Canzano: TV Picking Apart College Football

[NJDuck]

 

Oregon, Washington, Stanford and Cal on block next?

I get it. Television is a business. Media companies have profits to turn and money to make. But in the end, I’m left wondering if TV cares about the wreckage the industry is causing in pursuit of it.

 

The Pac-12 is in trouble.

 

The conference has made some strategic errors, blown the messaging and overplayed its hand. But it still has a line of wonderful schools, excellent brands, good media markets and talented college football teams. 

 

So why is TV reluctant to buy it?

 

Interesting?  According to Canzano: "On Wednesday, the Big Ten Conference presidents reportedly opened preliminary talks to explore additional expansion. They may decide to add Oregon, Washington, Stanford and Cal. It’s early there. They’re just exploring. But it’s a full-on chess game now, being played by a merry band of pirates."

 

But at what cost?  Some major truth to what he is saying.  We all thought it and spoke of it.  I felt what he expressed was in all of our hearts as fans.  I'm glad he used the word "Icky" in his piece. Because that's how I feel about it all.
 

Canzano: TV picking apart college football

WWW.JOHNCANZANO.COM

---

Oregon, Washington, Stanford and Cal on block next?

 

[lownslowav8r]

Yup. 

[Jon Joseph]

The Media Mafia at Work. 

 

Go back to June of 1984 when the Supreme Court affirmed Oklahoma's District court win against the NCAA. The NCAA's limit on the number of games that could be televised on a given Saturday, usually one game, was found to violate anti-trust law. From this date forward it was every man and conference for itself and the media became far more instrumental in funding college athletics.

 

Jump to the conclusion of the 1999/2000 season when FSU defeated now fellow ACC member VA Tech, 46 to 29 in the first BCS Championship game. The flood gates were of the date of this game now wide open. And the beat goes on with a 4-team playoff that will become a 12-team playoff in 2024 and likely, IMO, to go to 16 teams in 2026.

 

You monetize anything and the monied people will take over.

Edited August 2, 2023 by Jon Joseph

[noDucknewby]

Spot on, Fox absolutely benefits from P12 dissolution.  They have no interest in paying fair market value.

 

ESPN to me is still a bit of head-scratcher though unless they're willing to completely abandon the west coast and go all-in with the SEC.

[OhioDuck]

Ironically they may be ruining the product they are buying. If this continues, I will be watching a lot less college football on television, streaming or in any other way.

The Ducks are my team, but past them?

 

No, no more.

[Sandy Rocks]

It used to be that businesses were connected to their communities and customers and some still are but these big mega-corporations only care about their bottom line.  It's amazing how callous they can be.  They believe that fans will still watch because they want to see their teams. How does the Pac navigate around this, hopefully they will find a way.

[Jemangi]

I'm staying out of politics other than to say, Sandy Rocks, you get it.

Please post more often when you wish too.

[TXDuck]

Hey noDuckNewby, I’m my opinion ESPN is the easiest one to figure out. You don’t have to look any further than their parent company… Disney. Disney has been hemorrhaging cash and been cutting costs across the board. You then consider the fact more and more people are cutting their cable and streaming… the dollars are far smaller than they once were. 
 

I think it’s total crap they we (PAC) are always dumped on and treated like a MWC most the time. OSU… I understand that, small brand small dollars and a garbage product (not very kind or objective of me). Oregon on the other hand is nationally known and puts a quality product on the field. 
 

I was quietly hoping Oregon would join the BIG12 since I live in Texas now. It would be awesome to see my team in person again. In reality I want Oregon where they will make the most money and recruit the best players. 
 

Just like you all, I’ll wait and see where Oregon lands.

[lownslowav8r]

Having a free market means there cannot be large actors that can set prices. Capitalism requires companies to compete and set prices through that competition. We are not seeing that happening for the PAC and our lives will likely be less because of the media “trust” in action. 

[lownslowav8r]

On 8/2/2023 at 4:53 PM, TXDuck said:

I was quietly hoping Oregon would join the BIG12 since I live in Texas now. It would be awesome to see my team in person again. In reality I want Oregon where they will make the most money and recruit the best players. 

