Spent all morning on this. Hopefully it makes sense. I'm starting to understand why the league did what it did.
COLUMN: What the Big 12 is banking on
- Thread starter ChrisMWilliams
- Start date
They are definitely looking ahead and probably getting rid of ESPiN who has gone with the SE$ hype and ACC. Netflix is weak and I would rule them out. They don't make enough money and have negative cash flow.
A Big XII streaming channel seams like a no brainer but may just take time. How much would all of the Cyclones.TV viewers like to watch say Kansas State game from last week on rerun since we may have played at the same time.
This may involve a giant in the industry like Amazon or Apple or Google. Or simply be a channel like Cyclones.TV that you can already find on Roku and/or PS Vue etc.
A Big XII streaming channel seams like a no brainer but may just take time. How much would all of the Cyclones.TV viewers like to watch say Kansas State game from last week on rerun since we may have played at the same time.
This may involve a giant in the industry like Amazon or Apple or Google. Or simply be a channel like Cyclones.TV that you can already find on Roku and/or PS Vue etc.
Nice piece Chris. I greatly appreciate the insights into JP's thinking--which is flawed.
He basically is saying ISU will be a victim....FOREVER. I don't live my life that way and I sure don't expect the Cyclones to take that posture either. It's time to chart our own course. If that means staying in the Big 12, great. If that means pushing back against Texas and OU initiatives-even better. But it had better mean JP has a proactive plan in the works to retain P5 status for ISU--someplace--if the crazies in the room blow up the Big 12.
Certainly, I understand that Texas and OU are the big dogs at the table--but the one part of negotiating that is missing here is to call their bluff. Where exactly are they going to go? They simply don't have the attractive options everyone seems to think exist. So OU fans will be happy to settle for 8-4 seasons for the foreseeable future in the SEC...assuming the SEC would take them? And Texas is going to be comfortable with almost all road games in the PAC-12 being 2-5 hours away by plane, while inviting USC, UCLA, etc., to come on down to Texas and recruit even harder?
The reality is Texas and OU benefit even more from the Big 12 than ISU does. Maybe they need to be reminded of that every once and awhile.
He basically is saying ISU will be a victim....FOREVER. I don't live my life that way and I sure don't expect the Cyclones to take that posture either. It's time to chart our own course. If that means staying in the Big 12, great. If that means pushing back against Texas and OU initiatives-even better. But it had better mean JP has a proactive plan in the works to retain P5 status for ISU--someplace--if the crazies in the room blow up the Big 12.
Certainly, I understand that Texas and OU are the big dogs at the table--but the one part of negotiating that is missing here is to call their bluff. Where exactly are they going to go? They simply don't have the attractive options everyone seems to think exist. So OU fans will be happy to settle for 8-4 seasons for the foreseeable future in the SEC...assuming the SEC would take them? And Texas is going to be comfortable with almost all road games in the PAC-12 being 2-5 hours away by plane, while inviting USC, UCLA, etc., to come on down to Texas and recruit even harder?
The reality is Texas and OU benefit even more from the Big 12 than ISU does. Maybe they need to be reminded of that every once and awhile.
“I have people who say that Texas and Oklahoma are going to bolt, well if Texas and Oklahoma don’t want us to add any members, I guarantee you that if we add members and forced it on them, they would bolt. That’s a part of this process that people aren’t thinking about."
Yeah, that's great and all until two things happen in the future:
1. The networks don't actually give up any more money for the same (or worse) product 8 years down the road, unlike we are assuming, and those other avenues will not generate anywhere near what ESPN or FOX does
2. Those two schools bolt anyway because of the above
The Presidents and AD's can say what they want, but I still don't see how this saved or helped the Big 12 either way -- it still looks to me like the networks are going to continue to try shaft the conference, resulting in implosion. All of those other avenues are great an all (online streaming and such), but if it's handled in any way like the LHN, we're totally f***ed. Shortly after, this happens:
"We are in the Mountain West Conference and we are going to get $3 million."
