Is it time for the SEC and Bama to part ways?

[wood78221]

I think the benefits of being in the S.E.C. far outweigh the negatives.

I agree, I just dont see us doing that. I think it helps out our sense of power. We play top teams, therefore building our confidence.

 

[BamaFossil]

No way Alabama should consider leaving the SEC. At least, not as things now stand. Granted, Kramer did what he could to kill Bama and darn-near succeeded. However, he's gone. Slive doesn't have Kramer's anti-Bama bias. Bama should not make SEC-related business decisions based on past history but rather on future potential.

 

[Ole Man Dan]

NOPE.....
It would not be a smart move at this time. It's time that the SEC got in line with it's
Member Institutions and followed it's own rules. Instead of us leaving the SEC we should
be actively engaged in fixing the SEC.
(It needs a 'House Cleaning' starting at the top.) _excl:

 

[BamaBuff24]

No way Alabama should consider leaving the SEC. At least, not as things now stand. Granted, Kramer did what he could to kill Bama and darn-near succeeded. However, he's gone. Slive doesn't have Kramer's anti-Bama bias. Bama should not make SEC-related business decisions based on past history but rather on future potential.

I don't know, about all the bye weeks Bama faces. Why can't the SEC setup Bye weeks like the Bama-LSU game. Pair up two teams in the same division, so no one gets an advantage. Auburn-Mississippi State, Arkansas-Ole Miss, Florida-Georgia, Tenn-USC, and Kent-Vandy.

 

[Saban14]

If Alabama were to leave the SEC, it should be with many other schools and form a new "super" conference. All sports could be included as all the schools have most of them. I would love a two division conference with a championship game for all sports. I have always thought a conference with these schools would be fun:

EAST DIV.
Alabama
Auburn
Florida
Georgia
Tennessee
LSU
Florida State

West Div.
Texas
Texas A&M
Oklahoma
Missouri
Texas Tech
TCU
Arkansas

Well, if that is the conference, then none of the teams would ever have a good enough record to go to a title and all the players would be dead.

Succeeding from the SEC is a lame idea, IMO. UT's tv deal is lame. Yes, they get a lot of money, but the new channel will be extremely, extremely boring. Think Golf Channel boring. You are going to have a ton of lame programs from women's swimming to updates on UTe's home-coming race. Only 1 football game and 8 basketball games will be televised, meaning it will become the UT Women's Basketball/Softball network.

 

[UA2373]

Not that I see any of this happening soon, but if it did I think your bringing a few too many teams along for the ride. I'd look more along the lines of UA, LSU, MSU, ARK and UF joining some of the other non-SEC teams on your list. Possibly along with Georgia. But under no circumstances do I see us leaving this conference to join another that contains AU. They're the cancer everyone who might leave, wants away from. Conference realignment is an eventuality but as far this argument is concerned, I think, we're talking about a "nuclear option".

 

[BocaLance]

I am still trying to wrap my head around how the Texas/ESPN deal has any bearing on Alabama and why or whether UA should leave the richest, most successful conference in the nation. The STATE of Alabama probably has a better chance of seceding from the Union than UA leaving the SEC.

 

[bamaga]

Should of left when a fellow member institution and the commish conspired to 'Put Alabama out of the football business'

Although I know its best in the BCS era for the perception of a strong conference, so It is probably in our best interest. But It is hard for me to listen to Bama fans chant SEC, SEC, SEC

As I said earlier, should of left earlier in the decade, its to late now. Doesn't mean We need or have to like the conference. got to ask, especially if CNS keeps us on top of the national rankings. How long until another member institution that can't beat us on the field tries an underhanded nuclear option? how about Lets restart this thread, change the name to' leave the NCAA.'

 

[Rama Jama]

Why could Alabama not strike a deal with ESPN as an independent? While I don't think we'd get Texas money. I think it would be substantal raise over what we get from the SEC. The other schools who don't bring the viewers we do don't get a share of the revenue as they do now. Vandy, AU, and USC's share should be less than ours. Ratings prove they do not bring in the viewership we do. We could get a 25 million deal a year and play whomever we wanted to play. Think of this schedule. Ohio State, Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Notre Dame, Nebraska, and possibly USC. We would not play all of these teams every year, but you get the idea.

 

[UA2373]

When you say independent...do you mean as in no conference affiliation or an independent TV deal like TX?

 

[liquidvengeance]

Why could Alabama not strike a deal with ESPN as an independent? While I don't think we'd get Texas money. I think it would be substantal raise over what we get from the SEC. The other schools who don't bring the viewers we do don't get a share of the revenue as they do now. Vandy, AU, and USC's share should be less than ours. Ratings prove they do not bring in the viewership we do. We could get a 25 million deal a year and play whomever we wanted to play. Think of this schedule. Ohio State, Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Notre Dame, Nebraska, and possibly USC. We would not play all of these teams every year, but you get the idea.

Im with you all the way man but I disagree on not getting texas money because I really believe that our football program is as valuable as theirs is and more. Im pretty sure Bama has a better ratings viewership on a season weekend basis than them annually.

 

[GrayTide]

I think the benefits of being in the S.E.C. far outweigh the negatives.

I am with sip on this.

 

[buzzincuzzin]

Why could Alabama not strike a deal with ESPN as an independent? While I don't think we'd get Texas money. I think it would be substantal raise over what we get from the SEC. The other schools who don't bring the viewers we do don't get a share of the revenue as they do now. Vandy, AU, and USC's share should be less than ours. Ratings prove they do not bring in the viewership we do. We could get a 25 million deal a year and play whomever we wanted to play. Think of this schedule. Ohio State, Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Notre Dame, Nebraska, and possibly USC. We would not play all of these teams every year, but you get the idea.