If prices were being set by market forces perhaps this would be best for Oregon (money wise) but that is not what is happening. Imagine Oregon getting 20-30 million to join the BIG12 and having to pay millions extra for travel and other costs. 

 

I live on the West Coast in a different culture and geographic place than Texas and the BIG12 in general, as does the Oregon campus. That is why I’ve felt that Oregon would be best served to stay in a West Coast conference even if that means less money. Being in the BIG12 also still means recruits are going to have to move to Oregon. 
 

 

[QuackAttack]

Media companies aren't solely to blame. Each university is looking out for their bottom line too and I think the only reason Oregon is a potential pick up for the B1G is because Phil Knight almost single-handedly built them into

 

one of the best athletic programs money can buy; otherwise, I think Oregon would be in a similar boat as OSU & WAZZU because Eugene is no large market.

[Mike West]

On 8/2/2023 at 5:31 PM, lownslowav8r said:

Having a free market means there cannot be large actors that can set prices. Capitalism requires companies to compete and set prices through that competition. We are not seeing that happening for the PAC and our lives will likely be less because of the media “trust” in action. 

There are small players involved in this process.  The CW for one, and Apple isn't exactly a big producer of sports content.  This means there are new entrants coming into the market.

 

The all know the numbers.  I'd say the four new Big12 members added more value to the market  for Power Five Conferences than the current ensemble of teams in our conference.  I believe without SMI and SDSU, that grows.

 

Again, they've known the numbers for long enough to know the score.  This isn't just Fox and ESPN playing hardball.  Apple is very measured about the risk they are taking with our conference.  The CW supposedly offered Wednesday games as a package.

 

 

That tells me we are not valued enough in the 12:30 time slot, or the 4:30 and 5:00 time slots. In other words, the Big 12 is more valuable in both those slots, and they draw enough eyeballs in the Noon EST slot.  They simply offer more value, despite not having one team with the global presence OBD have.  

 

This opinion isn't biased either.  We don't draw enough interest nationwide to risk low ad dollars.  USC v. Utah drew 2.5 Million fewer viewers than Kansas State v. TCU on championship weekend.

 

Our title game is relegated to Friday night because we can't compete with even Kansas State and TCU (with USC mind you).  Not to mention straight up against the Big Ten or SEC.  Those are concrete numbers that any business would use to evaluate our conference.

 

This isn't just greed.  I'd say the tv contract that is closing out this year isn't producing much of a profit.  With UCLA...with USC.  So I am not convinced greed is the only factor.

 

NIL benefits the elite athlete.  Players have demanded "fair" compensation for at least five years now.  The leaders in the industry recognize this elephant in the room, and I believe it is driving market forces as well.  WSU can't afford to pay half their revenue to players...heck OBD would struggle with that.

 

Football and Basketball are about to get more expensive.  The marquee programs are going to demand more revenue to cover those expenses.  They can afford to better than most.  

 

Fair compensation was an issue when I graduated from high school.  I know because I talked to UW players when UW was natty material regularly.  They were furious at the prospect they didn't get paid for the time they put into the sport.  And this was well before multi million dollar contracts for coaches.

 

We all know under the table compensation for players is a decades old issue.  Now it's in the forefront.  And our conference, with the lowest ratings of a Power Five Conference, is in the cross hairs because we don't generate the kind of revenue to justify that new increase that is coming.

 

There is now talk that Venture capital has to enter the fray because let's face it, college football is a minor league professional enterprise now.  And an expensive one at that.  USC and UCLA are going to travel a lot more and their players are going to get paid for it.  It's coming whether we like it or not (and I was ticked off when NIL embedded itself into the game).

 

Our Conference is not a profitable prospect at Big 12 numbers.  They are going to Garner more viewers moving forward.  They did last year while the new members were G5 teams.  While we thumbed our noses at BYU wanting to rest on Sundays, the Big 12 was calculating the numbers.  And I'm sure Fox and ESPN were too.

 

That brand alone is going to compete again now that they will face a TCU.  And they're going to get significant numbers given their following.  So I'm sure little players like the CW and Ion were crunching numbers too.  They aren't  going to enter the market for the sake of losing money.