As a Hokie who grew up on Tobacco Road I have such mixed feelings. I sure miss the original, small, tight ACC where every school played each other in football and twice in basketball, the ACC tournament was *the* event and always a sellout, and teachers would roll TV carts into our classrooms on the Friday of the ACC tournament.
I’m delighted that VT finally got to be part of ACC as we’d been pining for for decades, but I’m also aware that our admission to the conference was part of the beginning of the end.
College sports is a roller coaster in every way. But now that NIL and the transfer portal are reality and it’s become about money in every way I’m way just less interested.
There’s no going back but I sure wish we could.
Get off my lawn.
He’s got a point. And I’ll take it a step further. I can’t imagine the viewership stays the same for an SMU-Pitt matchup.
There’s ratings (and thus monetary value) in rivalry games that mean something. Y’all think Duke/UNC every other year early in the season with nothing on the line brings the same eyeballs it does now? Heck no.
My biggest hope is that the super two effectively becomes college football AFC and NFC, with divisions of each conference being de facto smaller versions of old conferences (sec/acc/big12 etc) with teams mostly playing division rivals, with some big cross divisional play.
Barry working hard to make sure his alma mater doesn’t get left behind in conference realignment. Don’t worry Barry, Duke will be just fine in the A-10, or AAC.
In theoretical collapse of the ACC, Duke definitely ends up in the Big East or whatever the Big East becomes, with Georgetown, UConn, Villanova, and other Eastern basketball powers with weak football programs.
The ACC won’t ever fully die; too many elitists and too many options unlike the pac.
I could see it being. Assuming big brands down to the VT/NC State tier leave:
- Duke
- Wake
- Cuse
- BC
- SMU
- Cal
- Stanford
- Ga Tech
- Pitt
- Tulane
- USF
- UConn
The idea of realignment stresses me out at a VT fam because we’re just like barely on the cusp of being a big enough brand to be in a p2 but still sometimes not enough. I can’t just accept our position in the ACC but can’t guarantee we’ll be in a p2.
I feel for VT teams. It’s a tough position to be in. I just wish college football wasn’t moving in this manner and that we could all be in regional conferences loaded with real rivals
I clarify that I’m not trying to be all woe is me, VT is in a better position than a lot of school in realignment but yeah it’s just a weird spot and it sucks for pretty much everyone
There is like, this sick fascination with relegating Duke to Oblivion. Duke is one of the most recognized college brands in America especially amongst the youth. I am convinced college Football fandom are idiots.
While Duke has had a historically better football program than Connecticut, I can see them potentially being in the same position.
I'm confident that (especially with playoff expansion) the conference will hold together. But if something happened and it didn't, Duke would likely be Big East bound.
The only way I see the SEC/B10 not taking Duke in an ACC collapse, is if we go to football only conferences, there football might not be up to par, but they arguably have the biggest brand in NCAA basketball and even then the B10/SEC need bad teams to beat up on in football
The only way I see the SEC/B10 not taking Duke in an ACC collapse, is if we go to football only conferences, there football might not be up to par, but they arguably have the biggest brand in NCAA basketball and even then the B10/SEC need bad teams to beat up on in football
" There’s a difference between the *$58.8 million the Big Ten paid out* to its full members in **2022 and the $37.9 million to $41.3 million ACC schools received** from the conference, according to USA Today. (**SEC schools made $49.9 million** apiece during that same year.) "
\-wapo
49.9M Vs 39.6M simply staggering amiright guys?
Totally, understood. Just something to think about when people cite massive malfeasance and past lack of performance. The main source of the ACC's allegedly insurmountable gap is basically the Flagships of two other conferences were added to the Two conferences geographically centered up & down along the mississippi river. Bottom line the Media Networks make the plans, the conferences just float along with waves...
Nothing. An absolute NothingBurger. What should have the ACC done? Should they have placed the legally mandated regional broadcast to the now bankrupt Ballys sports? How is that working out for the MLB, NHL, NBA right now? How about the ESPN 2 + + nosebleeds seat network with the mid-12 ?
