*** Official 2015 College Football Thread *** (2 Viewers)

[Slider6]

According to this PDF (and the tweet that came out with it) there are 23 athletics departments out of 1000+ in the NCAA that generate more money than they expend. Pretty alarming numbers. I haven't read the PDF yet, but would like to know that number for just D1A football programs.

 

[Christo]

According to this PDF (and the tweet that came out with it) there are 23 athletics departments out of 1000+ in the NCAA that generate more money than they expend. Pretty alarming numbers. I haven't read the PDF yet, but would like to know that number for just D1A football programs.

I posted a link in another thread that showed most make money. I don't remember the thread.

It was in "Auburn's Tainted Title".

 

[gump]

Saban wants to 'all play 10 good games'....by changing the SEC schedule to 9 games, which is being discussed again...and keeping a strong OOC opponent.

"I personally feel like strength of schedule is going to be a real important thing in the future," he said. "I know there are people out there who say we have fixed opponents that are very, very good teams. Well, let's make a deal and let's all play 10 good games. We'll still play Virginia Tech or Wisconsin or West Virginia or Michigan or one of these teams in the first game of the year and go play nine conference games too. "I think all those things make your team better and it's really better for the fans. I think we should spend a lot more time thinking about the people that support and make college football what it is."

Nothing ground-breaking....but an important voice.

 

[PlasmaDogPlasma]

Nothing ground-breaking....but an important voice.

The voice of the guy with the most job security in America. A lot of the other guys that do the same job just want to make sure they get that .500 or better record and go to a bowl.

 

[gump]

Nothing ground-breaking....but an important voice.

The voice of the guy with the most job security in America. A lot of the other guys that do the same job just want to make sure they get that .500 or better record and go to a bowl.

True...but a little media pressure on everyone else can only help. TV will push for it, which should influence Slive. Last I heard UF was against it....which hurts....do you know if that's the case?

 

[PlasmaDogPlasma]

Nothing ground-breaking....but an important voice.

The voice of the guy with the most job security in America. A lot of the other guys that do the same job just want to make sure they get that .500 or better record and go to a bowl.

True...but a little media pressure on everyone else can only help. TV will push for it, which should influence Slive. Last I heard UF was against it....which hurts....do you know if that's the case?

No I don't know, but it will piss me off if it's true.

 

[Premier]

Muschamp said today he was against it. "That's not in the best interest in the University of Florida".

In other words, we can't play Toledo and a 1-AA school anymore.

 

[FreeBaGeL]

Muschamp said today he was against it. "That's not in the best interest in the University of Florida".In other words, we can't play Toledo and a 1-AA school anymore.

Forget those five games against top 10 opponents last year, if that 1-AA game had been against some mediocre team from C-USA that would have made it a real schedule.

Besides, what Saban is talking about up there wouldn't affect UF anyway. Saban was talking about the teams that don't already have a strong OOC foe lined up adding one so everyone was on equal footing. UF is one of the teams that already has a strong OOC foe as they play FSU every year.

 

[Premier]

Muschamp said today he was against it. "That's not in the best interest in the University of Florida".In other words, we can't play Toledo and a 1-AA school anymore.

Forget those five games against top 10 opponents last year, if that 1-AA game had been against some mediocre team from C-USA that would have made it a real schedule. Besides, what Saban is talking about up there wouldn't affect UF anyway. Saban was talking about the teams that don't already have a strong OOC foe lined up adding one so everyone was on equal footing. UF is one of the teams that already has a strong OOC foe as they play FSU every year.

Nobody ever said they don't play a strong schedule. But not leaving the state for an OOC game in 30 years is unreal.And yes they did play 5 very good teams. Out of 12 that's not really bragging though. And I would say that for anybody. The bar for a CFB schedule is really low.

 

[The Commish]

Saban wants to 'all play 10 good games'....by changing the SEC schedule to 9 games, which is being discussed again...and keeping a strong OOC opponent.

"I personally feel like strength of schedule is going to be a real important thing in the future," he said. "I know there are people out there who say we have fixed opponents that are very, very good teams. Well, let's make a deal and let's all play 10 good games. We'll still play Virginia Tech or Wisconsin or West Virginia or Michigan or one of these teams in the first game of the year and go play nine conference games too."I think all those things make your team better and it's really better for the fans. I think we should spend a lot more time thinking about the people that support and make college football what it is."

Nothing ground-breaking....but an important voice.

It was only a matter of time since the other conferences were moving back to 9 games. Folks have pissed and moaned about the SOS component in the computers the last few years. Can you imagine what would happen if all the conferences were playing 9 conference games and the SEC was only playing 8??

 

[The Commish]

Muschamp said today he was against it. "That's not in the best interest in the University of Florida".In other words, we can't play Toledo and a 1-AA school anymore.

Forget those five games against top 10 opponents last year, if that 1-AA game had been against some mediocre team from C-USA that would have made it a real schedule. Besides, what Saban is talking about up there wouldn't affect UF anyway. Saban was talking about the teams that don't already have a strong OOC foe lined up adding one so everyone was on equal footing. UF is one of the teams that already has a strong OOC foe as they play FSU every year.

Nobody ever said they don't play a strong schedule. But not leaving the state for an OOC game in 30 years is unreal.And yes they did play 5 very good teams. Out of 12 that's not really bragging though. And I would say that for anybody. The bar for a CFB schedule is really low.

 

[gump]

Saban wants to 'all play 10 good games'....by changing the SEC schedule to 9 games, which is being discussed again...and keeping a strong OOC opponent.

"I personally feel like strength of schedule is going to be a real important thing in the future," he said. "I know there are people out there who say we have fixed opponents that are very, very good teams. Well, let's make a deal and let's all play 10 good games. We'll still play Virginia Tech or Wisconsin or West Virginia or Michigan or one of these teams in the first game of the year and go play nine conference games too."I think all those things make your team better and it's really better for the fans. I think we should spend a lot more time thinking about the people that support and make college football what it is."

