The former Georgia beat writer goes “hammer meet nail” with this TwiX.
ESPN appeared to be happy with the 12-team model. For all that we say about Disney, they have the data that shows what the value of the additional games really is as opposed to what the expansionists think. They seemed to see only incremental value over their relationship with existing conference championship games (the SECCG is still a viewership monster). On that, how is Fox going to change the financial relationship with the Big 10 as a result of losing their championship game? The players? Don’t get a say on this.
If you go to the TwiX, here’s the kicker:
“It’s entirely to appease the people donating the money that keeps a financially irresponsible business model afloat. It’s discounting success so schools can say ‘look what your donation bought.’
“It’s an industry hellbent on treating investors and bosses as the customer, and customers as an infinite resource that will keep coming back no matter what.”
Don’t those last 2 paragraphs sound like the brass in Charlotte at NASCAR telling their customers that those who would go to Rockingham and Darlington every year will watch the races in Miami, Chicago, and California?
There is a saying here on GTP Refugees that applies to more than the cow college on the planes. I think it applies now to this situation … FTMF.
Hale is right. Follow the money. Billionaire boys club donors want to see their team in the playoffs. Conference title games not enough and too exclusive. Is Iowa vs Wake Forest really going to have higher ratings than the SECCG? Of course not, but with 8 games now instead of 4 TV executives will try to justify the combined viewership being better.
Question: How do you have 8 games on a Saturday not overlap in timing? Answer: They’ll move 4 to Friday since HS football is over. Yay! Friday night football in Wisconsin early December! Visiting SMU fans will love it!
Since they are going to do this, I would make 3 suggestions:
1) Get rid of the committee – A BCS type of formula works for the selection and seeding. They should do this now regardless.
2) Reseed for every round – if the 24 seed beats the 9 in the play-in, you don’t get the 8 seed in the next one. You get #1 in their building. Good luck running the gauntlet. Once again, something to do now.
3) Every game up to the championship game is on campus – if we’re going to kill the bowl system, why do the NY6 get an exemption? Why should the top 2 ever have to leave the friendly confines of their home field until they face each other?
These 3 things would make sure the regular season matters … no load management. Encouraging strength of schedule.
Hale nailed it.
This is so f@©king stupid!!
This is just another nail in the coffin of the game I use to love more than any other sport. I find myself watching college football less and less every year.
Pro sports have too many playoff teams. NCAA basketball has 68. GHSA has 32 playoff teams with 50 teams in a classification. All are a joke. Why? $$$.
ESPN is the devil. It was so much better going to 1:30 kickoffs or listening to Munson than all the TV BS.
The GHSA made regions mean nothing especially in the lower classifications. I grew up when the region champion was the only team to advance to the state playoffs. 1 played 4 (or 2 if subregions) and 2 played 3… 1 from each region advanced to state. It was the best … basketball only the top 2 from a region advanced.
This is all for Conference bragging rights. This is the unintended consequences of “It Just Means More.” The best way for your conference to win a Natty is to get as many teams in the mix as possible. The why for why Conference bragging rights are so important has always eluded me. I want most of the folks in our conference to get the shit kicked out of them from week to week.
The thing is, in the BCS days, conference perception did matter. One-loss team were always subject to the eye test, and occasionally even an undefeated team would get left out (2004 Auburn being the only one with a legitimate case). Now? We could move to the Sun Belt and win a national title with this team and how Florida, Auburn, and Tennessee do this year would be irrelevant.
College football is now NFL lite so just adopt the NFL rule book and labor agreement. It is the owners (college, conferences) and the players (a negotiated labor agreement to apply to the college student athletes). Let the NFL labor agreement set the payroll of college teams (say at 40% of NFL salary caps which are negotiated) ,transfer rules (free agency is negotiated), soon. I’m really not stupid enough to think this will work but everybody has an opinion and most of them stink. Thank you for reading.
It’s fun to whine and bitch about stuff like this, but honestly my mindset is none of this matters to me if Georgia doesn’t find a way to get past the quarterfinals. Let’s focus on that and winning the damn thing every year. Cuz then it won’t matter to me how many teams made the playoffs.
Most of us want the regular season to matter.
So, I’m going to ask one question based on your response. Would you prefer to (1) win the SEC but lose the quarterfinal game or (2) advance beyond the quarterfinal round but not win the national and/or SEC championship? Which scenario is success and which is failure?
I’m genuinely curious.
Winning the SEC means more to me than will winning a round or 2 in the 24 team field. I think it’s really hard to get to and win the SEC championship. Usually means beating a team like Alabama or Texas in a tough game.
The first round is just lower class bowl games on campus that nobody other than those involved are interested in.
As a ticket buying fan I can’t wait to see what each round will cost. Not that these geniuses think about fans in the stands. After the new wears off in a few years I bet lots of these games are full of empty seats.
The extra games create very little additional revenue because nobody will be watching 8-4 teams after thanksgiving.
