Not a fan of new teams schedules hardly seems we are in SEC anymore.

#26
#26
Firebirdparts said:
I don't think any of the fans want where we are. I don't know why anybody would. The league just doesn't really care about that.

I really like the divisions era with the championship game. That was my favorite version of the SEC.
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I'm not a fan of super conferences, but I absolutely HATED the divisions era with that stupid conference championship. especially back when only the SEC played one. there are so many ways that the division system and championship game can ruin a good season.

I want the old smaller conference back but with no divisions and a national playoff and NO conference championship. same thing with basketball.
 
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#27
#27
The problem with the new mega-conferences IMO is that there is little commonality in the scheduling so crowning a team as “conference champions” is a joke right now. Teams do not play anything resembling comparable schedules across the conference.

I’d rather see pods or divisions with a legit conference championship game than this hodgepodge we have now.
 
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#28
#28
UTFranklinVol said:
I'm not a fan of super conferences, but I absolutely HATED the divisions era with that stupid conference championship. especially back when only the SEC played one. there are so many ways that the division system and championship game can ruin a good season.

I want the old smaller conference back but with no divisions and a national playoff and NO conference championship. same thing with basketball.
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With the national playoffs, I agree that the really old system would be better.

But the division system was worlds better than the current BS IMO.
 
#29
#29
DaddyChad said:
Tradition will be killed for money. If it’s not already dead
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I don't think much tradition has been lost. we are going to play some teams less (Georgia and Florida) but we didn't play them all that much before the 90s anyways. and for a lot of the teams in the west we are going to play them way more often that under the system we had where we played them every 6 or so years.

we still play all the teams we have always played and some of them more often now.
 
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#30
#30
At the end of the day, does anyone really watch Kentucky play Vandy in football?

They will watch Texas play Bama.

Does that balance out the value of money?
 
#31
#31
EZE said:
With the national playoffs, I agree that the really old system would be better.

But the division system was worlds better than the current BS IMO.
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the biggest problem with bigger conferences is that it's quite possible to luck out and have a weak schedule and win a ton of games.

this is a lot easier to do in the B10 and ACC than in the current version of the SEC but if things keep expanding it will get worse.
 
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#32
#32
Brave Volunteer said:
If expansion was inevitable, I think there were more fitting candidates than Mizzou, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and A&M. Regional integrity is important, and "SEC" means you are east of the Mississippi River, and south of the Mason/Dixon line. I'd much rather see an SEC with any combo of Clemson, North Carolina, NC State, FSU, Virginia/West Virginia, Louisville, Georgia Tech, and Miami over the 5 we got.
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I have to ask why "regional integrity" matters anymore? When teams were traveling in old buses and Jefferson-Pilot was holding the TV contract, sure but why in this era of multi-hundred million dollar Haslam practice facility expansions and billion dollar TV contracts and chartered flights to whatever bowl game or regular game we play?

The business is no longer regional. The TV contract is no longer regional. The SEC fans are no longer regional. You could meet a Vols fan in Idaho who has never even been to TN but follows every bit as closely as any of us.

Why does "regional integrity" still matter?
 
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#33
#33
SayUWantAreVOLution said:
I have to ask why "regional integrity" matters anymore? When teams were traveling in old buses and Jefferson-Pilot was holding the TV contract, sure but why in this era of multi-hundred million dollar Haslam practice facility expansions and billion dollar TV contracts and chartered flights to whatever bowl game or regular game we play?

The business is no longer regional. The TV contract is no longer regional. The SEC fans are no longer regional. You could meet a Vols fan in Idaho who has never even been to TN but follows every bit as closely as any of us.

Why does "regional integrity" still matter?
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And this is exactly why I said what I said about who we play. Cut the BS playing Kentucky every year and let’s fly out to So Cal to give them the business instead. The whole world already knows we’re going to beat Kentucky….lets beat someone new!
 
#34
#34
SayUWantAreVOLution said:
I have to ask why "regional integrity" matters anymore? When teams were traveling in old buses and Jefferson-Pilot was holding the TV contract, sure but why in this era of multi-hundred million dollar Haslam practice facility expansions and billion dollar TV contracts and chartered flights to whatever bowl game or regular game we play?

The business is no longer regional. The TV contract is no longer regional. The SEC fans are no longer regional. You could meet a Vols fan in Idaho who has never even been to TN but follows every bit as closely as any of us.

Why does "regional integrity" still matter?
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I don't think it matters but you need to change the name of the conferences.

