[NU Sports] No TV

[Peter C. Warner]

> I am getting agitated about this "No TV" stuff.  
> That's all for my minor gripe of the day.

I agree, but my wrath is directed at ABC, ND and the wimps of the Big Ten
schools themselves.

ABC has been trying to "nationalize" college football for the past 20 years.
With a nationalized system they can control it with one network: ABC/ESPN.
They're succeeding.  

Witness: Saturday Morning Game Day.  They get a national audience watching
one program, rather than, for example, having a regional program for the Big
Ten.  

Part of the plot is the BCS crap.  It's taken away from the glamour of the
Big Ten / Pac Ten Rose Bowl match-up.  It's caused The Big Ten schools to
schedule crap non-conference games for bowl jockeying.  I can't remember
when it was (about 20 years ago?), the Big Ten went from playing 9
conference games a season to playing 8, supposedly for "national exposure."
Since then, the NCAA has gone up to allowing teams to play 12 games per
season.  

The Big Ten should be scheduling 10 conference games for each team -- better
games, better attendance.  And I guarantee, they'd all be televised - but
not nationally like ABC wants.  (Notre Dame, with all of their fans, want
the BCS and National Championship game because they have nothing else to
play for.)  Yet, it won't happen.  

The Big Ten and The Rose Bowl caved-in for short-term money and lost sight
of the long term money that the Big Ten identity can bring.  Now, its
identity is has been and continues to be diluted.  The non-conference games
on balance hurt the Big Ten more than they help.  Yes, tOSU beat Texas.  But
losses to teams from lesser conferences such as the MAC or lower division
schools (dare I say, New Hampshire) hurt the reputation and strong identity
of the conference more than the occasional big win over a credible
non-conference opponent.

I've said it before and I'll say it again:  Play a 10-game Big Ten schedule.
Let us beat each other up during the regular season.  That's what Big Ten
football is about.  Then match all teams in the Big Ten with at least a .500
record against all teams in the Pac 10 with at least a .500 record in bowl
games at the end of the season, starting with # 5 or #6 teams and working
our way up to #1 at the Rose Bowl on New Years' Day.  The bowls can be in
Pac 10 states - why help Florida's and/or Texas' economies?  To complement
the benefit to the Pac 10 states, a match-up of Big Ten / Pac 10 teams in a
non-conference game at Big Ten forums could start off the season similar to
the ACC/Big Ten basketball match-ups.  Again, I'll guaranty that those games
would get televised too.  And that solves Joe's gripe.

And that's my gripe for the day.

Peter Warner