interesting
recent post from BIG 12 commissioner Bowlsby where he references the
possible 16 team superconferences or even just two superconferences.
excerpt:
"One of the ironies in college athletics right now is that the Big 12 has 10 and the Big 10 is soon going to have 14," says Bob Bowlsby, commissioner of the Big 12 conference.
So why do college coaches get paid so much? Bowlsby explains.
Bowlsby
says there's no question it's the lure of TV contracts that's creating a
sort of musical chairs among conferences as schools try to squeeze as
much revenue as possible from their brands. "There are some very bad
decisions that are being made by certain institutions based only on the
money and not on traditions of rivalries and what may be best for the
institution in other ways." He points to departures from the Big 12 of
Missouri and Texas A&M, moves that destroyed century-old rivalries.
Meanwhile, adding Rutgers and Maryland to the Big 10 makes little sense
from a competitive standpoint but it will bring two huge markets full of
cable subscribers to the Big 10: New York and Washington, D.C.
"The
popularity of football is really what's driving it," Bowlsby says. He
points to the reorganization of the Atlantic Coast Conference: "The
majority of the value, even for a league that has the most storied
tradition in men's basketball -- is driven by the sport of football."
Schools risk losing other sports as they dash to monetize their pigskin
team.
And this, says Bowlsby, can set a dangerous
precedent for the future. "What we've done is commoditize institutions
of higher education and I don't think that's a path down which we really
want to go."
Bowlsby says the future of conferences
still isn't clear. "And you wonder at some point, are there going to be
those four super conferences or one or two very large organizations that
close everyone else out."
http://www.marketplace.org/topics/business/march-m adness-and-big-business-college-sports
would be almost like the NFL, which could be the way it eventually ends up.
recent post from BIG 12 commissioner Bowlsby where he references the
possible 16 team superconferences or even just two superconferences.
excerpt:
"One of the ironies in college athletics right now is that the Big 12 has 10 and the Big 10 is soon going to have 14," says Bob Bowlsby, commissioner of the Big 12 conference.
So why do college coaches get paid so much? Bowlsby explains.
Bowlsby
says there's no question it's the lure of TV contracts that's creating a
sort of musical chairs among conferences as schools try to squeeze as
much revenue as possible from their brands. "There are some very bad
decisions that are being made by certain institutions based only on the
money and not on traditions of rivalries and what may be best for the
institution in other ways." He points to departures from the Big 12 of
Missouri and Texas A&M, moves that destroyed century-old rivalries.
Meanwhile, adding Rutgers and Maryland to the Big 10 makes little sense
from a competitive standpoint but it will bring two huge markets full of
cable subscribers to the Big 10: New York and Washington, D.C.
"The
popularity of football is really what's driving it," Bowlsby says. He
points to the reorganization of the Atlantic Coast Conference: "The
majority of the value, even for a league that has the most storied
tradition in men's basketball -- is driven by the sport of football."
Schools risk losing other sports as they dash to monetize their pigskin
team.
And this, says Bowlsby, can set a dangerous
precedent for the future. "What we've done is commoditize institutions
of higher education and I don't think that's a path down which we really
want to go."
Bowlsby says the future of conferences
still isn't clear. "And you wonder at some point, are there going to be
those four super conferences or one or two very large organizations that
close everyone else out."
http://www.marketplace.org/topics/business/march-m adness-and-big-business-college-sports
would be almost like the NFL, which could be the way it eventually ends up.
