(04-17-2019 02:27 PM)AllTideUp Wrote: The thing about Oklahoma going to the Big Ten is that there aren't many options for partners. I don't see Texas making that move, but let's assume for a moment that was on the table.
The Big Ten will not offer other regional schools. The SEC could do that, however, as we have more wiggle room.
With the latest development of ESPN buying the 3rd tier rights for most of the Big 12 and FOX bowing out to a significant degree then I can easily see where ESPN would rather just keep the Big 12 together and try to get it at a bargain price. They need good content for ESPN+ going forward and so that's probably worth it to them.
With that said, I'm not sure Texas and Oklahoma would prefer that although it's certainly possible they could. Sure, they would love to keep the Big 12 together, but if ESPN isn't paying top dollar then that could be a problem. That and exposure on ESPN+ is never going to be the highest they could get so that's really more of a value proposition for ESPN than a lure for the schools.
I'm thinking though that ESPN+ will become a priority for ESPN in the near term and they will start moving digital content for the Power 5 sooner than later. They had an opportunity to do it for the Big 12 a little sooner than everyone else, but the day is coming when every league will be asked to do it.
With that in mind, the SEC already has the tie-in with ESPN. We won't have an opportunity to move much to ESPN+ anytime soon unless we expand and redo the deal. There's an opportunity there though...
The SEC's 3rd tier rights are based with the SEC Network while a lot of actual content is in the digital sphere via ESPN3. I think ESPN will phase out their digital sphere more or less in favor of moving content to ESPN+ so they can get the sub rates. If ESPN could convince the SEC to move some of our content to ESPN+ then they may be willing to pay more for an expansion and the subsequent rights.
The key there is building a strong enough content base that we've got good games for 2nd tier, 3rd tier, as well as digital broadcasts. I'm assuming the 1st tier will not go to ESPN though.
So it could be worthwhile to ESPN to pay for not only Texas and Oklahoma but a few more just to make sure they've got a robust amount of SEC content on ESPN+ and then they can game a lot of us into paying that subscription fee. It does seem to be their plan to get as much college content on there as possible.
So the negotiations going forward will be very interesting. As our 1st tier comes up for bid, the rest of the rights could essentially be in the pipeline as well if we're expanding. ESPN might not even care for an extension in that environment simply because most of the value would be on their end by propping up ESPN+.
This is the only reason I have not totally ruled out 20 schools, although I still don't consider it likely. But Texa-homa locks those 4 down. Add Kansas and Iowa State and the SEC picks up the top 3 brands and owns 4 of the 5 states in the footprint of the Big 12.
That's not an SEC move. That's an ESPN move. WVU heads to the ACC. If they want into Texas with Baylor and T.C.U. so be it.
But this kind of SEC works out pretty well:
Iowa State, Kansas, Missouri Oklahoma, Oklahoma State
Arkansas, Louisiana State, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech
Alabama, Auburn, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt
Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee
You play the 4 schools from your division and 1 permanent rival from each of the other 3 divisions and rotate 1 school each year from the other three. That's 10 conference games and you play everyone every 4 year cycle.
The content value added with OU and UT and Kansas for hoops added to the SEC rotation without unnecessary duplication is a huge boost for value and the amount of content for ESPN.
KSU, Baylor, and T.C.U. could either join WVU in the ACC or join the AAC. The AAC could bet promoted to P5 and now ESPN has more premium content than anyone for the price of essentially 2 conferences at high dollar and a third a step below.
Now UT and OU are getting CBS prime time slots, ESPN key slots, and the SECN covers the rest for them. All other games are subject to SEC+. The money is good enough to cover the LHN and state politics is taken care of while the SEC picks up 3 AAU schools.
For the Big 12 their old core members of the Big 8 and SWC are still together and reunited with other members of their core.
With those schools added the SEC football bell curve is essentially maintained and hoops gets a huge boost.
Those are the selling points. For the 16 member model efficiency is remains the selling point.