FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[art76]

This came across my FB feed - what do you guys know/think about it?

https://www.elevenwarriors.com/college-football/2022/06/131487/usc-and-ucla-reportedly-planning-to-join-big-ten-as-early-as-2024-though-move-has-not-yet-been-finalized?fbclid=IwAR1jAqgaxRyD1Gdcg_RB3pACDDNjqQjug2Hd8XXT6S4_VCWqsEBS8rY4qQA

[OzJohnnie]

The Big 16 and the PAC 10?  I guess.  I wouldn't be surprised to see the Big 16 force some members out.  Maybe if you don't get a bowl game for three years then you get a blindfold and a bullet.  The SEC and the ACC each have 14 while the Big 12 is just 10 now, as is the PAC 12.  I guess the Power Five are becoming the Power Three and the Big 10 is the weakest of the triumvirate.  They need to load up.  Inevitable, I say.

[SagatagSam]

The Big 16 and the PAC 10?  I guess.  I wouldn't be surprised to see the Big 16 force some members out.  Maybe if you don't get a bowl game for three years then you get a blindfold and a bullet.  The SEC and the ACC each have 14 while the Big 12 is just 10 now, as is the PAC 12.  I guess the Power Five are becoming the Power Three and the Big 10 is the weakest of the triumvirate.  They need to load up.  Inevitable, I say.

Super conferences and mega conferences have been on the horizon for some time now. I hate it.

[SagatagSam]

I'm compelled to sing the Sesame Street jingle "one of these things is not like the other."

[jknezek]

I'm compelled to sing the Sesame Street jingle "one of these things is not like the other."

When the Big 10's next TV rights deal is going to be $80-100MM per school per year, and the PAC 12 was looking at $30MM per year... those things don't have to look very similar.

[SagatagSam]

I think we may be reaching the point where the solid foundation of tradition, regional rivalries, and pageantry is so eroded that college football becomes indistinguishable from just another professional(ish) league and it starts to turn people off from the game. Sure, the TV contracts are becoming increasingly insane, but I wonder if that isn't about to peak?

It kind of feels like people in 2005 saying, "the price of housing will never go down!" ... and then it did.

I mean, who is going to be tuning in for a Saturday night at 8 p.m. PT / 11 p.m. ET kickoff between Rutgers at UCLA on FS1?

[jknezek]

I think we may be reaching the point where the solid foundation of tradition, regional rivalries, and pageantry is so eroded that college football becomes indistinguishable from just another professional(ish) league and it starts to turn people off from the game. Sure, the TV contracts are becoming increasingly insane, but I wonder if that isn't about to peak?

It kind of feels like people in 2005 saying, "the price of housing will never go down!" ... and then it did.

I mean, who is going to be tuning in for a Saturday night at 8 p.m. PT / 11 p.m. ET kickoff between Rutgers at UCLA on FS1?

No one. But if you don't have Ohio State vs USC who is going to turn in to watch Iowa-Nebraska or Penn State vs Illinois when Oklahoma vs Alabama and Texas vs Georgia is on? The Big 10 has to keep up with the SEC, the ACC is going to have to move next, the Big 12 and PAC 12 are already in deep trouble.

And the price of housing did fall in 2008/9... but by 2013 it was above crash levels again.

People will watch. They love college football. The better the games, the more people will watch. Schools like Vanderbilt, Syracuse, Rutgers, Arizona State, and pretty much everyone in the Big 12 after Oklahoma and Texas leave are in trouble. They don't bring anything to the table and at some point they are going to cut the losers out and make a 50 school, 2 bracket, semi-pro league that maximizes the revenue.

Big time college sport as we knew it from the 1970s to 2005 is over.

[BDB]

I bet these big conference developments will only increase the interest in Division 3 sports.

[HSCTiger74]

The Big 16 and the PAC 10?  I guess.  I wouldn't be surprised to see the Big 16 force some members out.  Maybe if you don't get a bowl game for three years then you get a blindfold and a bullet.  The SEC and the ACC each have 14 while the Big 12 is just 10 now, as is the PAC 12.  I guess the Power Five are becoming the Power Three and the Big 10 is the weakest of the triumvirate.  They need to load up.  Inevitable, I say.