Nothing ground-breaking....but an important voice.

It was only a matter of time since the other conferences were moving back to 9 games. Folks have pissed and moaned about the SOS component in the computers the last few years. Can you imagine what would happen if all the conferences were playing 9 conference games and the SEC was only playing 8??

Thats where the mention of both components comes in...9 conference games AND a good OOC game. There's been a mix the last few years between some schools with 8 conf games and 1 good OOC, some schools with 9 conf games and a weak OOC, and some with both....getting to that magic number of 10....with schools doing any of the 3 being rewarded. Will the new system change that and punish the first two options?

 

[Premier]

Gump, check your PMs.

 

[The Commish]

Saban wants to 'all play 10 good games'....by changing the SEC schedule to 9 games, which is being discussed again...and keeping a strong OOC opponent.

"I personally feel like strength of schedule is going to be a real important thing in the future," he said. "I know there are people out there who say we have fixed opponents that are very, very good teams. Well, let's make a deal and let's all play 10 good games. We'll still play Virginia Tech or Wisconsin or West Virginia or Michigan or one of these teams in the first game of the year and go play nine conference games too."I think all those things make your team better and it's really better for the fans. I think we should spend a lot more time thinking about the people that support and make college football what it is."

Nothing ground-breaking....but an important voice.

It was only a matter of time since the other conferences were moving back to 9 games. Folks have pissed and moaned about the SOS component in the computers the last few years. Can you imagine what would happen if all the conferences were playing 9 conference games and the SEC was only playing 8??

Thats where the mention of both components comes in...9 conference games AND a good OOC game. There's been a mix the last few years between some schools with 8 conf games and 1 good OOC, some schools with 9 conf games and a weak OOC, and some with both....getting to that magic number of 10....with schools doing any of the 3 being rewarded. Will the new system change that and punish the first two options?

Only time will tell. Being a pessimist, I still think the name on the jersey will have more influence than the actual body of work.

 

[Tiger Fan]

Southeastern Conference sports -- including football and basketball -- will have a 24-hour-a-day home when the SEC Network launches in August 2014.

The SEC and ESPN announced a 20-year agreement and rights extension on Thursday. The deal includes a new television network and digital platform that will show SEC sports 24/7, including more than 1,000 events in the first year.

Included in the programming will be 45 football games, more than 100 men's and more than 60 women's basketball games, 75 baseball games and selected events from the other 17 SEC sports. The network will also feature studio shows and coverage of special events such as signing day and football pro days.

The digital network, which will launch nationally with AT&T U-verse, will show hundreds of additional events. Each SEC school will have the opportunity to produce and develop content for various platforms. The network will be based in ESPN's offices in Charlotte, N.C.

The extension means the SEC will have its games on ESPN's family of networks, plus the SEC Network, through 2034.

"The SEC Network will provide an unparalleled fan experience of top quality SEC content presented across the television network and its accompanying digital platforms," SEC commissioner Mike Slive said in a statement. "We will increase exposure of SEC athletics programs at all 14 member institutions, as we showcase the incredible student-athletes in our league. The agreement for a network streamlines and completes an overall media rights package that will continue the SEC's leadership for the foreseeable future."

"The SEC is unmatched in its success on the field and its popularity with fans nationwide," said ESPN president John Skipper. "The new network's top-quality SEC matchups across a range of sports will serve all sports enthusiasts including the most passionate, die-hard SEC fans. Also, it will serve the needs of our multichannel distributors and advertisers by providing extremely attractive programming options across all platforms."

 

[The Commish]

Southeastern Conference sports -- including football and basketball -- will have a 24-hour-a-day home when the SEC Network launches in August 2014.

The SEC and ESPN announced a 20-year agreement and rights extension on Thursday. The deal includes a new television network and digital platform that will show SEC sports 24/7, including more than 1,000 events in the first year.

Included in the programming will be 45 football games, more than 100 men's and more than 60 women's basketball games, 75 baseball games and selected events from the other 17 SEC sports. The network will also feature studio shows and coverage of special events such as signing day and football pro days.

The digital network, which will launch nationally with AT&T U-verse, will show hundreds of additional events. Each SEC school will have the opportunity to produce and develop content for various platforms. The network will be based in ESPN's offices in Charlotte, N.C.

The extension means the SEC will have its games on ESPN's family of networks, plus the SEC Network, through 2034.

"The SEC Network will provide an unparalleled fan experience of top quality SEC content presented across the television network and its accompanying digital platforms," SEC commissioner Mike Slive said in a statement. "We will increase exposure of SEC athletics programs at all 14 member institutions, as we showcase the incredible student-athletes in our league. The agreement for a network streamlines and completes an overall media rights package that will continue the SEC's leadership for the foreseeable future."

"The SEC is unmatched in its success on the field and its popularity with fans nationwide," said ESPN president John Skipper. "The new network's top-quality SEC matchups across a range of sports will serve all sports enthusiasts including the most passionate, die-hard SEC fans. Also, it will serve the needs of our multichannel distributors and advertisers by providing extremely attractive programming options across all platforms."

So, has UNCC been accepted to the SEC yet??? Look forward to seeing how successful this becomes outside the football season.

 

[gump]

Southeastern Conference sports -- including football and basketball -- will have a 24-hour-a-day home when the SEC Network launches in August 2014.The SEC and ESPN announced a 20-year agreement and rights extension on Thursday. The deal includes a new television network and digital platform that will show SEC sports 24/7, including more than 1,000 events in the first year.Included in the programming will be 45 football games, more than 100 men's and more than 60 women's basketball games, 75 baseball games and selected events from the other 17 SEC sports. The network will also feature studio shows and coverage of special events such as signing day and football pro days.The digital network, which will launch nationally with AT&T U-verse, will show hundreds of additional events. Each SEC school will have the opportunity to produce and develop content for various platforms. The network will be based in ESPN's offices in Charlotte, N.C.The extension means the SEC will have its games on ESPN's family of networks, plus the SEC Network, through 2034."The SEC Network will provide an unparalleled fan experience of top quality SEC content presented across the television network and its accompanying digital platforms," SEC commissioner Mike Slive said in a statement. "We will increase exposure of SEC athletics programs at all 14 member institutions, as we showcase the incredible student-athletes in our league. The agreement for a network streamlines and completes an overall media rights package that will continue the SEC's leadership for the foreseeable future.""The SEC is unmatched in its success on the field and its popularity with fans nationwide," said ESPN president John Skipper. "The new network's top-quality SEC matchups across a range of sports will serve all sports enthusiasts including the most passionate, die-hard SEC fans. Also, it will serve the needs of our multichannel distributors and advertisers by providing extremely attractive programming options across all platforms."

