Big 5 conference money disparity could lead to a shake up with the Big 12

Listening to College Sirius most days, it is interesting to hear of the money differences between the big 5 and what many around the country think will happen soon with more conference shake-ups. They certainly aren't over by any means and the Big 12 may have to lead the way soon by adding to get a title game or find their great teams get eaten up by others. Seems the Oklahoma Prez and/or AD are starting to make noise again because of their huge disparity between not only their paltry $23 million per team vs the SEC's $37 mill, but also the same rumblings about Texas getting the additional $10 mill from the Longhorn network.

Take a look at some of these numbers and sorry if I am off a little, but the ACC payouts were just north of $31 million. SEC was $37 million because of their great network relationship with ESPN. Big 10 payouts were I think around $31 mill as was the PAC-12 if their 2014-15 revenue was around the same $374 million as it was the prior year.

The ACC was certainly helped by Clemson's run to the semi-final & title game, and has been help by Duke's title run and will be helped by this year's great run of basketball teams in the NCAA that led to record numbers. What was somewhat surprising to read is that the PAC-12 has to pay in total to produce their own network, which cuts down their revenue, while the SEC & Big-10 have huge numbers from their sponsored and better run network.

But the lowly numbers of the per team revenue in the Big 12 and the Texas network lack of revenue sharing is "fixin" to lead to huge problems and it looks like OK is ready to lead the way unless some ultimatums are met. Stay tuned!

What happened to the ACC TV network? Did that die when ESPN profits started sinking?

timdunkandthefunk said:

What happened to the ACC TV network? Did that die when ESPN profits started sinking?

Click to expand...

If I recall the SEC Network is hemorrhaging money so they wanted to provide a better roll out plan after doing more research.

Texas is the big problem in the Big 12. With the money from LH not being split evenly, a lot of uproar has come to fruition. LH needs to be transitioned into a Big 12 Network. At one point in time, Texas was powerful enough to go Independent. I don't think that possibility exists.

What's interesting about the Pac-12 is that their TV numbers are terrible. They are actually 6th in viewership numbers - behind the AAC.

Iowa State and Kansas St are screwed

w84it said:

Iowa State and Kansas St are screwed

Click to expand...

Not necessarily. Conferences need enough teams to have a football conference championship game, which usually nets big$$$$. Teams have to fill out the conference roster. Iowa State and Kansas State may well be the teams to continue to do that in the Big 12. If they get kicked out, what teams get invited in so the conference reaches the magic number for a FB championship game?

you are making a very large assumption that conferences must always exist in the current state. that is a poor assumption.

Agreed.

Milhouse said:

you are making a very large assumption that conferences must always exist in the current state. that is a poor assumption.

Click to expand...

Until something major changes the conference landscape, the P5 conferences are going to continue to exist sorta like they do now. It will take an outside driver, like big change in TV money, NCAA playoff setup or ???? to change that dynamic.

If there is a big change in something fundamental, then a lot more teams than those two might well be screwed. Wake included.

Kansas State probably has a little protection because Kansas is in the conference as well. Iowa State not so much, because Iowa went a different way.

Milhouse is saying something major will probably happen.

PhDeac said:

Milhouse is saying something major will probably happen.

Click to expand...

So what major event or action does he see in his crystal ball that will significantly disrupt the P5 system as it exists? I can see some issues with the Big 12 because of the revenue imbalance with Texas having the Longhorn Network. That is an issue for that conference and they will need to address it so there isn't the one great "have" and a bunch of "have nots"

Texas destroyed the SWC and it has destroyed the BXII. They keep talking about expansion, but the old Big 8 schools are not happy if expansion means turning the BXII into more of the old SWC by adding Houston or more Texas teams. They missed the boat a few years ago when there were teams like Louisville available. Now the prospects are basically Cincinnati and Houston and the outlier, BYU. OU should've jumped ship to the SEC, but the Oklahoma legislature won't let OU sever itself from its little brother in Stillwater. It's either add nobody and continue the status quo or add two teams that water down the conference. I think BYU would be a solid addition, but geographically they just don't fit and there are too many issues with their Sunday exclusions.

