC’s equal revenue sharing, and the Pac-10 balked at allowing Texas to start its own network, so they may have to compromise if they’re looking to eventually dump the Big 12.
If Utah excepts I feel bad for Boise their conference change won’t mean much but should prevent them from also following over to the PAC 10 which is where they need to be.
Well, of course I’m going to disagree here. But I don’t think things will change that much if Joe goes. Penn State will still have the third largest stadium (and sell that out every game), and almost all of the state of PA following it. It’s not as if they’re going away.
And JoePa’s been going on about a playoff for 45 years (not an exaggeration–he first called for it in 1965), and nobody’s listened to him yet, so it’s not like the football landscape is going to be any different if he’s silenced.
This whole exercise emphasizes that conferences need to revisit their naming criteria.
“Big” something is inaccurate
Something-number is inaccurate
Even some of the geographic designations are so all-over-the-map that they are misleading.
Big XII --> Big X
Big Ten --> Big Televen --> Big Tweleven. If they add a 13th team, they can be the Big Thirtweleven.
Pac-10 --> Pac-11 and U
SEC --> SEC plus several schools to be named later