Why the SEC can’t ignore what the Big Ten might do
Why should the SEC care if the Big Ten expands? It’s a reasonable question and I get it a lot.
Obviously, the SEC has a great thing going with four straight national championships in football. The league has 14 years remaining on a $3 billion TV contract with CBS and ESPN. The SEC has sold out football stadiums from Athens to Tuscaloosa and competes on a national level in every sport it sponsors. Life is good.
So why mess with a great thing? Why not let the Big Ten do its thing while the SEC keeps doing what has made it so successful?
Here’s why: “If you are a commissioner your No. 1 job is not to take care of today,” said former SEC commissioner Roy Kramer. “Your No. 1 job is to look at least 10 years down the road to where your conference is going to be and where the competition is going to be.”
SEC Commissioner Mike Slive told me recently that the his conference will have a plan in place should the Big Ten expand to 16 teams, which could totally change the landscape of college athletics as we know it in just a few years. The SEC may never execute the plan, but there will be a plan.
The SEC cannot rest on its laurels because they have seen the numbers that I am about to share with you. These come from some very good reporting by Phil Miller of the Minneapolis Star Tribune and Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune.
Right now it is a given that from its various shared revenue sources (TV, bowls, NCAA basketball tournament, etc.) the Big Ten pays each of its schools about $22 million per year while the SEC’s numbers are somewhere around $17 million per school. But:
**–The Big Ten Network has already succeeded beyond anybody’s hopes in a short period of time. Right now 45 million people subscribe to it, but and additional 75 million homes have access to it. It is available in 19 of the 20 largest TV markets in the country.
**–The Big Ten received a $60 million rights fee up front last year for the BTN from Fox Sports (which owns a 49 percent stake). Then the BTN made an additional $66 million in profit. Advertising revenue was up 30 percent last year in a down economy.
**–Greenstein reports that if the Big Ten expands and chooses the right schools, league officials have seen estimates of revenues doubling by the 22015-2016 academic year.
**–And this is the best one of all from Greenstein: For every BTN subscriber in the eight-state footprint of the Big Ten, the league gets 70 to 80 cents a month. For every subscriber outside the footprint it is about 10 cents. So guess what happens if the Big Ten starts adding states like Nebraska, Missouri and New Jersey to their footprint? Not only do the subscriptions increase but the income the Big Ten gets from those subscriptions goes up as much as eight-fold in that state. If Nebraska joins the Big Ten, how many homes in that state will sign up for the BTN? I’d say just about all of them.
If you are Mike Slive and the SEC presidents, do those numbers get your attention? You bet they do.
Yes, the SEC has the competitive advantage now. But remember that there has been a spike in coaches’ salaries in the SEC because the funds were available from the new TV contracts. Remember we told you that a year ago only two coordinators in this league were making $500,000 or more. Now there are a bunch of them in that salary range. And that number will grow.
What if every Big Ten school is suddenly making $35 million a year and the SEC is still at $17 million? Over ten years that’s $180 million more per school that is invested. Would that not make a competitive difference over a decade?
That is why the SEC can’t ignore what the Big Ten may do.
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AUBURN 2004
May 24th, 2010
2:33 pm
With sanctions imminent for the Trojans, the talking heads at ESPN’s College Football Live had a spirited discussion last Thursday on what should happen to USC’s vacated title. It appears more and more likely that both the BCS and the Associate Press will strip the school of its 2004 National Championship once penalties are handed out. For Bush it also means a possible loss of his coveted Heisman Trophy.
In the case of the BCS, they have two simple options: force USC to vacate the title and not have a 2004 champion or award the title to either Auburn or Oklahoma. How likely is the BCS to pick a new champion? I’d put it somewhere between slim and none. USC will almost surely be forced to vacate, but a new champion will not be crowned.
The Associate Press is an entirely different story.
Many believe the writers will crown a new champion. ESPN analysts Craig James and Ed Cunningham clearly favor giving the title to Auburn. An undefeated season in the SEC coupled with the throttling Oklahoma took from USC in the championship game, makes it a no brainer – at least according to those two.
James believes it’s quite possible the AP will crown Auburn champions. “In my mind, if USC is stripped of the title, Auburn becomes the national champion,” said James. “For what Auburn did that season, I have always thought it was an injustice.”
Asked whether fans in Auburn should celebrate such an occurrence, Cunningham said, “Absolutely. There will be toilet paper everywhere at Toomer’s Corner.”
