Realignment Megathread (All The Moves)

[Nolaeer]

My dream scenario:

Congress limits conference size to 20 due to anti-trust concerns.

Big 12 adds VT, NC State, Louisville, and Pitt.
BIG adds UVA UNC Miami and duke, boots out NW and rutgers

SEC adds FSU and Clemson.

Acc adds uconn, Tulane, NW, wash state , ore state, and rutgers

ACC final:
NW, Cuse, BC, WF, Uconn, SMU, Stanford, cal, GT, Rutgers, wash state, ore state, Memphis, and Tulane

 

[LonelyCyKC]

The conferences are already too big/concentrated. With the CFP expanding to 12, and conferences doing away with divisions, the conference title games are already gratuitous. What’s the benefit of getting a first round bye in the CFP? The top 4 are almost certain to be playing in their conference title games. A lot of 5-12 seeds are going to play the 13th game, then face 3 more rounds in the CFP (potentially).

Not that I’m going to argue in favor of less football. It just doesn’t make a ton of sense to make a big deal about a championship game when 6 or more of the 8 power conference championship game participants make up the bulk of a 12 team playoff starting two week later.

I quite agree with you. The ideal would be to go back 20 years to the small regional conferences, where fans and teams knew each other and could travel to games without airplanes or over night travel.

Except now it will never happen again. Too much money, too many games, too much bravado. It has become the last one standing is the winner, except everyone else are the losers.

All we can do now is try and keep our conference focused with team groupings that allow some semblance of our former regionalism. So now that the 4 remaining teams from the old Big 8 can recapture one (Colorado). So in the words of Lewis Robinson, "Keep moving forward." (Movie: Meet the Robinsons)

 

[MugNight]

My dream scenario:

Congress limits conference size to 20 due to anti-trust concerns.

Big 12 adds VT, NC State, Louisville, and Pitt.
BIG adds UVA UNC Miami and duke, boots out NW and rutgers

SEC adds FSU and Clemson.

Acc adds uconn, Tulane, NW, wash state , ore state, and rutgers

ACC final:
NW, Cuse, BC, WF, Uconn, SMU, Stanford, cal, GT, Rutgers, wash state, ore state, Memphis, and Tulane

Man, I just don’t trust Congress to figure this all out. They’re typically a decade behind the curve on technology, and no Rep/Senator is gonna risk losing votes because they let the state’s flagship school get a harder shot at a national title.

 

[HFCS]

Man, I just don’t trust Congress to figure this all out. They’re typically a decade behind the curve on technology, and no Rep/Senator is gonna risk losing votes because they let the state’s flagship school get a harder shot at a national title.

They're just starting to look at AI now as if it wasn't something you could see coming at us like a planet sized object.

 

[LonelyCyKC]

SMU is the lame dude no one wanted at the party who pays everyone’s tab to try to fit in, but at the end of the day he’s just a guy who bought his way into the circle.

So SMU is college football's DUFF (designated ugly fat friend)?

 

[snowcraig2.0]

Kirk Schulz: WSU’s legal strategy coming fast and fists will be clenched

'We’re going to fight the good fight,' says Washington State president

247sports.com

 

[SolterraCyclone]

Some individual game successes, but overall I’d say these numbers are pretty disappointing across the board.

Only 7M for a very hyped TCU vs CU is a little disappointing, especially with very few competitive games in that early slot.

ESPN’s fight with Spectrum probably impacting the ESPN numbers too

 

[KidSilverhair]

Some individual game successes, but overall I’d say these numbers are pretty disappointing across the board.

Only 7M for a very hyped TCU vs CU is a little disappointing, especially with very few competitive games in that early slot.

ESPN’s fight with Spectrum probably impacting the ESPN numbers too

Almost 3 million people voluntarily tuned in to watch Northwestern and Rutgers?

 

[CascadeClone]

Almost 3 million people voluntarily tuned in to watch Northwestern and Rutgers?

I thought we weren't doing kink-shaming on CF.

 

[Al_4_State]

Almost 3 million people voluntarily tuned in to watch Northwestern and Rutgers?

It was the only game on at that time. At any level.

 

[Al_4_State]

Some individual game successes, but overall I’d say these numbers are pretty disappointing across the board.

Only 7M for a very hyped TCU vs CU is a little disappointing, especially with very few competitive games in that early slot.

ESPN’s fight with Spectrum probably impacting the ESPN numbers too

That blew everything else out of the water, and it was on in a crowded slot.

The top game had no other games to compete with.

 

[Cloneon]

Almost 3 million people voluntarily tuned in to watch Northwestern and Rutgers?

Maybe someone with more inside info on this can chime in.

