Their geographic reach extends only through the Southeast to Texas now. The Big 10 has teams on the east coast, midwest, and west coast (both north and south west coast). Big XII extends from Florida to the West Virginia, Midwest, Texas, and Southwest. The ACC has a presence up and down the east coast and now includes Texas and CA. College is now semi-pro leagues competing for relevance. Obviously some markets matter less than others dependent upon their NFL viewership.

I wonder if being regional is what kept Stanford and Cal boring. There's these pro sports teams in their regions which seem to do quite well. I honestly think they would have been an interesting addition to our conference.

Should the Sec discover that the current set up doesn’t work for them, they’ll subsume some teams, most likely from the ACC.

Not all regions are equal. The southeastern US is a football hotbed. The west coast and north-east? Not so much.

I think the SEC has done pretty well: they've defined their market and it's the largest and most fervent market in the nation. And it belongs to the SEC.

Not to mention that the big CFB programs thrive on "T-shirt" fans. How many "Bama" fans aren't anywhere near Alabama? Or LSU? Or even Gator fans. The SEC owns some of the largest "T-shirt" fan bases out there; casual fans who pull for Georgia or 'Bama because they are the dominant programs of the day. And, yeah, the Big Ten has a bunch as well too: Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State among them.

Wow. FSU and Clemson. After last nights LSU loss, No way those two schools are not invited in the next year.

I don't see much West of TX for them to go after. Yeah maybe they could get another mil or 2 per school, but at what cost?

The SEC is fine. No need for them to go west or north.

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It's not like the SEC is locked out of the 4th window.

If the SEC wants the 4th window, they can poach the Big 12 again.

Utah, Arizona and Colorado would jump at the opportunity to be the Late Night SEC option.

(09-05-2023 09:13 AM)ArmoredUpKnight Wrote:  It's not like the SEC is locked out of the 4th window.

If the SEC wants the 4th window, they can poach the Big 12 again.

Utah, Arizona and Colorado would jump at the opportunity to be the Late Night SEC option.

True, but won't happen. When SEC schools win, they party into the night. When SEC schools lose the fans get drunk and would be passed out or fast asleep before than 9PM window. Therefore, there is no interest in playing late, or watching late. Saturday has been a long day already with grilling and beer for the 11 AM game, being at or partying hardy during the 2:30 game, and whooping it up some more for the 7 PM game where you are rooting against a rival. So, they are spent by 9 and besides, no matter how drunk they got they'll be a Sunday School the next morning because that's where the best talk about Saturday's games will take place. And that is the SEC.

And one other thing most don't understand, SEC fans don't really care what happens in other conferences until bowl season, unless there is a school in the Big 10, Big 12, or ACC which could steal a CFP slot and they only really become aware of that in November. The PAC is an afterthought.

Also watching a college football game means watching a lot more commercials… you know to pay for all that huge money espn an others have invested in two conferences
Yup a master plan imo to rip apart red blooded college football fans intrest in the game
CCP play book guide 101
Jrsec your intrest in a super conference is understandable and I understand that but your being played by the horrible demons that want to Destroy everything American

(09-05-2023 10:08 AM)JRsec Wrote:  

(09-05-2023 09:13 AM)ArmoredUpKnight Wrote:  It's not like the SEC is locked out of the 4th window.

If the SEC wants the 4th window, they can poach the Big 12 again.

Utah, Arizona and Colorado would jump at the opportunity to be the Late Night SEC option.

True, but won't happen. When SEC schools win, they party into the night. When SEC schools lose the fans get drunk and would be passed out or fast asleep before than 9PM window. Therefore, there is no interest in playing late, or watching late. Saturday has been a long day already with grilling and beer for the 11 AM game, being at or partying hardy during the 2:30 game, and whooping it up some more for the 7 PM game where you are rooting against a rival. So, they are spent by 9 and besides, no matter how drunk they got they'll be a Sunday School the next morning because that's where the best talk about Saturday's games will take place. And that is the SEC.

And one other thing most don't understand, SEC fans don't really care what happens in other conferences until bowl season, unless there is a school in the Big 10, Big 12, or ACC which could steal a CFP slot and they only really become aware of that in November. The PAC is an afterthought.

