This gem from the phog:
You have to dig a little deeper. Although Memphis may be a Top 7 market for ESPN college football broadcasts, the viewership for University of Memphis games is the important metric to consider. If a particular school doesn't effectively "deliver" its market, the impact on value to a network partner is minimal - they have to be able to sell the ads. I would suspect that this number reflects viewership of various SEC games more than it reflects viewership of Memphis' football games.
The three power brokers in the Big 12 (Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas) are content with the status quo. Everyone knows even bigger changes are on the horizon and the Big 12's day as a conference are likely numbered as the process continues to unfold. Adding a couple of commuter schools so we can have a conference championship game for a few years isn't going to stop the inevitable. Unfortunately, the conference was outmaneuvered in the previous two rounds of realignment and lost four major pieces; either the ACC or the Big 12 was bound for eventual dissolution.
Adding TCU and WVU were not strategic moves, they were desperation moves. The DFW market was already delivered by UT/OU/Baylor/TT and West Virginia doesn't have a major market to speak of. These schools were added because the conference's television contracts could have been dissolved and renegotiated if the membership fell below 10. At the time, there were no schools that effectively delivered a major new market to add value in TV deal negotiations...that hasn't changed. As far as I'm concerned, Northern Illinois, with its huge Chicago alumni base, is a more intriguing prospect than Memphis. BYU is the only addition that you don't think twice about. All the other candidates I've heard batted around don't make much sense at all.
Until the next major shakeup, UT, OU and KU would rather maximize their revenue and position themselves favorably for the next round of realignment...the dawn of the Superconference, dissolution of the NCAA, etc. Unless they can somehow poach members from the big 10, Pac12, SEC or ACC (which seems very unlikely) there is no real benefit in adding schools that won't end up in the eventual 64-school Superconference model, anyway. The outlook for basketball will also change with the dissolution of the NCAA - which derives over 90% of its operating budget from the NCAA tournament - billions of dollars annually that don't end up in the schools' coffers. Once the schools put an end to this fleecing, the value of basketball in these maneuverings will increase dramatically.
Last edited 01/07/2015 11:22 AM bySharkTankin
Didn't realize that lil bro was the conference power broker......
