The Rutgers and Maryland moves happened only because TV needed it to happen to force a broader, more profitable distribution of the Big 10 network at the time. It simply does not happen under any other scenario. Important to remember that as we look to the future. For some time now when it comes to college football, what TV wants, TV gets. The OU-Bevo jump has not convinced me anything different is at play.
Agree to an extent. Yes rutgers, md happened due to money, tx/ou happened for money.
But... it doesn't mean that every decision good for the bottom line is also going to lead us toward a super conference with all the "others / non-brands" left out. I had much the same view as you do when I started to break down likely outcomes...
However, this weekend I spoke with a friend who works for a large acc school and knows about
some (not all) of the conversations that are happening on this topic within the acc and with media partners / potential media partners. To me, it sounded like much of this is very fluid right now - nothing is guaranteed. But it was also interesting to hear that it sounded like TICKET revenue and desirable MATCH UPS for streaming partners, were becoming a bigger piece of the conversations (vs. cable boxes before - this is good for us). Decision makers are not as stupid as we may think, they realize that these things matter a lot and will drive revenues in the future.
Does it mean the b10 would not take 6 brands from the pac and create a conference ranging from coast to coast? No. But they are more likely to consider potential value of
match-ups and ticket revenues this time around since these are the things that will impact streaming revenue in the future... rutgers brought cable boxes but they are unlikely to bring many eyeballs from the ny/nj media market. Even if they are successful on the field, those markets are not college football markets... they are dominated by pro sports.
The value of a team like wvu to the acc is built in rivals with former big east teams and regional rivals with vt, pitt, and uva.
The value for the big 10 is similar for isu, kan. These are much more valuable to AD's than adding a team 1000 miles away... how many Wash fans make the trip to Neb or Minn (closest current b10 members?).
For any of this to happen though, the Big 12 needs to dissolve. Otherwise, wvu, ISU, Kan will be stuck just like tx, ou. Based on what I can find on what it would take to dissolve the conf, it sounds like that may be as few as 6 schools finding a "Power 4" home... (however, it would be a legal battle for sure - and i am definitely not an expert on this).
So...
WVU > ACC (acc needs to reopen contract asap to get better tv money)
ISU, Kan > B10 (turns out, b10 does value regional rivalries, as long as they are between aau institutions?)
ou/tx > SEC
that's 5 of 10. To get to 6 it will be tricky unless PAC decides it wants to add teams like OSU/TT. Or, would B10 consider KSU (non-AAU) + Mizz from sec and go to 18? Then SEC adds OSU (to get back to 16)? That could get as many as 7 out of 10 in P4 conferences.
This all seems more reasonable to me today than it did last week... but clearly not a done deal....
Ironically, I think the key for us may be for the king makers (the media companies) that are motivated to dissolve the B12. To dissolve the conference and get OU/Tx out early, they may need as few as 6 (or as many as 8) to close the conference down. To do that they need homes for at least 4 of the "Big 8" in order to get a simple majority (6/10). If they need to find homes for 4 of the 8 I think we have a really good chance to make the cut. If they find homes for 6/8 we are basically a sure thing.