Yes, Oklahoma and Texas run the conference. Thank you, we already knew that -- and it sucks. They don't give two s***s about the conference, it could burn down for all they care -- they only look at themselves.
Yeah, that's great and all until two things happen in the future:
1. The networks don't actually give up any more money for the same (or worse) product 8 years down the road, unlike we are assuming, and those other avenues will not generate anywhere near what ESPN or FOX does
2. Those two schools bolt anyway because of the above
The Presidents and AD's can say what they want, but I still don't see how this saved or helped the Big 12 either way -- it still looks to me like the networks are going to continue to try shaft the conference, resulting in implosion. All of those other avenues are great an all (online streaming and such), but if it's handled in any way like the LHN, we're totally f***ed. Shortly after, this happens:
"We are in the Mountain West Conference and we are going to get $3 million."
Yes, Oklahoma and Texas run the conference. Thank you, we already knew that -- and it sucks. They don't give two s***s about the conference, it could burn down for all they care -- they only look at themselves.
Good read Chris,
Spot on about ACC.
Sports viewership is declining in general. The golden boy known as the NFL is down.
If Netflix or Amazon or whomever decide to get into the world of sports broadcasting , they are not going to get in a bidding war for what amounts to damaged goods.
Spot on about ACC.
Sports viewership is declining in general. The golden boy known as the NFL is down.
If Netflix or Amazon or whomever decide to get into the world of sports broadcasting , they are not going to get in a bidding war for what amounts to damaged goods.
That's not because of a lack of competition, though -- I'm gonna guess that's due to the NFL doing a lot of dumb s*** and becoming very "dramatic" in the past few years. If they would go back to normal/old NFL, their viewership would pop back up again.
No, they really don't. The Big 12 only exists to prevent them from having to compete in, say, the SEC where they would not do as well over time.
Well, I guess that would actually be a benefit to them of the Big 12, so maybe they do after all.
People seem to think there's only two ways this will go. 1) Texas/OU bolt, then everybody else bolts and the Big 12 is gone, or 2) Texas/OU stay, conference remains.
What about a third option, where the Big 12 decides to expand and Texas leaves because they're upset about the expansion. If Oklahoma stays, they're going to be the top dog most years with a clear path to the playoff if they don't trip up and they can keep the Red River Rivalry as a non-conference game. If everyone else stays, too, the Big 12 adds Houston to replace Texas, getting back to 10 in what is still a really great conference. Or maybe then the remaining schools or a streaming service would prefer the Big 12 at 12, so CIncy and BYU get added too.
If Texas leaves, I don't care as long as OU stays. Monetarily yeah, we would lose the attraction of Texas. But we could still make boatloads of cash with the remaining schools intact.
What about a third option, where the Big 12 decides to expand and Texas leaves because they're upset about the expansion. If Oklahoma stays, they're going to be the top dog most years with a clear path to the playoff if they don't trip up and they can keep the Red River Rivalry as a non-conference game. If everyone else stays, too, the Big 12 adds Houston to replace Texas, getting back to 10 in what is still a really great conference. Or maybe then the remaining schools or a streaming service would prefer the Big 12 at 12, so CIncy and BYU get added too.
If Texas leaves, I don't care as long as OU stays. Monetarily yeah, we would lose the attraction of Texas. But we could still make boatloads of cash with the remaining schools intact.
Not to mention the fact that the whole conference looks like a bunch of dips***s for going through all of this for months, being a giant news story every time a small rumor popped up, to then turn around and say "oops just kidding not doing that". How's that for stability?
They're not allowed to vet potential schools?
The Big 12 didn't say they were definitely expanding. They said they would explore expansion. Big difference. The only people making a stink about this are media outlets that covered it breathlessly without a payoff at the end and ESPN and Fox affiliates that have reason to rail against the Big 12 expansion. That's not the Big 12's fault, the Big 12 said it would explore expansion. Never said it was a done deal.