So did the football TV deal go up annually?

 

[Tiger Fan]

Southeastern Conference sports -- including football and basketball -- will have a 24-hour-a-day home when the SEC Network launches in August 2014.The SEC and ESPN announced a 20-year agreement and rights extension on Thursday. The deal includes a new television network and digital platform that will show SEC sports 24/7, including more than 1,000 events in the first year.Included in the programming will be 45 football games, more than 100 men's and more than 60 women's basketball games, 75 baseball games and selected events from the other 17 SEC sports. The network will also feature studio shows and coverage of special events such as signing day and football pro days.The digital network, which will launch nationally with AT&T U-verse, will show hundreds of additional events. Each SEC school will have the opportunity to produce and develop content for various platforms. The network will be based in ESPN's offices in Charlotte, N.C.The extension means the SEC will have its games on ESPN's family of networks, plus the SEC Network, through 2034."The SEC Network will provide an unparalleled fan experience of top quality SEC content presented across the television network and its accompanying digital platforms," SEC commissioner Mike Slive said in a statement. "We will increase exposure of SEC athletics programs at all 14 member institutions, as we showcase the incredible student-athletes in our league. The agreement for a network streamlines and completes an overall media rights package that will continue the SEC's leadership for the foreseeable future.""The SEC is unmatched in its success on the field and its popularity with fans nationwide," said ESPN president John Skipper. "The new network's top-quality SEC matchups across a range of sports will serve all sports enthusiasts including the most passionate, die-hard SEC fans. Also, it will serve the needs of our multichannel distributors and advertisers by providing extremely attractive programming options across all platforms."

So did the football TV deal go up annually?

 

[PlasmaDogPlasma]

Premier, on 02 May 2013 - 23:35, said:Nobody ever said they don't play a strong schedule. But not leaving the state for an OOC game in 30 years is unreal.

I've long wanted UF to use the 12th game to play Miami. I don't really get the obsession with going out of state. Florida has been far and away the top state for college football over the last 30 years with 10 national titles. Things don't get tougher by leaving.

 

[prefontaine]

Florida has offset 3/4 conference home games with FSU to make those 9 games be 4/4/1 (UGA has the same impact with GT). They only have 3 more games to schedule and they all have to be home to get to 7 home games which is most school's magic number. They could play a real OOC opponent as it is (they don't but UGA does) but that will bring them to 7/6 home games by season. If you add in another conference game, they are looking at 6/6 to play a real OOC opponent. The economies of it take it make it difficult even if it's what fans say they want

Think you'll continue to see the 4 teams of the SEC who play an annual neutral site game (Ark and A&M are coming back to Dallas permanently next year) push to stay at 8. Hopefully if that sticks, their new network will be the impetus to schedule better out of conference. It's pretty clear the BTN has had that effect so hopefully the SECN will do the same.

On that note, Wisky and LSU appear to have agreed to open the 2014 season at Reliant in Houston.

 

[SpurrierisisGod]

Not really football related, but just wanted to add that AJ's girlfriend is hotter in person. They are touring the facility here at my work. Mussberger wasn't kidding folks.

 

[Christo]

The Lawsuit That Could Bring Down the NCAA
By Jonathan Mahler May 2, 2013 5:00 PM CT

The storm that’s slowly rolling toward Indianapolis quietly gained strength this week with the filing of several devastating documents in a federal court in California. If it stays on course, it’s going to hit with biblical force, reducing the National Collegiate Athletic Association to a heap of rubble.
This storm is also known as O’Bannon v. NCAA. It’s an antitrust lawsuit filed in 2009 by former UCLA All-American basketball player Ed O’Bannon and a handful of other ex-college athletes, who don’t think the NCAA should be profiting from their names and images without sharing the royalty payments.

In their latest filing, O’Bannon’s lawyers argue that the case deserves class-action status. If their request is granted, the NCAA would be liable for claims brought not just by the plaintiffs but also by all former athletes. Anyone who has ever played a Division I college sport would instantly be suing for damages for every instance in which his or her image was used in a video game, highlight reel, broadcast or rebroadcast.

That could get pretty expensive for the NCAA. But if the case were just about a few billion dollars, the association would have settled by now. It hasn’t because O’Bannon and his lawyers are also asking for something else: They want all current and future college athletes to be able to make licensing deals of their own. It’s short yardage from there to the NCAA’s doomsday scenario: schools bidding for the services of student- athletes.

Idle ThreatsThe NCAA’s lawyers, of course, are trying everything they can think of to stop the case from earning class-action status. They’re so desperate that they’re resorted to idle threats, enlisting Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany to file a declaration stating that if the O’Bannon case were to result in student- athletes getting paid, his conference’s schools would probably opt out and move down to Division III. (Early line on the upcoming Amherst-Ohio State game: Buckeyes by 117 1/2.)

Delany’s statement says pretty much everything you need to know about the NCAA’s legal strategy. It’s called -- and this is not a legal term -- fear-mongering.

The world of college sports would be radically different, the NCAA says -- in ways we can’t even begin to predict! -- if those responsible for making it a multibillion-dollar business (that is, the athletes) were entitled to receive some monetary compensation for their efforts. This is the same sort of doomsaying that Major League Baseball engaged in during its battle against free agency in 1970, when it warned that without the reserve clause, “professional baseball would simply cease to exist.” For that matter, every time an amateur sports event “goes pro” -- whether it’s the Olympics, or golf and tennis’s majors -- it has been preceded by predictions of disaster.

