UCLA and USC are joining the Big Ten starting in 2024

[mmc]

And now ASU/Utah is all but done

 

[eaterfan]

New rivalries will form. 

In the end this is really about getting rid of the bottom teams who drag down the revenue for each conference. If USC, Texas, Michigan, tOSU bring in $70 million a year in value and OSU and WSU bring in $10 million it's pretty obvious why those revenue generating schools want to ditch the lower end schools. They just can't kick OSU and WSU out of the conference so they leave to another conference. I think once high revenue schools in the PAC, ACC, and Big 12 have been abandoned the low revenue schools for the B1G and SEC maybe we'll see schools actually kicked out of conferences. Purdue, Indiana, Vanderbuilt, Northwestern, etc. will need to be worried. 

[mmc]

 

[gotbeer]

Stick a fork in the pac 12. They are done. 

They are one step away from being like bed bath and beyond, and a conference (probably the big 10) buying their intellectual property and rebranding the pacific conference. 

[mmc]

 

[Vegas Halo Fan]

One once unthinkable idea that has been advanced is a merger between the Mountain West and what is left of the Pac 12.

[Vegas Halo Fan]

On 8/4/2023 at 9:25 AM, mrwicked said:

Cal and Stanford will join the Big Ten as well if Oregon and UW go. They will find a way to make it work.

This idea was floated among Big Ten presidents. It was met with a cool reception because they didn't believe that Stanford and Cal would add enough to the league to warrant splitting the pie two more ways.

[mrwicked]

Sucks for the athletes. Those travel schedules are just absurd now. 

[gotbeer]

10 minutes ago, Vegas Halo Fan said:

This idea was floated among Big Ten presidents. It was met with a cool reception because they didn't believe that Stanford and Cal would add enough to the league to warrant splitting the pie two more ways.

You would think Stanford would bring in some good value.  When you look at schools with the most NCAA championships for all team sports, Stanford is #1.  Followed by UCLA and USC.  4th is University of Texas, Austin, and it only has half the number that USC has.

[Vegas Halo Fan]

On 8/5/2023 at 3:24 PM, gotbeer said:

You would think Stanford would bring in some good value.  When you look at schools with the most NCAA championships for all team sports, Stanford is #1.  Followed by UCLA and USC.  4th is University of Texas, Austin, and it only has half the number that USC has.

As we all know, football is the engine that drives the train. National titles in golf or volleyball aren't going to move the needle much.

Edited August 19, 2023 by Vegas Halo Fan

[mrwicked]

Stanford and Cal will always be latched together, regardless of where they land/stay - the Big Game is too important to them.

[gotbeer]

1 minute ago, Vegas Halo Fan said:

As we all know, football the engine that drives the train. National titles in golf or baseball aren't going to move the needle much.

But even in Football, Stanford is closer to UCLA and USC than probably half othe Big 10 schools.  Granted, their recent years have been pretty bad.  

[St1ck]

https://pac-4.com/

[mmc]

Looks like the ACC may be where Stanford/Cal end up...

 

[RallyMo]

I love the idea of playing some of those schools, but this only makes sense for football and basketball. The travel would be brutal and absolute bullshit for any true student athlete that’s not being NIL compensated and is actually focused on their degree as the primary outcome of their time at Cal/Stanford.

They should join ACC or Big Ten for football and basketball and go with the Big West for everything else.

Anyway, it’ll be fun when all of this comes crashing down due to linear distribution declining. 
 

…and OSU and WSU are possibly screwed over.

Also, UCLA kinda screwed over California taxpayers by bolting. Cal has a lot (hundreds of million$) of football related debt that will not be able to be paid off should they not be able to participate in big time college football. That’s gonna fall on the UC Regents. This was the thing that they should have thought through when they signed off on UCLA’s departure without having Cal attached to them.

[eaterfan]

On 8/7/2023 at 2:00 PM, RallyMo said:

I love the idea of playing some of those schools, but this only makes sense for football and basketball. The travel would be brutal and absolute bullshit for any true student athlete that’s not being NIL compensated and is actually focused on their degree as the primary outcome of their time at Cal/Stanford.

They should join ACC or Big Ten for football and basketball and go with the Big West for everything else.

