Lets be honest here ... 'there is an age old principle in high dollar competitive sales that IF you cannot compete 'head to head' then you have to 'change the rules of the game' .... and that is exactly the position OSU/B12 is at RIGHT NOW! Stay with me on this!
if I'm Bob Bowlsby/B12 , I immediately start a PR run calling a 'spade a spade' ...a PR campaign that requires the Networks and P5 Commissioners (B10-ACC-PAC12 really) to come out of the 'smoke filled backrooms' and begin to speak out ..ie..address the REAL elephant in the room... which is:..
answer the following question Mr Network Executive...'is it an accurate statement that the Networks want the best content (games) that bring maximum TV eyeballs? Is it also accurate Mr. B10 Commissioner that you want maximum $'s for your Conference?
If the answer to those 2 questions is YES ...then how is tOSU vs Wake Forest going to accomplish that vs tOSU vs OSU ? OR, how is Oregon vs Rutgers going to accomplish that vs Oregon vs OSU?
Therefore,
why would you pursue a scheduling alliance strategy vs blow-up the conference structure and start fresh with an approach that would let you put the top NCAA brand teams on TV every week vs an approach that requires you to put games on TV that match B10 heavyweight school vs ACC deadweight school .... makes zero sense ... for the Conferences OR Networks ... in STARK contrast ...the SEC is ALREADY at maximum negotiating power because they only have 1 dead weight team (Vandy) out of 16
...therefore ESPN already knows they have top notch games every day of every week and will PAY top $ for it ...
Bowlsby has already lost the battle a long time ago ...he needs a NEW/BETTER strategy NOW that moves him (B12) from back row of the class to a front row seat by forcing the Networks and remaining Commissioners to ADDRESS the elephant in the room ....isn't NOW the time to blowup the old Conference structure all together vs tap dancing (football gerrymandering) around the real issue ...the Conferences structure is out dated and NOT aligned at all with what the networks and top conference teams/brands really want ....the top 25-30 schools DO NOT want to subsidize the bottem 30(+) P5 schools AND the networks really only want to pay top $ for televising maybe the top 30-35 national branded football programs......
Bowlsby get out front and start changing the dialogue .... make those dead weight schools in the P5 start to FEAR their existence and start to get the Networks and Commisioners to publically acknowledge what they really want!
OSUgary