U of M thread (in the Lions Forum) :)

[whatever_gong82]

Hard to say. On one hand, LA is the nation's second biggest market by population.

On the other, LA seems largely uninterested in sports as a general rule. Even the Lakers only move the needle occasionally, and only when they are champion contenders. The Dodgers most recent run has for the most part generated yawns, and as much as Froot and I joked about LA being all in on the Rams, a lot of home games had the feel of road games. A lot of the time it seems networks get pulled in by the potential of the LA market rather than the reality.

Places like LA and Miami are like that when you consider the great weather and hot looking young people, who would care about sports?

[jaadam4]

Places like LA and Miami are like that when you consider the great weather and hot looking young people, who would care about sports?

And most are transplants

[whatever_gong82]

And most are transplants

True. I currently live in the Southwest US, and I'm not a fan of any of the local teams.

[Nick Pappageorgio]

Thing about that LA/ west coast market…you can say it underperforms for it’s size, but even at less than full speed it’s still a monster.

700k people live in detroit…3.9m live in LA.

[chemiclord]

Thing about that LA/ west coast market…you can say it underperforms for it’s size, but even at less than full speed it’s still a monster.

700k people live in detroit…3.9m live in LA.

And that's true. It's certainly a big market, but in terms of actual butts in the seats and eyeballs it brings, it's not particularly special. In fact, it's dismal.

For example, that 700k in Detroit pulled roughly twice the ratings of that 3.9m in LA in 2021. https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.co...l-Ratings.aspx

And as I'm sure we're aware, the Lions were a 3-win team last year. The Rams won the fucking Super Bowl.

Make no mistake; some broadcaster is going to give the B1G a mint for securing the LA market. They probably shouldn't.

[edindetroit]

I was on a pretty small island saying that arrogance from the Big Ten was the wrong move... and look who turned out right.

Gonz?

[chemiclord]

The more I look into this, the less we've actually heard from South Bend. That's actually... a sign that something might be happening.

The last couple of times Notre Dame was pressed on this issue, they rather quickly shut it down. As I recall, when the Big East dissolved, Notre Dame within days had put out a release saying they had no intention of joining the Big Ten and within a couple weeks revealed a deal with the ACC. So, the longer this goes without any statement from the Fighting Irish, the more it suggests to me they are either thinking really hard or already negotiating something with someone.

[jaadam4]

Major changes are happening in college football. I respect ND sticking to their guns but they're not the only ones with huge TV contracts anymore. If ND joined a conference they'd have nothing but a huge bump in money and recruiting. ND has been stuck in the mud for many years now. They need it.

[Whitley]

It is very interesting that the ND contract with NBC is coming up in a couple years and NBC is among those competing to get some Big Ten games.

Notre Dame is in a position to get most of what they might want. And if the ACC loses those 4-6 games from Notre Dame that is going to be a bit damaging to their renegotiations. I could see some ACC schools taking GoR issue to court and arguing that the loss of ND and the changing landscape of CFB nullifies the GoR deal. Not sure how much merit that would have in a courtroom

[jaadam4]

ND reminds me a ton of Michigan. They’re apart of college football history but they were passed by. Lou Holtz had some insane football teams but the game evolved and rarely have they been on the big stage.

[chemiclord]

It is very interesting that the ND contract with NBC is coming up in a couple years and NBC is among those competing to get some Big Ten games.

Notre Dame is in a position to get most of what they might want. And if the ACC loses those 4-6 games from Notre Dame that is going to be a bit damaging to their renegotiations. I could see some ACC schools taking GoR issue to court and arguing that the loss of ND and the changing landscape of CFB nullifies the GoR deal. Not sure how much merit that would have in a courtroom

That might be what all the silence is about, honestly. There are a ton of deals that would have to be renegotiated before Notre Dame football joined any conference, even if they were to simply join the ACC full time.

[chemiclord]

ND reminds me a ton of Michigan. They’re apart of college football history but they were passed by. Lou Holtz had some insane football teams but the game evolved and rarely have they been on the big stage.

It's also where some of the iciness to the Big Ten comes from. They haven't forgotten that Michigan rallied a lot of schools that became the Big Ten to try and smother Notre Dame football in the crib. Yeah, that was over a hundred years ago at this point, but the Fighting Irish have some long memories on that score. At least during the time I was an active reporter, for a very significant segment of administration, joining the Big Ten full time was effectively surrender.

Things have thawed enough that Notre Dame was willing to be a part of Big Ten hockey (though that really was a "no other game in town" situation after the CCHA dissolved), and a lot could have changed even in the ten years since the Big East collapse.

We'll see.

[froot loops]

These conferences keep getting bigger but I don't think it has made that much of a difference to the quality of college football. The schedule quality is definitely worse than it was 40 years ago. When you start talking about 20 team conferences, they kind of cease becoming a true conference when you might play some teams once every 4 years.

People like talking about it because they like playing fantasy football commissioner.

[chemiclord]

Because it has nothing to do with the quality, and everything to do with consolidating the money. Big schools do not want to share the dollars and opportunities with smaller schools, it's why the Pac-12 and ACC shot down a playoff expansion even though it would theoretically been in their best competitive interests. They would rather the entire conference collapse than give a Utah or a Boise State a legitimate title shot.

[jaadam4]

ND joining any other conference is insane IMO. It’s always been the perfect fit.