AUBURN 2004
May 24th, 2010
2:39 pm
Auburn worthy of 2004 title
Could Auburn be on the verge of a national title? Say the NCAA hammers USC, and the BCS and the AP take away the national titles they awarded the Trojans and their semi-pro tailback, Reggie Bush. Say the BCS revisits its policy on the subject and the AP re-votes, and one or both of those organizations decides to correct the greatest injustice of the BCS era by crowning, as the rightful champs, the Auburn Tigers. What should Auburn do six years later? Please. That’s easy. Accept it. Celebrate it. And never, ever apologize for it.
http://www.fannation.com/truth_and_rumors/view/189690-auburn-worthy-of-2004-title?eref=fromSI
SEC for Ya
May 24th, 2010
2:47 pm
If you REALLY want to talk academics, here are the SEC schools’ U.S. News rankings. Pretty pathetic compared to all other big school D1 conferences. The Mississippi schools are so bad they aren’t even ranked!
College Name and Location U.S. News Rank
1 Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN 17
2 University of Florida Gainesville, FL 47
3 University of Georgia Athens, GA 58
4 Auburn University Auburn University, AL 88
5 University of Alabama Tuscaloosa, AL 96
6 University of TennesseeKnoxville, TN 106
7 University of South Carolina Columbia, SC 110
8 Louisiana State University Baton Rouge, LA 128
9 University of Arkansas Fayetteville, AR 128
10 University of KentuckyLexington, KY 128
11 Mississippi State UniversityMississippi State, MS Tier 3
12 University of MississippiUniversity, MS Tier 3
OB-1
May 24th, 2010
2:52 pm
MS, wow with a OOC schedule like this you should be a shoe in. OFLMAO
2009 – Navy (H), USC (H), Toledo (A), and New Mexico (H) went 3-1 this year
2010 – Marshall, Ohio, Eastern Michigan, and The U and all 4 are at home.
2011 – Akron (H), Toledo (H), The U (A) and TBA,
2012 – Miami (Ohio), Cincinnati, California, and UAB and all 4 are at home.
AUBURN 2004
May 24th, 2010
2:53 pm
“B10 has better business model.”
Guess their better business model couldn’t help Midwestern companies from packing up and moving south.
Jeff
May 24th, 2010
2:54 pm
“Charlie Bama” hit it on the head – this expansion talk is all smoke and mirrors to scare Notre Dame into the B10 fold. The Big Ten is one of the strongest academic and overall atletic conferences in the country- they’re not going dilute the conference with Rutgers or Pitt.
OB-1
May 24th, 2010
2:58 pm
If you REALLY want to talk academics, here are the ACC schools’ U.S. News rankings.
College Name and U.S. News Rank
Duke 10
Virginia 24
UNC 28
Wake Forest 28
Boston College 34
Georgia Tech 35
Miami 50
Maryland 53
Clemson 61
Virginia Tech 71
NC State 88
Florida State 102
The best Conference average in the NCAA at 48.6.
OB-1
May 24th, 2010
3:04 pm
Jeff, acually Pitt and Rutgers would be right in the mix with the Big 10 schools plus they are both on the expanded Public Ivy Schools list as is eight of the Big 10.
OB-1
May 24th, 2010
3:05 pm
Jeff, sorry that should be actually Pitt… Didn’t proof read like I should have.
Here's an idea...
May 24th, 2010
3:07 pm
I say merge the ACC and SEC and create a super “Super Conference.” We’ll call it the “Big 24″, or the Super Southeastern Atlantic Costal Conference. We’ll merge the best football and basketball conferences and the Big 10 can suck it.
kgator79
May 24th, 2010
3:07 pm
Brusierbrody….
Its not just the SEC’s online library of full broadcast games and inside shows for each school. Its also their deal with ESPN that has a SEC college baseball game on every night. Has you able to watch multiple SEC basketball games almost every night during the season and football? Unless your really bad or playing a joke school, your school is on tv. Thats the SEC network. And even without the ESPN deal with the SEC, I still prefer to have was the SEC offers online (FOR FREE) compared to anything the Big 10 network has shown on tv that you have to pay for. I can go watch any SEC game from last year right now if I’d like. What you got going on the Big 10 network right now? college hockey? lacross? who knows. But your paying for that channel and dont watch probably 80% of the programing.
KJ
May 24th, 2010
3:10 pm
Yeah, let’s keep posting long lists of academic rankings in a FOOTBALL blog. It’s so germane to the discussion.