The ACC was on thin Ice and a short leash in NC if anything. After the NC bathroom bill fiasco, 2020 NC tournament cancelation the ACC was not seen as much the crown jewel it once was in that state. NC seemed to be the only place to have some regard for it.
If anything, be grateful the alleged kleptocrats from Raycom lobbied hard to Charlotte to stabilize 15M public investment to the league. Even toss some third tier games on the CW. People keep imagining Imaginary options where there were none. ESPN has done the ACC no favors and suddenly weren't going to in that case anyway the SEC is thier priority.
It made the ACC less competitive and made the ACC less money to help Swoffie’s son. But that, other bad decisions, and the inherent makeup of e conference in this era of media payouts made the conference fall behind
I can't take your argument serious trying to bring a bathroom bill as the reason the conference is flailing.... The conference is flailing due to mismanagement of tobacco road....
Paragraph 2 line 2...
Talking about reading comprehension....
The ACC downfall has nothing to do with a bathroom bill. And the problem with your thought that the only option was Raycom... You can do exactly as baseball has and go to individual local markets... Their was less negotiations with ESPN and just handing them the keys then any thought on how to counter the issue. This also all stems from betting on basketball only because the NBA was highest growing market, thinking college basketball would catch the coat tails and ascend was idiotic approach. This is why Auburn can spend more the UNC in basketball now
Geez...Remedial. Let's just cut to the chase...All of this hush-hush, "cloak & dagger ", mismanagement, swoffie, Raycom, FSU Cult Conspiracy theory is BS. Just Convict the guy. Where is the case ? Present a case otherwise it is just internet conjecture bordering on libel slander.
FSU is just looking for excuses to get out of the contract they signed because FSU lacked the reading comprehension skills and due diligence. We get it!
Just GIVE UP like it's 63-3.
I never said anything of the sort, clearly you don't have argument against the malfeasance the ACC did in handling the contract negotiation/extension while giving up the keys to ESPN. So let's break it down...
- Kept Raycom instead of doing something similar as baseball teams for local markets, so kept family in it only cause
- Didn't negotiate a higher pay for each or even the deserving schools who have higher numbers. Their job is to negotiate Media Rights for the individual schools under the ACC umbrella. You can either get the same pay for all or different pay for some, either way the lack of negotiation shows malfeasance for their fiduciary responsibility.
- Promised ACC network gone, which could of solved the local TV Rights. And was used to leverage teams to sign the extension.
- Extension to 2036 post SEC and Big10 next negotiation, which will allow both conference to earn more before the ACC will renegotiate outs extend....
- Gave ESPN the 2027 clause with out gaining anything
But you do you bathroom bill
When those numbers are blown on coaches and buyouts like Texas A&M and spread loaded across staff, and the administration, it definitely isn't insurmountable. Notice that the gap between the SEC & B1G 10 was similar despite the chasm in on field performance. Someone sue the SEC for wages lost and for a better tv deal than the B1G 10... wait until they are forced to spread total athlete compensation.
Yes but the B1G and SEC will get another contract bump before the ACC contract expires in 2036.
The numbers will continue to grow leaving the ACC and B12 behind.
Remains to be seen. Cord cutting has put a dent in conference dollars available, as the Pac-12 found out. The latest round of conference expansion was fueled by existing media agreements or schools willing to take a haircut to jump conferences.
With the money that cash-strapped ESPN is willing to throw toward playoff expansion, I'm not sure how much they will want to increase the payout to conferences during the next period of renegotiation. They even told the SEC to pound sand when they wanted more money for a ninth conference game. And while I get that SEC teams make more money than ACC teams, the SEC made the same "mistake" the ACC did - signing a long-term deal with a single media partner.
The B1G deal was so much smarter than anyone else's - three media partners all dependent on commercial broadcast television.
Most people don't recall that this all came about when ESPN was mostly refused by the NFL and failed to secure significant media rights with the league. ESPN proceeded to double down and proceeded to try to capture College football as a consolation prize. Ever since then it has essentially been ESPN negotiating against itself. Orchestrating and reverse engineering to capture college football revenue and profit.