O’Bannon’s response to the NCAA may be the most powerful case ever assembled against the association’s propaganda machine. Among other things, it systematically dismantles the NCAA’s argument that the vast majority of its members lose money on sports. In fact, most Division I schools are not caught in an expensive arms race for coaches and athletic facilities. They have simply obscured the profitability of their football and basketball programs with accounting tricks, such as shifting revenue from sports concessions to the food service budget.

The NCAA advances these false claims of poverty so it can argue that its member schools can’t possibly afford to spend more money on sports, much less pay their athletes. O’Bannon’s lawyers put the lie to this, too, invoking foundational truths of economics dating to Adam Smith and David Ricardo: “Redistributing rents does not change true economic costs. It simply takes money from one person or group and shifts it to another.” Translation: Paying athletes wouldn’t result in schools spending additional money on sports. They would just spend less of it on coaches and facilities and more on students.

Star RecruitsIn truth, if the NCAA’s cartel were finally broken, the college-sports world of tomorrow would look … well, it would look a lot like the college-sports world of today. More student- athletes might decide to stay in school rather than gambling on the draft (a bad thing?). Maybe some second-tier schools would take a run at joining the first tier -- not by shelling out $100 million for a new field house, but by spending a lot less on a few five-star recruits.

And that’s about the extent of it. The same schools that invest heavily in their sports teams now would continue to do so, much as the top recruits would continue to gravitate toward the biggest, richest programs. Most of all, fans would continue to watch the games.

The NCAA’s lawyers have one final chance to respond to O’Bannon’s request that the case be certified as a class action before the judge rules in June. Whatever happens from here, the O’Bannon case has already performed a valuable service: It has exposed a system whose sole purpose is to deny the value of talented athletes. That system and its overlord -- the NCAA -- both deserve to die.

(Jonathan Mahler is a sports columnist for Bloomberg View. He is the author of the best-selling “Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning” and “Death Comes to Happy Valley.” The opinions expressed are his own.)

To contact the writer of this article: Jonathan Mahler at jmahler11@bloomberg.net or@jonathanmahler on Twitter.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-02/the-lawsuit-that-could-bring-down-the-ncaa.html

 

[The Commish]

One can only hope

 

[gump]

Florida has offset 3/4 conference home games with FSU to make those 9 games be 4/4/1 (UGA has the same impact with GT). They only have 3 more games to schedule and they all have to be home to get to 7 home games which is most school's magic number. They could play a real OOC opponent as it is (they don't but UGA does) but that will bring them to 7/6 home games by season. If you add in another conference game, they are looking at 6/6 to play a real OOC opponent. The economies of it take it make it difficult even if it's what fans say they want Think you'll continue to see the 4 teams of the SEC who play an annual neutral site game (Ark and A&M are coming back to Dallas permanently next year) push to stay at 8. Hopefully if that sticks, their new network will be the impetus to schedule better out of conference. It's pretty clear the BTN has had that effect so hopefully the SECN will do the same. On that note, Wisky and LSU appear to have agreed to open the 2014 season at Reliant in Houston.

Not sure I understand, pre. If UF plays 9 conference games, and plays FSU at home the same years they play 4 conference games at home....that's 5 solid home games, 5 solid away games, and 2 others every year....which puts them at that 10 solid game target?

 

[prefontaine]

WLCP is in Jacksonville. So with FSU, they have 9 games each year, 4 home, 4 road, 1 neutral. Add a 9th conference game and it's 5-4-1/4-5-1 with only 2 other games to schedule meaning even if they bought home games for those 2 they would alternate 7 and 6 home games each year in a best case scenario.

 

[gump]

WLCP is in Jacksonville. So with FSU, they have 9 games each year, 4 home, 4 road, 1 neutral. Add a 9th conference game and it's 5-4-1/4-5-1 with only 2 other games to schedule meaning even if they bought home games for those 2 they would alternate 7 and 6 home games each year in a best case scenario.

Forgot about the UGA game being neutral. That is a situation, combined with the yearly OOC rival.Ark and A&M don't have the yearly OOC issue though. So their 9 conf games become 4 home every year...which all other schools have to manage every other year. Tough, but seems like they could figure out a way.So it seems ultimately it comes down to the 4 scheduling big conference games on a neutral site. I assume they make extra money off those compared to say....an Alabama hosting Kentucky, then visiting Kentucky the next year?

 

[prefontaine]

Arkansas plays 1 game a year in LR and the A&M-UT series will almost certainly resume which is why they'll both vote against I think.

The 7 game vs 6 game home schedule is pretty large. The ADs lose about 6m or so for a home game. But maybe more importantly, the towns these schools are in would lose quite a bit of money and that impacts the Universities, not just the AD. College towns like Tuscaloosa need that revenue. They work with UA and fund things that benefit UA. Pissing them off is not good business for the University. It also pisses off season ticket holders. They give donations for those seats. They pay PSLs. It goes beyond the amount for the tickets themselves. Only have 6 home games becomes a tough sell to season ticket holders who have been paying for 7.

I was told ESPN had asked the SEC to either go to 9 games or beef up their schedule a while back as part of the negotiations. The schools themselves have all virtually put on hold scheduling as they are trying to work out a permanent schedule and settle that issue. It may end up being easier to tell schools to attempt to schedule 2 BCS level opponents annually as to increase the conference slate. There are 5 SEC schools that play ACC rivals annually already and with a 9-game slate, those schools would all lose a lot of scheduling flexibiltiy. Add in the Mizzou-KU and A&M-UT games that will eventually restart and you have a lot of schools that would be boxed in and would lose a lot of scheduling variety for the fans.

It's a bit of an unique problem as outside of ND games, I can't think of anyone that has a permanent rivalry game outside of conference besides the SEC schools any more. I suppose Iowa-Iowa State. And Pitt-WVU if that resumes.

