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Oklahoma State Football

Bob Bowlsby's Save the Future of the Big 12 Campaign and Today's Statement

September 1, 2021
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STILLWATER – Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby is having to issue a lot of statements these days and while issuing statements is a conference commissioner’s job or part of it, the message in the statements usually is telling in how good a job the commissioner is doing. Here’s the latest from Irving, Texas and the Big 12 headquarters.

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No time with the media, Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby has been on a solo mission.

“Following two days of consultation with the athletics directors of the continuing members of the Big 12 Conference, commissioner Bob Bowlsby stated, “The eight ADs remain committed to furthering the Big 12 as one of the nation’s premier athletic conferences and look forward to working with our presidents and chancellors to strengthen the league. Future exploration by the group will continue to center on options that best position the long-term strength of the Conference.”

You want to know what Bowlsby is conveying here, don’t you? Well, our sources have told us that while a committee was convened of athletic directors Kirby Hocutt at Texas Tech and Mack Rhoades at Baylor along with University of Kansas chancellor Douglas Girod and Iowa State president Dr. Wendy Wintersteen, Bowlsby has jumped the gun and kept his travel agent busy. As previously reported by a number of sources including The Athletic, the Big 12 had a huge backlog of information on schools interested in joining the conference from the league’s foray into looking for new members back in 2016. At that time, the conference, primarily at the insistence of Texas and Oklahoma chose not to add schools. Now because of Texas and Oklahoma it is necessary to add schools for the future.

Pokes Report has learned from various sources including those at the schools involved that Bob Bowlsby has visited Provo, Utah and BYU, Orlando, Fla. and the University of Central Florida, Cincinnati and the University of Cincinnati, and most recently stopped in Houston and the University of Houston. No surprise that Bowlsby has kicked up his efforts. He has no idea how long his window will be, but the movement of the alliance of the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big Ten, and Pac-12 has stymied any further expansion of other power conferences for now. The Pac-12 announcing last Thursday that they would table expansion for now. You know he does have a current in-houce consultant in former West Virginia athletic director Oliver Luck.

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Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff is on pause for now with expansion.

Pokes Report learned from sources on the West Coast and closely tied to the Pac-12 that the conference commissioner George Kliavkoff favored bringing in a couple of Big 12 schools, schools that could ramp up the intensity of football in the Pac-12. The push back from current Pac-12 members, as we reported last week led by USC, was resolute and started with travel concerns, then went to academic criticism and finally landed on the real cause that they flat didn’t want Oklahoma State and that other school coming in and threatening the top of the conference in football.

We found that interesting, and we’ve been told that Kliavkoff is determined to shake up football and push it toward greater intensity, commitment, and ultimately performance.

Meanwhile, Bowlsby is on his tour and will meet with his eight remaining presidents either Thursday or Friday morning. We initially believed it to be Thursday, but another source today said it could be Friday. Either way, Bowlsby means business to crank up a future framework for the Big 12 to move on from whatever the timetable is that Texas and Oklahoma move to the SEC. Meanwhile, all eight remaining schools are committed to one aspect of this process and that is keeping Texas and Oklahoma playing in the league, paying the proper exit fee, and if they leave before the grant of rights and the current television contract is up, then making sure they collect the television revenue from both schools.

The itinerary of expansion is unknown and likely new schools would be brought in at a later date. There are lots of contingencies involved. The biggest for the Big 12 is how long Texas and Oklahoma were to remain. Bringing in new schools with the approval of the eight remaining schools would not lighten the terms of departure for Texas and Oklahoma.