My cursory look into the validity of the 'published' numbers (what can I say? Dad always challenged my sources.) says there's more to propagandizing these numbers than meets the eye. Per Nielsen 'virtual MVPDs' are added several days 'after' these numbers. Also, for the life of me and why, I could not find ESPN+ or ESPN app numbers. Sure, there's a lot of 'so-called' numbers but even diving into their sources, they're incredibly vague.

Here are Saturday's Nielsen numbers (no middle man-downloaded from their site) sorted by time, duration, and viewers. There were several time typos which I tried to correct. I find this suspicious for an organization which has been doing this since the Jurassic era. And, being a tech guy, find completely unacceptable since there are so many 'correction algorithms' out there for time. Also, as you can see some 'duration' numbers are off.

Also, interesting are the numbers the pre-game and post-game shows had. Definitely for the junkies out there.

Note: I had rows highlighted to emphasize viewership numbers per time slot, but it wouldn't copy into the post. So, here are the numbers. Enjoy! ... or not!

Observations: TCU sure took the air out of the Iowa numbers. TX sure has a following. WVU did well.

Network	Program	Episode	Date	Time	Duration 18-49 rtg Viewers (000)
ESPN2	COLL FTBL SCOREBOARD L	COLLEGE FOOTBALL FINAL	09/02/2023	1:36 AM	60	0.06	200
ESPN	COLL FTBL SCOREBOARD	N/A	9/2/2023	3:00 AM	60	0.12	299
ESPN	SPORTSCENTER WEEKEND-AM L	N/A	9/2/2023	7:00 AM	60	0.10	310
ESPN	COLLEGE GAMEDAY	CHARLOTTE, NC	9/2/2023	9:00 AM	185	0.50	1,658
FOX	BIG NOON KICKOFF - 10AM	UNIV-CO AT TX CHRISTIAN UNIV	9/2/2023	10:00 AM	60	0.13	618
FOX BIG NOON KICKOFF		UNIV-CO AT TX CHRISTIAN UNIV	9/2/2023	11:00 AM	67	0.33	1,345
FOX SPORTS 1	COLL FOOTBALL: BIG 10 L	UTAH ST/IOWA	9/2/2023	11:59 AM	217	0.11	561
CBS	CBS SPORTS CONFIDENTIAL	BIG TEN FOOTBALL 2023 - M BENZ	9/2/2023	1:00 PM	60	0.06	433
CBS	COLLEGE FOOTBALL KICKOFF	MERCEDES BENZ	9/2/2023	2:00 PM	60	0.07	509
NBC	COLL FOOTBALL COUNTD6Wil	N/A	9/2/2023	3:00 PM	33	0.09	499
CBS	COLLEGE FOOTBALL TODAY	STATE FARM	9/2/2023	3:00 PM	30	0.14	837
BIG TEN NETWORK	B1G LIVE: FTB GAMEBREAK L	N/A	9/2/2023	3:27 PM	13	0.04	168
ESPN	COLL FTBL SCOREBOARD L	CFB SATURDAY	9/2/2023	3:27 PM	3	0.18	720
CBS	BIG TEN ON CBS-SAT	OHIO STATE AT INDIANA	9/2/2023	3:30 PM	209	1.	4,646
ESPN	COLLEGE FOOTBALL AFT	L	MASSACHUSETTS/AUBURN	9/2/2023	3:30 PM	199	0.23	1,033
NBC	NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL		TENNESSEE STATE AT NOTRE DAME	9/2/2023	3:33 PM	188	0.30	1,558
FOX SPORTS 1	COLL FOOTBALL: BIG 10 L	BUFFALO/WISCONSIN	9/2/2023	3:36 PM	212	0.16	784
ABC	ABC AFTERNOON CFTBL-3:30P	BOISE STATE AT WASHINGTON	9/2/2023	3:37 PM	220	0.50	1,967
FOX	FOX CFB - BIG12 EVENING	RICE UNIV AT UNIV-TX	9/2/2023	3:51 PM	178	0.90	3,210
ESPN	COLL FTBL SCOREBOARD	L	CFB SATURDAY	9/2/2023	6:49 PM	11	0.20	844
FOX	FOX CFB POSTGUN	RICE UNIV AT UNIV-TX	9/2/2023	6:49 PM	6	0.48	1,872
ESPN	COLLEGE FOOTBALL PRIME	L	NEW MEXICO/TEXAS A&M	9/2/2023	7:00 PM	208	0.20	794
FOX SPORTS 1	COLL FOOTBALL: BIG 12 L	UTSA/HOUSTON	09/02/2023	7:08 PM	211	0.10	323
BIG TEN NETWORK	B1G FOOTBALL L	TOLEDO / ILLINOIS	9/2/2023	7:34 PM	218	0.07	294
ABC	SATUR DAY NIGHT FOOTBALL	NORTH CAROLINA VS SOUTH CAROLINA	9/2/2023	7:38 PM	205	0.95	3,400
NBC	NBC B1G SAT NIGHT FOOTBLL	WEST VIRGINIA AT PENN STATE	9/2/2023	7:38 PM	202	0.74	3,497
CBS	COLLEGE FTBL PRIME-SAT		TEXAS TECH AT WYOMING	9/2/2023	8:30 PM	256	0.32	1,425
FOX SPORTS 2	COLL FOOTBALL: BIG 12 L	SAM HOUSTON/BYU	9/2/2023	10:15 PM	27	0.04	96
ESPN	COLLEGE FOOTBALL PRIME	L	COASTAL CAROLINA/UCLA	9/2/2023	10:28 PM	202	0.30	862
FOX SPORTS 1	COLL FOOTBALL: BIG 12 L	SAM HOUSTON/BYU	9/2/2023	10:39 PM	182	0.14	444
BIG TEN NETWORK B1G FOOTBALL L	FRESNO STATE / PURDUE	9/2/2023	12/31/2023 12:00:00	207	0.09	343
ABC	ABC AFTRNOON CFTBL-12:01P	VIRGINIA VS TENNESSEE	9/2/2023	12/31/2023 12:01:00	216	0.46	2,464
ESPN	COLLEGE FOOTBALL AFT	L	ARKANSAS ST/OKLAHOMA	9/2/2023	12/31/2023 12:05:00	202	0.26	970
FOX	BIG NOON SATURDAY-BIG12	UNIV-CO AT TX CHRISTIAN UNIV	9/2/2023	12/31/2023 12:07:00	218	2.	7,262