 

[gump]

Arkansas plays 1 game a year in LR and the A&M-UT series will almost certainly resume which is why they'll both vote against I think. The 7 game vs 6 game home schedule is pretty large. The ADs lose about 6m or so for a home game. But maybe more importantly, the towns these schools are in would lose quite a bit of money and that impacts the Universities, not just the AD. College towns like Tuscaloosa need that revenue. They work with UA and fund things that benefit UA. Pissing them off is not good business for the University. It also pisses off season ticket holders. They give donations for those seats. They pay PSLs. It goes beyond the amount for the tickets themselves. Only have 6 home games becomes a tough sell to season ticket holders who have been paying for 7. I was told ESPN had asked the SEC to either go to 9 games or beef up their schedule a while back as part of the negotiations. The schools themselves have all virtually put on hold scheduling as they are trying to work out a permanent schedule and settle that issue. It may end up being easier to tell schools to attempt to schedule 2 BCS level opponents annually as to increase the conference slate. There are 5 SEC schools that play ACC rivals annually already and with a 9-game slate, those schools would all lose a lot of scheduling flexibiltiy. Add in the Mizzou-KU and A&M-UT games that will eventually restart and you have a lot of schools that would be boxed in and would lose a lot of scheduling variety for the fans. It's a bit of an unique problem as outside of ND games, I can't think of anyone that has a permanent rivalry game outside of conference besides the SEC schools any more. I suppose Iowa-Iowa State. And Pitt-WVU if that resumes.

Great post....thanks. The OOC set rival is a hurdle. But still, aren't UF and UGA choosing to play a neutral site game OVER a home game, because they are benefitting more from it (but not the home town)?The neutral site games go away, there is much less of an issue. So are 4 schools going to keep it from happening?

 

[roadkill1292]

The Lawsuit That Could Bring Down the NCAA
By Jonathan Mahler May 2, 2013 5:00 PM CT

The storm that’s slowly rolling toward Indianapolis quietly gained strength this week with the filing of several devastating documents in a federal court in California. If it stays on course, it’s going to hit with biblical force, reducing the National Collegiate Athletic Association to a heap of rubble.
This storm is also known as O’Bannon v. NCAA. It’s an antitrust lawsuit filed in 2009 by former UCLA All-American basketball player Ed O’Bannon and a handful of other ex-college athletes, who don’t think the NCAA should be profiting from their names and images without sharing the royalty payments.

In their latest filing, O’Bannon’s lawyers argue that the case deserves class-action status. If their request is granted, the NCAA would be liable for claims brought not just by the plaintiffs but also by all former athletes. Anyone who has ever played a Division I college sport would instantly be suing for damages for every instance in which his or her image was used in a video game, highlight reel, broadcast or rebroadcast.

That could get pretty expensive for the NCAA. But if the case were just about a few billion dollars, the association would have settled by now. It hasn’t because O’Bannon and his lawyers are also asking for something else: They want all current and future college athletes to be able to make licensing deals of their own. It’s short yardage from there to the NCAA’s doomsday scenario: schools bidding for the services of student- athletes.

Idle ThreatsThe NCAA’s lawyers, of course, are trying everything they can think of to stop the case from earning class-action status. They’re so desperate that they’re resorted to idle threats, enlisting Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany to file a declaration stating that if the O’Bannon case were to result in student- athletes getting paid, his conference’s schools would probably opt out and move down to Division III. (Early line on the upcoming Amherst-Ohio State game: Buckeyes by 117 1/2.)

Delany’s statement says pretty much everything you need to know about the NCAA’s legal strategy. It’s called -- and this is not a legal term -- fear-mongering.

The world of college sports would be radically different, the NCAA says -- in ways we can’t even begin to predict! -- if those responsible for making it a multibillion-dollar business (that is, the athletes) were entitled to receive some monetary compensation for their efforts. This is the same sort of doomsaying that Major League Baseball engaged in during its battle against free agency in 1970, when it warned that without the reserve clause, “professional baseball would simply cease to exist.” For that matter, every time an amateur sports event “goes pro” -- whether it’s the Olympics, or golf and tennis’s majors -- it has been preceded by predictions of disaster.

O’Bannon’s response to the NCAA may be the most powerful case ever assembled against the association’s propaganda machine. Among other things, it systematically dismantles the NCAA’s argument that the vast majority of its members lose money on sports. In fact, most Division I schools are not caught in an expensive arms race for coaches and athletic facilities. They have simply obscured the profitability of their football and basketball programs with accounting tricks, such as shifting revenue from sports concessions to the food service budget.

The NCAA advances these false claims of poverty so it can argue that its member schools can’t possibly afford to spend more money on sports, much less pay their athletes. O’Bannon’s lawyers put the lie to this, too, invoking foundational truths of economics dating to Adam Smith and David Ricardo: “Redistributing rents does not change true economic costs. It simply takes money from one person or group and shifts it to another.” Translation: Paying athletes wouldn’t result in schools spending additional money on sports. They would just spend less of it on coaches and facilities and more on students.

Star RecruitsIn truth, if the NCAA’s cartel were finally broken, the college-sports world of tomorrow would look … well, it would look a lot like the college-sports world of today. More student- athletes might decide to stay in school rather than gambling on the draft (a bad thing?). Maybe some second-tier schools would take a run at joining the first tier -- not by shelling out $100 million for a new field house, but by spending a lot less on a few five-star recruits.

And that’s about the extent of it. The same schools that invest heavily in their sports teams now would continue to do so, much as the top recruits would continue to gravitate toward the biggest, richest programs. Most of all, fans would continue to watch the games.

The NCAA’s lawyers have one final chance to respond to O’Bannon’s request that the case be certified as a class action before the judge rules in June. Whatever happens from here, the O’Bannon case has already performed a valuable service: It has exposed a system whose sole purpose is to deny the value of talented athletes. That system and its overlord -- the NCAA -- both deserve to die.

