Most of the time it's bobble heads yelling at each other.
their games against OU and UT this year.
all of their road games still.
I know outside reaction will be and is that he's just having a temper tantrum, but that can be true and he can still be right.
2 of the 3 biggest brands FOX has a deal with (the other being Ohio State) jumping over to the SEC right after ESPN locked down the entire league's rights, with ESPN then encouraging another league they wholly own (AAC) to go after the rest to dissolve the B12's media contracts and enrich ESPN further? I actually do buy that.
If somehow ESPN can get the AAC to absorb some of the other Big 12 teams and the Big 12 goes belly up, then TX and OU can join the SEC immediately without an early termination fee.
Right now, TX and OU are claiming that they are going to stay in the Big 12 until the grant of rights contract expires in 2024/2025. That's bullshit. It will completely torpedo recruiting for the next 2-3 years minimum. However, their early termination penalty is something like $150 million. Their best bet is for the Big 12 would dissolve and the whole problem goes away.
So yes, I completely agree with you and the Big 12. ESPN's fingerprints are all over this.
Another person who should be going into his AD's office and demanding a contract extension right now....Steve Sarkisian. You mean to tell me I'm just get started here and I have to coach a lame duck program for the first 4 years of my contract??? Bullshit...I need some guarantees.
It was their lead story this morning. Not the Olympics, MLB trades, NFL training camp, or the NBA draft.
ESPN controls the narrative on sports like no other entity.
That's the narrative
No bias at all, I'm sure.
promote any specific team or teams. That is the definition of conflict of interest.
Like Michigan, they suck.
that bastard
but the Super League was mostly driven by the owners of the clubs.
I'm pretty plugged in to that world, and I've literally never heard that. Source?
the truth about their manipulations is getting out there.
I really don't see how college football will survive this era. Most of the best athletes now realize that American football is, at best, a 2nd tier sport in the global pantheon of sports. If I were a great athlete in high school I would focus on basketball, soccer, or baseball. All three have significantly higher earnings ceilings than American football, with far less injury risk.
Funny fact: even pro cricket has a higher average salary than the average NFL player. The Mumbai Indians of the India Premier League (cricket) had an average salary of > $5M/player in 2019. The current NFL salary cap is $200m for a 53-man roster, or just under $4M/player.
American football is not keeping pace with other sports. Budding pro athletes would do well to notice this.
I think it would be popular.
I don't hate either America or college football. In fact I am a fan of both.
That does not change the reality that football has stagnated economically when compared to other sports.
And to be clear, this has been a consistent concern. I was against the stadium expansion in the 90s. I feared that it was throwing his money after bad. I don't think that my initial reaction was wrong.
It will be because the business model completely outgrew the original structure of the sport.
It will not be because of global popularity…
Americans don't give a crap about cricket (which I would be has a much smaller roster size than the NFL, but I don't care about it enough to look it up) nor do we give a shit about soccer.
Rest assured that if we as a country did though, we'd be the best at it. Who gives a shit how football is doing globally? It's still by far the #1 sport here, and people tune in to watch the Super Bowl around the world.
What a very weird tangent to take this thread into, and you do it here of all places?
Too many players, too few games to keep up with other sports financially.
I just threw the cricket part in a a rather surprise comparison. Baseball and basketball have much higher earning potential in the US anyway.
is hurting economically?
of any major sport. To your point, they aren't hurting, but other sports are doing better.
each other how much better they are than us knuckle dragging rubes.
EDIT: Just want to add, I'm not lumping ndhouston in with the "social elites" I reference above, and honestly, I think your reaction to him was a bit too much. I think he's clearly letting his European perspective skew his opinion, but I didn't get the sense he was trying to be anti-football.
it deserved the mocking.
I had one up last night but had to go to bed and didn't want to post and run so I deleted it.
It is just an awful post.
ism was abound above and it definitely miffed me. It was a strange direction to dovetail the whole thread... yeah, cricket in Mumbai will take down the NFL.
Don't turn a discussion of ESPN into "American football" is a second rate sport.
They'll be throwing dirt on both of us before soccer or cricket is mainstream in the USA.
CTE may take down football in this country eventually, but other sports won't.
Or that top American athletes will look to move to Mumbai for the money? The rest of the world loves soccer because it's cheap to play and they don't have Football.
of the factors you mention. It may accelerate, but I don't see it having any sort of significant effect on the game. I think the bigger issue is that due to CTE and the perceived toxic masculinity of the sport, a lot of parents don't want to let their kids play football anymore, particularly in middle class and affluent parts of blue America. Because of that, I can see football beginning to skew even poorer and more southeastern than it already does. I think it could end up being somewhat similar to hockey, but bigger obviously, in the sense that football will likely be followed nationally at the professional level but really only played regionally at a high amateur level.
From a college football standpoint, I think this clearly most affects the Pac 12. HS Football participation in California is declining at a time when overall HS sports participation is increasing. Missing a year for covid may just accelerate this decline. USC is always only a coach away from winning NCs, but beyond that, I'm really not bullish on the Pac 12 top-to-bottom being able to match the SEC or Big10 in terms of quality anytime soon.
I feel like using the average salary for a 200 player league (and you used the average of the most valuable franchise) vs a 1600 player league is unfair.
For those unaware of cricket lingo, he's your "third baseman" playing for the bunt when Aaron Judge is batting. The silly mid off is the "first baseman" in the same situation. In all seriousness a couple of high level cricketers have died from injuries.
the market sizes (demand) well exceed the supply of pro cricketeers.
Offensive
Have much of a choice.
with these conferences. Gonna be a long, uncomfortable four years.
Get rid of the super conferences, dump the playoffs, etc.
This is an utter shit show that is a train about to go over a cliff.
break away from the NCAA and set up their own rules. The playoff will expand and conferences will also. Interesting times.
own version of the NCAA. Genius!
I guess I am in the "blow up it crowd" though I'm not sure what that looks like either.
Local Youngstown St football and 1-AA football is looking more appealing by the moment
And Youngstown is picked to finish ninth in the league this year, so don't get your hopes up.
FCS is dumb.
The Penguins will surprise. Stone
I don't know how much longer it will take, but it seems like the bubble will have to burst soon once the market is saturated and interest in football starts to plateau or even wane.
doing well. Cable model is all but dead.
All of these streaming services are going to cost more than what cable was, very soon. Pretty soon someone will say “hey come to us, you can get the channels you want for one affordable flat fee in a monthly package!”
It’s exactly what Uber/Lyft are doing with the taxi industry right now.
I' have never trusted their reporting as being objective. They really damaged the sport
This is all going to come to a head this season. They're going whole hog toward the professionalization of the sport and it's over as we know it.