Quick Look at BYU, Central Florida, Cincinnati, and Houston

Brigham Young University - Provo, Utah                                                                              Enrollment: 33,517; Head Football Coach: Kalani Sitake; Stadium: LaVell Edwards Stadium (63,725);  Record in the 2010s: 77-53 (44th); Avg. TV Viewers per game Last Five Years: 714,000 (46th); Wall Street Est. Value of Football Program: $93.3-million (60th)

University of Central Florida – Orlando, Florida                                                                    Enrollment: 66,183; Head Football Coach: Gus Malzahn; Stadium: Bounce House (44,206); Record in the 2010s: 88-42 (16th); Avg. TV Viewers per game Last Five Years: 566,000 (58th); Wall Street Est. Value of Football Program: $68.2-million (65th)

University of Cincinnati – Cincinnati, Ohio                                                                            Enrollment: 46,798; Head Football Coach: Luke Fickell; Stadium: Nippert Stadium (40,000); Record in the 2010s: 79-49 (37th); Avg. TV Viewers per game Last Five Years: 430,000 (64th); Wall Street Est. Value of Football Program: $30.2-million (77th)

University of Houston – Houston, Texas                                                                              Enrollment: 35,000; Head Football Coach: Dana Holgorsen; Stadium: TDECU Stadium (40,000) Record in the 2010s: 80-48 (37th); Avg. TV Viewers per game Last Five Years: 689,000 (50th); Wall Street Est. Value of Football Program: $41.4-million (72nd)

For comparison:

University of Texas – Austin, Texas                                                                                               Record in the 2010s: 71-57 (57th); Avg. TV Viewers per game Last Five Years: 2.27-million (13th); Wall Street Est. Value of Football Program: $1.105-billion (1st)

University of Oklahoma – Norman, Okla.                                                                                   Record in the 2010s: 109-25 (4th); Avg. TV Viewers per game Last Five Years: 2.9-million (8th); Wall Street Est. Value of Football Program: $885-million (7th)

Oklahoma State University – Stillwater, Okla.                                                                           Record in the 2010s: 93-37 (13th); Avg. TV Viewers per game Last Five Years: 1.64-million (19th); Wall Street Est. Value of Football Program: $271-million (30th)

Discussion from...

Bob Bowlsby's Save the Future of the Big 12 Campaign and Today's Statement

27,014 Views | 47 Replies | Last: 2 yr ago by NJAggie
esq3164
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RA Do you think there is any chance O.S.U. would along with other teams in the conf? Seems way to early in this whole mess to do so.
TUSKAPOKE
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First, trusting Bowlsby now with "saving" the BIG 8 does not make me comfortable with his failures so far. Second, I have written that the BIG 12 does not need to be patient in this "poker game" but be aggressive in lining up teams in all time zones including talking to teams the PAC 12 might be interested in out west. Go after BYU, Boise, SDSU, UH, Cincinnati, UCF and form an "alliance" to explore the market. Scare the hell out of the PAC 12 and if worse comes to worse form the BIG 16 that is in all four time zones and go kick some blue bloods. Forming an "alliance" and exploring "possibilities" is not risky and it may force some others to show a few more of their cards. To close, Bowlsby needs to be gone and give the job to Luck until OSU is part of the SEC, PAC 12 or in the expanded BIG 12. Sitting back has gotten the BIG 12 in this current mess. Forming an "alliance" is the least that is expected. Scramble now or get handed your azz.
Joe Khatib
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Hmmm, the four listed equal 2,399,000 eyeballs compared to OSU which has 1.65 million just on its own. Zero U and Texas total over 5,000,000 eyeballs between them. How would you sell adding those four to a league that would bring in less eyeballs and have to split the shares with four additional mouths to feed? Doesn't really look to promising in that scenario.
DigitalPoke
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If this happens, OSU football is over as we know it today. Might as well make it fun and add The University of Las Vegas. More upside to any of these teams listed. That's would open up a lot of sponsorship opportunities with the entertainment partners who own the casinos. You would think they would pony up at least a couple million per team. The publicity, free advertising etc they would be receiving would be worth more than that. And also who wouldn't want to travel to Las Vegas to watch a game. We could call the conference Oceans 10 .
CaliforniaCowboy
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Joe Khatib said:

Hmmm, the four listed equal 2,399,000 eyeballs compared to OSU which has 1.65 million just on its own. Zero U and Texas total over 5,000,000 eyeballs between them. How would you sell adding those four to a league that would bring in less eyeballs and have to split the shares with four additional mouths to feed? Doesn't really look to promising in that scenario.
you're falling into the bad math trap.... that is not a valid comparison.