(Jonathan Mahler is a sports columnist for Bloomberg View. He is the author of the best-selling “Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning” and “Death Comes to Happy Valley.” The opinions expressed are his own.)

To contact the writer of this article: Jonathan Mahler at jmahler11@bloomberg.net or@jonathanmahler on Twitter.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-02/the-lawsuit-that-could-bring-down-the-ncaa.html

Interested to hear your general thoughts on the OBannon suit, big guy. For instance, if the athletes win the right to negotiate their own image licensing deals, does it automatically follow that they'll be able to earn outside income in any other way that they can and still retain athletic eligibility? And if that does happen, how does it affect competitive balance -- does it come down to an arms race between schools' boosters (as they compete to shovel money at star players)?

 

[gump]

Brando speculating the SEC deal is worth $30-35m per school.

 

[prefontaine]

Arkansas plays 1 game a year in LR and the A&M-UT series will almost certainly resume which is why they'll both vote against I think. The 7 game vs 6 game home schedule is pretty large. The ADs lose about 6m or so for a home game. But maybe more importantly, the towns these schools are in would lose quite a bit of money and that impacts the Universities, not just the AD. College towns like Tuscaloosa need that revenue. They work with UA and fund things that benefit UA. Pissing them off is not good business for the University. It also pisses off season ticket holders. They give donations for those seats. They pay PSLs. It goes beyond the amount for the tickets themselves. Only have 6 home games becomes a tough sell to season ticket holders who have been paying for 7. I was told ESPN had asked the SEC to either go to 9 games or beef up their schedule a while back as part of the negotiations. The schools themselves have all virtually put on hold scheduling as they are trying to work out a permanent schedule and settle that issue. It may end up being easier to tell schools to attempt to schedule 2 BCS level opponents annually as to increase the conference slate. There are 5 SEC schools that play ACC rivals annually already and with a 9-game slate, those schools would all lose a lot of scheduling flexibiltiy. Add in the Mizzou-KU and A&M-UT games that will eventually restart and you have a lot of schools that would be boxed in and would lose a lot of scheduling variety for the fans. It's a bit of an unique problem as outside of ND games, I can't think of anyone that has a permanent rivalry game outside of conference besides the SEC schools any more. I suppose Iowa-Iowa State. And Pitt-WVU if that resumes.

Great post....thanks. The OOC set rival is a hurdle. But still, aren't UF and UGA choosing to play a neutral site game OVER a home game, because they are benefitting more from it (but not the home town)?The neutral site games go away, there is much less of an issue. So are 4 schools going to keep it from happening?

Dunno if it'll keep it from happening but it's definitely an obstacle. They are choosing to play at a neutral site but games like the WLCP and RRR are big deals. They aren't going to be moved. It's no different than people saying the SEC should abandom permanent cross-division opponents. Those games are what cfb is all about and you don't want to lose UA-UT or AU-UGA. Moving from Jacksonville is just a non-starter. The SEC didn't get to where they are by abandoning tradition.

I get it sucks as a fan of a school with no natural OOC rivals (other than GT who already plays a 9-gm conf sched + UGA). But this issue is not as cut-and-dried to schools like UF. The AL and MS schools are all sort of landlocked with no BCS schools in nearby conferences that don't already have an annual OOC rival. But on the bright side it affords you the opportunity to go play those kickoff games. The schools that have played them the last few years are AU, UA, UT, LSU, MSU. One thing about those schools is that none have a natural rival OOC and none have a permanent neutral site game. It makes more sense for those schools to do that and now with Houston entering the fray and rumors NO will starting in 2015, maybe those schools can rotate such a game instead of playing that OOC rival. But you can be sure if the SEC goes to a 9-game sched, those kickoff games will all die off.

 

[FreeBaGeL]

Nobody ever said they don't play a strong schedule. But not leaving the state for an OOC game in 30 years is unreal.

Florida has played a top 5 OOC opponent in 14 of the last 23 years. They've played a ranked OOC opponent in 23 of the last 23 years. Has any other school even come anywhere close to that? But heaven forbid, they never played @Illinois so who cares, right?

And yes they did play 5 very good teams. Out of 12 that's not really bragging though. And I would say that for anybody. The bar for a CFB schedule is really low.

So if the problem is the bar, why are we counting on the teams that already have the toughest schedules to put themselves further out there? With little reward, no less.

People rank college football teams by looking at the L column. They can't separate a good loss from a bad win. We went as far as removing strength of schedule from the BCS. Florida beat 4 teams in the top 10 during the regular season last year while no one else in the country beat more than 2 (and even the list of 2 was extremely short). Where did it get them? On the sidelines watching teams that had each beaten 1 play in the national championship. If they had played 4 in the top 10 and quit they'd have been in that game. Four good games, five, what's the difference when you're not getting any credit for it? Why add more when a loss to a top 10 team is way more damaging than three wins against them?

Granted, Prefontaine has done a good job of laying out the real reasons that it wouldn't work for a team like UF, but even that aside what's their motivation? There are 119 teams in college football that need to start beefing up their schedule before a team like Florida does.

 

[fasteddie_21]

Nobody ever said they don't play a strong schedule. But not leaving the state for an OOC game in 30 years is unreal.

Florida has played a top 5 OOC opponent in 14 of the last 23 years. They've played a ranked OOC opponent in 23 of the last 23 years. Has any other school even come anywhere close to that? But heaven forbid, they never played @Illinois so who cares, right?

And yes they did play 5 very good teams. Out of 12 that's not really bragging though. And I would say that for anybody. The bar for a CFB schedule is really low.

So if the problem is the bar, why are we counting on the teams that already have the toughest schedules to put themselves further out there? With little reward, no less. People rank college football teams by looking at the L column. They can't separate a good loss from a bad win. We went as far as removing strength of schedule from the BCS. Florida beat 4 teams in the top 10 during the regular season last year while no one else in the country beat more than 2 (and even the list of 2 was extremely short). Where did it get them? On the sidelines watching teams that had each beaten 1 play in the national championship. If they had played 4 in the top 10 and quit they'd have been in that game. Four good games, five, what's the difference when you're not getting any credit for it? Why add more when a loss to a top 10 team is way more damaging than three wins against them? Granted, Prefontaine has done a good job of laying out the real reasons that it wouldn't work for a team like UF, but even that aside what's their motivation? There are 119 teams in college football that need to start beefing up their schedule before a team like Florida does.

