BCS leagues expanding - yeah?

Since it appears there's no danger of Texas playing in it anytime soon, probably yes.

 

Exactly right. Which is why I never understood the outcry about the ACC beating the Big 12 to get Louisville. The Big 12 obviously knew Louisville was available, ran the numbers and decided the Teethbirds simply didn't bring enough value to justify their addition.

Since the Big 12 doesn't have a network like the Big Ten/Pac-12/soon-to-be SEC, that league has no need to expand into specific states to push its way onto cable systems. It relies on matchups and the composition of its league to make itself attractive to Fox and ESPN. Florida State-Texas or Clemson-Oklahoma would sell. Louisville-TCU would not.

 

Yeah, but if you are talking TV markets, you are looking at those schools and not the entire league.

Even if Florida State was to join the Big XII (which I doubt) it's not like everyone is Florida is going to tune in to the TCU-Baylor game. Or even Texas-Oklahoma. They'll watch Florida State vs. whomever, even if the whomever is Duke.

 

What becomes of Cincy, South Florida (USF, whatever), UConn and Temple now?

Would the ACC take UConn and Temple to boost its northeastern TV markets?

Take USF to increase its Florida stronghold? Pretty sure ACC is already available in Tampa-St. Pete market.

Does the ACC add Cincy to give Louisville a travel buddy?

As someone posted before, not sure the SEC needs/wants FSU/Clemson/Georgia Tech. Already available in all three markets since you have the flagship schools in those states (Florida, South Carolina, Georgia).

Now maybe the Big 12 would wants FSU and Georgia Tech and Clemson on the other hand.

 

I would guess most of the teams you mentioned wind up in whatever the new Big East/C-USA league is called, along with East Carolina, Houston, Memphis, Southern Miss, Tulsa, etc.

Honestly, Cincinnati and Connecticut have no business playing against the likes of North Carolina, Virginia, Florida State, etc.

I could forsee a scenario if the ACC wants to strengthen itself, it could invited either/or South Florida or Central Florida. Good, populated markets with room to grow.

Now both of those schools would have to make MAJOR financial commitments in their programs for that to work. I don't know that either will build an on-campus stadium and really have no reason to. So it may be a few years down the road.

 

If you have a deep tie to the league, people will watch the other games. You can have a pair of Top 20 teams with a noon Eastern kick, and 20 minutes later half the South is watching Ole Miss-Kentucky, even if just to mock it. I suspect Big 10 fans tailgating before their late afternoon game do the same with Purdue-Minnesota. It's like a soap opera. The other channel may have a better show that day, but loyalty is with "your" show and the characters you already know.

 

Well, but all this shuffling around has killed any deep ties to a league.

What I'm arguing is that adding, say, Maryland, is not going to draw additional Big 10 fans who will watch Minnesota-Wisconsin. You don't just change allegiances because someone switches conferences.

 

Sigh. Once again, it is completely irrelevant to the Big Ten whether Joe Sixpack in DC is watching Minnesota-Wisconsin or not.

What matters to the Big Ten is that when Mr. Sixpack pays his cable bill, the Big Ten Network is on his basic cable tier -- and thus he and ever cable subscriber in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area is paying that extra $0.50 on his cable bill that goes straight to the Big Ten's bank account.

And to answer an earlier post of yours, since the Big 12 has no such network, it doesn't necessarily care as much about market size as it does about the marketability of its matchups. They're driven primarily by ratings and eyeballs on screens, not hidden charges in cable bills.

Say they add Florida State, by all accounts the top target. They don't necessarily care that Joe Sixpack in the Florida Panhandle is watching TCU-Baylor or not.

What the Big 12 (and more importantly its primary broadcast partner, Fox) cares about is getting the casual fan in Spokane, Wash., or Dubuque to tune in to its Saturday night prime time game -- and that means brand names. They're banking that the casual fan across the country would tune in for an FSU-Oklahoma 7pm game on Fox.

 

Oh and maybe just maybe Central Florida will get that on-campus stadium someday down the road ... maybe by the year 2007.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bright_House_Networks_Stadium

 

Bright House Networks Stadium. Now with drinking fountains!

 

I thought they were playing at the Citrus Bowl, or whatever they're calling it these days.

 

Well, I'm not even sure that all the cable systems in Maryland are going to suddenly add the Big Ten Network. Most in Texas aren't carrying the Longhorn Network. So if the league thinks it's going to rake in cash by adding extra cable systems, I'm not so sure. Getting cable systems to add channels on main tier has been a really hard thing to get done.

I'm not sure how much anyone in Spokane or dubuque, other than alums, would care about teams outside their area. College is different than the NFL in that there are sooooo many more teams to follow. I probably could count on one hand the number of Pac-12 players I could name. I couldn't name anyone on, say, Oregon State. Would have zero reason to watch them.