LOL @ people thinking that Big 10 dominance is “just around the corner”. The Big 10 is, and has always been the SEC’s beeyatch (especially UGA’s), and there’s no reason to think it won’t continue. They might make the title game every year, but you can rest assured there will always be an SEC team on the other side of the field to put them in their place.
Alabamadawg
May 24th, 2010
3:14 pm
I hope Paul Finebaum doesn’t read this…
Reptiles Rule
May 24th, 2010
3:18 pm
DON’T DO IT!
Chris
May 24th, 2010
3:18 pm
Ask Volfan about his last three Chick-Fil-A bowls
Maryland 31 UT 3
Clemson 27 UT 3
Va Tech 37 UT 14
THE vols were #6 in the nation with 10 wins for the CLemson loss.
Atlantalion
May 24th, 2010
3:20 pm
The SEC homer ignorance is thick in this blog.
kgator79
May 24th, 2010
3:24 pm
When your bragging about Chik Fil A Bowl wins, thats all you need to know about the ACC.
OB-1
May 24th, 2010
3:24 pm
Here’s an idea – been saying that for awhile now since this Big 10 “story” started up.
OB-1
May 24th, 2010
3:27 pm
Kgator, why haven’t you refluted any of my posts. plus the Chic-Fil-A post is about an Ut fan talking smack about a cra ppy ACC so he was put in his place.
OB-1
May 24th, 2010
3:29 pm
Kgator, I believe I can speck for the ACC fans when I say we will freely admit that the SEC is the best conference, because of UF, Bama, and a couple others that seem to rotate yearly. College football goes in cycles and it looks like Miami and FSU is on the upswing.
GT, Today, Tomorow, and Forever
May 24th, 2010
3:32 pm
I will be honest and szy I would love to see Tech back in the SEC. You can rest assured that the “Old Guard” among the Tech fans would love it also. It would be common sense to me if the SEC expands it would look for schools within the borders. Yes the South and especially the deep south is talent rich that the rest of the country drools over. Why would the SEC even think about bringing in a Texas or an Oklahoma and trod over our talent pool. You bring in Clemson and you bring in a school that is like all the rest of the football hungry SEC schools. You bring in Tech with the potential to grow in a fan base once it gets back in the powerful SEC. Tech withdrew from the conference because Bobby Dodd did not like the SEC scholarship limits that were being imposed. We have all lived to regret that decision and also the unfruitful years Dodd spent as an Athletic Director. I probably could voice what many Tech fans feel…..bring in the SEC schools into Grant Field and keep the N.C. States and Marlands out. UGH. One question I wish someone could answer for me….All this potential swapping and changing…what do you do about the signed contracts for years in advance with the non-conference games each year? Go Jackets…PLEASE GET BACK IN THE SEC!!!!!!
Chris
May 24th, 2010
3:33 pm
Clemson much more SECish than South Carolina with their off-campus stadium and warehouse district surroundings. Clemson atmosphere rated tops in ACC by SouthernPigskin inside (hill, rock, noise) and out (campus, tailgating). SOuth CArolina’s much heralded win over the Tigers in November was their 3rd in 13 years, and only their fourth in Columbia in 34 years. SInce 1976, they have beaten the tigers at home in 1979, 1987, 2001, 2009. I wish the sec would invite Clemson, but that will not happen if the SEC needs a new state with cable boxes. But Clemson is a great place to spen a Saturday afternoon and no armed robberies like some campus locations.
Chris
May 24th, 2010
3:35 pm
Kgator it is SEC vs ACC. Are you trying to excuse Tennessee’s lack of representation by saying it’s “just the Chick-Fil-A bowl? I’m not even going to try and pretend the ACC is a better football conference than the SEC. I wish my tam was in the SEC. That post was not about that. But if Volfan has a resume like that, he needs to tone it down a bit.
Chris
May 24th, 2010
3:40 pm
Bama may have put Clemson in its place on opening day 2008, but they have lost only one SEC game since that day and it was to Florida in the 2008 SEC title game. And though they beat Clemson 34-10 that day, some of Bama’s scores have not been that close since then. That year they also beat Auburn 36-0, and many other blowout scores in 2008.