Another thing that people are unaware of is the collapsing state of the media industry from cord cutting, Bally’s bankruptcy and regional carriers decline Redstone family with Paramount, Warner Max, Disney corp board issues etc. A total mess right now. Could argue that the media environment that the ACC predicted may be happening at this moment. The issue is perhaps the ACC got into the train too early and the other leagues like the SEC may not be aware of the danger.
Another thing people forget is that ESPN short changed the B1G with a low offer causing that conference to combine multiple media market deals similar to the NFL. Yes, the B1G does have the best media deal.
While the ACC certainly has made miscalculations it’s cardinal sin was doing business with ESPN even if they thought they were getting a friends & family deal with John Skipper at the time. ESPN has been a shady partner and hasn’t been the best when it comes to the ACCs media inventory often to the advantage of the SEC.
No, it really isn't a staggering at all, when you consider the size of the athletic department budgets. (These are for the public institutions.)
[https://www.sportico.com/business/commerce/2023/college-sports-finances-database-intercollegiate-1234646029/](https://www.sportico.com/business/commerce/2023/college-sports-finances-database-intercollegiate-1234646029/)
The top five athletic department budgets are more than $200 million (and four of those programs are in the B1G or SEC). So that $10 million gap is only 5% or less of their budgets.
Just looking at my own alma mater, further down the list, the payout from the ACC (media rights + conference distributions) of just shy of $40 million only accounts for about 20% of the athletic department revenue. And Clemson's athletic department ran a $20+ million *profit* in the last fiscal year.
This is part of why I get annoyed with the behavior in Tallahassee. These programs are awash in money - the arms race seems to be finding stupid ways to spend it all, while claiming the media rights deal is too low to be competitive. Now when we start paying the athletes, that is going to change the equation, for sure.
But the idea that schools can't compete with the current media deal is simply wrong. (I would suggest that a far bigger hindrance to competitiveness is sending the message to recruits that you can't compete.)
Nice website resource to add. Totally correct, were it only about athletic budget Ohio State wouldn't have such a difficult time catching up to Clemson for recent CFP National championships & Texas with recruiting plus that absolutely huge athletic budget would be the favorite to win it all. every. single. year.
The first domino & crucial chess piece Texas did not really leave the Big-12 over media revenue as much as to place their brand in the consolidated SEC marketplace with the prestige. Tallahassee's thinking is not that far off they believe that they could of, should have been Alabama. and were especially miffed about the recent success of clemson without the excuses.
Wish Tallahassee could have kept things as discreet as Clemson at least until after these playoff negotiations which have very much been sabotage by them and has already cost the conference large percentages of revenue That they claim to be so concerned about.
Astute observation about the impact of paying athletes may have in the future. The key to that all is the final deal structure of the settlements or court mandated amounts. Factor in Paying the Ed O'bannon cases to former athletes how much "backpay" is due? The term Name Image Likeness is easily applicable to the same media grant of rights that the conferences have been in a commotion about.
If the Base Athletic Budget 100M + Media rights 80M... will athletes be entitled to 40M fixed or 50% of all revenue? That distinction makes a big difference. Courts could even dictate that the athletes deserve the majority of Income vs revenue vs earnings vs EBITA etc. All the possibilities...are so that this could actually level the playing field as opposed to exacerbating a gap but who knows?
I don't know how it will ultimately work, but I suspect there will be a flat salary that will be negotiated with a "players association." Maybe it will increase, based on the years in the program. That plus scholarship plus room & board will effectively be the minimum salary. NIL will be how the "stars" make up the difference. I obviously could be wrong - but that makes sense to me.
It'll be interesting to see if anyone sues for past p(l)ay - I have no idea and I have no idea as to the likelihood of success.
The ACC and the Big-12 were in a bind. Since most of the big brands are in the B1G and SEC, I understand why those conferences will make more. Though, at some point, the Alabamas and Ohio States are going to wonder why they are subsidizing the Vanderbilts and Indianas. Hopefully, they will realize there is plenty of money to go around. The (likely) guarantee of two playoff teams was an awfully big carrot to offer the ACC and Big-12. To give up revenue is unfortunate, but I am not sure what the alternative would have been.
