Schill not thrilled about USC/UCLA adds
- Thread starter phatcat
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Well I wanted to share this video with @Alaskawildkat and this seems like the perfect place.
Because this elephant wasn’t a fan of having his photo taken, and Alaska sure loves taking photos:
Because this elephant wasn’t a fan of having his photo taken, and Alaska sure loves taking photos:
I am not in favor of adding USC and UCLA. Media money is the obvious driver but it hurts players and fans. Think about the travel schedules for time-strapped student athletes. And while I attend most football road games, I probably won’t attend many on the west coast. It’s just too long a slog. I am old school and much prefer a few geographically-focused conferences. We got it right years ago with the Big 10, PAC 10, Big 12, etc.
Maybe they could meet in the middle and play at, say, Nebraska.
I don't think the travel issue holds very much water, to be honest.
Sure, coast to coast from NJ to LA is very harsh - literally as bad as it gets, really. But is a six hour flight really THAT much worse than a four hour bus trip to State College?
I can confirm when I was 18-21, I would have rather flown to LA a couple of times every X years than taken a bus to the middle of nowhere Pennsylvania.
I am sympathetic to the USC and UCLA student athletes who will need to play half their schedule outside their time zones, but time will tell if that hurts their recruitment (or helps it).
As for Schill's comments...they don't really matter. The deal is done, he can talk out of school without there being any repercussions - just giving his broad opinion, not like he's trashing the school presidents or anything.
Sure, coast to coast from NJ to LA is very harsh - literally as bad as it gets, really. But is a six hour flight really THAT much worse than a four hour bus trip to State College?
I can confirm when I was 18-21, I would have rather flown to LA a couple of times every X years than taken a bus to the middle of nowhere Pennsylvania.
I am sympathetic to the USC and UCLA student athletes who will need to play half their schedule outside their time zones, but time will tell if that hurts their recruitment (or helps it).
As for Schill's comments...they don't really matter. The deal is done, he can talk out of school without there being any repercussions - just giving his broad opinion, not like he's trashing the school presidents or anything.
FB might be like that where you only play the teams our there every 5 years or so and it is generally on a weekend but BB is a completely different story as you play each team once or twice a year so you would be going out there for each team at least every other year for each of the two teams and half of the games are mid week. Then think non revenue sports and if gets even more complicated
It’s not complicated. Just a few more hours of travel and time zones.
Again weekend is one thing. Mid week something else. And travel for non revenue sports not the same as for FB or BB
It’s really not that difficult, I promise. Athletes also get accommodations for missed classes/tests all the time.
In all likelihood, this will be a temporary situation.
Likely will add at least a couple more WC schools with the B1G broken into geographic pods.
Can't imagine that flights up to UDub and Oregon are that much better for the LA or AZ schools.
For selfish reasons, I am glad to see the Cats come out to SoCal so I can seek them locally. However, I do wonder about the expense and logistics of cross-country travel for all of the conference sports.
With the media pool money the expense for big sports of FB and BB not bad but non revenue sports might be different matter
Ucla is the best public school in the USA. Usc is a very good school as well. Now with nu already- the big will have almost a monopoly on Hollywood with the top writers actors and producers all in the big. Student athletes can study on plane rides if necessary. I am thrilled to add ucla and usc to our conference! It is brilliant
Are you sure? I could have sworn ucla was ranked #1 ps by usnwr for undergrads. I know ucberkeley is the best graduate schools overall. But I'd like to look it up. Nonetheless, ucla would be the second best school in BIG after nu when they join....Thanks for the reality check for me D72Ahem...https://www.berkeley.edu/
Actually, I stand corrected, sort of. For undergraduates, they are tied for #1. But as a Berkeley alum, I give the nod to them.
The move didn't make geographic sense to me but the Los Angeles schools were apparently clear that they wanted out of the PAC-XX for financial reasons and they were leaving. The option the Big Ten faced was to either add USC/UCLA or hold off and watch them possibly going off to the SEC. With Texas and Oklahoma due to be added to the SEC, it would have put the Big Ten further behind if they let USC/UCLA go to the SEC. At least both Los Angeles schools were highly ranked TOP 25 academic and all-around sports schools in a large market, so they were just too attractive for the Big Ten to pass up.
UCLA and Cal Berkeley are tied for 20th and Michigan is tied for 25thActually, I stand corrected, sort of. For undergraduates, they are tied for #1. But as a Berkeley alum, I give the nod to them.
Most years, I seem to remember Berkeley and Virginia ranked higher than UCLA. UCLA seems to have gotten a recent boost in the rankings.Actually, I stand corrected, sort of. For undergraduates, they are tied for #1. But as a Berkeley alum, I give the nod to them.
So was I!
With the addition of UCLA, the Big Ten will have 2 of the top 3.
Not that it's a requirement for B1G membership, but the Domers, UMiami and ASU just joined the AAU club.
Along with the Domers, think that the powers that be in the conference are eyeing FSU (which likely will attain AAU status in the near future) and UNC as their top choices for expansion (even if some years away before that becomes feasible).
With 3 networks being the center piece of the B1G's new media deal, getting schools/programs that bring ratings has become even more important.
