Realignment Megathread (All The Moves)

[SolarGarlic]

I know he currently lives in California (Silicon Valley area I believe) but he grew up in the Midwest (Ohio) and went to Northwestern so not sure why he loves him some Pac 10 so much?

The Big 12 and the two conferences that made up the Big 12 (Big 8/SWC) and the following realignment has tarnished the reputation of the conference in much of the media's estimation.

It is simply nostalgia that many of them are holding on to when it comes to the Pac 12. It's USC and the Rose Bowl, two things that are gone from the conference in the near future. It certainly isn't performance on the field.

 

[Gunnerclone]

When I checked schools for my kids, the first things I looked at were amount of grads in their area and college and how many were getting jobs in their fields. Second was internships, how regular are they and how much help do they get from the school. Then I considered other things like cost, rep, and others. My kids told me what school/s they felt right at and I messed up that information.

Thanks for these notes. My parents didn’t help me with ****. I picked ISU because I knew I could get to every basketball game cheaply and quickly if I went there.

 

[BryceC]

I get your sentiment, and wanting to show that ISU is a stronger brand than Oregon St. But for an Iowa State fan to say that any program like an OSU, or Wazzou, or BC, or Wake is somehow worthless, and "nobody gives a s**t" is hypocritical. That view point is the same that people outside Cyclone Nation and the Big 12 have been lobbing at us since 2010, and it doesn't help us at all to do the same to others that are now in the situation we were in just last year.

What we need to do is argue and show that without the ISU's and OSU's of the world, the value of college football as a media property is lessened. We need to show solidarity with the programs in our weight class, not try to take them down. Because post-OUT has shown that there will only be so many seats at the big table, so it is in our best interest to make it so the next table cannot be viewed as just an afterthought.

Why I find it kind of insulting is while I respect Oregon St. and Wash St., it's fair to say their own fans don't give nearly as much of a crap as ISU fans do. Many, many, many more fans go to our games in the stadium. That's not really debatable.

 

[Nothingman]

I don’t know if it’s a good comparison, but this model works fine for the NFL.

If the NFL decided to place the bottom half of teams in a minor league based on perceived value, I think they'd lose a lot of fans as well. If the Bears were placed in a minor league with half of the other teams, I wouldn't pick a different NFL team to root for. I'd just stop watching the NFL. I might still pay some attention to the minor league since that's where my team is now. It wouldn't be nearly as much though and I would likely eventually completely stop following the minor league.

 

[Gunnerclone]

Media Crying Wolf on Pac-12 Stability Amid Big 12 Expansion Talks

It’s been a wild last few weeks in the college football world. I thought that last year’s news of Oklahoma and Texas leaving was going to be crazy, but it hasn’t had the same domino effect that the news of USC and UCLA to the Big Ten has had. Everyone had their own opinion in […]

www.heartlandcollegesports.com

The digs at Stew made me lol

There’s really only a couple sentences that need to be read here. Stew would do well to read them:

“The Pac-12 without USC or UCLA is going to be by far the lowest paid Power Five conference. In fact, they already were even with those two schools from Los Angeles.”

 

[cyIclSoneU]

Why I find it kind of insulting is while I respect Oregon St. and Wash St., it's fair to say their own fans don't give nearly as much of a crap as ISU fans do. Many, many, many more fans go to our games in the stadium. That's not really debatable.

Washington State is a smaller school than ISU, with fewer living alumni, located in a town half the size of Ames. It’s a 4.5 hour drive to get there from the city with the biggest chunk of WSU fans and alumni (Seattle). They get some slack on attendance. Their TV numbers are actually pretty good. Arguably better than ours depending on how you analyze them.

Oregon State yeah I don’t know about them. I would be happy to have Wazzu in our conference though.