Those "eyeballs" from those teams were from the PRIOR conferences, and prior Televised appearances, and prior bowl game contracts. There is not real way to predict how many "eyeballs" might tune if for those programs if their conference status was elevated, and their TV appearances and favorable time slots improved.

Interest in BYU football has waned since the days of Lavell Edwards, and especially as in "Independant", because they have no real path to either a championship or a playoff spot. Can you predict for me, how many new (or returning) eyeballs BYU would have if their football fortunes were to change drastically with an invite to a legitimate P5 conference? Those are the eyeball numbers that you need to use (for each of these teams).



CaliforniaCowboy
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DigitalPoke said:

And also who wouldn't want to go to Las Vegas to watch the conference championship.
CC raises his hand. (hopefully your entire post was tongue in cheek)

No thanks. I have no interest in going to Las Vegas for any reason. In LA we actually call it Lost Wages.

You do know how freaking hot it is playing in that desert, right?

Orangeheart72
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CaliforniaCowboy said:

Joe Khatib said:

Hmmm, the four listed equal 2,399,000 eyeballs compared to OSU which has 1.65 million just on its own. Zero U and Texas total over 5,000,000 eyeballs between them. How would you sell adding those four to a league that would bring in less eyeballs and have to split the shares with four additional mouths to feed? Doesn't really look to promising in that scenario.
you're falling into the bad math trap.... that is not a valid comparison.

Those "eyeballs" from those teams were from the PRIOR conferences, and prior Televised appearances, and prior bowl game contracts. There is not real way to predict how many "eyeballs" might tune if for those programs if their conference status was elevated, and their TV appearances and favorable time slots improved.

Interest in BYU football has waned since the days of Lavell Edwards, and especially as in "Independant", because they have no real path to either a championship or a playoff spot. Can you predict for me, how many new (or returning) eyeballs BYU would have if their football fortunes were to change drastically with an invite to a legitimate P5 conference? Those are the eyeball numbers that you need to use (for each of these teams).






That's a great point about eyeball potential Cal. I understand that schools and media will likely "value" teams partly on that basis, but short term (say 3-5 years) potential impacts would be beneficial if TV marketing actuarial projections could be made. That's one of the reasons in my opinion, schools like CSU, UTSA and UCF are interesting to consider. They have marketing (and fan travel) potential within a new, power conference that isn't neccesarily being fully tapped in their current situation. And, for example, in five years, average non-alums and recruits in Colorado/Denver TV market will care very little about the "Pac 12 CU's game with Oregon State is on" versus "CSU with Oklahoma State". They will follow local teams and obviously the national ratings of the teams involved.
KFD
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UH enrollment is 45,364
grad17
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But we're also losing the draw that OU (8th) & Texas (13th) bring in. Unfortunately OSU doesn't come close to the 1.65 without the OU/Texas games every year. Do those four schools come to close matching what OU/UT bring? Negative. The new Big 12 would be borderline "legitimate P5" at best, would they see a jump in viewers? Yes. But not the jump you're insinuating
CaliforniaCowboy
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grad17 said:

But we're also losing the draw that OU (8th) & Texas (13th) bring in. Unfortunately OSU doesn't come close to the 1.65 without the OU/Texas games every year. Do those four schools come to close matching what OU/UT bring? Negative. The new Big 12 would be borderline "legitimate P5" at best, would they see a jump in viewers? Yes. But not the jump you're insinuating
naw.. you using the bad math again....

do OU and UT draw some eyes... yes of course.... but how many of those are because 1) they're likely playing for/in the conf championship (hence others have interest) and/or 2) they get a favorable TV time slot that automatically draws more eyes. If those 2 teams are gone from those slots for us, then somebody is going to get increased eyeballs simply because they're getting better TV time slot coverage.