Anyway, it’ll be fun when all of this comes crashing down due to linear distribution declining. 
 

…and OSU and WSU are possibly screwed over.

Also, UCLA kinda screwed over California taxpayers by bolting. Cal has a lot (hundreds of million$) of football related debt that will not be able to be paid off should they not be able to participate in big time college football. That’s gonna fall on the UC Regents. This was the thing that they should have thought through when they signed off on UCLA’s departure without having Cal attached to them.

Wouldn't not going to the Big 10 have screwed the tax payers. UCLA had huge debt that the Regents would have had to take on had they not joined the Big 10. If both schools would have made $30-$40 a year in the Pac 11 and UCLA is making $80-$90 a year in the Big 10 then that's a net gain for the regents to have UCLA go. 

[Tank]

during some down time from my conference in phoenix last week, i spent some time at the pool, wearing a big angels beach hat to keep from frying to death. struck up a conversation with a couple of older guys my age in the pool about sports. one of them told me he knew terry smith (our radio guy) from his days at ohio state, and they were still friends. this lead to a fascinating conversation about ohio state football (i was primarily a listener to him and his stories). this guy was on the football staff going back to the days of woody hayes. had some fun stories to tell.

he hit on a lot of topics. of particular disdain to him is the NIL and the transfer portal. he felt like the portal was going to do serious damage.

he also said schools are pretty good at hiding money they pay to the student athletes. he claimed that tOSU QB CJ Stroud made about $2 mil last year. i'm not well versed enough to know what questions to ask or to refute anything he said. it was an interesting afternoon.

this is the guy i talked to: https://ohiostate.rivals.com/news/time-and-change-larry-romanoff

 

[gotbeer]

On 8/12/2023 at 9:18 PM, Tank said:

during some down time from my conference in phoenix last week, i spent some time at the pool, wearing a big angels beach hat to keep from frying to death. struck up a conversation with a couple of older guys my age in the pool about sports. one of them told me he knew terry smith (our radio guy) from his days at ohio state, and they were still friends. this lead to a fascinating conversation about ohio state football (i was primarily a listener to him and his stories). this guy was on the football staff going back to the days of woody hayes. had some fun stories to tell.

he hit on a lot of topics. of particular disdain to him is the NIL and the transfer portal. he felt like the portal was going to do serious damage.

he also said schools are pretty good at hiding money they pay to the student athletes. he claimed that tOSU QB CJ Stroud made about $2 mil last year. i'm not well versed enough to know what questions to ask or to refute anything he said. it was an interesting afternoon.

this is the guy i talked to: https://ohiostate.rivals.com/news/time-and-change-larry-romanoff

 

I think it's pretty well established in the midwest schools that you work at boosters businesses, like Tony Saprano worked in Waste Management.

[AngelsLongBall]

On 8/12/2023 at 9:18 PM, Tank said:

during some down time from my conference in phoenix last week, i spent some time at the pool, wearing a big angels beach hat to keep from frying to death. struck up a conversation with a couple of older guys my age in the pool about sports. one of them told me he knew terry smith (our radio guy) from his days at ohio state, and they were still friends. this lead to a fascinating conversation about ohio state football (i was primarily a listener to him and his stories). this guy was on the football staff going back to the days of woody hayes. had some fun stories to tell.

he hit on a lot of topics. of particular disdain to him is the NIL and the transfer portal. he felt like the portal was going to do serious damage.

he also said schools are pretty good at hiding money they pay to the student athletes. he claimed that tOSU QB CJ Stroud made about $2 mil last year. i'm not well versed enough to know what questions to ask or to refute anything he said. it was an interesting afternoon.

this is the guy i talked to: https://ohiostate.rivals.com/news/time-and-change-larry-romanoff

 

He's right. 