And yet you overlook how poor Florida played against really bad teams. And must be nice to never leave home against all these ranked teams.

 

[PlasmaDogPlasma]

Nobody ever said they don't play a strong schedule. But not leaving the state for an OOC game in 30 years is unreal.

Florida has played a top 5 OOC opponent in 14 of the last 23 years. They've played a ranked OOC opponent in 23 of the last 23 years. Has any other school even come anywhere close to that? But heaven forbid, they never played @Illinois so who cares, right?

>And yes they did play 5 very good teams. Out of 12 that's not really bragging though. And I would say that for anybody. The bar for a CFB schedule is really low.

So if the problem is the bar, why are we counting on the teams that already have the toughest schedules to put themselves further out there? With little reward, no less.

People rank college football teams by looking at the L column. They can't separate a good loss from a bad win. We went as far as removing strength of schedule from the BCS. Florida beat 4 teams in the top 10 during the regular season last year while no one else in the country beat more than 2 (and even the list of 2 was extremely short). Where did it get them? On the sidelines watching teams that had each beaten 1 play in the national championship. If they had played 4 in the top 10 and quit they'd have been in that game. Four good games, five, what's the difference when you're not getting any credit for it? Why add more when a loss to a top 10 team is way more damaging than three wins against them?

Granted, Prefontaine has done a good job of laying out the real reasons that it wouldn't work for a team like UF, but even that aside what's their motivation? There are 119 teams in college football that need to start beefing up their schedule before a team like Florida does.

Nobody has an average SoS better than Florida's. Nobody,

 

[Premier]

" Florida has played a top 5 OOC opponent in 14 of the last 23 years. They've played a ranked OOC opponent in 23 of the last 23 years. Has any other school even come anywhere close to that?"

How many of those are Florida State? All of them?

 

[FreeBaGeL]

And yet you overlook how poor Florida played against really bad teams. And must be nice to never leave home against all these ranked teams.

It's much easier to beat 8 average teams than it is to beat 5 great teams and 3 terrible ones. This isn't the NFL where there's tons of parity and the Bills could beat the Patriots by 30 on any given Sunday. Once you get down a ways the difference isn't great. Jacksonville St is a gimme game but so is Colorado. The difference in those two games isn't even in the same stratosphere as playing LSU instead of Indiana.There's not a big difference between playing the #70 team compared to playing the #100 team, but there is a HUGE difference in playing the #32 team compared to playing the #2 team.Besides, it's not like nearly every other school isn't scheduling a couple of cupcakes either. So Florida schedules an extra one. I don't think that even comes close to making up for playing 4 extra games against the top 10.

" Florida has played a top 5 OOC opponent in 14 of the last 23 years. They've played a ranked OOC opponent in 23 of the last 23 years. Has any other school even come anywhere close to that?"How many of those are Florida State? All of them?

Does it matter? A top 5 team is a top 5 team regardless of what the logo on their jersey is. That's kind of the point. UF already has a good yearly OOC foe and an SEC schedule to deal with. They're the last team that needs to be scheduling games @Oregon. However, I'd gladly drop 4 of those top 10 games off our schedule and take a home/home with Penn St instead, which somehow people seem to think is comparable.

 

[FreeBaGeL]

Nobody has an average SoS better than Florida's. Nobody,

Just to expand further.

Let's compare Florida's historic SoS to that of the other teams in the top 10 this year that weren't from the SEC. That would be Oregon, OSU, ND, Stanford, and Clemson. Florida has finished in the top 2 in SoS 3 times in the last 5 years. Oregon, OSU, ND, Stanford, and Clemson have finished in the top 2 in SoS once in the last 5 years...combined.

Average SoS ranking over the last 10 years:

Florida: 10.9

Oregon: 16.1

Ohio State: 18.2

Stanford: 24.1

Clemson: 27.8

Notre Dame: 30.4

Florida's worst SoS ranking in the last 10 years is 27th. Oregon's SoS has been worse than that twice. OSU three times. Notre Dame six times. Stanford four times. Clemson five times.

I know we have a lot of Michigan fans on this board. Over the last five years their SoS has been: 46th, 38th, 33rd, 44th, 12th. An average of 34.6. If you ranked the two in order of SoS by season it would go...

1. Florida '08

2. Florida '09

3. Florida '12

4. Michigan '12

5. Florida '11

6. Florida '10

7. Michigan '10

8. Michigan '09

9. Michigan '11

10. Michigan 08

If we were to keep moving down from the top 10 teams listed up above, we'd hit Kansas State next. They have seasons of 67th, 68th, and 71st in the last five years. Then we hit Louisville. Seasons of 57th, 63rd, 59th, and 43rd in the last five years. Clearly, of all these teams Florida is the one that needs to improve their SoS.

 

[gump]

Pat Forde pushes for the move to 9 conference games and thinks the additional revenue with the new TV deals should ease the pain for schools who can only schedule 6 home games.

And as noted above, the massive influx of new revenue drowns out concerns about needing an annual seventh home game to balance the books. If six home games every other year plus the increasingly fat SEC member check that arrives every June isn't enough to keep the athletic department running a surplus, then ADs need to stop spending like Steinbrenner on a bender.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ncaaf--sec-needs-to-expand-football-conference-schedule-to-nine-games-062513171.html

 

[PlasmaDogPlasma]

Pat Forde pushes for the move to 9 conference games and thinks the additional revenue with the new TV deals should ease the pain for schools who can only schedule 6 home games.