The SEC isn't the Southeast teams anymore (hasn't been for many years).

The B10 hasn't been 10 teams for 33 years now.

update the names and move on.

I'm in favor of the B10 being called the USA North Conference and the SEC being called the USA South Conference.
 
#35
#35
SayUWantAreVOLution said:
I don't like change either but the B1G might have taken OU and TX if the SEC didn't. At this point it's a little like the Cold War and we have to do things to keep the B1G from getting too much economic power.

The next big realignment will be dividing up the ACC just before the B1G and SEC media contracts run out. They'll both want to expand their TV audience and value to the networks.

"It's not personal. It's business." Sacrifices have to be made and traditions have to be broken for the long-term good of the business.
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SEC football is personal, it's who we are. Because it is personal is what brings the passion we have for the game. Break traditions...no thanks

The SEC founders vs expanded SEC....clearly a case where the sum of the parts are greater than the whole.
 
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#36
#36
volfan2024 said:
All the movers and shakers have stolen our SEC league, traditions, SEC teams we have played for years. Not a fan at all.
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Were you that broke up in 1992 when we replaced our yearly rivals of Bama, Auburn, Ole Miss, UK and Vandy and only played Florida, UGA, LSU, MSU twice a decade?
 
#38
#38
UTFranklinVol said:
I don't think it matters but you need to change the name of the conferences.

The SEC isn't the Southeast teams anymore (hasn't been for many years).

The B10 hasn't been 10 teams for 33 years now.

update the names and move on.

I'm in favor of the B10 being called the USA North Conference and the SEC being called the USA South Conference.
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I don't get frazzled by names. Most of the old "family owned" businesses with names on them are no longer associated with the family but the name remains on the label. Meh.

Could they rebrand? Sure, but then you'd have people on VN saying "it's still the SEC to me" or "I miss the old logo" or whatever.

A rose is a rose..... some nearly illiterate smelly English dude once wrote.
 
#39
#39
WillisWG said:
SEC football is personal, it's who we are. Because it is personal is what brings the passion we have for the game. Break traditions...no thanks
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It's not personal. It's a multi billion dollar business. It ain't what you think it is anymore and no amount of insisting it is will make it true.

It's marketed and followed all over the country and elsewhere in the world. It WAS personal but turning it into a billion dollar business made it, by necessity, impersonal.

We...... the old farts who've seen this growth and who wanted more TV games and to appeal to and be able to recruit players from all over the country and world...... created the best conference in the world. That creation had a price that more fans, more reach, more recruiting clout means a less personal (ain't that Billy Bob's youngest boy playing guard for the Vols?) business.
 
#41
#41
SayUWantAreVOLution said:
I have to ask why "regional integrity" matters anymore? When teams were traveling in old buses and Jefferson-Pilot was holding the TV contract, sure but why in this era of multi-hundred million dollar Haslam practice facility expansions and billion dollar TV contracts and chartered flights to whatever bowl game or regular game we play?

The business is no longer regional. The TV contract is no longer regional. The SEC fans are no longer regional. You could meet a Vols fan in Idaho who has never even been to TN but follows every bit as closely as any of us.

Why does "regional integrity" still matter?
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Well we both know it doesnt, but it should.

For starters, its in the damn name. We are in the SOUTHEASTERN Conference. If we're not going to give a **** about it, change the name because it just sounds ridiculous and doesnt represent anything.

Second, maintaining regional integrity is a lot easier on fans who want to travel to away games. Its asking a lot for a fan in Gainesville, FL to have to fly to Austin, TX or to Columbia, MO. I cannot even imagine what it must be like for a UCLA fan to travel from Los Angeles to New Brunswick, NJ! Even the NFL recognizes this with their divisions.

Third, it just makes sense culturally. Fans, even of opposing teams, can better relate to one another from a cultural standpoint if they are at least from the same region of the country. I dont imagine many fans who grew up in Columbia, MO are very relatable with fans who grew up in Gadsden Alabama or Newberry, South Carolina.
 
#42
#42
VolAllen said:
And this is exactly why I said what I said about who we play. Cut the BS playing Kentucky every year and let’s fly out to So Cal to give them the business instead. The whole world already knows we’re going to beat Kentucky….lets beat someone new!
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Eventually the SEC and B1G will split off from the NCAA and you'll start to see more variety but we're years away from that yet.

Like the pros, there's some value in conferences and rivalry and, more importantly, creating some buzz for seeding for lucrative tournaments for TV.

