DRC: Leadership of Light the Tower Collective pleased with outcome of key Friday meeting

[Brett Vito]

 

[Tom McKrackin]

I checked out their website and it is pretty cool.

[untjim1995]

This is what we are up against, especially in this NIL world. Tough to move up without BOTH $$$ and eyeballs...

[TIgreen01]

2 hours ago, untjim1995 said:

This is what we are up against, especially in this NIL world. Tough to move up without BOTH $$$ and eyeballs...

Interesting graphic and study.  I assume this is already including UT/OU in the SEC, but it appears USC/UCLA are still showing up in the PAC12.

This is all based on ticket sales per the fine print, which I am sure is fairly close to overall media consumption but may not be 1:1.

[untjim1995]

18 minutes ago, TIgreen01 said:

Interesting graphic and study.  I assume this is already including UT/OU in the SEC, but it appears USC/UCLA are still showing up in the PAC12.

This is all based on ticket sales per the fine print, which I am sure is fairly close to overall media consumption but may not be 1:1.

About 8 years ago or so, maybe longer, there was a survey of the members of the college football media to see who they covered. 95% was devoted to the P5s. 

The eyeballs probably follow the same amount of media and fans in seats at the stadiums across the country.

This is why I have always tried to argue towards a schism for the NFL-lites and the rest of us--and this was well before NIL became a thing. We have absolutely nothing in common with those guys. Our level of play deserves for its players, coaches, and fans to earn a national champion designation, too. This is proof of the fact that most P5s don't even have that chance, too. There's a reason that we have had 20 national champions over the last 60= years, 3 of whom were complete anomalies in Pitt, BYU, and Colorado. The rest, Alabama, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Miami, USC, etc..., they may come and go at the top, but they get recycled. Sure, teams like Texas A&M, Virginia Tech, UCLA, Michigan State, or Oregon can threaten the top programs every so often with their budgets, resources, and fans, but historically, this is a cartel of a few programs running this game. And they control the entire operation behind the scenes with their media, influential alums, and state legislatures. 

[greenminer]

4 hours ago, untjim1995 said:

This is what we are up against, especially in this NIL world. Tough to move up without BOTH $$$ and eyeballs...

 

2 hours ago, TIgreen01 said:

Interesting graphic and study.  I assume this is already including UT/OU in the SEC, but it appears USC/UCLA are still showing up in the PAC12.

This is all based on ticket sales per the fine print, which I am sure is fairly close to overall media consumption but may not be 1:1.

This only reinforces what I read a long time ago: the media business model spends most of their energy on P5s, very little satisfying the wants of the G5s, because only about 5% of their viewership/consumers come for the G5s.

[untjim1995]

42 minutes ago, greenminer said:

 

This only reinforces what I read a long time ago: the media business model spends most of their energy on P5s, very little satisfying the wants of the G5s, because only about 5% of their viewership/consumers come for the G5s.

Which makes the G5 model even more ridiculous. Here are a few alternatives:

1.) Only play games against each other. Compete with teams that are true peers. Except for Texas Southern, we are doing just this in 2022 and it’s refreshing.

2.) Create a full playoff system that looks like FCS and D-2, but use some of the bowl sites for semifinals and finals you currently use for a 16 team tournament.

3.) Consider playing in the early part of the New Year. Find a time on the calendar that is friendly to the most popular sport in America. Start the regular season in late January/early February, finish in May. Get network coverage that you don’t EVER get now. And this protects your kids from being poached in the off-season to go immediately to a P5, as the seasons don’t intertwine. IOW, a great G5 plays in the late winter/spring. His season ends in May. Could still leave, but the coaches who want these kids in the P5 have a slightly less advantage of poaching kids to get to campus and play by August, at least compared to now, where G5 kids leave in early winter and have plenty of time to get ingrained at the P5 school throwing around their cash. May not stop them still, but does give them a more difficult path when leaving for greener pastures.

What doesn’t work is what the G5s currently do, play for scraps, get crumbs of guarantees for a spot in BCS bowl games, and getting absolutely little media coverage for our fanbases. 

[greenminer]

3 hours ago, untjim1995 said:

Which makes the G5 model even more ridiculous. Here are a few alternatives:

1.) Only play games against each other. Compete with teams that are true peers. Except for Texas Southern, we are doing just this in 2022 and it’s refreshing.

2.) Create a full playoff system that looks like FCS and D-2, but use some of the bowl sites for semifinals and finals you currently use for a 16 team tournament.

3.) Consider playing in the early part of the New Year. Find a time on the calendar that is friendly to the most popular sport in America. Start the regular season in late January/early February, finish in May. Get network coverage that you don’t EVER get now. And this protects your kids from being poached in the off-season to go immediately to a P5, as the seasons don’t intertwine. IOW, a great G5 plays in the late winter/spring. His season ends in May. Could still leave, but the coaches who want these kids in the P5 have a slightly less advantage of poaching kids to get to campus and play by August, at least compared to now, where G5 kids leave in early winter and have plenty of time to get ingrained at the P5 school throwing around their cash. May not stop them still, but does give them a more difficult path when leaving for greener pastures.

What doesn’t work is what the G5s currently do, play for scraps, get crumbs of guarantees for a spot in BCS bowl games, and getting absolutely little media coverage for our fanbases. 

I think #3 would require us breaking away from the NCAA.  I could be wrong, but I think because we are all under the umbrella of the NCAA, we are subject to whatever schedule they dictate...including when the seasons start and end. There has to be some rule/regulation in place that prevents a group of conference pals from getting up and playing whenever they want.

Not sure I'm on board with 1-2.  Becoming exclusive, as tough as it sounds, could mean the nail in the coffin.  Some of us fans like being a part of the race, even if we are only getting scraps.

[untjim1995]

10 minutes ago, greenminer said:

I think #3 would require us breaking away from the NCAA.  I could be wrong, but I think because we are all under the umbrella of the NCAA, we are subject to whatever schedule they dictate...including when the seasons start and end. There has to be some rule/regulation in place that prevents a group of conference pals from getting up and playing whenever they want.

Not sure I'm on board with 1-2.  Becoming exclusive, as tough as it sounds, could mean the nail in the coffin.  Some of us fans like being a part of the race, even if we are only getting scraps.

I get it…that’s a lot of change to absorb, no doubt. But if the top 60 programs breakaway, the rest are gonna need to do some major problem-solving. Because the networks are already demanding better competition for better programming. They absolutely loathe the FCS games and the P5 giants playing small G5 schools. It appears as if the SEC will go to 9 games like everyone else. That FCS game will be gone or a G5 game will be gone. And when they get to where the B1G and SEC each have 24 teams, those schedules will probably go to 10-12 games amongst each league and play a couple of OOC games against the other conference.

Meanwhile, the rest of us have no P5 body bag money,  no BCS bowl game, and no OOC games against them. All while they can take our players and coaches whenever they want. That’s a model that cannot sustain itself when this occurs. And I doubt the NCAA will be in charge of those schools by then, in my opinion.