B1G Ten Media Deal is close to finish with the conference leaving ESPN

[IU Hawks fan]

When did the Texans make an AFC title game? I must have missed that.

My fault, was the Divisional when they blew that 21 point lead @ KC.

 

[PCSPounder]

Don’t you love it when goalposts move?

Someone has made news out of Oregon reps (in the person of Phil Knight, per one report) visiting Chicago to assess their position with the B1G or something like that. Which, eh, shrug… the people I’m reading so far think that PK is making his last gambit, is hoping people can’t tell him no to his face, but it may not work.

I had information that UCLA is not required to consult the UC Board of Regents regarding their move. However, the BoR is apparently on its way to revoking UCLA’s rights in this case. Recent rumors of the B1G considering asking more western schools to join apparently stems from a desire to avoid litigation stemming from this.

 

[Spydey629]

Had the NFL forced Art Modell to sell the Browns in 1996, and promised him an expansion team built from scratch in Baltimore, the Browns would have not only not shut down for three years (and in the process temporarily played home games at OSU), they would have probably been in the playoffs more frequently in the post-Modell era.

Oh Good Lord… just say no to crack.

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

Now, on a more serious subject, some of CBS' Big Ten games should come with alternate broadcasts aimed at kids on Nickelodeon. Nick has had such success airing alternate telecasts of CBS-aired NFL wild card games (and will air one of the Broncos-Rams game on Christmas) that there should be other leagues in the CBS fold that produce occasional alternate telecasts for Nick.

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

Here's a breakdown on when ABC was last ineligible to televise the home games of the 16 teams that will be in the Big Ten in 2024:

Pre-1993 Big Ten schools, UCLA, USC - 1986
Maryland, Nebraska, Penn State - 1990
Rutgers - 2000

In all of these cases, the only broadcast network that could have aired games hosted by these teams was CBS. Rutgers made only one appearance on CBS as a Big East team - 2000 against Notre Dame.

 

[PCSPounder]

Pointyball should be banned from children’s networks after the NFL’s latest display of BS about concussion protocol.

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

Also now that NBC will have the Big Ten they might consider Notre Dame expendable depending on if they win a national title between 2023 and 2025 which would be the last season of the current contract.

If ND does not win a title in the next three years it could very well be the end of ND football on NBC. This would allow them to air more NASCAR races on Saturday afternoons when NASCAR and CFB overlap.

 

[GKJ]

Also now that NBC will have the Big Ten they might consider Notre Dame expendable depending on if they win a national title between 2023 and 2025 which would be the last season of the current contract.

If ND does not win a title in the next three years it could very well be the end of ND football on NBC. This would allow them to air more NASCAR races on Saturday afternoons when NASCAR and CFB overlap.

What exactly makes sense about any of these scenarios? Notre Dame football is exponentially more valuable as a property than NASCAR is. Why would NBC dump Notre Dame if they don’t win a national championship? They didn’t do it pre-Brian Kelly when they could have, nor when ND got in bed with the ACC. Why does winning a national championship have any role in this?

 

[IU Hawks fan]

NBC wants more games, that's why they added the Big Ten. It's not to replace them.

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

I'm just frustrated that ND hasn't won a national title in my lifetime.

NBC should considering acquiring some non-P5 FBS football for USA.

The Sun Belt Conference could be good as part of a sub-licensing deal from ESPN. Ideally, USA would start airing Sun Belt football (and for that matter, basketball) in the same year that the conference would add Eastern Kentucky and Stephen F. Austin, which can happen 2024 at the earliest. This would allow the Sun Belt to stage the following games on Thanksgiving weekend: Appalachian State-Coastal Carolina, Arkansas State-Southern Miss, Eastern Kentucky-Marshall, Georgia Southern-Georgia State, James Madison-Old Dominion, Louisiana-ULM, South Alabama-Troy, and Stephen F. Austin-Texas State.

USA could also secure the rights to UMass home games starting in 2025, with all games airing at noon. All other time slots (noon and 3:30) throughout the season would be Sun Belt-controlled games.

In years where UMass ends its season with a home game against UConn, USA would have the rights to five of the Sun Belt's rivalry week games, three on Black Friday and two on Saturday after the UConn-UMass game. Freeform (with production by ESPN) would air one each on Black Friday and Saturday and ESPNU would air one on Saturday.

In years where UMass visits UConn at the end of the season, USA would get a sixth Sun Belt rivalry game in lieu of Freeform airing one on Black Friday afternoon.

 

[GKJ]

Why would anyone pay to put UMass games on national tv? They’re a hideous program.

Why would Freeform air college football?