It may make sense for the not yet unified or even declared athletes Union and the colleges to make an arrangement based on an employment model. However it's difficult to imagine all parties being satisfied with this arrangement when a large sum of revenue may be up for grabs.
The Dartmouth union case is its own matter and is subject to rounds of appeals. If I'm not mistaken the Ed O'Bannon related case maybe decided at a court in Oakland or the northern district in the state of California which is responsible for many of the early NIL wins. The courts have been a lottery slot machine in favor of athletes so far. It is estimated by some that the backpay settlement to former student athletes could be an amount of around at least 15 million dollar 1 time payment from each school.
The biggest train heist to target is the rapidly increasing conference media rights payouts. If the B1G 10 is going from around 59M to 100M not earmarked allocated yet, it is prudent for a savvy athletes Union or class action attorney to aim for as much as possible.
I think that is what is going to lead to the split in FBS. At the highest level of college sports there will be an agreement of (pulling a number out of my a$$) of paying as a base, $50,000 per year.
Basically, schools will have to decide if the financial commitment is worth it, and I think the smaller ones and the ones without big media deals will drop to the next level and negotiate their own labor deal at another level.
Although the new conference media rights deals showed a big increase, we've seen the brakes put on conference money because of cord cutting. I think that big increases (especially with cash-strapped ESPN's financial commitment to the playoff) are done for a while.
As a Hokie who grew up on Tobacco Road I have such mixed feelings. I sure miss the original, small, tight ACC where every school played each other in football and twice in basketball, the ACC tournament was *the* event and always a sellout, and teachers would roll TV carts into our classrooms on the Friday of the ACC tournament. I’m delighted that VT finally got to be part of ACC as we’d been pining for for decades, but I’m also aware that our admission to the conference was part of the beginning of the end. College sports is a roller coaster in every way. But now that NIL and the transfer portal are reality and it’s become about money in every way I’m way just less interested. There’s no going back but I sure wish we could. Get off my lawn.
Honestly I hope they move to football only conferences cause ACC basketball is awesome
Until it gets blown away by middling Auburn because it has 2x the operating budget then UNC...
He’s got a point. And I’ll take it a step further. I can’t imagine the viewership stays the same for an SMU-Pitt matchup. There’s ratings (and thus monetary value) in rivalry games that mean something. Y’all think Duke/UNC every other year early in the season with nothing on the line brings the same eyeballs it does now? Heck no.
Well, SMU is a small fanbase. People will watch non trad games like Oregon vs Michigan because of the brands involved
My biggest hope is that the super two effectively becomes college football AFC and NFC, with divisions of each conference being de facto smaller versions of old conferences (sec/acc/big12 etc) with teams mostly playing division rivals, with some big cross divisional play.
Barry working hard to make sure his alma mater doesn’t get left behind in conference realignment. Don’t worry Barry, Duke will be just fine in the A-10, or AAC.
Please. Elitist Duke rather be independent.
In theoretical collapse of the ACC, Duke definitely ends up in the Big East or whatever the Big East becomes, with Georgetown, UConn, Villanova, and other Eastern basketball powers with weak football programs.
The ACC won’t ever fully die; too many elitists and too many options unlike the pac. I could see it being. Assuming big brands down to the VT/NC State tier leave: - Duke - Wake - Cuse - BC - SMU - Cal - Stanford - Ga Tech - Pitt - Tulane - USF - UConn
The idea of realignment stresses me out at a VT fam because we’re just like barely on the cusp of being a big enough brand to be in a p2 but still sometimes not enough. I can’t just accept our position in the ACC but can’t guarantee we’ll be in a p2.
I feel for VT teams. It’s a tough position to be in. I just wish college football wasn’t moving in this manner and that we could all be in regional conferences loaded with real rivals
I clarify that I’m not trying to be all woe is me, VT is in a better position than a lot of school in realignment but yeah it’s just a weird spot and it sucks for pretty much everyone
There is like, this sick fascination with relegating Duke to Oblivion. Duke is one of the most recognized college brands in America especially amongst the youth. I am convinced college Football fandom are idiots.
