MullinMayhem wrote:Admittedly, I'm not too familiar with the budgets for the football programs of Duke, Wake Forest, BC, etc. but I would imagine that they are at a significant disadvantage compared to a big state school like Michigan or Ohio State. College football is catering more and more to the big state schools with the massive stadiums and the powerhouse programs...though Duke and Wake Forest still get a lot from being in the ACC, can it really last? It's an odd fit from a football perspective having Duke and schools like FSU in the same conference. They are a very small private school that is 100% known for basketball. I just can't see WF, Duke, BC, etc. keeping up with the big boys long-term the way things are going. I know Duke had a few good years in football, but they will never seriously compete on a regular basis and WF, BC, and even Maryland will face even more of an uphill battle. I wonder if somewhere down the line with all the wasted money, CTE litigation, the idea of paying players, etc. some of these schools pull the plug on football or at least reduce to FCS. Can WF really afford what Ohio State can? Highly doubtful. I think there will be a breakoff eventually between MAJOR football (Ohio St., Michigan, USC, Texas, FSU, etc.) and pretenders like the small private schools I mentioned. Those schools add nothing to the equation, they just leech off the football money being in F5 conference. Eventually, the big boys will wonder why they are sharing the pie with them. I know some may say the same argument can be made for college hoops and a F5 tournament...the one major difference is that unpredictability and Cinderella runs are what make the NCAA tourney so exciting and popular. In football, Michigan will beat a team like Old Dominion 1000/1000 times but in college hoops, Old Dominion could get red hot from 3 and beat them in the tourney. That's the difference.
It's really crazy that just a handful of years ago, we were the laughingstock and told that we'd be a group of mid-majors after the football schools left. Now, schools like Pitt, Cuse (some great tourney runs but irrelevant reg. seasons), UConn are all realizing that leaving the Big East (I know we left UConn technically) was at the minimum a shot to the gut for their basketball programs and possibly a death blow to UConn. Pitt was a regular top 15 team, UConn was a blue blood right up there with anyone else, Cuse spent a lot of time in the top 10, and now they are fading. Yes, credit Cuse for the tourney runs, but no one saw those coming...as I said if you include the regular season their results have been mixed at best. You know when SJ has beat Cuse 3x in a row including at the Carrier Dome twice with some of our worst teams ever that it's not the Cuse of old. Add to that the fact that Boeheim is on his way out the door. If Cuse becomes a mediocre program after Boeheim, you may have the makings of a 30 for 30 "Life After the Big East" discussing each program's fall from grace. If you only look at tourney results as the measure of a program, then you will call me nuts regarding my Cuse remarks, but I think the regular season still matters. Anyone can get red hot in the tourney, not everyone can be a consistent winner in the regular season...that to me shows more about a team.
Of course, UConn is the one that really needs to worry...at least Pitt and Cuse are in a major conference. One more bad season from UConn (anything less than tourney) and they will be in full meltdown mode. Nothing would be more fun than to see SJ spend a week or two in the top 25 and make the tournament while UConn misses it. I'd have to think Ollie is on the hotseat if that happens.
MullinMayhem wrote:Admittedly, I'm not too familiar with the budgets for the football programs of Duke, Wake Forest, BC, etc. but I would imagine that they are at a significant disadvantage compared to a big state school like Michigan or Ohio State. College football is catering more and more to the big state schools with the massive stadiums and the powerhouse programs...though Duke and Wake Forest still get a lot from being in the ACC, can it really last? It's an odd fit from a football perspective having Duke and schools like FSU in the same conference. They are a very small private school that is 100% known for basketball. I just can't see WF, Duke, BC, etc. keeping up with the big boys long-term the way things are going. I know Duke had a few good years in football, but they will never seriously compete on a regular basis and WF, BC, and even Maryland will face even more of an uphill battle. I wonder if somewhere down the line with all the wasted money, CTE litigation, the idea of paying players, etc. some of these schools pull the plug on football or at least reduce to FCS. Can WF really afford what Ohio State can? Highly doubtful. I think there will be a breakoff eventually between MAJOR football (Ohio St., Michigan, USC, Texas, FSU, etc.) and pretenders like the small private schools I mentioned. Those schools add nothing to the equation, they just leech off the football money being in F5 conference. Eventually, the big boys will wonder why they are sharing the pie with them. I know some may say the same argument can be made for college hoops and a F5 tournament...the one major difference is that unpredictability and Cinderella runs are what make the NCAA tourney so exciting and popular. In football, Michigan will beat a team like Old Dominion 1000/1000 times but in college hoops, Old Dominion could get red hot from 3 and beat them in the tourney. That's the difference.
It's really crazy that just a handful of years ago, we were the laughingstock and told that we'd be a group of mid-majors after the football schools left. Now, schools like Pitt, Cuse (some great tourney runs but irrelevant reg. seasons), UConn are all realizing that leaving the Big East (I know we left UConn technically) was at the minimum a shot to the gut for their basketball programs and possibly a death blow to UConn. Pitt was a regular top 15 team, UConn was a blue blood right up there with anyone else, Cuse spent a lot of time in the top 10, and now they are fading. Yes, credit Cuse for the tourney runs, but no one saw those coming...as I said if you include the regular season their results have been mixed at best. You know when SJ has beat Cuse 3x in a row including at the Carrier Dome twice with some of our worst teams ever that it's not the Cuse of old. Add to that the fact that Boeheim is on his way out the door. If Cuse becomes a mediocre program after Boeheim, you may have the makings of a 30 for 30 "Life After the Big East" discussing each program's fall from grace. If you only look at tourney results as the measure of a program, then you will call me nuts regarding my Cuse remarks, but I think the regular season still matters. Anyone can get red hot in the tourney, not everyone can be a consistent winner in the regular season...that to me shows more about a team.
Of course, UConn is the one that really needs to worry...at least Pitt and Cuse are in a major conference. One more bad season from UConn (anything less than tourney) and they will be in full meltdown mode. Nothing would be more fun than to see SJ spend a week or two in the top 25 and make the tournament while UConn misses it. I'd have to think Ollie is on the hotseat if that happens.
Would schools like that eventually exit on their own?
More to your point, do the less advantaged (grand irony - relatively better academic schools) with smaller stadiums and budgets succumb to budget pressures and competition gaps over time and throw in the towel? Probably not, so long as TV money under the existing media model feeds them sufficiently in order to keep their institutional subsidies manageable.
BUT that, that right there - the future of sports media and the monetizing of its content - is what must be watched and ultimately addressed, including by the Big East. It's as if some of these schools are still chasing the best horse drawn carriages out there, even though Henry Ford is beginning to establish the process through which he'll sell millions of Model T's.
MullinMayhem wrote:In football, Michigan will beat a team like Old Dominion 1000/1000 times
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