[eaterfan]

On 8/12/2023 at 9:18 PM, Tank said:

during some down time from my conference in phoenix last week, i spent some time at the pool, wearing a big angels beach hat to keep from frying to death. struck up a conversation with a couple of older guys my age in the pool about sports. one of them told me he knew terry smith (our radio guy) from his days at ohio state, and they were still friends. this lead to a fascinating conversation about ohio state football (i was primarily a listener to him and his stories). this guy was on the football staff going back to the days of woody hayes. had some fun stories to tell.

he hit on a lot of topics. of particular disdain to him is the NIL and the transfer portal. he felt like the portal was going to do serious damage.

he also said schools are pretty good at hiding money they pay to the student athletes. he claimed that tOSU QB CJ Stroud made about $2 mil last year. i'm not well versed enough to know what questions to ask or to refute anything he said. it was an interesting afternoon.

this is the guy i talked to: https://ohiostate.rivals.com/news/time-and-change-larry-romanoff

 

Shocked to learn the guy who worked for Woody Hayes doesn't think the athletes should be able to have control over the services they provide. Even the tiniest amount of power the athletes have is ruining the game and not the coaches who promise playing time and lie when recruiting, or the coaches who leave the school at the drop of a hat when a better opportunity comes up, or the schools who switch conferences to make more money in another conference across the country and throw out a hundred years of rivalries. 

NIL has made college sports so much better. Guys can actually stay in school and improve their game before going pro for the money. For a decade all we heard about was that one and dones are ruining college basketball, now guys like Jaime Jaquez and Tiger Campbell can stay through their senior year if they want. I loved watching their games this season because I got to know these guys and it's better basketball. 

Here's a quote from Zach Edey, presumptive "best" player in college basketball next year. It's from an 8/11 article in the Athletic “If this was before NIL, I probably would have left,” he says. “That’s fair to say. But now I’m allowed to be rewarded for the season I had last year, for the season my team had last year. This is how NIL was meant to be used, I think. Not the way some schools are using it.” If it allows key players to return instead of going pro, it's only making college sports better, not worse. 

[arch stanton]

10 hours ago, eaterfan said:

Shocked to learn the guy who worked for Woody Hayes doesn't think the athletes should be able to have control over the services they provide. Even the tiniest amount of power the athletes have is ruining the game and not the coaches who promise playing time and lie when recruiting, or the coaches who leave the school at the drop of a hat when a better opportunity comes up, or the schools who switch conferences to make more money in another conference across the country and throw out a hundred years of rivalries. 

NIL has made college sports so much better. Guys can actually stay in school and improve their game before going pro for the money. For a decade all we heard about was that one and dones are ruining college basketball, now guys like Jaime Jaquez and Tiger Campbell can stay through their senior year if they want. I loved watching their games this season because I got to know these guys and it's better basketball. 

If you feel a slight tickle in your throat that's the ghost of Woody coming back to punch you out

[Vegas Halo Fan]

On 8/7/2023 at 2:00 PM, RallyMo said:

I love the idea of playing some of those schools, but this only makes sense for football and basketball. The travel would be brutal and absolute bullshit for any true student athlete that’s not being NIL compensated and is actually focused on their degree as the primary outcome of their time at Cal/Stanford.

That was the exact point that Brian Kelly made. It isn't that big of a deal for sports that play one game at a time in a given location. Playing a baseball series or participating in a tournament in sports like gymnastics, golf or volleyball that take several days would be brutal.

An aside - I read that the Big Ten is looking at possibly moving their football championship game to Allegiant Stadium here.

[Vegas Halo Fan]

On 8/14/2023 at 10:32 AM, gotbeer said:

I think it's pretty well established in the midwest schools that you work at boosters businesses, like Tony Soprano worked in Waste Management.

It was widely known that at Oklahoma, many football players worked at a Norman dealership called Big Red Cars. The work that they did was open to question, as was what they were paid.

It was a legitimate business. At the time when I was most familiar with them, they sold mainly used European cars. I bought a couple of vehicles from them. They later became a Ferrari dealer.

Then there's this from 2021, which I found when trying to find out whether they are still in business.

https://www.normantranscript.com/news/owners-of-normans-big-red-dealerships-convicted-in-federal-court/article_037cbef0-4cb4-11ec-9644-4b4f7427aa78.html

 

[arch stanton]

So were there really people who thought that nationally recruited players were going to Norman, Oklahoma for a scholarship?

[Vegas Halo Fan]

20 hours ago, arch stanton said:

So were there really people who thought that nationally recruited players were going to Norman, Oklahoma for a scholarship?

As much so as Lincoln, Nebraska and other cultural backwaters.