Beast from the East
May 24th, 2010
3:44 pm
I think we can all agree that the SEC is the best football conference. The ACC is the best basketball. Of cousre there are going to be years where that’s not 100% accurate, but for the most part that’s the case. The ACC also is superior (overall) to the SEC in academics. The question was, what should the SEC do if the Big 10 (actually 11, but they can’t count past 10 without the shoes coing off) expands?
CalGatorBrotha
May 24th, 2010
3:46 pm
The danger with SEC expansion is that you could end up cannibalizing yourself out of national titles as it will be near impossible for teams to go undefeated through a tough SEC stretch of games week in and week out. Now if you do manage to get a team with no losses or 1 loss they would be sure to go to BCS title ..
Bama man
May 24th, 2010
3:49 pm
Tech don’t want to play in the SEC until we start playing touch football.
SEC Rocks
May 24th, 2010
3:50 pm
CalGatorBrotha
Only two SEC teams have gone undefeated twice in 30 years. Bama and Auburn.
SEC Rocks
May 24th, 2010
3:50 pm
“Tech don’t want to play in the SEC until we start playing touch football.”
Bama players touch each other?
Ted Striker
May 24th, 2010
4:03 pm
All very true, and all reasons I hope the finances of college football blows up — unlikely — and gets rebuilt so the conferences will again appreciate the players (and the fans).
This is nothing short of NFL lite. It’s why I like the college game less every year and the NFL more.
DAWG258
May 24th, 2010
4:20 pm
Speaking of power conference – follow me on this process
WEST: East:
Texas Georgia
Texas A&M Florida
Oklahoma Tennessee
Oklahoma St. South Carolina
Arkansas Kentucky
LSU Vanderbilt
Alabama Virginia Tech
Auburn Florida St.
Ole Miss Miami
Miss St. Clemson
you would play 10 games within your division, rotate a home and home series with the other side of the conference for the 11th game of the season, and alowing every team to start their season with their own token cupcake of choice. this would produce a 12 game season with the 2 leaders playing in the SEC Championship game (13th game) with the winner 99% of the time representing 1 half of the National Championship game.
Please enter your comments here !
kgator79
May 24th, 2010
4:20 pm
Ted Striker….
So you like the college game less for being a little more like the NFL and the NFL more for being the NFL? Ok. Never understand this mentality from fans that get so mad that college football is a business. It being a business gives fans like yourself the ability to sit in your home and watch nearly any college game you want on TV. It being a business helps bring money back into the schools. As for appreciating the players more? Come on! The kids get a free ride to unversities that lets be honest, without football many would have never qualified to get into. College football allows someone like Pac Man Jones to actually attend a university. So please spare the “conferences need to appreciate the players” line. Most football players, at least in southern universities are treated like kings.
kgator79
May 24th, 2010
4:27 pm
DAWG258…
Based off your format, Tennesseee/Alabama, Georgia/Auburn, Florida/LSU play once every 10 years in the regular season? Dont think so. I personally like a 12 team conference, but if they expand 16 would have to be the limit. At least with a 16 team conference you can work out having 7 games against your division opponents, 1 common opponent in the other division every year and 2 rotating opponents. Leaving 2 OOC games to choose what you want to do with, cupcake teams or not.
Dave In Tampa
May 24th, 2010
4:38 pm
SEC Rocks – If you are going back 30 years you’d better throw UGA into that mix of undefeated Champions
Dave In Tampa
May 24th, 2010
4:39 pm
If Notre Dame would stop being such Tools and jump ship into that conference we would not even be having this conversation.
the fact Jack
May 24th, 2010
4:40 pm
let me get this straight, if you all (sec fans) are the end all be all that you believe yourselves to be, then why are only 3 teams preranked in the SI top 25, one only in the SEC East? When the ACC that you continually point your finger at has 5 teams ranked with 4 being in the same division? So if your snap your fingers, I doubt Texas is going to dance to your tune. I lived in Texas and nobody and I mean nobody there gives a rats @ss about the SEC. I know that is hard to believe for Tony and the rest of you but it is true. Sure would be hysterical if the ACC came for Bama and Florida and left the rest of you losers sitting there. hahahahahahahahha
ACC rep
May 24th, 2010
4:48 pm
A lot of you guys have made points about Bama blowing out Clemson 34-10 in 2008 as proof of the sec’s dominance. Not so fast.
I just looked it up and it looks like during Bama’s 08 regular season that none of their sec games were really close either. 2 or 3 of them were somewhat close but the rest of them were blowouts so you can’t read a whole lot into one whipping of Clemson when Bama was whipping pretty much everyone in the sec.