   As someone who grew up and has lived in the ACC footprint for most of the past 60+ years I hope that you're right, but I suspect that in the long term the SEC and the Big 10 are going to end up being the big dogs, with around 20 teams each. Their tv deals are just too good. Everyone else will be left scrambling to keep up. In fact, the sports talkers here in Charlotte are already thinking that Clemson, UNC, UVa and FSU will be ripe for the picking in the next year or so, with NC State, Va Tech and Miami (and maybe Pitt) not far behind.  I guess we'll see how it goes.

[OzJohnnie]

I just looked up Erdmann's results and his squad is thrashing Europe.  The stats say he's slinging it but it looks like he doesn't have quite the same receiving corp because his completion percentage looks under 50%.

EDIT: A read of the wiki page for the league and it seems that each team has a couple Yanks and then the rest are European guys hoping to get a D1 scholarship, I think.  Or just guys that love playing football.

[MadRedFan]

Pretty decent article in today's St. Cloud Times on the Johnnies' outlook. Biggest news to me is the return of Trost and Mohr for a fifth season.  That'll help.  Syverson is 100%, according to Fasching.

Here's the link, altho I assume behind a paywall.

https://www.sctimes.com/story/sports/2022/07/01/st-johns-football-schedule-2022-season-turf-miac-aaron-syverson/65362580007/

[DuffMan]

Trost is returning?!?!  Woo hoo!

[SagatagSam]

No one. But if you don't have Ohio State vs USC who is going to turn in to watch Iowa-Nebraska or Penn State vs Illinois when Oklahoma vs Alabama and Texas vs Georgia is on? The Big 10 has to keep up with the SEC, the ACC is going to have to move next, the Big 12 and PAC 12 are already in deep trouble.

In a conference of 16, 18, 20+ teams (if that's where it's going), how often are USC and Ohio State going to be playing in a 12-game schedule (and that's assuming they play zero non-conference games)? I'm afraid once every three years isn't going to cut it.

[SagatagSam]

Pretty decent article in today's St. Cloud Times on the Johnnies' outlook. Biggest news to me is the return of Trost and Mohr for a fifth season.  That'll help.  Syverson is 100%, according to Fasching.

Here's the link, altho I assume behind a paywall.

https://www.sctimes.com/story/sports/2022/07/01/st-johns-football-schedule-2022-season-turf-miac-aaron-syverson/65362580007/

Leaving the world of insane college sports and back to a universe where things make sense, I couldn't be happier for Trost and Mohr to be coming back.

I'm still crazy nervous for that first game against Whitewater, but having Trost in the backfield helps things tremendously.

[jknezek]

No one. But if you don't have Ohio State vs USC who is going to turn in to watch Iowa-Nebraska or Penn State vs Illinois when Oklahoma vs Alabama and Texas vs Georgia is on? The Big 10 has to keep up with the SEC, the ACC is going to have to move next, the Big 12 and PAC 12 are already in deep trouble.

In a conference of 16, 18, 20+ teams (if that's where it's going), how often are USC and Ohio State going to be playing in a 12-game schedule (and that's assuming they play zero non-conference games)? I'm afraid once every three years isn't going to cut it.

The point is to make a conference that has compelling games every week. You need 2, maybe 3 compelling matchups per week. That fills your tv commitments to the networks, where the money really is, and the rest of the games can be shunted to conference channels and internet.

So, have enough name programs that the big names plus whoever is having a standout year can fill the main obligations: Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, USC... plus some combination of Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan State, and whichever teams from Nebraska, Minnesota, Purdue, Northwestern, and UCLA are having a good year and whichever dog had a hot start or is having an atypical season from Indiana, Maryland, Rutgers, and Illinois. That gives you about 8 teams to mix and match for quality games every week. Enough to satisfy broadcast partners. If you can add Notre Dame to the top tier, Oregon and Stanford to the second tier, and Washington to the third tier, that looks even better. I don't see UNC going anywhere without Duke. At least not yet.

Basically you never HAVE to broadcast dog games because you'll have enough good ones to make sure Rutgers vs Maryland is always buried. Good scheduling puts USC vs Illinois on a week when you have plenty of Penn State vs Iowa to show instead.

The SEC was already there by adding Texas and Oklahoma. Think of the "name" tier of 6 schools: Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, LSU, Georgia, and Florida. The second tier of Tennessee, Auburn, and Texas A&M. Third tier is Arkansas and the two Mississippis, and then whoever is having a great season out of Kentucky, Missouri, South Carolina and Vanderbilt.

The Big 10 needed to add to that name tier to get close to 6 to keep up.