One of my best friends is a big LSU fan. He once said to me that the fans in the SEC have a loyalty toward their conference like no one else in college football. I think he's right, quite frankly. Right now, the SEC is the top dog at least in terms of perception.

SEC is built for the long haul. Regional geography. Traditional rivalries. Top brands. Top talent. Competitiveness and quality of depth top to bottom. National chips o' plenty. Football crazed fans. How do I know? My late wife was an Auburn grad. When we met I don't think she ever heard of or cared about Cincinnati football or for anyone else outside of the SEC. I grew up in Ohio as part of the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry. I thought that was intense until I met my wife and watched her transform into another person when Auburn played Bama in the Iron Bowl. SEC is on a different level than the other leagues IMO.

(09-05-2023 10:08 AM)JRsec Wrote:  

(09-05-2023 09:13 AM)ArmoredUpKnight Wrote:  It's not like the SEC is locked out of the 4th window.

If the SEC wants the 4th window, they can poach the Big 12 again.

Utah, Arizona and Colorado would jump at the opportunity to be the Late Night SEC option.

True, but won't happen. When SEC schools win, they party into the night. When SEC schools lose the fans get drunk and would be passed out or fast asleep before than 9PM window. Therefore, there is no interest in playing late, or watching late. Saturday has been a long day already with grilling and beer for the 11 AM game, being at or partying hardy during the 2:30 game, and whooping it up some more for the 7 PM game where you are rooting against a rival. So, they are spent by 9 and besides, no matter how drunk they got they'll be a Sunday School the next morning because that's where the best talk about Saturday's games will take place. And that is the SEC.

And one other thing most don't understand, SEC fans don't really care what happens in other conferences until bowl season, unless there is a school in the Big 10, Big 12, or ACC which could steal a CFP slot and they only really become aware of that in November. The PAC is an afterthought.

This may be the first post I've seen in which someone makes a case about expansion by discussing a fanbase's alcohol level. Interesting.

SEC fans:

(09-06-2023 07:37 PM)UCGrad1992 Wrote:  Traditional rivalries.

The problem is that the expansion is ending many of those rivalries as an annual game with the new scheduling model.

The SEC is fine. I do think they’ll feel a pinch geographically and expand more from Florida up to Virginia. They might, MIGHT find it reasonable to expand a little further westward (Kansas, Four Corners) but my gut says they go to 20 and stop with Clemson, Florida St, and 2 of Duke, Miami, North Carolina, North Carolina St, Virginia, and Virginia Tech.

With all else remaining constant in college football viewership, the SEC will be fine.

That said, should viewing habits change over the next 20 years, there could be issues. Also as things change, the SEC may at some point not have all dominant teams 10 years down the road. Recent and future rule changes, win/loss records, random events could all contribute to a period with many SEC teams not winning all the time.

(09-08-2023 09:46 PM)Endless Purple Wrote:  With all else remaining constant in college football viewership, the SEC will be fine.

That said, should viewing habits change over the next 20 years, there could be issues. Also as things change, the SEC may at some point not have all dominant teams 10 years down the road. Recent and future rule changes, win/loss records, random events could all contribute to a period with many SEC teams not winning all the time.

Uh, not really. The SEC is built out of the SE and SW regions of the country where the total number of viewers vs the total possible viewers has the highest percentage of actual viewers to total viewers in the nation. It is also the two regions where high school football is still virtually a religion and has the highest participation rates of boys playing football in the nation.

I agree viewer habits are changing with the exit of Boomers as Gen Z and Millennials watch much fewer live sports of any kind than any of the older generations. In short all indications are that nationally college football viewership and participation will last longer in the Southeast and Southwest (think deep south: South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma) than anywhere else in America. In other words the SEC will be the last conference to turn out the lights for college football.

There are pockets of participation in Southern California, Pennsylvania and Ohio where things are still strong, but that's about it.

This will benefit the Southernmost part of the Big 12 as well. If the ACC is still with us in 14 years it will help their deep south schools as well.

By the way, this is why Sankey only desires to expand within the Southeast and Southwest and it is why he is rather intent on keeping the Big 10's prospects in the Deep South limited. It's not a weakness, not even close to being one, it's the strength of the conference.