Same thing with 09. If you want to use Bama as a barometer they only beat VT by 10 pts in the opener. But in their sec schedule they blew out 6 sec opponents including the east division champ and only the Auburn and Tenn games were close. What does that really say about the sec?
tarnation
May 24th, 2010
4:52 pm
ACC rep = How does 8 out the last 9 sound for dominance. Please, we conceed that you have the basketball league, but please don’t make yurself look like a moron thinking that they ACC is better than the SEC in football. How many BCS Bowls has the ACC won??? UGA has more BCS wins than the entire ACC. They are not even the best in the SEC. Have a clue on football if you are going to run your pie hole!
tarnation
May 24th, 2010
4:52 pm
sorry that is yourself not yurself
Tide Rising
May 24th, 2010
5:03 pm
ACC rep,
The VT game really wasn’t very close. We rolled up 498 yds offense to 150 for VT. It was total domination but the only thing that kept the game deceivingly close was a series of Alabama turnovers,untimely penalties and miscues. We got a 1st down at the VT 13 with 2 minutes to go and just ran 4 straight dive plays between the center and guard just to run the clock out. Otherwise it would have been a 17 pt margin in a game that wouldn’t have even been that close.
Your Monday Links
May 24th, 2010
5:05 pm
[...] Barnhart of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes that the SEC cannot ignore Big Ten expansion especially in regards to the TV money it could [...]
Tide Rising
May 24th, 2010
5:10 pm
kgator79,
Just curious but why isn’t the sec network a pay network like the big 10 network that plays sports 24 hours a day? Seems like we could bring in a lot more money similar to the big 10.
I didn’t know you could go back and watch football games from last year. Gotta go now! Think I’ll watch the 4th qtr of the Alabama-Auburn game last year.
SEC Rocks
May 24th, 2010
5:14 pm
“If you are going back 30 years you’d better throw UGA into that mix of undefeated Champions”
Maybe you should re-read my statement. I said TWO SEC teams have gone undefeated TWICE in 30 years. Not ONCE, but TWICE.
SEC Rocks
May 24th, 2010
5:15 pm
“Think I’ll watch the 4th qtr of the Alabama-Auburn game last year.”
That’s a great idea. I think I’ll go back and watch the 6 year Tiger beat down over the rammer jammers.
Tide Rising
May 24th, 2010
5:29 pm
SEC Rocks,
Living in the past? You see why have our own little streak going on 2 in a row,its a little more timely than talking about games that were played up to 8 years ago, and its a streak that’s sure to grow. The difference between your streak and ours is that yours is ancient history. If I want to live in the past I’ll go and watch the 11 game unbeaten streak we had over AU from teh 70s into the early 80s.
Tide Rising
May 24th, 2010
5:31 pm
Typos- Should be we have our own little streak and the not teh
SEC Rocks
May 24th, 2010
5:45 pm
“Living in the past? You see why have our own little streak going on 2 in a row”
Contradict much, Tide?
“a little more timely than talking about games that were played up to 8 years ago”
Uh huh, coming from a fan who talks about winning national championships 20 years ago……
I’m referring to past blogs too.
“The difference between your streak and ours is that yours is ancient history.”
Yeah, 3 years ago is ancient history huh…. You rammer butt jammers are always talking about how awesome you were and how you gals won 13 national championships blah blah blah…..yet here you are railing on me for something that happened a few years ago.
“If I want to live in the past I’ll go and watch the 11 game unbeaten streak we had over AU from teh 70s into the early 80s.”
Go for it ma’am. I’ll be sure to watch the years where Auburn embarrassed bama…….
SEC Rocks
May 24th, 2010
5:46 pm
Tide Rising = Typos
SEC Rocks
May 24th, 2010
5:47 pm
Tide Rising, it must suck to know that for the majority of the last two decades, your rammer butt jammers sucked.
kgator79
May 24th, 2010
5:57 pm
Tide Rising….
Not really sure on why its not something being charged other than the fact that the combo deal with ESPN/CBS is such a great deal they wanted to be more fan friendly with the website. As for you not knowing you could watch games on there, I have found a lot people didnt know that. Just the other night since nothing was on tv, I jumped on my laptop and watched 2009 FSU/Florida and 2008 LSU/Florida games. Some of the games go back as far as the mid 90s. Another great game on there thats painful for me to watch is 2001 Tennessee/Florida. Not bad stuff all for free.