 

[simply1]

If the NFL decided to place the bottom half of teams in a minor league based on perceived value, I think they'd lose a lot of fans as well. If the Bears were placed in a minor league with half of the other teams, I wouldn't pick a different NFL team to root for. I'd just stop watching the NFL. I might still pay some attention to the minor league since that's where my team is now. It wouldn't be nearly as much though and I would likely eventually completely stop following the minor league.

But the teams aren’t all undefeated and they still draw ratings for matchups.

 

[Big Daddy Kang]

The problem with Mandel's idea that the networks should just be interested in an NFL light model to maximize revenue is it fails to see what makes college football a popular alternative to the NFL. The history, tradition, and upsets like App State over Michigan are what make college football special. Trying to compete with the NFL at their own game at the same time of year is a losing strategy long term. NFL light may very well be where this is headed, but it's going to kill the golden goose IMO.

Right. No more underdogs just superpowers having a down year.

 

[Stormin]

Washington State is a smaller school than ISU, with fewer living alumni, located in a town half the size of Ames. It’s a 4.5 hour drive to get there from the city with the biggest chunk of WSU fans and alumni (Seattle). They get some slack on attendance. Their TV numbers are actually pretty good. Arguably better than ours depending on how you analyze them.

Oregon State yeah I don’t know about them. I would be happy to have Wazzu in our conference though.

WSU is remote. Travel for athletic teams from Ames Iowa would be costly and tedious. And no financial gain. No thanks.

 

[cyIclSoneU]

WSU is remote. Travel for athletic teams from Ames Iowa would be costly and tedious. And no financial gain. No thanks.

Pittsburgh to Morgantown is identical distance as Spokane to Pullman. So what if the first leg out of Des Moines is to Denver instead of Chicago. It’s another couple hours on a plane.

Probably a lot of people saying exactly what you wrote about ISU too. You will no doubt say they are wrong. But so would a Washington State fan.

 

[JohnnyFive]

The problem with Mandel's idea that the networks should just be interested in an NFL light model to maximize revenue is it fails to see what makes college football a popular alternative to the NFL. The history, tradition, and upsets like App State over Michigan are what make college football special. Trying to compete with the NFL at their own game at the same time of year is a losing strategy long term. NFL light may very well be where this is headed, but it's going to kill the golden goose IMO.

Some people dont care about the NFL but love college ball because of the variety, tradition, and passion.

 

[Big_Sill]

Lots of people will watch ISU, if we play in a conference with large brands, we are a top 25 team, and we have access to the playoffs.

Take ANY of those things away, and we have Oregon State type value.

 

[Statefan10]

But the teams aren’t all undefeated and they still draw ratings for matchups.

I think there are a variety of factors for why that happens. You can technically be close to .500 and make the playoffs means you’re never out of the hunt until the back half of the season.

Also, the fact there’s a draft means each week counts in the grand scheme of things to the teams that suck.

 

[FriendlySpartan]

Some people dont care about the NFL but love college ball because of the variety, tradition, and passion.

I feel, and have no stats to back this up, that the people that love cfb but not the nfl are usually alumni of those schools. If someone is a Walmart/tavern they usually like both. Not sure if that is different in a state that doesn’t have an NFL team or not though.

 

[2speedy1]

I don't want to spend $1. Can someone summarize?

I wouldn't pay for Mandel's Hot Garbage to save my life. He showed his colors. Why would I want to pay for that crap.

I might grab it on archive but most of the time The Athletics garbage is not worth the effort. Its all biased opinionated drivel.

 

[AuH2O]

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“The execs at Fox and ESPN don’t have any sort of civic responsibility toward Iowa State or Oregon State fans; their only obligation is to their shareholders. They are making a multi-billion dollar bet that while loyal, local college football fans may be alienated by the changing tides, they are going to draw in millions and millions of new fans with more NFL-esque version of the sport where every Saturday is Ohio State vs. Penn State, followed by Texas vs. Alabama, followed by Georgia vs. Oklahoma, followed by Michigan at USC. Less charm, more blockbusters.”

We know that the suits at Fox and ESPN don’t give a **** about us; that’s a fact. ESPN tried to G5 us because they thought it would be convenient for OU and Texas.

