Fresno St. Alum wrote:
Quinn wrote:
playa4life wrote:
A thought experiment. Do a side by side comparison between MWC and BE. Look at the markets.New Orleans, Orlando, Tampa, Dallas, etc vs MWC. I would give that advantage to BE.
Good point. That's why I would think that the nBE and MWC would be similar. But with Boise St. in the MWC, and the new bonus structure for the MWC TV deal, that MWC membership will be better for the top MWC schools than say the nBE contract will be for the top nBE teams. On average, the nBE might even get something better...but the top MWC schools will get a good amount.
I'm actually a fan of the system the MWC is setting up.
I really like that it is a bit more capitalist in that as a program, you can earn more money for things like cache which you get from winning games, rather than just getting a "bonus" via a bowl payout.
All this market sh*t has made people blind to what matters. How's the SEC's markets compared to the ACC? who gives a sh*t the SEC is better. I don't care if the MWC makes less and has smaller markets than the nBE we have BSU, Fresno, SDSU(probably), Nevada that makes us better, we have a better basketball conf too. We don't have to worry about the ACC backfilling w/ UConn and Cincy. I live in CA we have tons of markets. All those Orlando, Tampa, New Orleans, Dallas markets aren't owned by any nBE schools they're owned by Florida St., Florida, LSU, Texas, A&M. For us SJSU, SDSU, and Colorado St. are the ones that don't own their market. The rest of us do. Hawaii, BSU, UNM, Wyoming carry most of their state. UNLV/Nevada split it. AFA national. Fresno owns the San Joaquin Valley (3.9 million people)
If you want to live under the dilution that the nBE is still the better conference like the csn guys then use CUSA, still better markets than MWC, they still don't own them and the schools still want out. UTEP wants MWC, Tulsa will take whoever offers but would prefer to be w/ SMU and Tulane.
It's relative, you know that.
The SEC, even Pac-12, Big Ten and many in the Big 12 fall into something different: they are statewide and national programs. That status outweighs market and market penetration any day. It's why Penn St. in a small town in PA is a national product. It's why Nebraska in Lincoln is a national product. Alabama falls in there too. Then you have the national/state level schools in the SEC...some are national, all are dominant in the state.
Where markets really come into play is a tier down in conferences like the nBE. If you have a Cincinnati, that's great...it gives you the Cincinnati market and a brand people know of outside of Cincy. But it doesn't give you all of Ohio at a level like Ohio St. does. In Michigan, you have the same issue a tier down with EMU, WMU, etc. In the Bay Area, you have Stanford and Cal at the top, with SJSU representing. But Stanford and Cal are more national brands that do bette rin their market than SJSU does, also in the market. But for the MWC, SJSU was a great media addition since it opened up that market to the conference.
We can all have our opinions about the role markets play. They definitely are most important for conferences with their own networks...or plans for their own networks since it means getting those subscriber fees (Big Ten adding Rutgers, Maryland...Nebraska falls into the "national" fold). For the SEC, they made real good additions by adding access to Texas (Houston) and Missouri (St. Louis & KC) markets.
But in the nBE...they need everything they can get: good markets and good programs. Houston is a solid program...and it gives the conference access to the Houston market that they don't currently have. Same goes for SMU. For Memphis, them too, albeit more on the hoops side for now. Same for UCF (Orlando) and when USF (Tampa) was added. Not to say it was the right move since it might have added to the problems, but USF was a 5 year old football program (football, not just FBS) when the Big East added them for Tampa access. A number of much better programs were passed over by the Big East in favor of USF...UCF, Houston for example.
There is no argument: the MWC will be vastly superior to the nBE in the quality of the product. What is still up to be finalized will be the actual TV revenue. The MWC might end up with a better deal...and they deserve it. But even if the nBE gets a better overall TV deal, you have to like the MWC structure that rewards the top programs that get national TV games. Boise St. is a lock for that. Others like Fresno St. can achieve that too. Meanwhile, UNLV football can just be happy for their conference mates.