[NU Sports] Grandpa's angry ...

[Beamsley, Jeff]

Good post.

The only thing that I would add is that a four game non-con schedule
also benefits the BT.  It allows the league to produce more
bowl-eligible teams because the weaker teams in the conference have soft
non-con schedules.  It also benefits those smaller number of teams with
National Championship aspirations because they can schedule marquee
matchups (OSU/SC) which help position them high in the polls early in
the season while still preserving a couple of cupcake games to help pad
their record.

An expanded BT schedule and a reduced non-con schedule would likely
reduce the number of bowl eligible BT teams with the only benefit that a
few more BT teams would rank a little higher in the polls.

As long as money continues to talk, we aren't going to see big changes
in this structure.

The only thing I think that could cause the league to change is if we
began to see more parity in BT football programs.  If the league became
so competitive that it affected the ability of the league to produce a
BCS contender (because every team had a couple of losses), then the
league might look to a playoff format to boost the late season ranking
of the winner.

Jeff



The contents of this e-mail are intended for the named addressee only. It contains information that may be confidential. Unless you are the named addressee or an authorized designee, you may not copy or use it, or disclose it to anyone else. If you received it in error please notify us immediately and then destroy it.

From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com]
On Behalf Of Jonathan Hodges
Sent: Thursday, May 28, 2009 9:18 AM
To: Dennis W. Brandt
Cc: nwu-sports at tssi.com
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] Grandpa's angry ...

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.
>  _______________________________________________
> nwu-sports site list
> nwu-sports at tssi.com
> http://romaine.tssi.com/mailman/listinfo/nwu-sports
>



--
Jonathan W. Hodges
1237 Emerson St Apt 2
Evanston, IL  60201-3577
(847) 736-2449
jonathanwhodges at gmail.com
_______________________________________________
nwu-sports site list
nwu-sports at tssi.com
http://romaine.tssi.com/mailman/listinfo/nwu-sports