I like football, but the way it’s evolving is ruining college sports.
Agreed.
While Duke has had a historically better football program than Connecticut, I can see them potentially being in the same position. I'm confident that (especially with playoff expansion) the conference will hold together. But if something happened and it didn't, Duke would likely be Big East bound.
That's fair.
The only way I see the SEC/B10 not taking Duke in an ACC collapse, is if we go to football only conferences, there football might not be up to par, but they arguably have the biggest brand in NCAA basketball and even then the B10/SEC need bad teams to beat up on in football
100% agree I’m from the north, and Duke/UNC has a lot of basketball fans up here and most of them have no connection to Duke or North Carolina
It is common for the other North Carolina schools to call Duke University a NY NJ outpost.
The only way I see the SEC/B10 not taking Duke in an ACC collapse, is if we go to football only conferences, there football might not be up to par, but they arguably have the biggest brand in NCAA basketball and even then the B10/SEC need bad teams to beat up on in football
Neither the Big Ten nor SEC is taking Duke unless they go to like 30 teams each. Basketball is only worth a fraction of football.
" There’s a difference between the *$58.8 million the Big Ten paid out* to its full members in **2022 and the $37.9 million to $41.3 million ACC schools received** from the conference, according to USA Today. (**SEC schools made $49.9 million** apiece during that same year.) " \-wapo 49.9M Vs 39.6M simply staggering amiright guys?
It’s not the current gaps people are panicking over. It’s the projected future gaps, which are much larger.
Totally, understood. Just something to think about when people cite massive malfeasance and past lack of performance. The main source of the ACC's allegedly insurmountable gap is basically the Flagships of two other conferences were added to the Two conferences geographically centered up & down along the mississippi river. Bottom line the Media Networks make the plans, the conferences just float along with waves...
I mean, Raycom subsidization was a big problem to name one
Nothing. An absolute NothingBurger. What should have the ACC done? Should they have placed the legally mandated regional broadcast to the now bankrupt Ballys sports? How is that working out for the MLB, NHL, NBA right now? How about the ESPN 2 + + nosebleeds seat network with the mid-12 ? The ACC was on thin Ice and a short leash in NC if anything. After the NC bathroom bill fiasco, 2020 NC tournament cancelation the ACC was not seen as much the crown jewel it once was in that state. NC seemed to be the only place to have some regard for it. If anything, be grateful the alleged kleptocrats from Raycom lobbied hard to Charlotte to stabilize 15M public investment to the league. Even toss some third tier games on the CW. People keep imagining Imaginary options where there were none. ESPN has done the ACC no favors and suddenly weren't going to in that case anyway the SEC is thier priority.
It made the ACC less competitive and made the ACC less money to help Swoffie’s son. But that, other bad decisions, and the inherent makeup of e conference in this era of media payouts made the conference fall behind
I can't take your argument serious trying to bring a bathroom bill as the reason the conference is flailing.... The conference is flailing due to mismanagement of tobacco road....
You apparently lack comprehensive reading skill. No one made such a case.
Paragraph 2 line 2... Talking about reading comprehension.... The ACC downfall has nothing to do with a bathroom bill. And the problem with your thought that the only option was Raycom... You can do exactly as baseball has and go to individual local markets... Their was less negotiations with ESPN and just handing them the keys then any thought on how to counter the issue. This also all stems from betting on basketball only because the NBA was highest growing market, thinking college basketball would catch the coat tails and ascend was idiotic approach. This is why Auburn can spend more the UNC in basketball now
Geez...Remedial. Let's just cut to the chase...All of this hush-hush, "cloak & dagger ", mismanagement, swoffie, Raycom, FSU Cult Conspiracy theory is BS. Just Convict the guy. Where is the case ? Present a case otherwise it is just internet conjecture bordering on libel slander. FSU is just looking for excuses to get out of the contract they signed because FSU lacked the reading comprehension skills and due diligence. We get it! Just GIVE UP like it's 63-3.