[edited for the paragraph czars ]

 

[SolterraCyclone]

That blew everything else out of the water, and it was on in a crowded slot.

The top game had no other games to compete with.

It wasn’t awful, but Notre Dame vs OSU did 10.6M during week 1 last year. Texas vs Alabama did 10.6M in the first Big Noon game of the year in week 2 last year (if you don’t count the Nebraska vs Northwestern week 0 game).

I wouldn’t expect TCU vs CU to match those two games, but I expected probably 9-10M given how much the game was promoted. It wasn’t going up against any other top matchups head to head, and anyone with Spectrum cable couldn’t watch ESPN, which should have yielded a bump in viewers for Fox.

I don’t know if the network execs share my slight disappointment. Not sure what their forecast expected.

 

[Jer]

Almost 3 million people voluntarily tuned in to watch Northwestern and Rutgers?

I did, but only because there was no other option. I also laughed half the time about how horrible both teams looked.

 

[HouClone]

Some individual game successes, but overall I’d say these numbers are pretty disappointing across the board.

Only 7M for a very hyped TCU vs CU is a little disappointing, especially with very few competitive games in that early slot.

ESPN’s fight with Spectrum probably impacting the ESPN numbers too

You got to think the realignment stuff the past couple years is affecting interest. I'm not watching much of the other conferences anymore, especially not the Big 10 or SEC. If it is a close game near the end, I may put it on however.

 

[Klubber]

It’s not correct data. In the five games in which Houston had viewing data they had a total of 2.908 million viewers. Now most of us would divide that by 5 to get 581k viewers/game. Only the idiot on that website would divide by 12 to get the erroneous 242k per game. Let’s stop using those numbers to make a point.

The thing to remember with Houston though is that they were at one time in a power conference (Southwest Conference) playing other elite programs on a regular basis. Then they get relegated to G-5.

So I can understand fans not having the same interest there. But what remains to be seen is what happens now that they're once again in a power conference.

I think Houston's ceiling in football is really high but we'll see.

 

[simply1]

I watched Oregon State just to help them out in spirit

 

[cytor]

Some individual game successes, but overall I’d say these numbers are pretty disappointing across the board.

Only 7M for a very hyped TCU vs CU is a little disappointing, especially with very few competitive games in that early slot.

ESPN’s fight with Spectrum probably impacting the ESPN numbers too

Agree with this. 1 thing though... it's Disney's fight with Spectrum... everything related to Disney is no longer on Spectrum. Disney pulled the same stunt with Direct TV about 5-6 years ago.

 

[Clonedogg]

For those curious about Pac leftovers, OSU and WSU.

Oregon State, Washington State await clarity on Pac-12 assets before next move

Oregon State, Washington State waiting for clarity about Pac-12 assets before determining next steps for conference home

www.sportsbusinessjournal.com

 

[SolterraCyclone]

I watched Oregon State just to help them out in spirit

Not going to lie, I put that game on a random TV in my house and went and did other stuff, just in case my cable box is counted by Nielsen