If Texas and OU came to the lesser schools and told us we;d be getting a smaller cut, we would do it in a heartbeat simply because the alternative is unthinkable. We don't have to be full partners in the conference with OU and Texas but we need to carve out our niche and feed off that. If our niche is Texas and OU's red-headed step-child we should gladly embrace that role and make hay.
That just as much, if not more, the media's fault. Media always blows everything out of proportion and the public eat it right up.
"Vetting potential schools" and "publicly declaring that expansion may be a very real possibility" are two different things. Particularly when you draw in lots of interest, even some very good schools given the situation, then just call it all off (and, you know in the future, they're jst going to act like this never even happened). It's not like the Big 12 just gave these schools a phone call or two about the ordeal, it was serious enough for schools to dedicate a lot of resources to it. Example, look at what UConn released today: http://uconn.edu/public-notification/big-12/
The Big 12 just wasted a lot of peoples' time, and have no gain to show from it at this point. Maybe they will in the future, I'm not sure. Looking it at now, I just don't see how they make it out of this better than where it started at.
B12 could and should have explored their options through back channels without the public dog and pony show.
If the gamble is to anticipate changes in media technology and position the conference to be out in front of those changes ... the current B12 leadership is the last group I would hire. I'm not sure these guys could remodel a bathroom, much less see the future of sports TV.
That's entirely true, but what did you expect them to do -- just ignore the whole thing?
I actually found it interesting that ESPN/FOX seem so against the whole expansion idea, but it was their networks and shows that would talk and talk and talk about this stuff, day after day, thus drawing more attention and support to it.
It's sad, because of the power and wide reach of ESPN, their coverage of Big 12 expansion reaches the most viewers or readers. ESPN is also one of the entities that does not want the Big 12 to expand. No conflict of interest there. None at all.
What choice did they have when Boren announced they would explore expansion to the masses?
CycloneErik
Well-Known Member
Darn interesting and not embarrassing.
Fascinated about the notes on how media is changing. Realistically, the TV bubble can't last forever. If this is (finally) a forward-looking move by the Big 12, hats off to them for some creative thinking there.
2 questions:
1. Would we be behind the Big 12 and SEC on this, with their pre-existing partnerships and customer bases?
2. Any thought on the PAC-12 speculation that some posters here mentioned?
Fascinated about the notes on how media is changing. Realistically, the TV bubble can't last forever. If this is (finally) a forward-looking move by the Big 12, hats off to them for some creative thinking there.
2 questions:
1. Would we be behind the Big 12 and SEC on this, with their pre-existing partnerships and customer bases?
2. Any thought on the PAC-12 speculation that some posters here mentioned?
Digital can work, and CycloneFanatic.com is proof. How many iterations of subscription media did we Cyclone fans go through before we got this site? Newspapers, magazines, network backed subscription websites...I bought them all. But CF is better because they had the right people and the right attitude to go at things a different way.
The Big 12 can do it the same way, but it takes some vision and persistence.
I am very happy to read that all 10 schools' AD's are on the same page. Pollard wouldn't need to say that. I'm glad he pointed out publicly that Boren started all this by running his mouth. He deserves a little negative attention as the poster boy for the fiasco, because I think in the future he and others will be much more careful about the media powder keg they will set off.
Ultimately, the Big 12 moves forward a little wiser and richer. What's so terrible about that?
The Big 12 can do it the same way, but it takes some vision and persistence.
I am very happy to read that all 10 schools' AD's are on the same page. Pollard wouldn't need to say that. I'm glad he pointed out publicly that Boren started all this by running his mouth. He deserves a little negative attention as the poster boy for the fiasco, because I think in the future he and others will be much more careful about the media powder keg they will set off.
Ultimately, the Big 12 moves forward a little wiser and richer. What's so terrible about that?