What the heck is "borderline P5" anyway? (hint: borderline P5=Pac12)

I did not insinuate anything... I've said repeatedly we do not know the impact on viewers. What national interest might there be in a contest for conference lead between OSU and say BYU or ISU, when said teams are undefeated, ranked in the top 5 and probably contenders for the playoff? Get the goons off in their 3rd place slot in the SEC and let's see what happens to everybody else's opportunities. We could be playing for undefeated and 1st place b12 annually, while the goons fight LSU for 2nd in that division.

throw out the backwards looking numbers, and focus on forward possibilities.

EDIT: and one more take... tonights game for example between Boise and UCF. More eyeballs than their games might normally get? (I'm going to guess yes)

1) the game is on ESPN at a prime timeslot, with very little competition (only Ohio State / Minn competing one hour later), and

2) UCF playing a different "regional power" is likely to draw more interest nationally than a typical UCF game, not to mention possibly some added interest due to the expansion talk for these 2 teams.

Let me put it this way, would you have more interest in watching Boise/UCF prime-time ESPN, or UCF/USF at 11:00 am on a Sat with 5 other national games playing?

all of those things go into the TV ratings that you're qouting
NJAggie
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grad17 said:

But we're also losing the draw that OU (8th) & Texas (13th) bring in. Unfortunately OSU doesn't come close to the 1.65 without the OU/Texas games every year. Do those four schools come to close matching what OU/UT bring? Negative. The new Big 12 would be borderline "legitimate P5" at best, would they see a jump in viewers? Yes. But not the jump you're insinuating
The 1.65 is without OU/UT. With them the avg goes up to 1.9
NJAggie
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It sounds like the league understands the challenge and is ready to get things done. I'm really pleased to hear this.

The 3 AAC schools will need to give a minimum of 27 months notice to exit. So the need to do that this school year to be able to join in 2024-25 or by next year to be clear for 2025-6. So yes this has to be done now so that these timelines can be met.

You could bring in BYU asap due to their position as independent and just add them to the schedule doing a round robin -1.

One thing you have to remember about these TV numbers is that the biggest factor in rating is what time slots you get on what network. A game on 11am or 3pm on a TV network is going to get better ratings than a game on ESPN2 or FS1. So OU/UT have high viewership numbers because they get so many of those prime TV slots (on the rare occasions their games get sent to a lower slot their numbers drop as much as anyone else's). While the schools we're looking at got hardly any of those. Then if you look at those schools in good time slots? They draw in the 1.6m to 1.9m range. UCF, Cincy, & BYU (along with OSU/TCU/BU) have even gotten games that go above the now fabled 4m viewer threshold.

Are those 4 the equal of OU/UT in draw? No, but they are a very solid foursome and ones that will help provide enough inventory of games and viewers that it will keep the conference in the ballpark of current revenue.
TUSKAPOKE
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The Sewerners and Shorthorn steers are gone. They are blue bloods. What other blue bloods are out there that want to come and join the BIG 8 now? Hell, there are none!!! Notre Dame is not coming. What is the best of the rest? BYU, UH, Cincinnati and UCF are not bad. How about Boise, Memphis and SDSU? Okay.....There are no other blue bloods clamoring to come rescue OSU and save the inept BIG 12. If you want it to survive....then "fewer eyes" teams are all you got. Go after teams the PAC 12 needs to expand and sink them into # 5 in the Power 5 rankings if, and only if, OSU does not get invited to the PAC 12 (they thumbs downed us for now) and the SEC. Teams in four time zones from the Atlantic to the Pacific and on TV from Thursday night to Saturday midnight. Win....beat blue bloods...get in the CFP....expand recruiting.....not the greatest but not the end of OSU football.
Ok_state_fan78
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I do not get the love for Cinn. Boise State and Memphis have more viewers. Granted Boise is in a different time zone which hurts. Memphis last 5 year average is 564,000. Cinn. is 430,000. This league would basically be half way between the AAC/Mountain West and Power 5. The only way this will be a good deal is if they are included as a Conference with an automatic bid to the playoff if it expands to 8 or 12. The only way to make the Big 12 viable is to get some teams from another P5 conference which seems impossible right now. But, if you could add Utah, BYU, Az. St and Washington St. all the west edge of the PAC that would probably work. They are all way more committed to football than the far west of the PAC except for USC, Oregon and Wash.
CaliforniaCowboy
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Ok_state_fan78 said:

I do not get the love for Cinn. Boise State and Memphis have more viewers. Granted Boise is in a different time zone which hurts. Memphis last 5 year average is 564,000. Cinn. is 430,000. This league would basically be half way between the AAC/Mountain West and Power 5. The only way this will be a good deal is if they are included as a Conference with an automatic bid to the playoff if it expands to 8 or 12. The only way to make the Big 12 viable is to get some teams from another P5 conference which seems impossible right now. But, if you could add Utah, BYU, Az. St and Washington St. all the west edge of the PAC that would probably work. They are all way more committed to football than the far west of the PAC except for USC, Oregon and Wash.
Cincinnati is a ranked team...... possible to even make the playoff THIS year.

Cincinnati is a very large TV market, and on the border of Kentucky, so likely draws those viewers too.

You are looking at the wrong metrics. Look at the markets and the POTENTIAL eyeballs, not who may or maynot have tuned in previously.

Ohio is huge, Idaho is not. Memphis is okay, decent football recently, but also brings basketball and is right on the Tenn border with Ark. Huge southern style football, tailgating, they even have a style of ribs named after them.

Boise, frankly, doesn't have much of anything, and they're on the freaking other side of the Rocky mountains. If we're going that way, then sure, they might be a solid addition, but IMO, not one of the top 4 to choose from. Boise and Memphis are both teams that you would pick up only if you need to get to an even number of conference teams.
NJAggie
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Currently the Big 12 is autonomous and thus a qualifier for the playoff. The Alliance doesn't seem to want to change that, and I doubt the SEC does either as ESPN could force the ACC to change sides, and both see us as a conference they could buy the vote of.

I also think an 8 team playoff is probably on the way. But, its going to happen after the playoffs go out to open bids, and the Alliance will probably want it spread between networks. They also want conference champs with guaranteed slots, and I think they'll go for 6 of those, or at worst 5 with the Big XII having one. Our existence isn't a threat that any of them perceive. I do think that for the PAC that's not the case, but they are arrogant. So I think we get that playoff money and get in the playoffs every year. That means our games are more relevant than G5 games so we'll get more for them.

No we won't match SEC money, but we'll be OK.

CaliforniaCowboy
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The Pac (and the alliance in general) seem to be opposed to an expanded playoff... remember it was the SEC and Big12 on that committee to investigate expansion. 12 teams is not much different that 8 teams.

The opposition was the total number of games (the alliance quoted 17 possible games for the MNC winner).... dropping that number to 16 likely does not help enough to change the minds of the alliance).

like they said, you might as well be playing an NFL schedule at that point, but this is college and college kids.

I don't see a playoff expansion.... ever. All 3 of those conferences will have to back off of their education first, then sports, before we see a vote for expansion.... I didn't think that sentiment existed, but it is now clear that education and academics are key to the leagues, NOT money, more games and ESPN interests.

