Around the Big Ten

[The Oracle]

I no longer let Michigan losses ruin my week, but I still care just as much as ever. I think after leaving Michigan 8 years ago, it's just been easier to detach after a loss. Very helpful. Especially having lived in Lansing and with MSU's run the last few years. Would have sucked bad.

[Mike]

I love the playoff. Wish they had it my whole life. Hopefully it will expand to the point where campus sites are needed.

[The Oracle]

Yeah, I don't know how what they have going now can be viewed as negative. It's good now, will be better with 8.

[froot loops]

If Jim Harbaugh creates some powerhouse, you can bet Hannibal will be watching. As you age it is natural to not be as fanatical as you were in your teens. If you go through that decade you went through it will compound that.

But swearing off watching it because of conference realignments? That seems to be a weird line in the sand.

I think conference expansions is silly, but what bothers me more is how it is constantly covered. It is reaching an NFL Draft level of annoying.

[hack]

I've just dropped certain sports as I go along. I'm down to basketball and football. Hockey was the first to go, then baseball. It's all I've got time for.

[CGVT]

I've just dropped certain sports as I go along. I'm down to basketball and football. Hockey was the first to go, then baseball. It's all I've got time for.

I am down to NFL football, March Madness and the Tigers. I watch some prime time marquee college football games and will watch Michigan and Michigan State games when they don't get in the way of life, but I do not set my Saturday aside to watch football very often any more. That doesn't mean I don't ever watch games on a Saturday, but I don't have to watch college football anymore.

Of course if I am home there is usually some type of sporting event on the TV in the background and I can't help but to get wrapped up in a good game at times-regardless of the sport.

[hack]

Of course if I am home there is usually some type of sporting event on the TV in the background and I can't help but to get wrapped up in a good game at times-regardless of the sport.

Those are nice evenings, when it just sneaks back up on you and get a surprise dose.

[froot loops]

I used to watch every Lion game. but for the last 7 or 8 years my daughters are at the dance studio on Sunday. I'll listen to it on the radio but if I miss it no big deal. When you have kids things change, I spend a hell of a lot more time and money on Irish Dance than sports.

I watch a lot more soccer. Anything other than the Detroit teams and State I don't really care. I can't even loyally hate watch Michigan.

[hack]

Strike me down if I start to care about the Lions again. What a waste of time.

Irish dance? Lotta bad jokes about serving alcohol to minors available there...

[Whitley]

IDK that we're going to have the luxury of being quite so picky about academics in the next round.

IMO, the whole paradigm is going to change in the next ten years, as technology prys loose the television industry's fingers from around the necks of consumers. Live streaming will continue to expand, giving people ala carte options to choose specific channels instead of having a package foisted on them.

In lieu of looking for schools who can influence local cable subsidiaries into paying us .25 per house then, the focus will shift to marketing: Names and Games. In that environment, an Oklahoma is worth a lot. That may also further separate the basketball schools from the football schools....or hell, the opposite.

Except the B1G has a brand that is about Academic and Athletic excellence. The academic side with the CIC bring in a lot more money in terms of research than does the athletic side (though that brings in a lot of money as well). AAU membership is a huge deal to the B1G presidents and they are the ones that have to approve any expansion.

Don't forget now that Notre Dame has joined the B1G in hockey now. That very well could be the start of thawing relations of the B1G and ND. I could see 6 years down the road that the Fighting Irish move all the Olympic sports (including Basketball) to the B1G. Outside of Irish fan independence, the biggest hurdle to getting ND into the B1G is the CIC (part of which says that rules have to be the same on every campus in the CIC). That will depend on the priests in charge, but the world may be very different 6 years from now.

Delaney is playing a very long game here. I think his ideal four would be Virginia, North Carolina, Duke and Notre Dame. All of them are excellent academically. Notre Dame has cache all over the country (which is going to be huge down the road with digital). Duke and North Carolina are blue bloods of college basketball and have national reach there. Virginia is not great in either but you secure some markets there.

You get those schools and it is mic dropping time there.

Brand Schools

Football: Ohio State, Michigan State, Michigan, Nebraska, Notre Dame,Wisconsin

Basketball: Duke, North Carolina, Michigan State, Indiana, Notre Dame, Wisconsin (maybe Ohio State and Michigan)

[iam416]

B10 partners with ABC/ESPN for other half of its rights: http://m.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Jou...-Big-Ten.aspx?

ESPN will pay an average of $190 million per year over six years for essentially half the conference’s media rights package, according to several sources close to the talks. Two months ago, Fox Sports agreed to take the other half of the package for an average of $240 million per year. CBS Sports also has told the conference that it will renew its basketball-only package for $10 million per year.

The six-year, $2.64 billion media rights haul represents a big win for the Big Ten Conference, of course, which will see its average media rights payout nearly triple when it takes effect next fall.

* * *

The $2.64 billion deals with Fox, ESPN and CBS average $440 million per year and nearly triple the amount ESPN and CBS had been paying for the same programming. ESPN signed a 10-year deal worth $100 million annually in 2006 — a payout that increased to $150 million this year due to the addition of Nebraska, Maryland and Rutgers to the conference. CBS paid an average of around $6 million for its current basketball-only deal.

The deal does not include Big Ten Network’s package of rights, which runs to 2031-32. Fox owns 51 percent of BTN.

Like Fox Sports, ESPN will have around 25 football games and 50 basketball games each year — programming that will provide big ratings and an advertiser-friendly audience of diehard alumni in some of the country’s biggest media markets.

The difference between the two packages is that Fox Sports will carry the Big Ten football championship game every season, which is a strong draw each December. Fox also will have game selection advantages over ESPN, which almost certainly means that the coveted Michigan-Ohio State rivalry will move to Fox most years.

That's $2.64B for 6 years. $440M per year=$31.4M per team, though I hope the B10 is still paying Nebraska in corn nuts. And that figure doesn't include anything from the BTN.

[Mike]

Di you know how much is the BTN share?

[Jeff Buchanan]

Stunning numbers but not unexpected.

I'm wondering what effect the trend toward streamed entertainment is going to have on these huge numbers over the long term. As I understand it, the networks and cable entities (like FOX and ESPN) obtain their income from Cable Companies (e.g., COMCAST) that pay them to carry their programming, billing cable subscribers for this service.

I know COMCAST, for example, among others are working hard to (1) prevent legislative action that would allow ala cart selection by customers and (2) expanding their toe hold on video streaming by offering this option - some of it ala cart - to customers.

[iam416]

I think the key number in this deal is "6 years" -- it's a relatively short period for TV rights. I think it allows the B10 more flexibility to adapt to whatever model is coming.

In any event, live TV is still the golden goose and live TV focused on the B10's population is the goldenest of golden geese when it comes to college sports.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Tremendous numbers. Second half (one assumes inferior games) didn't fall too far below what the first half got