Last year's UM-dOSU game smashed all other games, including the top SEC matchups, when it came to viewership.
The top rated ACC, PAC12 and B12 games had a fraction of the viewership.
If the B1G ends up expanding into Florida, thinking more and more that they will take both FSU and UMiami.
While neither is the state flagship school (being UF), adding both should give the B1G equal footing with the SEC in terms of market share within the state.
If the conference ends up expanding to 24 schools, would give the B1G 7 big time draws, along with 7 additional tier-2 draws.
Tier 1
UM, dOSU, PSU, USC, ND, FSU, UMiami (could switch Oregon and UMiami)
Tier 2
MSU, UW, Iowa, Neb, Oregon, UDub, UNC
Sadly, the Cats right now are nowhere close to being a Tier 2 draw.
To achieve that status, have to win consistently and any down season can't be absolutely horrid as we have experienced a # of times.
Also can't have so many losses to non P5 or FCS programs like the Cats have had.
Along with the Domers, think that the powers that be in the conference are eyeing FSU (which likely will attain AAU status in the near future) and UNC as their top choices for expansion (even if some years away before that becomes feasible).
With 3 networks being the center piece of the B1G's new media deal, getting schools/programs that bring ratings has become even more important.
Last year's UM-dOSU game smashed all other games, including the top SEC matchups, when it came to viewership.
The top rated ACC, PAC12 and B12 games had a fraction of the viewership.
If the B1G ends up expanding into Florida, thinking more and more that they will take both FSU and UMiami.
While neither is the state flagship school (being UF), adding both should give the B1G equal footing with the SEC in terms of market share within the state.
If the conference ends up expanding to 24 schools, would give the B1G 7 big time draws, along with 7 additional tier-2 draws.
Tier 1
UM, dOSU, PSU, USC, ND, FSU, UMiami (could switch Oregon and UMiami)
Tier 2
MSU, UW, Iowa, Neb, Oregon, UDub, UNC
Sadly, the Cats right now are nowhere close to being a Tier 2 draw.
To achieve that status, have to win consistently and any down season can't be absolutely horrid as we have experienced a # of times.
Also can't have so many losses to non P5 or FCS programs like the Cats have had.
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It won't surprise me if the tv and revenue landscape changes completely in the next 10-25 years. I can realistically see a scenario where networks and the Worldwide Leader are no longer bidding enough on these deals to the point where the conference might literally sell individual games but put the rest over-the-top on BTN or another PPV streaming service where they can still charge diehard fans through the nose.
Like...I would pay $99.99 to watch all 12 NU games in a season. And if I'd pay that, how much would Michigan fans pay for 11 games plus The Game on Fox in primetime with news headlines that it set a record single-game tv deal that was valued at more than the Big Ten Championship that year? Not hard to imagine a scenario where Notre Dame goes in first for proof-of-concept, or a school like Texas that has already shown it's entrepreneural spirit...and who I could see going independent after X years with no SEC championship.
Like...I would pay $99.99 to watch all 12 NU games in a season. And if I'd pay that, how much would Michigan fans pay for 11 games plus The Game on Fox in primetime with news headlines that it set a record single-game tv deal that was valued at more than the Big Ten Championship that year? Not hard to imagine a scenario where Notre Dame goes in first for proof-of-concept, or a school like Texas that has already shown it's entrepreneural spirit...and who I could see going independent after X years with no SEC championship.
This is all so horrible.
Anyway, now that the Big Ten has already added two teams from California, I would think that if they must expand, they should add a couple more schools out there to help with the strain of travel, so that those student-athletes don't have to fly across the country for their games quite so often. Reducing the strain on the student-athletes should be a higher priority right now than increasing the conference's footprint even more.
While I agree with you (and cynically have no hope that this is a concern of the power brokers), I question whether a 4-6 hour flight on a chartered jet is much worse than a regional coach bus trip.
I will also say, and this most certainly doesn't apply to all student athletes, but as a first-gen kid myself from New Jersey, if I had been a scholarship athlete at Rutgers, that would have been my first trip to L.A., and my first plane ride.
I think he was being sarcastic about the "horrible" part.
I agree that the travel thing is not a big deal. These kids can handle travel just fine. And if they learn what it's like to go on a "business trip" and maintain preparation and focus, that's a pretty good life lesson. It's no picnic being a scholarship athlete, especially in football. These kids learn time management skills that most kids don't.
I'm not concerned about Rutgers that might have to make one conference trip out to the west coast. I'm more concerned about UCLA and USC that will have to travel at least two time zones for all their road games except for the one, basically half their conference schedule.
And I'm not really concerned about the football team that plays once a week on the weekend and might have 4 or 5 conference road games. I'm more concerned about teams like basketball (and non-revenue sports) that play a gauntlet schedule with multiple games a week over the season. I just think it's a lot to ask of them on top of everything else.
I 100% agree with you on all those points. I guess I would just say (and hope) that when UCLA is recruiting a kid to play there, the kid considers whether or not they feel the Big Ten is a draw or a deterrent...just like kids who want to play close to home and family. Time will tell if USC and UCLA struggle or thrive on the recruiting front because of this.