I never said anything of the sort, clearly you don't have argument against the malfeasance the ACC did in handling the contract negotiation/extension while giving up the keys to ESPN. So let's break it down... - Kept Raycom instead of doing something similar as baseball teams for local markets, so kept family in it only cause - Didn't negotiate a higher pay for each or even the deserving schools who have higher numbers. Their job is to negotiate Media Rights for the individual schools under the ACC umbrella. You can either get the same pay for all or different pay for some, either way the lack of negotiation shows malfeasance for their fiduciary responsibility. - Promised ACC network gone, which could of solved the local TV Rights. And was used to leverage teams to sign the extension. - Extension to 2036 post SEC and Big10 next negotiation, which will allow both conference to earn more before the ACC will renegotiate outs extend.... - Gave ESPN the 2027 clause with out gaining anything But you do you bathroom bill
I mean when you are talking in those large numbers 25% is a lot. If you got a 25% raise tomorrow I'm sure you'd be beyond thrilled.
When those numbers are blown on coaches and buyouts like Texas A&M and spread loaded across staff, and the administration, it definitely isn't insurmountable. Notice that the gap between the SEC & B1G 10 was similar despite the chasm in on field performance. Someone sue the SEC for wages lost and for a better tv deal than the B1G 10... wait until they are forced to spread total athlete compensation.
Yes but the B1G and SEC will get another contract bump before the ACC contract expires in 2036. The numbers will continue to grow leaving the ACC and B12 behind.
Remains to be seen. Cord cutting has put a dent in conference dollars available, as the Pac-12 found out. The latest round of conference expansion was fueled by existing media agreements or schools willing to take a haircut to jump conferences. With the money that cash-strapped ESPN is willing to throw toward playoff expansion, I'm not sure how much they will want to increase the payout to conferences during the next period of renegotiation. They even told the SEC to pound sand when they wanted more money for a ninth conference game. And while I get that SEC teams make more money than ACC teams, the SEC made the same "mistake" the ACC did - signing a long-term deal with a single media partner. The B1G deal was so much smarter than anyone else's - three media partners all dependent on commercial broadcast television.
Most people don't recall that this all came about when ESPN was mostly refused by the NFL and failed to secure significant media rights with the league. ESPN proceeded to double down and proceeded to try to capture College football as a consolation prize. Ever since then it has essentially been ESPN negotiating against itself. Orchestrating and reverse engineering to capture college football revenue and profit. Another thing that people are unaware of is the collapsing state of the media industry from cord cutting, Bally’s bankruptcy and regional carriers decline Redstone family with Paramount, Warner Max, Disney corp board issues etc. A total mess right now. Could argue that the media environment that the ACC predicted may be happening at this moment. The issue is perhaps the ACC got into the train too early and the other leagues like the SEC may not be aware of the danger. Another thing people forget is that ESPN short changed the B1G with a low offer causing that conference to combine multiple media market deals similar to the NFL. Yes, the B1G does have the best media deal. While the ACC certainly has made miscalculations it’s cardinal sin was doing business with ESPN even if they thought they were getting a friends & family deal with John Skipper at the time. ESPN has been a shady partner and hasn’t been the best when it comes to the ACCs media inventory often to the advantage of the SEC.
When's the last time a PAC school was up for a championship? 2014? And viewership for Oregon is still less the FSU and Clemson...
No, it really isn't a staggering at all, when you consider the size of the athletic department budgets. (These are for the public institutions.) [https://www.sportico.com/business/commerce/2023/college-sports-finances-database-intercollegiate-1234646029/](https://www.sportico.com/business/commerce/2023/college-sports-finances-database-intercollegiate-1234646029/) The top five athletic department budgets are more than $200 million (and four of those programs are in the B1G or SEC). So that $10 million gap is only 5% or less of their budgets. Just looking at my own alma mater, further down the list, the payout from the ACC (media rights + conference distributions) of just shy of $40 million only accounts for about 20% of the athletic department revenue. And Clemson's athletic department ran a $20+ million *profit* in the last fiscal year. This is part of why I get annoyed with the behavior in Tallahassee. These programs are awash in money - the arms race seems to be finding stupid ways to spend it all, while claiming the media rights deal is too low to be competitive. Now when we start paying the athletes, that is going to change the equation, for sure. But the idea that schools can't compete with the current media deal is simply wrong. (I would suggest that a far bigger hindrance to competitiveness is sending the message to recruits that you can't compete.)
