When we can not add more eyeballs watching our games. The excitement of the SEC coming to these markets will be huge as it has been in Texas. In th.e long term if we get the NC and VA markets we are moving up the eastern coast (the most heavily populated area of the country) and with VA you add the DC market. I don't think you can classify it as a modest football market.At what point does the business model stop working in practice? What gains do we really get in modest football markets in Virginia and North Carolina
As to your latter point, I don't think the SEC should expand just to expand. If they make the right additions, great, but they shouldn't go into a state simply to be there. Otherwise, why not just go straight to Ohio or New York? As to the first point... you are kind of on to something. I think cable fees are nearing unsustainable levels. When we first got basic cable it was $12, now ESPN alone is like $6. Eventually all this money they are throwing around is going to dry up, unless they make some real changes. People are not going to pay $200 a month for cable.That's my point really. At what point does the business model stop working in practice? What gains do we really get in modest football markets in Virginia and North Carolina...especially when it seems like we will be getting the Auburn equivalent of each state in the process?
You add two programs whose combined attendance in football isn't much more than that of Alabama's and that's how it goes. People keep thinking success on the football field is a sure fire indicator of value to a conference. If that was the case, every conference would have been dying to add Boise St. There are many other factors and clearly Miami and Virginia Tech didn't bring those with them. They are proof positive you can't just pile teams that have won a lot of football games lately on top of other teams that have won a lot of football games lately and come up with something better.I'd add, that the ACC has been in the quandary for a decade now. They expanded into New England with Boston College and to the edge of Florida with Miami while bringing in Virginia Tech - the second best Big East football power - in the process. What did it do for them in football? Nothing much really.
They have slowly and grudgingly given Virginia Tech some attention. But everything I have seen indicates they are a pro football town, and are far too diverse to get behind a single college football team even if they did care about college sports. That's one reason I don't see the state of Virginia was being that attractive.Is DC a college sports town though? I should have been clearer with that...will they be interested in college football like the Skins?
No, I meant Miami. Last I looked they were somewhere in the mid to upper 40Ks...Took a look at Mizzou's website and answered my own question. They averaged somewhere between 64-66k this season at Faurot Field. Must be Missouri.
Many of my Virginia years were in the DC area. DC is a pro town. Redskins uber alles. (This is despite Dan Snider doing all he can to drive away the Redskins fans. But I digress...) Nats & Wizards compete for a very distant second place. DC residents are from all over; and bring their college allegiances with 'em. Heck, there's a credible Bama following in the DC area! But my own observations - via lots of college football discussions over almost three decades in the DC area - are that VaTech and MD have more support than any other single school.Is DC a college sports town though? I should have been clearer with that...will they be interested in college football like the Skins?
You are correct that DC is a pro sports city but we would get a certain percentage of that area to watch.Is DC a college sports town though? I should have been clearer with that...will they be interested in college football like the Skins?
Correct. You are never going to sell everyone in a certain market but you use the total number of potential customers when negotiating. I see these two states as extremely attractive additions to our footprint.That 19-mil isn't going to all watch college football though. That is the problem, we may pull one over the broadcasters with the big market numbers for a contract but they'll tell us to readjust our offers if they aren't pulling in acceptable numbers in those new states. As krazy said, sports on basic cable have been a huge driving factor in the growth for cable/satellite subscription cost. We're going to find the ceiling for which the cable providers are willing to pay to have ESPN and others on basic cable. When basic cable packages start moving to premium packages because of their cost, the viewership will drop and the television contracts with the conferences will get readjusted.
I personally hope it doesn't come to adding Clemson and FSU simply because at that point wouldn't the SEC just be adding them to add them? The Big 12 might end up with both of those, and they certainly have value. Also, they unquestionable fit the prototype of an SEC school. But, between the road blocks that South Carolina and Florida would throw up and a few other factors I just don't see it happening. I think Notre Dame+North Carolina is the grand slam possibility, but it is extremely remote of course. I'm at the point that I say Notre Dame and/or North Carolina or stand pat. Once the network gets rolling things could change though, but I see no point in making a move earlier unless you get a big one on the hook.Krazy, you seem to be on about the same page as me on this subject. So do you think at a certain point that if we're going to add teams that the decision may be to look within the market footprint and bring in programs who have fan interest and the ability to share the weight like Clemson and FSU? .
This is kind of out of left field, but what would you think of a North Carolina/Syracuse tandem? Two strong basketball schools that have tolerable support for football and obviously both have huge markets. I know Syracuse is a reach, and that's a Big 10 network deal type of move, but you'd kill two birds with one stone by adding a strong basketball brand and entering a massive market. If it's all about the network, then I think Syracuse deserves some consideration.To me this makes the ability to do a UNC/Duke tandem offer doable. So long as UNC is one of the partners I think you could make almost any combination work - UNC/NCST, UNC/Clemson. I just dont think a UNC/UVA deal is automatically the best partnership to offer if you desire national appeal for your conference - which I think is priority number 1.
They cant stand pat on expansion because of the value of media rights seems to be changing by the day - everyday the Big10 expands is another day of lost revenue for the SEC because its locked into its contract with ESPN and CBS. I am willing to bet almost any media guru would tell the SEC media rights are worth 1X of the Big10's media rights but to the advantage of their broadcast partners that value cant be tapped due to the length and exit clauses in its current media contracts.I personally hope it doesn't come to adding Clemson and FSU simply because at that point wouldn't the SEC just be adding them to add them? The Big 12 might end up with both of those, and they certainly have value. Also, they unquestionable fit the prototype of an SEC school. But, between the road blocks that South Carolina and Florida would throw up and a few other factors I just don't see it happening. I think Notre Dame+North Carolina is the grand slam possibility, but it is extremely remote of course. I'm at the point that I say Notre Dame and/or North Carolina or stand pat. Once the network gets rolling things could change though, but I see no point in making a move earlier unless you get a big one on the hook.
Also, I'm not sure the SEC can get better in football. I just have to throw that out there. I think you rock the boat too much at this point and you might just tip it over. Notre Dame, like Texas A&M would be worth the risk, but let's not forget that Texas A&M nearly cost the SEC a national championship.
Well, they do play their football in the Carrier Dome. I dont know how big that venue is but if big enough it certainly could open up some interesting pre-season and post-season opportunities in football and basketball.This is kind of out of left field, but what would you think of a North Carolina/Syracuse tandem? Two strong basketball schools that have tolerable support for football and obviously both have huge markets. I know Syracuse is a reach, and that's a Big 10 network deal type of move, but you'd kill two birds with one stone by adding a strong basketball brand and entering a massive market. If it's all about the network, then I think Syracuse deserves some consideration.
Not sure about that record, but they went to three bowl games prior to 1980. ThreePrior to Beamer, Virginia Tech's all time record was 481-334-441. Not exactly what I'd call horrible.
I don't believe the SEC is even done negotiating their new rights after they added A&M and Missouri. So, I don't think they are losing ground, in fact I think they need to delay the next round as long as possible so that they can maximize the value of an SEC network and hopefully squeeze a few more bucks out of the broadcast and cable deals.They cant stand pat on expansion because of the value of media rights seems to be changing by the day - everyday the Big10 expands is another day of lost revenue for the SEC because its locked into its contract with ESPN and CBS.