[NU Sports] 9 conference games

Beamsley, Jeff Jeff.Beamsley at covisint.com
Tue Aug 9 11:20:01 CDT 2011 

I agree that there may be ancillary benefits with regard to ND to a 9 game sched.  The primary benefit, as others have mentioned, is fairly obvious.  6 more BTN games.  If you use just simple math and say that it adds one more weekend to the BTN broadcast schedule, that is an automatic 10% increase in revenues.  That could be as much as an additional $20M to the BTN which is another $1.6M to NU.

Jeff

-----Original Message-----
From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com] On Behalf Of Jim Leonard
Sent: Tuesday, August 09, 2011 12:08 PM
To: nwu-sports at tssi.com
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] 9 conference games

I wouldn't mind the Pac 10 v. Big Ten challenge. I doubt it'll happen but it does add some spice to the pre-season.

Jim Delaney is a very smart man and I seems to know what he's doing. I would not be at all surprised if this 9-conference game announcement is simply a queeze play to get Notre Dame to join the conference. I know the book is not closed on further expansion and ND needs Purdue, Michigan and MSU and possibly a 4th Big Ten team on its schedule. 

The 9-conference game plan will make these schools reconsider ND in favor of easier opponents and leave ND scrambling. Then again, it might just be a dumb idea.
 
Go Cats!
Jim



----- Original Message -----
From: SjT (Stephen J. Truog) <sjtruog at yahoo.com>
To: "nwu-sports at tssi.com" <nwu-sports at tssi.com>
Cc: 
Sent: Monday, August 8, 2011 10:35 PM
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] 9 conference games

Man, Delaney's been a font of idiocy lately ... was adding UNL such a brilliant move that it drained his brain for awhile and it allowed is the laughable division names and now a 9-game league schedule that will hurt bowl chances (isn't that big money lost?) and isn't what the fans or coaches want???

If he's looking for TV revenue, get that Big Ten/Pac 12 challenge going for the ninth game -- the Pac 12 commish would be far more receptive than the SEC one and it would be a win/win for both leagues, for the TV contracts and for fans. If you spread it out over 3 or 4 weekends, you'd have mega-TV events for the month of September to feature the league. Imagine that this year, instead of the usual slate of creampuffs, you looked ahead on the schedule and saw ...

Sept. 3
- Early game: Michigan State @ Utah
- Afternoon slot: Arizona @ Nebraska
- Prime time: Ohio State @ USC

Sept. 10
- Early game: Washington State @ Minnesota
- Afternoon slot: Northwestern @ Washington
- Prime time: Arizona State @ Penn State

Sept. 17
- Early game: Indiana @ California
- Afternoon slot: Colorado @ Michigan
- Prime time: Iowa @ Oregon

Sept. 24
- Early game: Oregon State @ Purdue
- Afternoon slot: Illinois @ UCLA
- Prime time: Stanford @ Wisconsin

That would be a brilliant marketing and money move for both leagues. This? Stinks. No use killing yourself and taking league teams out of the bowl hunt when other leagues (read the SEC) are not.

Someone get Delaney some help.
GO CATS!!!
-SjT
 
* * * * * * * * *
STEPHEN J. TRUOG
sjtruog at yahoo.com
GO CATS!!! GEAUX SAINTS!!!
Super Bowl XLIV Champions!
==========================


________________________________
From: Jonathan Hodges <j-hodges at alumni.northwestern.edu>
To: cherron604 at aol.com
Cc: nwu-sports at tssi.com
Sent: Monday, August 8, 2011 5:31 PM
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] 9 conference games

It was mostly Delany pushing for the 9 game slate, and, in fact, most
coaches are opposed to it as it will definitely take 6 wins away from the
conference as a whole and will likely take away about 1-2 conference bowl
bids per season (although a lot depends on how schools' non-conference
scheduling goes - chances are they'll abandon a MAC type matchup).

While the on field aspects are pretty much all negative, it's definitely a
deal done for TV purposes.  The TV contract at the time will be worth a good
amount more due to this.  Gate receipts will also likely get a nice boost
(especially with schools charging more for conference games).  All in all,
revenues will get a nice boost with another conference game added to the
schedule (directly when schools get 5 home games and indirectly via revenue
sharing even when they only get 4).

In terms of other conferences right now, the Pac-12 and Big 12 both have 9
game schedules.  The ACC and SEC are sticking with 8, for now.  Who knows
what the national conference landscape will be like by 2017, though.

While I know that NU will likely suffer in the W column with this move, I
also know they'll bring in more revenue and that will be key moving forward,
especially with that ambitious facilities upgrade coming down the pipeline.
So, I remain mixed on this.  Hopefully Fitz can build a strong enough
program to survive this increase in strength of schedule by that time.

Jonathan

On Thu, Aug 4, 2011 at 2:47 PM, <cherron604 at aol.com> wrote:

> A question that I have - who was asking for a nine-game conference season ?
>  How many conference games in the SEC ?
>
>
> Chuck Herron   Tech '85
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jim Leonard <jleonard518 at yahoo.com>
> To: Northwestern Wildcats <nwu-sports at tssi.com>
> Sent: Thu, Aug 4, 2011 8:16 am
> Subject: [NU Sports] 9 conference games
>
>
> Well, the road will get a bit harder for the Cats in 2017. I'm not sure
> that I
> see nine conference games as a good thing. I like to think the Cats will
> always
> be competitive in the Big Ten but 7-5 is a lot easier to reach when you can
> get
> 4 wins in non-conference play. (my own definition of a good year is to be
> above
> .500 and going to a bowl).
>
> In some years we play tougher non-conference opponents than the Big Ten
> schedule
> will serve up, so I think it will be a wash over the long term but I'm not
> excited.
>
> Go Cats!
> Jim
>
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-- 
Jonathan W. Hodges
Contributor, HailToPurple
Web: http://www.hailtopurple.com/jhodges/
Twitter: @hailtopurple
Email: j-hodges at alumni.northwestern.edu
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