Something big philosophically will have to give before I think we'll see any playoff expansion.
Orangeheart72
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A couple additional points reading through this. With OU/UT gone, the "top" Big XII teams immediately start to get some extra publicity. Will that make OSU, ISU or UCF a blueblood equal name and draw overnight? Of course not, but a conference leader in any conference, even the AAC, starts to make a bigger name.
Second, the shadow of an OU, Ohio State or Alabama being gone from their respective conferences means automatically someone rises up or perhaps a couple/three rise up in short order likely. Winning begets winning and recruiting advantages.
Also, wouldn't it be interesting (except to ESPN) to see a group of conference teams compete where resources were even remotely equal? I know the media loves quarter billion dollar programs.....but there are only what, less than 10, maybe less than 8 of those. Do we all have to be annual food for their rich tables? I like OU, LSU, Georgia, Texas, Tennessee getting to compete with each other's wealthy programs. Go for it guys....and sorry Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, Indiana, Wisconsin and Arkansas. You're what's for dinner!
CaliforniaCowboy
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Orangeheart72 said:

A couple additional points reading through this. With OU/UT gone, the "top" Big XII teams immediately start to get some extra publicity. Will that make OSU, ISU or UCF a blueblood equal name and draw overnight? Of course not, but a conference leader in any conference, even the AAC, starts to make a bigger name.
Second, the shadow of an OU, Ohio State or Alabama being gone from their respective conferences means automatically someone rises up or perhaps a couple/three rise up in short order likely. Winning begets winning and recruiting advantages.
Also, wouldn't it be interesting (except to ESPN) to see a group of conference teams compete where resources were even remotely equal? I know the media loves quarter billion dollar programs.....but there are only what, less than 10, maybe less than 8 of those. Do we all have to be annual food for their rich tables? I like OU, LSU, Georgia, Texas, Tennessee getting to compete with each other's wealthy programs. Go for it guys....and sorry Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, Indiana, Wisconsin and Arkansas. You're what's for dinner!
agree.... the part that has always perplexed me is, "where is the top"? How much is "too much"?

UT gives money back to the university annually. Once you have everything built... your coaches are paid more that most executives at Fortune 500 companies, and your fans can only afford one beef and one hotdog... is that the top?

What do those teams do with "more money than they can spend"? Gundy gave some of his back... that's what you do when you already have generational wealth.

How much is enough? I mean that literally. How much is enough? For our program, for our coaches, for our facilities? Is there a number where it doesn't really make any difference any longer?
Ostateman
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DigitalPoke said:

If this happens, OSU football is over as we know it today. Might as well make it fun and add The University of Las Vegas. More upside to any of these teams listed. That's would open up a lot of sponsorship opportunities with the entertainment partners who own the casinos. You would think they would pony up at least a couple million per team. The publicity, free advertising etc they would be receiving would be worth more than that. And also who wouldn't want to travel to Las Vegas to watch a game. We could call the conference Oceans 10 .
Bob Bowlsby is our Joe Biden.
I know there are rules, but do we really want to follow them now?
Orangeheart72
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Or you use a modified Mike Leach plan. Maybe one extra game.....but schedule shuffling for a lot of folks late in year to accommodate playoff teams meeting each other. Non-conference/easier games probably scheduled for late season to allow changes. Wonder how other divisions and high schools can do this, but power teams can't!
CaliforniaCowboy
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Orangeheart72 said:

Or you use a modified Mike Leach plan. Maybe one extra game.....but schedule shuffling for a lot of folks late in year to accommodate playoff teams meeting each other. Non-conference/easier games probably scheduled for late season to allow changes. Wonder how other divisions and high schools can do this, but power teams can't!
yeah... it's not a matter of HOW to do it, it is only a matter of IT IS TOO MUCH (according to the Alliance)

The Alliance has banded together and have said that academics come first, and 17 games is too many (and likely so is 16).

There is greater push to go back to no-playoff and a voted on MNC game, so long as we give them back their Rose Bowl (or something like that)

NJAggie
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They gave some clear parameters for what they wanted. no more than 3 rounds. The PAC/B1G champs in the Rose Bowl every year at 5pm pt on NYD. And league champ heavy.