We could get some high profile games each year but take a look at who we couldn't play. It would be mostly a garbage schedule. Texas got "Texas money" because of Houston, Dallas and San Antonio and the number of tv set they have. It's not about football. It's about selling advertising. It would take Mobile, Montgomery and Birmingham combined to make a good subdivision for Texas.

 

[Bamanooga]

NOPE.....
It would not be a smart move at this time. It's time that the SEC got in line with it's
Member Institutions and followed it's own rules. Instead of us leaving the SEC we should
be actively engaged in fixing the SEC.
(It needs a 'House Cleaning' starting at the top.) _excl:

Amen, brother! Slive can't be depended on to do what's right or even to follow the SEC's own rules when money and prestige of a member school are involved. He needs a backbone, and the university can let him know it's a new day in the SEC and be part of the solution to make it better. We can't be that if we're outside.

In my dreams though, it would be awfully satisfying just to walk away from the mess and be captain of our own destiny.

'Nooga

 

[tortfeasor]

Texas is destroying the Big XII. Why would Bama want to follow that example?

 

[owenfieldreams]

Boy, lots to digest here. This is a hot topic in Sooner land as well. It seems to me that you have to separate athletic prowess from economic power. UT is, in my opinion, a classic athletic underachiever but from a purely economic standpoint, they are THE 800 lb gorilla of intercollegiate athletics. The fact that they are the flagship university in the 2nd most populous state in the union; that they have a huge alumni base; the fact that they have an incredible reservoir of wealth, all play into this thing.

This new agreement w/ESPN is purely based on economic added value and the content is almost an afterthought. There may be only one football game shown annually and as many as 8 basketball games. the rest of the content will be minor sports and a lot of programming on the university itself. Our biggest worry out here is the fact that they will show the annual UIL football & basketball championship games which will give them leverage in recruiting but in fact, they already have leverage in recruiting in Texas.

OU has been working on it's own network for quite some time and has announced it should have an agreement in place by fall of 2011. Ironically, we turned down our own network in the 80's when we were approached first by NBC. The result was the NBC contract with ND.

I don't see any of this as a harbinger of an eventual demise of the Big 12; however, most out here think the conference as it is today will not last. There are a myriad of other factors that could lead to this result.

Something else here that needs to be mentioned, simply as a reference point to this whole discussion. The allegiance to a conference affiliation is unique to the SEC. This is not a bad thing but it has always seemed odd to Sooner fans. We've never given a rats ... about our conference affiliations. We have always looked @ ourselves as an entity in unto itself. We have either a hate or disdain for all the other members of the Big 12 (or whatever it'll be called), just like we did when we were in the BIG 6/7/8.

As our future unfolds, our administration has simply taken the stance that regardless of the configuration of whatever conference we're in, we'll continue to schedule marque opponents outside the conference to ensure our relative position in the hierachy of college football. We will complete a home/home with Florida State in 2011 & we have home/homes scheduled with ND, TOSU, Army, LSU, & Tennessee coming up in the next few years. We'll complete a home/home soon when we visit TCU.

Speaking of marque matchups, I can only hope we see you you all in N.O. in early 2012. After our recent home/home, it's been a dream of mine that such a game, with everything on the table, would finally occur. My visit to Tuscaloosa for our game there was a tremendous experience and only solidified my opinion that the two programs are mirror images of each other as are the fanbases.

I'll be rooting hard for the Tide when the Bayou Bengals come to T-town. Playing LSU in the Superdome was like an away game in Baton Rouge.

 

[capnfrog]

True. I can, however, see the benefit of throwing our weight around to get some things fixed--like terrible officiating and a commissioner who will turn a blind eye to anything so long as the money keeps rolling in.

I really would hate for us to leave the SEC, BUT! Bama has enough weight to force the SEC to straighten up the officiating and the scheduling (teams with bye weeks before playing Bama). Also I think Bama has enough weight to force Mike Slive to quit turning a blind eye and make a stand for whats right, before the ncaa. One way to throw Bamas' influence around is by threatening to leave the SEC if things don't change for the better.

 

[Bamabuzzard]

Absolutely an absurd idea for Bama to leave the SEC. I love my Alabama but Bama ain't that big. The SEC however could survive without Alabama. I'm not so sure that Alabama could survive or still have the same pull without the SEC.

 

[BamaNation]

No but it is time for the BCS schools to part with the NCAA. Let the wannabes to their own devices to 'equalize' everyone while those with strength become stronger through separation. There is nothing, I repeat, NOTHING, appealing about having an organization so unwieldy as the NCAA dictating mandates to schools that actually (for the most part) pay their own way. Maybe the schools that are left could have scholars' bowls. I'm obviously not against academics ... On the contrary! What I am against is the hypocritical rhetoric of the NCAA stating it promotes academics. As one Colonel Sherman Tecumseh Potter M.D. was known for saying, "BULL BUTTER!"

 

[Bamabuzzard]

Totally agree.

No but it is time for the BCS schools to part with the NCAA. Let the wannabes to their own devices to 'equalize' everyone while those with strength become stronger through separation. There is nothing, I repeat, NOTHING, appealing about having an organization so unwieldy as the NCAA dictating mandates to schools that actually (for the most part) pay their own way. Maybe the schools that are left could have scholars' bowls. I'm obviously not against academics ... On the contrary! What I am against is the hypocritical rhetoric of the NCAA stating it promotes academics. As one Colonel Sherman Tecumseh Potter M.D. was known for saying, "BULL BUTTER!"