Reports B1G is back in Convos with Oregon & Washington

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CowpokeU

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Trending about an hour ago have been the first words of a renewed discussion between Oregon & Washington's Presidents & B1G officials along with Amazon & FOX.
 
There have been ongoing conversations since last summer but I haven't seen a report on anything recent. I'll ask my contacts later if there's any chatter here.
 
AlaskaGuy said:
The SEC will make a play for FSU and Clemson would be my guess.
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The ACC schools aren't going to be able to get themselves out of that contract without dissolving the league. I don't think the SEC has any moves available until then.

And that's fine, the SEC is in a very strong position. They don't even really need to add Clemson or FSU but they really don't want to see the Big Ten start to add major football contenders in the south. It would be a defensive move by the SEC.
 
TheInsider said:
The ACC schools aren't going to be able to get themselves out of that contract without dissolving the league. I don't think the SEC has any moves available until then.

And that's fine, the SEC is in a very strong position. They don't even really need to add Clemson or FSU but they really don't want to see the Big Ten start to add major football contenders in the south. It would be a defensive move by the SEC.
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This has been my POV as well. One other thing to throw out there - WHY would ESPN pay MORE for inventory it already has? They own both ACC and SEC in totality now. I don't see the GoR being broken anytime soon, maybe closer to the end of the contract.

Also, I am not fully buying into the UO/UW/B1G rumors just yet. I think this might just saber rattling to try to force unequal revenue sharing toward the PNW schools.The new B1G commish has not been named and although I think the Ducks have a great brand, they would be adding another non-AAU school and pushing the B1G over 16. I dont think that happens unless ND is included. (Yes, I know ND is not AAU as well).
 
david_WVU said:
This has been my POV as well. One other thing to throw out there - WHY would ESPN pay MORE for inventory it already has? They own both ACC and SEC in totality now. I don't see the GoR being broken anytime soon, maybe closer to the end of the contract.

Also, I am not fully buying into the UO/UW/B1G rumors just yet. I think this might just saber rattling to try to force unequal revenue sharing toward the PNW schools.The new B1G commish has not been named and although I think the Ducks have a great brand, they would be adding another non-AAU school and pushing the B1G over 16. I dont think that happens unless ND is included. (Yes, I know ND is not AAU as well).
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I agree with most of this. There's no incentive for ESPN to allow current ACC schools to be let out of their current contract. Oregon, despite not being a great research university, is a member of the AAU. I don't necessarily think UO and UW are trying to force unequal revenue sharing on the PAC. I don't think they have the leverage to do that. If I'm Utah, there's no reason to give in to it. If UO/UW get an offer from the Big Ten, they are gone. If they don't, they are staying. Unequal revenue sharing wouldn't change that decision.


I talked to a source in a major Big Ten Athletic Department today and asked about the UO/UW rumors I saw in this thread. Here's the summary of what I was told:
- UO and UW have been in talks with the Big Ten since the summer. So has Stanford but there's less interest on the Big Ten's end here.
- Nothing is imminent with regard to UO and UW joining the Big Ten and there's been no new talks recently. They would have to have new media partners (ESPN and/or Amazon) approach them about funding expansion. Nobody is doing that until Kevin Warren is gone because you want to negotiate with the commissioner that's going to finish the deal.
- There are people in the room with different views on expansion. Some are skeptical of expansion (and aren't thrilled that the LA schools were brought in). Some support adding UO and UW. Others want to hold out and try to add ND, Oregon and a few schools in the ACC later on.
- He doesn't have direct knowledge but he believes that you won't see a PAC media deal until this issue is resolved. UO and UW committing to the PAC long term adds a lot of value to the conference and they won't do that until this matter is resolved one way or the other.

In short, no decisions have been made on Oregon or Washington at this time and likely won't be made until the summer (at the earliest). It's not inevitable that the Big Ten expands again out west but it's certainly going to be discussed. It likely comes down to what kind of offer Amazon and/or ESPN is going to make the Big Ten. If they can find a way to bring in UO and UW and make everyone more money, I believe it will happen.
 
Thanks for the clarification on Oregon, did not realize that.

The thing that stands out in you post to me is the final sentence. "If they can find a way to bring in UO and UW and make everyone more money, I believe it will happen." Although I think they are both great brands, I don't feel they add more than an equal share, so more money for everyone will be tough in this market.
 
david_WVU said:
Thanks for the clarification on Oregon, did not realize that.

The thing that stands out in you post to me is the final sentence. "If they can find a way to bring in UO and UW and make everyone more money, I believe it will happen." Although I think they are both great brands, I don't feel they add more than an equal share, so more money for everyone will be tough in this market.
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The only way it’s possible is if UO and UW come in at less than an equal share. However, I’m confident that a lower share would still beat what the PAC is gonna be able to offer, so UO and UW would accept that.
 
TheInsider said:
The only way it’s possible is if UO and UW come in at less than an equal share. However, I’m confident that a lower share would still beat what the PAC is gonna be able to offer, so UO and UW would accept that.
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Coming in at a less than equal share has been done in previous expansions, but eventually everyone gets the same. It has to stay that way, or you end up with a situation like the B12 had with UT/OU…who left anyway.