It’s clear that what Stew describes is their hope. It’s not at all clear to me that this hope would become reality. I watch football most of Saturday for most weeks in the fall; I’d almost certainly reduce that heavily (if not give it up entirely) and increase my NFL fandom if Iowa State got relegated.

His point is correct, but the idiocy is comparing Oregon State to a team that controlling for time slot and network draws similar to Oregon. You could say the same thing but substitute Oregon and Oklahoma State and it would still technically be correct. But of course the point he’s trying to make, and has tried to make us that ISU is below all but OSU and WSU.

Literally no one here or anyone else is making a pro Big 12 or ISU argument on the basis of “civic responsibility,” but by various pieces of actual data that factor in to value.

I’m not sure if he’s really this stupid or just going all in on his push polling activity.

 

[Bikeryde]

I still think the brands have to be good for national interest. If the UT/LSU are both 4-4 when they play each other I don't think there is going to be much interest in that game. If ISU/Houston includes one team in the top 25 and another in the top 10 I would watch that over the UT/LSU game every time.

I agree, but I also think that ESPN's job is to make a marketable game, which they'll succeed at if trying to capture casual viewers. Yes, they may be 4-4 matchups, but the build up will be the story of, "This is the game to watch, a must-win for both teams, traditions clash, tune in to see (whatever TX QB) can do to Brian Kelly's new team, a meeting of the greatest offensive minded coaches, etc., etc., yada, yada, yada." (And don't read too much into that offensive minded statement, it's strictly an example) Generating/constructing interest to capture viewers is what ESPN does best.

 

[Stormin]

Pittsburgh to Morgantown is identical distance as Spokane to Pullman. So what if the first leg out of Des Moines is to Denver instead of Chicago. It’s another couple hours on a plane.

Probably a lot of people saying exactly what you wrote about ISU too. You will no doubt say they are wrong. But so would a Washington State fan.

West Virginia is a more valuable school than WSU. So we put up with the travel. Perhaps if WSU brought more I would do it. But financially it is a no. And the travel just seals the deal. No thanks.

 

[BMWallace]

I agree, but I also think that ESPN's job is to make a marketable game, which they'll succeed at if trying to capture casual viewers. Yes, they may be 4-4 matchups, but the build up will be the story of, "This is the game to watch, a must-win for both teams, traditions clash, tune in to see (whatever TX QB) can do to Brian Kelly's new team, a meeting of the greatest offensive minded coaches, etc., etc., yada, yada, yada." (And don't read too much into that offensive minded statement, it's strictly an example) Generating/constructing interest to capture viewers is what ESPN does best.

Sure, ESPN wants to build a story and narrative around games that they broadcast in order to maximize their investment. But it often seems like they are more focused on building up some weak story around a big brand in a ho-hum season, instead of spending time on the compelling and interesting story of a program on the rise.

They do this outside of college football too. How much airtime gets dedicated to the Yankees, Cowboys, Lakers even in a down season just because they are big market teams? When at the same time they ignore teams like the Rays, Bills, and Hornets as long as they can.

 

[WhoISthis]

Pittsburgh to Morgantown is identical distance as Spokane to Pullman. So what if the first leg out of Des Moines is to Denver instead of Chicago. It’s another couple hours on a plane.

Probably a lot of people saying exactly what you wrote about ISU too. You will no doubt say they are wrong. But so would a Washington State fan.

WSU/Pullman is frequently viewed as the most isolated/remote P5. Maybe Lubbock comes close.

No one said exactly that about ISU imo. Rather kind of the opposite- there are already P2s too close. If iowa were not in the BIG we’d be a candidate, except now also the loss of AAU hurts. We’re surrounded by BIG.

In terms of ACC or PAC, it isn’t you can’t take ISU, but rather they’d take schools before ISU. I’m not sure either the B12 or ACC would ever take WSU- even if there were not 8 other candidates ahead