And as noted above, the massive influx of new revenue drowns out concerns about needing an annual seventh home game to balance the books. If six home games every other year plus the increasingly fat SEC member check that arrives every June isn't enough to keep the athletic department running a surplus, then ADs need to stop spending like Steinbrenner on a bender.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ncaaf--sec-needs-to-expand-football-conference-schedule-to-nine-games-062513171.html

That's great for the schools. Not so great for Joe's Deli or the Cabot Lodge.

 

[gump]

Pat Forde pushes for the move to 9 conference games and thinks the additional revenue with the new TV deals should ease the pain for schools who can only schedule 6 home games.

And as noted above, the massive influx of new revenue drowns out concerns about needing an annual seventh home game to balance the books. If six home games every other year plus the increasingly fat SEC member check that arrives every June isn't enough to keep the athletic department running a surplus, then ADs need to stop spending like Steinbrenner on a bender.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ncaaf--sec-needs-to-expand-football-conference-schedule-to-nine-games-062513171.html

That's great for the schools. Not so great for Joe's Deli or the Cabot Lodge.

Yea....not sure how Gainesville and Athens get a piece of the new revenue pie.

 

[gump]

Remember when the players dad dropped and shattered the Crystal Football at Alabama last summer? It went for $105k at a weekend auction:

https://mobile.twitter.com/PeterbrookeTusc/status/336284013452988416/photo/1

 

[GDogg]

Rumors are spreading that Eddie Vanderdoes (5 star DT and incoming Frosh) might be back on the market after a falling out with Notre Dame. Vanderdoes chose Notre Dame on Signing Day over Alabama, UCLA and Southern Cal.

 

[gump]

Rumors are spreading that Eddie Vanderdoes (5 star DT and incoming Frosh) might be back on the market after a falling out with Notre Dame. Vanderdoes chose Notre Dame on Signing Day over Alabama, UCLA and Southern Cal.

He'll have to sit out a year too, right?

 

[Tom Servo]

" Florida has played a top 5 OOC opponent in 14 of the last 23 years. They've played a ranked OOC opponent in 23 of the last 23 years. Has any other school even come anywhere close to that?"How many of those are Florida State? All of them?

Probably.

Regardless, I'd love to see a blanket avoidance of FCS schools as OOC opponents.

You could schedule a team from the bottom half of the ACC, Big 12, Big 10 or PAC-12 and not lose that much of the cupcake factor. Heck, the MAC can give you a pretty good game; Penn State can attest to that.

 

[Christo]

Rumors are spreading that Eddie Vanderdoes (5 star DT and incoming Frosh) might be back on the market after a falling out with Notre Dame. Vanderdoes chose Notre Dame on Signing Day over Alabama, UCLA and Southern Cal.

He'll have to sit out a year too, right?

Yes. But it'll essentially be his red shirt year. So it's not quite as big a deal as a transfer later on.

 

[Slider6]

Rumors are spreading that Eddie Vanderdoes (5 star DT and incoming Frosh) might be back on the market after a falling out with Notre Dame. Vanderdoes chose Notre Dame on Signing Day over Alabama, UCLA and Southern Cal.

He'll have to sit out a year too, right?

Yes. But it'll essentially be his red shirt year. So it's not quite as big a deal as a transfer later on.

That's not correct. If he gets out of his LOI, then he is free to go to another school and play immediately.

 

[gump]

Rumors are spreading that Eddie Vanderdoes (5 star DT and incoming Frosh) might be back on the market after a falling out with Notre Dame. Vanderdoes chose Notre Dame on Signing Day over Alabama, UCLA and Southern Cal.

He'll have to sit out a year too, right?

Yes. But it'll essentially be his red shirt year. So it's not quite as big a deal as a transfer later on.

That's not correct. If he gets out of his LOI, then he is free to go to another school and play immediately.

True....but the ND board writer on 247 doesn't think he gets out of his LOI.

 

[Christo]

Rumors are spreading that Eddie Vanderdoes (5 star DT and incoming Frosh) might be back on the market after a falling out with Notre Dame. Vanderdoes chose Notre Dame on Signing Day over Alabama, UCLA and Southern Cal.

He'll have to sit out a year too, right?

Yes. But it'll essentially be his red shirt year. So it's not quite as big a deal as a transfer later on.

That's not correct. If he gets out of his LOI, then he is free to go to another school and play immediately.

How does he get out of a letter of intent? He signed it, didn't he?

 

[GDogg]

Rumors are spreading that Eddie Vanderdoes (5 star DT and incoming Frosh) might be back on the market after a falling out with Notre Dame. Vanderdoes chose Notre Dame on Signing Day over Alabama, UCLA and Southern Cal.

He'll have to sit out a year too, right?

Not if ND releases him from his NLI.

 

[GDogg]

Rumors are spreading that Eddie Vanderdoes (5 star DT and incoming Frosh) might be back on the market after a falling out with Notre Dame. Vanderdoes chose Notre Dame on Signing Day over Alabama, UCLA and Southern Cal.

He'll have to sit out a year too, right?

Yes. But it'll essentially be his red shirt year. So it's not quite as big a deal as a transfer later on.

That's not correct. If he gets out of his LOI, then he is free to go to another school and play immediately.

How does he get out of a letter of intent? He signed it, didn't he?

If ND releases him from his NLI, then he's fine and doesn't need to sit out. He hasn't attended a class at ND yet, so he's technically not a transfer.

As to the how, ND just needs to release him. UCLA released (well, kicked out of summer school) three incoming frosh 3 years ago (Josh Shirley - UW, Paul Richardson - Colorado, and Shaq Richardson - Arizona) and all had actually begun summer classes, but were eligible immediately.

In basketball, UCLA just hired Steve Alford. Top 100 player Allerik Freeman decided he didn't want to attend the school and UCLA released him from his NLI and he committed to Baylor two weeks ago.

This happens a lot. The flip side is that the school doesn't have to release the player. If they refuse to, then the player can appeal to the NCAA to grant him/her a release from the NLI. From what I've read, Vanderdoes and his family believe they have a legit reason to get out of the NLI and have already appealed to the NCAA.