Speaking of the Mountain West....
Realignment Super Thread
- Thread starter TXST04
- Start date
Speaking of the Mountain West....
I think the last part of that tweet touches on something that could be beneficial to the Sun Belt throughout all of this.
ESPN probably has more influence over realignment and college football in general than anyone realizes, or at least cares to acknowledge.
ESPN has the rights to SBC and AAC games. The SBC and ESPN just reached an extension that will see a 50% increase of games on the linear Disney channels (ABC/ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU) with at least 40% of those games being on Saturdays. The financials of that deal haven't been released but I can't help but wonder if the timing of that extension is coincidental with this realignment news or not.
I think the ESPN-affiliated leagues may have a leg up on the leagues mostly affiliated with other media companies. ESPN may do what they can to make realignment more of a success for their leagues.
SWTRefugee
M&G Gift Contributor
We have been in this place for 40 years. Failure to leverage back to back national championships and go on a quick decline until Fran 1.0 was hired showed that the previous administration could care less about football. Trauth does not care about it and the fan base has done nothing to demand anything different than what we have been getting. Students keep paying to subsidize an inferior product while saying nothing about it. So here we are.
slycat
Active member
The thing is even overly successful teams like App St are more likely to be looked over for "market teams". UTSA will always have an advantage over TXST thanks to "marketz".
TXST will stay put or end up in a new version of CUSA that will likely have UNT. In theory Rice and UTSA could go to AAC (Rice unlikely) and UTEP to MWC (unlikely). In the end the SBC will probably be the strongest conference to be in for TXST, Even if we remain on an island. If teams like Georgia St got poached by the AAC, they could try to backfill with USM or UAB. I would hope those teams now realize the SBC is better than CUSA.
TXST will stay put or end up in a new version of CUSA that will likely have UNT. In theory Rice and UTSA could go to AAC (Rice unlikely) and UTEP to MWC (unlikely). In the end the SBC will probably be the strongest conference to be in for TXST, Even if we remain on an island. If teams like Georgia St got poached by the AAC, they could try to backfill with USM or UAB. I would hope those teams now realize the SBC is better than CUSA.
This is 100% correct.
I think the B12 leaking that Cinci and Houston are candidates is nothing more than floating a trial balloon to see if they can keep the remaining 8. The problem is that once UT and OU leave the conference, their media revenue drops like a rock. I'm going off the top of my head but it's something like $17M to 9M. AAC is already at $7M per, so in terms of revenue, that's not a lot of incentive.
Coincidentally I ran across this article just 15 min after I posted that. Which suggests ESPN is controlling this whole thing basically:
Big 12 on the brink: Texas’ cash grab, the Pac-12’s next move, the CFP’s future and ESPN’s master plan
It has been four days since the thunderous news from the Southern Plains. Texas and Oklahoma appear SEC-bound sooner rather than later; the Big 12 churns toward liquefaction; and the Pac-12 is open…
www-mercurynews-com.cdn.ampproject.org
Then why is ESPN expanding their coverage of the SBC?Coincidentally I ran across this article just 15 min after I posted that. Which suggests ESPN is controlling this whole thing basically:
Big 12 on the brink: Texas’ cash grab, the Pac-12’s next move, the CFP’s future and ESPN’s master plan
It has been four days since the thunderous news from the Southern Plains. Texas and Oklahoma appear SEC-bound sooner rather than later; the Big 12 churns toward liquefaction; and the Pac-12 is open…
Here’s the deal which ever conference has the most tv money will ultimately determine who adds programs vs who loses programs. Money money money, it’s all about the money. With that said I think the latest ESPN deal has all Sun belt programs in a temporary good spot.
I don't understand your question.
SBC churned out a good season last year from a viewership standpoint by all accounts, ESPN decided to extend the contract and add more linear games.
Not sure they have to make any changes to their out-of-conference schedules other than replacing previously scheduled SEC games.
Big 12 plays a 9-game conference schedule and SEC plays 8, so if anything they'll be looking to add more games. I wonder if UT will start playing FCS teams again, they quit after the last round of realignment but FCS games are a staple of most SEC teams' schedules.
Big 12 plays a 9-game conference schedule and SEC plays 8, so if anything they'll be looking to add more games. I wonder if UT will start playing FCS teams again, they quit after the last round of realignment but FCS games are a staple of most SEC teams' schedules.
carmanjello325
Active member
thats one school that never should have been born in the 1st place. period.
TXST04
Active member
My personal thoughts on a potential “new normal”post the creation of super conference(s) and why the 2026 game will likely be cancelled.
1. I think they will be headed to less out of conference games to facilitate an expanding playoff.
2. This in turn could lead to better marquee in-conference games where revenue stays in house thus, they won’t be playing or paying G5s as often or at all to build their resumes.
3. Additionally, with the Super Conferences… my thoughts are that losses will become more acceptable, like in the NFL, therefore it’s quality wins / losses that will matter most to help teams stand out.
Just my opinion, but it will be interesting to see if it comes to fruition.
Hard to believe the B1G is going to sit on their hands.
hmmm....wonder if that news from B1G has anything to do w/ this:
If the politics that be are tying KSU to KU, that's rough for the Jayhawks. They should both be G5s anyway.
If the politics that be are tying KSU to KU, that's rough for the Jayhawks. They should both be G5s anyway.
Think w/ 16 teams, it has to be 9. If they go 4x4 pods, that's 3 vs your pod, 2 vs each other pod, which gives you a H/H w/ everyone in the conference every 4yrs. That's what I've seen referenced the most.
That's 14 games off the OOC schedule, so it's not huge, but if it does go to 4 x 16 conferences, that's all the bigs playing only 3 OOC, that definitely affects G5. In the short term, TX and OU are going to have to dump some games, but I'm not sure we are looking to schedule, UGA, Bama, LSU or Florida. Tennessee maybe. We did schedule FSU though, so....again - big opportunity for Don here!
Goldievirtuoso
M&G Gift Contributor
Maybe they see us as the SEC Lite (SBC: the Diet SEC?)? We have a similar footprint and the SBC does play decent football. Maybe that footprint watches the most college football? I dunno, I’m just grabbing at anything here.
For sure ESPN is to blame for all of this…. But I am glad that SBC is in bed with them. I hope it all works out for the best for TXST.
SWTRefugee
M&G Gift Contributor
So true and so sad. They were no basically a community college when I was at SWT but they just added water (and a good coach and AD) and developed a program where there was none before- as did Ga State, USA, Coastal, FIU, Florida Atlantic, UCF- all with greater success in the short time they’ve been in business.