So an 8 team playoff with 6 guaranteed champs slots and 2 at large playing round one on the NYD bowls does meet those. I think that's what they'll want to do. But no more "best" teams in Champs first which was how they wanted it at 4 teams.
NJAggie
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I totally agree. I get sick and tired of the media darling fans and media saying we lived off of the little 2. NO, they feasted on us. They bullied us, they took advantage of us, and they used us as tackling dummies to build their name image and likeness up to being "media darlings".

Like I told a UT fan if you didn't need us or anyone else why not just go play intrasquad scrimmages on LHN and make all the money in the world? Because it takes 2 to tango, and without someone to beat no one cares about the media darlings anymore than they care about the cellar dwellers.

I'm looking forward to a level playing field for the first time. If we can get the money where we can sustain our facilities and programs, then why would we want to go to an SEC take on additional expenses to keep up with the media darlings and wind up finishing in the middle of the pack every year. Stay here win the conference some and make the playoffs.
Joe Khatib
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grad17 said:

But we're also losing the draw that OU (8th) & Texas (13th) bring in. Unfortunately OSU doesn't come close to the 1.65 without the OU/Texas games every year. Do those four schools come to close matching what OU/UT bring? Negative. The new Big 12 would be borderline "legitimate P5" at best, would they see a jump in viewers? Yes. But not the jump you're insinuating
It puts a lot of pressure on OSU to keep the bedlam series intact as a non conference game, because that would the highest viewed game each season when it comes to eyeballs. I personally don't mind keeping the bedlam series, but some others say it should be discontinued for a while at least.
NJAggie
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I'm all for keeping Bedlam across the board. We won't get more people in the stands for any other non-revenue sport, and might as well at least regularly play them in football.

In fact I'd say the league would be smart to get an SEC scheduling agreement if they give OU/UT an early exit.
TeaTownCowboy
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University of Texas Austin, Texas Record in the 2010s: 71-57 (57th) --- LOL!

I'm not saying any of these schools would join but I would still have conversations with Nebraska about coming back, they will never be a 10-win team again in the B1G, can't recruit good Texas kids as it's too far for families to watch games on a somewhat regular basis; Arkansas; and Texas A&M. The four already mentioned I already had down as good potential new members.
TeaTownCowboy
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Cincy has a much larger media market.
CaliforniaCowboy
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no to the goons.

we will make much, much, much more money playing in the playoff regularly... losing to the goons in a non-conf game would be disastrous.

we don't need to take that kind of risk of losing (to them or any so called blue-blood programs).

We need to build the value of our team and our conference, and we don't need the goons to toss a few dimes along the way.

OU/Nebraska use to draw a lot of eyeballs too.... so what. Miami use to be famous one too... Texas/A&M use to be a big contest.... life goes on without those... in most cases life is much better.
TUSKAPOKE
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AMEN CC.....Only play them in the CFP if we have to play them.
esq3164
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Once again I say this sucks. If this the best we can do, were in trouble. I see no money to be made. I hope I'm wrong.
CaliforniaCowboy
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esq3164 said:

Once again I say this sucks. If this the best we can do, were in trouble. I see no money to be made. I hope I'm wrong.
the sky is falling once again.... SMH

can you please tell us what you think sucks about it, why you think we're in trouble, and how much money were you expecting to make, and why?

NJAggie
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I get it, its not as good.

However it will still provide decent income and give us better access to the playofffs. Let OU/UT go lose in the SEC, while we win in the Big XII.
esq3164
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Once again prove to me tv will pay 35 million for this conf?(to each school?) If don't get close to that amount were going to fall really fast. We do not have donors to make that money up. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think so. That still half of the projected sec pay out.
AustinCowboy88
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Will provide us better access to the playoffs is yet to be seen. That is currently a hope strategy.
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