 

[GindyDraws]

Why would anyone pay to put UMass games on national tv? They’re a hideous program.

Why would Freeform air college football?

The CBS Sports philosophy is "eh, it'll fill time". That's it. That's why the CBS Sports Network never has been relevant.

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

The CBS Sports philosophy is "eh, it'll fill time". That's it. That's why the CBS Sports Network never has been relevant.

Atlantic Ten Conference is why U Mass basketball is the local centerpiece of the conference, much like BC is part of the ACC, except in hockey.....

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

Freeform would air CFB to put more G5 games on linear TV, airing games from the American and Sun Belt every week, MAC in most weeks and when the MAC has no Saturday games in certain November weeks a C-USA game will air.

UMass has a national TV deal with ESPN at the moment, with all games airing on ESPN streaming platforms this year, and some games possibly on linear platforms in the next two years. A deal with USA would put all of their home games on linear TV.

And incidentally, USA does air a package of A-10 basketball games too

 

[IU Hawks fan]

Freeform would air CFB to put more G5 games on linear TV, airing games from the American and Sun Belt every week, MAC in most weeks and when the MAC has no Saturday games in certain November weeks a C-USA game will air.

UMass has a national TV deal with ESPN at the moment, with all games airing on ESPN streaming platforms this year, and some games possibly on linear platforms in the next two years. A deal with USA would put all of their home games on linear TV.

And incidentally, USA does air a package of A-10 basketball games too

Why would Disney want to pull games off ESPN+ to do that?

As always, you don't understand the business model.

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

Games that would be pulled off of ESPN+ to Freeform would be higher-profile games that involve two teams with winning records most of the time. If say a Sun Belt game has division leaders squaring off, it would go on Freeform if not picked for USA. If a game involves the last place teams in each SBC division, it would stay on ESPN+.

 

[IU Hawks fan]

Games that would be pulled off of ESPN+ to Freeform would be higher-profile games that involve two teams with winning records most of the time. If say a Sun Belt game has division leaders squaring off, it would go on Freeform if not picked for USA. If a game involves the last place teams in each SBC division, it would stay on ESPN+.

Okay, but why?

Again, you're taking away games that people have paid for to put them onto another paid service. This is backward thinking - more games on dedicated streamers is where we are going, not trying to shoehorn more games onto cable.

 

[PCSPounder]

Meanwhile, in reality, the networks play the game of “which conference can we actually kill without the appearance of us killing it.” That has anti-trust implications, after all.

Thing is, young America is all “why bother with getting a cord in the first place,” begging the question of whether conferences should perhaps primarily ensure that streaming is planned for the future such that young people might actually become aware that football exists.

 

[Takuto Maruki]

I mean, college football will always exist. It's the defacto sport of choice in the south, and there's many a small town from Texas all the way up to Carolinas who put more stock in the colleges within the state then the pro teams if they have them.

The issue becomes how to make the sport a thing in the north, outside of a few notable pockets of deep, historical fan interest.

 

[PCSPounder]

I mean, college football will always exist. It's the defacto sport of choice in the south, and there's many a small town from Texas all the way up to Carolinas who put more stock in the colleges within the state then the pro teams if they have them.

The issue becomes how to make the sport a thing in the north, outside of a few notable pockets of deep, historical fan interest.

You’re right to a fair degree. But Nick Saban has spent the last several years trying to cajole Alabama students into attending games, and doesn’t always succeed. Heart of the South and all, perhaps the heart of college football, and the alums are rabid, but the students are another matter. This has been known for some years now. It’s actually why the NFL has a partnership with, of all networks, Nickelodeon… but aren’t the slimers another casualty of cord-cutting?

 

[Takuto Maruki]

But Nick Saban has spent the last several years trying to cajole Alabama students into attending games, and doesn’t always succeed. Heart of the South and all, perhaps the heart of college football, and the alums are rabid, but the students are another matter.

Then again, this leads to the cycle of those alums being fans of the program, bringing the love for that program down to their kids, repeat until heat death of the universe.

As long as you got the alums, in the eyes of the people in power of the football program, you'll get people willing to come through the gates and want to watch the games either on TV (or whatever platform of their choice) or live.

 

[GKJ]

Games that would be pulled off of ESPN+ to Freeform would be higher-profile games that involve two teams with winning records most of the time. If say a Sun Belt game has division leaders squaring off, it would go on Freeform if not picked for USA. If a game involves the last place teams in each SBC division, it would stay on ESPN+.

Anyone who cares about watching a Sun Belt game would be much more inclined to find it streaming on ESPN+ than a station that tried to convince people they were rebooting Party of Five.