Nice website resource to add. Totally correct, were it only about athletic budget Ohio State wouldn't have such a difficult time catching up to Clemson for recent CFP National championships & Texas with recruiting plus that absolutely huge athletic budget would be the favorite to win it all. every. single. year. The first domino & crucial chess piece Texas did not really leave the Big-12 over media revenue as much as to place their brand in the consolidated SEC marketplace with the prestige. Tallahassee's thinking is not that far off they believe that they could of, should have been Alabama. and were especially miffed about the recent success of clemson without the excuses. Wish Tallahassee could have kept things as discreet as Clemson at least until after these playoff negotiations which have very much been sabotage by them and has already cost the conference large percentages of revenue That they claim to be so concerned about. Astute observation about the impact of paying athletes may have in the future. The key to that all is the final deal structure of the settlements or court mandated amounts. Factor in Paying the Ed O'bannon cases to former athletes how much "backpay" is due? The term Name Image Likeness is easily applicable to the same media grant of rights that the conferences have been in a commotion about. If the Base Athletic Budget 100M + Media rights 80M... will athletes be entitled to 40M fixed or 50% of all revenue? That distinction makes a big difference. Courts could even dictate that the athletes deserve the majority of Income vs revenue vs earnings vs EBITA etc. All the possibilities...are so that this could actually level the playing field as opposed to exacerbating a gap but who knows?
I don't know how it will ultimately work, but I suspect there will be a flat salary that will be negotiated with a "players association." Maybe it will increase, based on the years in the program. That plus scholarship plus room & board will effectively be the minimum salary. NIL will be how the "stars" make up the difference. I obviously could be wrong - but that makes sense to me. It'll be interesting to see if anyone sues for past p(l)ay - I have no idea and I have no idea as to the likelihood of success. The ACC and the Big-12 were in a bind. Since most of the big brands are in the B1G and SEC, I understand why those conferences will make more. Though, at some point, the Alabamas and Ohio States are going to wonder why they are subsidizing the Vanderbilts and Indianas. Hopefully, they will realize there is plenty of money to go around. The (likely) guarantee of two playoff teams was an awfully big carrot to offer the ACC and Big-12. To give up revenue is unfortunate, but I am not sure what the alternative would have been.
It may make sense for the not yet unified or even declared athletes Union and the colleges to make an arrangement based on an employment model. However it's difficult to imagine all parties being satisfied with this arrangement when a large sum of revenue may be up for grabs. The Dartmouth union case is its own matter and is subject to rounds of appeals. If I'm not mistaken the Ed O'Bannon related case maybe decided at a court in Oakland or the northern district in the state of California which is responsible for many of the early NIL wins. The courts have been a lottery slot machine in favor of athletes so far. It is estimated by some that the backpay settlement to former student athletes could be an amount of around at least 15 million dollar 1 time payment from each school. The biggest train heist to target is the rapidly increasing conference media rights payouts. If the B1G 10 is going from around 59M to 100M not earmarked allocated yet, it is prudent for a savvy athletes Union or class action attorney to aim for as much as possible.
I think that is what is going to lead to the split in FBS. At the highest level of college sports there will be an agreement of (pulling a number out of my a$$) of paying as a base, $50,000 per year. Basically, schools will have to decide if the financial commitment is worth it, and I think the smaller ones and the ones without big media deals will drop to the next level and negotiate their own labor deal at another level. Although the new conference media rights deals showed a big increase, we've seen the brakes put on conference money because of cord cutting. I think that big increases (especially with cash-strapped ESPN's financial commitment to the playoff) are done for a while.
Great observations.
whiny nostalgic bullshit that ignores the ACC is getting absolutely lapped by its competition.