The Big Ten has quietly dethroned the SEC in four surprising ways. These include superior recent College Football Playoff advancement, narrowing the geographic recruiting gap, securing dominant multi-network media rights, and accelerating premium offensive and defensive line development. For nearly two decades, Southeastern Conference programs collected national championships and served as the sport’s undisputed cultural center. However, shifting financial infrastructures, ...

Four Surprising Ways the Big-10 Dethroned the SEC

Good article Charles. There is much truth to what you lay out here.

Good article. And… the Big Ten is on the verge of having 5 teams in the Elite Eight, where the SEC will be lucky to have one…

Great article. If this is finally the year for OBD, then The BIG would win for straight titles by for different teams. They would also have at least 5 out of the last 8 championship participants. An accomplishment only the SEC could claim just a few years ago.

Beware of recency bias and hubris. Leave the It Just Means More stuff to the folks in Dixie.

It's B1G coast-to-coast, and the conference has a huge number of living alumni, so the media deal is financially superior to the SEC's deal, barely, when it comes to the bottom line.

The SEC's broadcast deal is confined to Disney, ABC, and ESPN, but SEC football games are broadcast at times that encourage fans coast-to-coast to tune in. More folks are watching SEC football games than Big Ten games.

Last year, millions of football fans tuned in at noon Eastern and 9 AM Pacific to watch Texas play Ohio State. This year, the game will kick off at 3:30 PM, or more likely 7:30 PM Eastern. There will be millions more fans watching this season's game on ABC than watched last season's game on Fox.

No one markets college football like the folks at ESPN. ESPN owns and puts on the college football postseason. ESPN is the reason a 3-loss Alabama team with one of the losses to a crummy FSU team and a bad loss to Georgia in the SEC champ game played in last season's Rose Bowl.

The Big Ten is having a banner year in the Men's CBB tournament. The SEC has two teams still standing, and it would be an upset if Tennessee +4.5 defeats Iowa State, and/or Alabama +10.5 defeats Michigan.

Last season, with Florida winning it all, the SEC was the best at Men's basketball. Big Ten tournament wins this season over Florida, Vanderbilt, and Texas could have gone the SEC's way. All of the B1G wins have been close-run things.

The B1G leads the way in Men's and Women's ice hockey, but schools located in the South and Southwest lead the way in ranked baseball and softball teams. The Big Ten more than holds its own in Track & Field, but the SEC leads the way, or at least provides the top competition.

Shame on you, Mr. Reigns, for not including Oregon among the top recruiting teams in the Big Ten.

But when it comes to the bottom line, which matters more today than ever, Mr. Reigns nailed it. And come 2030, the B1G's lead in money will get B1Gger. 🤑

3 hours ago, Jon Joseph said:

Shame on you, Mr. Reigns, for not including Oregon among the top recruiting teams in the Big Ten.