EatLeadCommie said:

Texas destroyed the SWC and it has destroyed the BXII. They keep talking about expansion, but the old Big 8 schools are not happy if expansion means turning the BXII into more of the old SWC by adding Houston or more Texas teams. They missed the boat a few years ago when there were teams like Louisville available. Now the prospects are basically Cincinnati and Houston and the outlier, BYU. OU should've jumped ship to the SEC, but the Oklahoma legislature won't let OU sever itself from its little brother in Stillwater. It's either add nobody and continue the status quo or add two teams that water down the conference. I think BYU would be a solid addition, but geographically they just don't fit and there are too many issues with their Sunday exclusions.

Click to expand...

This is one of many significant problems with the Big12. Not enough teams, and no good place to go to get more. Very unequal distribution of revenue. One state with a significant group of teams (but see ACC and the state of North Carolina). It's very much a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation.

Not really good choices in teams to add. Not enough spots for the existing teams to go to other P5 conferences. Texas may yet have to be "flexible" with the Longhorn Network, or risk finding itself without enough teams to play - or just other Texas teams. Either is a much less attractive situation.

Deaconblue said:

So what major event or action does he see in his crystal ball that will significantly disrupt the P5 system as it exists? I can see some issues with the Big 12 because of the revenue imbalance with Texas having the Longhorn Network. That is an issue for that conference and they will need to address it so there isn't the one great "have" and a bunch of "have nots"

Click to expand...

Could be as simple as a few teams getting poached for new TV deals. Texas to the Big Ten and OU and Ok St to the SEC could hurt the Big XII regardless of what TCU and Baylor have gone on the field. Kill the Big XII to split the pie 4 ways and give the rest a guaranteed spot in the playoff.

PhDeac said:

Could be as simple as a few teams getting poached for new TV deals. Texas to the Big Ten and OU and Ok St to the SEC could hurt the Big XII regardless of what TCU and Baylor have gone on the field. Kill the Big XII to split the pie 4 ways and give the rest a guaranteed spot in the playoff.

Click to expand...

I'm not sure I see the leaders of the Big Tefourteen allowing Texas in with the Longhorn Network as is. The Big Ten has put a lot into their network, and I don't think they would screw it up even for Texas with the Longhorn Network. Besides, TX doesn't currently meet Big Ten adjacent state rule. Only the two Kansas teams currently would meet the adjacency requirement.

Who knows? I wouldn't put much stock in rules or any agreements that can be bought out.

ESPN will pull the plug on the LHN before Texas will, so that may very well be out of anybody's hands whether in-conference pressure is applied or not.

I think we are heading for a Power Four conference lineup ultimately, driven by the huge dollars available from the football playoffs already demonstrated. The Power Four conference champions will get automatic bids to the playoffs, and either two or four at-large teams will round out the field at either 6 or 8 total. Such an automatic bid will also make the conference championships that much richer in TV dollars, because they will effectively be the first round of the playoffs.

In that scenario, Texas will have to make a decision to join one of the Power Four, and the SEC is the likeliest, and Oklahoma will go with them. The rest of the Big XII just does not have the TV appeal. That will cause big political problems domestically for OK, because the OK politicians will demand that OK not join the SEC unless OK State gets to go along, but the SEC will likely only take Texas and OK to avoid the revenue dilution. A lesser possibility is that the PAC-12 would take OK and OK State both, but I don't see Texas going to the PAC-12, so Texas might come alone to the SEC.

Notre Dame may be forced to join the ACC in football in that scenario, because it will need the access to the playoffs that a conference championship will guarantee. Otherwise its only access will be as an "at large" team, and that will depend on having pretty close to an undefeated season, a big gamble.

Is there even a remote possibility the ACC would ever drop Wake? Like say we continue to be bad in basketball and football for another 5-10 years- could they start to resent having to cut Wake checks?

naaah. the acc big teams need whipping boys