Not to mention that UM and OSU would start making demands in a heartbeat if all conference members weren’t equal on TV revenue. Then USC and PSU would start chirping, and the whole thing turns into a shit show.
 
Shower Fart said:
Coming in at a less than equal share has been done in previous expansions, but eventually everyone gets the same. It has to stay that way, or you end up with a situation like the B12 had with UT/OU…who left anyway.

Not to mention that UM and OSU would start making demands in a heartbeat if all conference members weren’t equal on TV revenue. Then USC and PSU would start chirping, and the whole thing turns into a shit show.
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Yes, I believe UO and UW would come in at a lesser share but eventually get a full share. I don't see a scenario where they are added a permanent lesser share. At that point, they just won't get an offer to join the Big Ten.

Unequal revenue sharing isn't a long term solution IMO. As you stated, once you open that can of worms, it never stops. However, it can be done to fund expansion temporarily. I could see the Big Ten doing this and expecting the market to recover in the future. This is not the ideal time to expand; the media companies are struggling right now.
 
AlaskaGuy said:
Nebraska didn't come into the B1G getting a full share right away.
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Most teams don't. It wouldn't be unprecedented for UO and UW to come in at a lesser share and then work there way up to a full share. It helps makes expansion more favorable for all the conference members.

I think the big issue is ESPN is looking to cut costs right now. That means the Big Ten really needs Amazon to fund this expansion and the Big Ten already turned down an Amazon bid due to visibility concerns.
 
TheInsider said:
Most teams don't. It wouldn't be unprecedented for UO and UW to come in at a lesser share and then work there way up to a full share. It helps makes expansion more favorable for all the conference members.

I think the big issue is ESPN is looking to cut costs right now. That means the Big Ten really needs Amazon to fund this expansion and the Big Ten already turned down an Amazon bid due to visibility concerns.
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ESPN doesn’t have any regular season B1G basketball or football games going forward. Those contracts expired this year. But to your point, you’d like ESPN bidding on new deals just to drive the price up…but Disney is reeling them in as well.
 
Shower Fart said:
ESPN doesn’t have any regular season B1G basketball or football games going forward. Those contracts expired this year. But to your point, you’d like ESPN bidding on new deals just to drive the price up…but Disney is reeling them in as well.
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I think ESPN would like to get in the Big Ten market. That said, they are getting told to cut costs across the board. I doubt they're gonna throw big money at a new Big Ten bid. They might get back into the Big Ten action down the road but this seems like the wrong time to bet on ESPN throwing big money around.
 
TheInsider said:
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I think ESPN would like to get in the Big Ten market. That said, they are getting told to cut costs across the board. I doubt they're gonna throw big money at a new Big Ten bid. They might get back into the Big Ten action down the road but this seems like the wrong time to bet on ESPN throwing big money around.
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The new 7 year deal doesn’t even begin until July 1st I believe. Any new money would have to come from CBS, Fox or NBC. No way they allow ESPN to get the west coast rights, and like you said, ESPN isn’t throwing money around right now.
 
Shower Fart said:
The new 7 year deal doesn’t even begin until July 1st I believe. Any new money would have to come from CBS, Fox or NBC. No way they allow ESPN to get the west coast rights, and like you said, ESPN isn’t throwing money around right now.
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IMO the wildcard is Amazon. I could see them wanting to get into the Big Ten content. They could establish a Friday Night game to partner with their Thursday Night NFL game. I doubt FOX or CBS are interesting in funding expansion. Maybe NBC but only if ND joins the Big Ten.
 
TheInsider said:
f
I think ESPN would like to get in the Big Ten market. That said, they are getting told to cut costs across the board. I doubt they're gonna throw big money at a new Big Ten bid. They might get back into the Big Ten action down the road but this seems like the wrong time to bet on ESPN throwing big money around.
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Shower Fart said:
The new 7 year deal doesn’t even begin until July 1st I believe. Any new money would have to come from CBS, Fox or NBC. No way they allow ESPN to get the west coast rights, and like you said, ESPN isn’t throwing money around right now.
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Watching the conversation that y'all are having has convinced me to turn off the damn TV and teach my 1 year old grandson to listen to our Dawgs on the radio this coming season.
 
OldDevilDawg said:
Watching the conversation that y'all are having has convinced me to turn off the damn TV and teach my 1 year old grandson to listen to our Dawgs on the radio this coming season.
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Don't get me wrong, I wish the conferences would remain regional and there would be a relative balance in the P5 conferences. But we are passed that point. At this point it's the Big Ten and SEC. If you aren't in those two conferences, it's gonna be tough to compete moving forward.
 
TheInsider said:
Don't get me wrong, I wish the conferences would remain regional and there would be a relative balance in the P5 conferences. But we are passed that point. At this point it's the Big Ten and SEC. If you aren't in those two conferences, it's gonna be tough to compete moving forward.
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I agree. The 3-6-6 model is a nice compromise, but a 10 team conference with a round robin schedule is the best way to do it. Those days are gone.
 
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