If you’re a booster at a school like SMU yeah for you. You can brag about getting your school in the playoffs. Don’t forget to take credit for the inevitable season ending ass whopping your money bought.
If the last 2 years are any indication, lower bowl south side were going to be at least $200 a pop. You committed to your full season ticket allotment. No options.
But you won’t have to choose to buy playoff tickets. I personally would likely pass on the first 2 rounds or sell them to some sucker who wants to watch us slaughter somebody. I guess we’ll see…….
I know multiple bowl games aren’t incredibly popular. But I enjoyed the mid-week bowls, particularly when I was off work for an extended time just before Christmas to after New Years. I haven’t got a clue how or whether bowl games continue. But it seems like these playoff games will deplete the number of decent teams available for bowls. Not to mention all the playoff game time overlap in the early rounds. Just like many of the obscure bowls, a small number of these early playoff games will have decent viewership, and the rest will only be the parents/grandparents of players (along with those big doners, I suppose). It’ll be like my 5 y.o. grandson’s soccer games, except with Beth Mowins doing play-by-play.
I was a huge NASCAR fan. I watched every race and went to a few each year. I rarely even check the standings now. They started changing the very core of what made it special to try and bring in “new” fans. For a short period, they grew like crazy every track expanded and was sold out for every race. TV ratings were through the roof. The powers that been became intoxicated with the profit. Higher prices. New rules. Build more. Out with the old and in with the new so they would look good on TV for the masses. Then the new wore off. The “new” fans that were not invested in the history of the sport found their new thrill and moved on. The changes had pissed off the hard-core loyal fan base and many of them left, never to come back. Today the tracks have taken out grandstands to make the seating area smaller so it will seem full. Even then they are half empty. TV ratings have plummeted. They too late realize that the hardcore fans that were there with multiple generations of their family and were the backbone of the sport have left. They felt slighted by the powers that be and are not coming back. Equally as bad, is that they are not passing the love of the sport on to the next generation. The new flavor of the month fans are long gone as well. The sport is in a slow death spiral.
A smart man learns from his mistakes. A REALLY smart man learns from the mistakes of others, so he doesn’t have to make them. It seems that the “geniuses” that run CFB would have looked at NASCAR and realized that keeping the core of your fan base happy is goal #1. The quest to squeeze more and more out of the hardcore fan is slowly but surely running them off in CFB just like NASCAR. The powers that be have shot more holes in their own feet than a slice of Swiss cheese. Now with this NEW AND IMPROVED playoff, they are looking at the dollars and telling the hardcore long-time fines that they no longer matter. Tradition no longer matters. The dollar reigns supreme……right before it all starts it’s death spiral…… just like NASCAR. They’re trying so hard to squeeze every golden egg from the goose that will end up chocking her to death.
Thus ends may rant.
I think there’s a lot of truth to this narrative around NASCAR’s decline. But it’s also important to point out that all stock car racing all the way down to local tracks took a major nose dive when the market dropped in 2006. The money behind stock car racing, from team owners to sponsors to ticket buyers was heavily concentrated in two industries: construction and automotive. Both of those industries were disproportionally affected by the economic conditions of that recession. I kind of doubt NASCAR could have done a whole lot better during that period had they not cut Rockingham and switched to a Mickey Mouse postseason format.
All of that is true, BUT in their greed, they alienated the hardcore fans. Those folks would have continued to go to races come Hell or high water until the powers that be told them they are no longer a priority. Now that they need them, they’re gone. NASCAR very much like CFB was and is more of a regional thing. The rivalries developed over decades are what makes CFB great. While I love beating Michigan, anOSU or USC, it pales in comparison to a win over UF, Auburn, Tech, Clemson, or The Gumps. Texas and OU may be SEC on paper, but wins or losses to them don’t mean nearly as much as rivalries that date back a century.
I would not all it a rant just a brief history on how to run off loyal fans. Once upon a time we attended 5 NASCAR races annually holding season tickets at all three tracks. Twice a year at Talladega, Atlanta and season opener in Daytona. The fan disdain is extremely similar. I wouldn’t go today to a NASCAR race if given free tickets .
Call not all.
My NASCAR watching died when Dale did! It has gotten so much worse since then. Used to watch every Sunday, no longer the case! CFB is definitely going the same route!
My head is spinning!! Glad I’m old!! GoDawgs!!
Testing 1234. wouldn’t let me like so had to sign back in to wordpress. Then had to change pass word and still will not let me in. WTH? So let me see if I can comment.
That took too much brain power. I need to save the rest for my shaker drinks, after my nap. And I’m still having to log in to send comment.
And it damn sure isn’t for the fans, a huge majority of which do not want this dumb oversized tournament.
Awesome Bill from Dawsonville
Cale Yarborough
the King
#3
the Waltrips
all that died just like the NWA and the Braves on TBS
Rassller #1
Rassler #2
Nature Boy
Hacksaw
Anderson bros
Lex Luger
and the best for last… The American Dream