Ok boomer.
Is this satire? You sound literally scared. If adding those two teams to the conference doesn't get you excited, are you even a fan of college football at all? You erroneously claim the SEC would gain nothing, Do you realize how much $$$ those two teams pull in with their own fanbases. Not to mention a bigger geographical footprint, multiple new revenue opportunities. The quality of games increase substantially. Go ahead and do some research how how much money those teams make and go back and read what you said. What a weak and spineless comment to one of the most exciting realignment news drops in years.
You are literally doubling down on this point. Stand by, and I'll be back with some financial statements to fix this bone in your head
2020 UT- 200 Million $
OU with a cool 83 million in 2020 During the pandemic nontheless
Texas has been raking in the money for the entire decade of their mediocrity in 2018-2019 they set a new record for 223 million
OU coming at 8th nationally for revenue 2018-19 with 175 million which was a decrease from the previous year
I think if you don't know anything about finance and are only looking at the expansion with your bias and how much "harder" winning the SEC title can be
, you can convince yourself to believe things like "it makes no financial sense". A move like UT and OU coming to the SEC would be an earth shattering move. Top recruits every year come to Alabama to compete with the best every day. The best players want to compete against the best. Bring. it. on.
The vast majority of the money coming into a conference has nothing to do with the athletic budgets or endowments at specific universities - especially when considering factors for including or excluding individual universities for expansion. That argument, on its face, is laughable.
The vast majority of additional money brought in by past, conference expansions has been through the resulting expansion of eyeballs.
While, yes, brand recognition has something to do with that it is still both a limited and relative effect with exponentially diminishing returns. If, for example, the Pac-12 were to add Texas and Oklahoma it would have a significant effect on the conference's overall brand recognition and overall quality of competition as well as adding over 30 million new, potential, tv-watching eyeballs in a region where they currently have no representation. However, this does NOT track for the SEC. The SEC is already the apex in overall brand recognition and overall quality of competition. Adding Texas and Oklahoma would, technically, raise both of those somewhat but, effectively, not at all. The best would still be the best; there isn't likely to be a measurable advantage to being bester. And adding those two schools - since the SEC is already represented in Texas - would only be effectively adding under 4 million new, potential, tv-watching eyeballs. Adding Oklahoma would add two, regular Top-10, CFB, TV markets: Oklahoma City and Tulsa but just those two.
Adding Texas and OU would be a smart, financial move for the Pac-12; it would not be this for the SEC.
As for other factors, they're a wash at best - essentially non-factors. It would be nice to see more games against traditional powers but it would be at the expense of games against traditional SEC opponents. It would weaken - if not destroy - the Big XII conference. However, that conference - as a whole - isn't any real threat to dethrone the SEC in the foreseeable future. And few SEC schools - especially outside of TAMU - ever really compete with Big XII schools other than UT and OU for recruits. And, since we'd still be competing with those two big fish either way, there's no recruiting advantage.
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Alternatively, let's examine what would happen if the SEC were, for example, to expand to 16 teams by adding Virginia Tech and NC State.
1. While not traditional powers, both are recognizable brands - Va Tech obviously more so. And they would also help raise the brand recognition and quality of competition in the SEC in sports like Basketball and Baseball.
2. We would add close to 20 million new, potential, tv-watching eyeballs to the SEC's footprint.
3. It would add three, regular Top-10, CFB, TV markets: Greensboro, Charlotte, and Richmond plus two additional, regular Top-25, CFB, TV markets: Norfolk and Raleigh-Durham.
4. It would both weaken the ACC and strengthen our recruiting advantages throughout ACC territory - with whose schools many SEC schools compete for recruits every single year.
5. It would give us a good excuse to geographically re-align the divisions and [hopefully] put the Barn in the East. (My personal favorite.)
Anyone who says adding Texas and OU to the SEC would benefit the SEC more than two teams such as these simply isn't thinking logically...
