[NU Sports] Grandpa's angry ...

[Jonathan Hodges]

I think that many people would be in favor of a true round-robin Big Ten
conference schedule, unfortunately that would essentially take away one
guaranteed non-conference home game a year since every team has 5 home/5
away games in conference play each year - basically leaving 1 home/1 away
non-conference games in most seasons (since virtually every non-conference
opponent demands return visits nowadays).  This demand is too much to ask
for Big Ten schools, who rely on those extra home games (making a total of
7-8 per year) to bring in a ton of revenue.  Therefore, don't expect to see
this happen any time soon (unless the regular season schedule is expanded
beyond 12 games - which is also very unlikely given the push against a
playoff which would add more to the season).

One idea that is gaining traction is going to a 9 game conference schedule,
which would create a huge headache as given that there are 11 teams in the
conference, one team per season would only be able to play an 8 game
conference schedule.  The conference schedule is already unbalanced enough
with each team "missing" 2 random teams per season, an unequal number of
conference games would make things even worse.

I wouldn't expect to see any changes to conference play for at least a few
years - unless NBC somehow voids ND's contract and they come crawling back
to the Big Ten asking for admittance (unlikely, given that NBC extended
their contract during their worst football season ever).  Even then, don't
expect to see the Big Ten go to a conference championship game - the Big Ten
still leads all conferences in revenue and has completely equal revenue
sharing - and has seen in recent years that championship games don't lead to
any kind of competitive advantage (if anything, it's a disadvantage).

Here's an interesting article on conference revenues, showing Big Ten
holding a significant lead over the other conferences:
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=1200&u_sid=10640273

At the end of the day, even with fans wanting more balanced schedules, a
more sensical bowl structure, playoffs, and a lot of other things - the game
is about money and right now the Big Ten has positioned itself very well.
It has what is probably the best bowl lineup, its own network (which is now
rather successful after just a couple of years), huge stadiums that are full
throughout the fall, a big TV contract with ABC/ESPN, and national respect
and attention.  So, I don't blame them for continuing their financial
success.

Joanthan

On Thu, May 28, 2009 at 5:41 AM, Dennis W. Brandt <tbng at comcast.net> wrote:

> Here is a grandpa with another opinion.
>
> Play every team in the Big Ten plus two non-conference games.  Then, we
> will have no doubt as to whom the Big Ten champion would be.  What if NU
> goes undefeated this season?  Since we play neither Michigan nor Ohio State,
> no one would take our championship seriously.  We would likely be ranked
> eighth or so and have no shot at the national championship game, especially
> if Penn State has a less than stellar year.
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-- 
Jonathan W. Hodges
1237 Emerson St Apt 2
Evanston, IL  60201-3577
(847) 736-2449
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