If there's just one big pot, there's no buzz around number 20 or so but if suddenly #20 is "winning their division and headed to the playoffs" you get more eyeballs saying "who are these guys who won the West region? Maybe I should watch in case they're better than their ranking."

Not playing the B1G teams regularly makes the matchups "mean more" for playoffs where the big money is made for the TV guys.
 
#44
#44
Brave Volunteer said:
Well we both know it doesnt, but it should.

For starters, its in the damn name. We are in the SOUTHEASTERN Conference. If we're not going to give a **** about it, change the name because it just sounds ridiculous and doesnt represent anything.

Second, maintaining regional integrity is a lot easier on fans who want to travel to away games. Its asking a lot for a fan in Gainesville, FL to have to fly to Austin, TX or to Columbia, MO. I cannot even imagine what it must be like for a UCLA fan to travel from Los Angeles to New Brunswick, NJ! Even the NFL recognizes this with their divisions.

Third, it just makes sense culturally. Fans, even of opposing teams, can better relate to one another from a cultural standpoint if they are at least from the same region of the country. I dont imagine many fans who grew up in Columbia, MO are very relatable with fans who grew up in Gadsden Alabama or Newberry, South Carolina.
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Most fans, and this is curse of creating a huge brand in anything, are watching on TV and that's what we wanted years ago. "Why are the Vols only on TV 3 or 4 times a year?" We got our wish and now all those fans (or most of them) can park their heiney in front of their big screen TV easier than traveling, even a few miles across town, to see the Vols. And there's replays, cheap food, better troughs to pee in, and my hip doesn't hurt from walking the bleachers at Neyland.

Is it the same as a Neyland game? A million times "NOOOOOOO!" but there's nothing like driving a manual either but most folks and even the old heads are in an automatic now because it's convenient.

And culturally, we ought to know those d*"n Yankees better and those cowboys from Wyoming and those..... I don't know what that is .... from Oregon and Jose from El Paso and the guy we just call J from India who owns the Quik Stop and whose kid is now my pharmacist and that little Asian guy we call "Curt" but that ain't his name. Our culture would be better if we met more people from other cultures.

The days of holding a shotgun and saying "why did you come up in our holler?" are done and it turns out FL is full and GA, TN, and AL are going to see a lot more snowbirds relocating our way whether we like it or not. I'd just as soon meet them like a southern gentleman and not some kind of redneck.
 
#45
#45
In a perfect world we'd be in a 10 team SEC and play all 9 conference opponents every year and cancel the SECCG.
 
#46
#46
T
njvols said:
Let’s be honest. It’s not SEC. It’s compiled teams from southeast, southwest and one midwest. Would have rather seen GT, VT, NC, FSU, etc. But I will say that I do like that most every single Saturday having multiple really good games is better than maybe having one good sec matchup, and a smattering of bad OOC or sec games.
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he SEC had a good shot to get FSU and Clemson when they were good, but that epically stupid ACC GOR wasted so much time in court that the window for that closed.
 
#48
#48
SayUWantAreVOLution said:
I'll just leave this here. $72.4M a year payout from the media rights deal the SEC has now soothes a multitude of "I miss the old SEC" feelings.

That's well over double the old SEC deal per school. The SEC is still behind the B1G in media revenue and you guys need to realize what rows the boat these days and it sure as heck ain't "the traditional SEC geographic footprint."

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SEC Has Officially Broken the Billion-Dollar Revenue Barrier

The Southeastern Conference announced Thursday that it distributed $1.03 billion in revenue to its 16 members during the fiscal year 2025, becoming the first league to officially claim having generated 10-figure earnings in a single fiscal cycle. The FY25 distribution represents an increase of...
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I agree with what you say,,,,,JUST DON'T LIKE IT!!:mad:
 
#49
#49
SayUWantAreVOLution said:
I don't like change either but the B1G might have taken OU and TX if the SEC didn't. At this point it's a little like the Cold War and we have to do things to keep the B1G from getting too much economic power.

The next big realignment will be dividing up the ACC just before the B1G and SEC media contracts run out. They'll both want to expand their TV audience and value to the networks.

"It's not personal. It's business." Sacrifices have to be made and traditions have to be broken for the long-term good of the business.
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Again, agree with what you say,,,,, JUST DON'T LIKE IT!!!
 
#50
#50
If there’s a constant, it’s that things change. There was a time that it bothered me, but I’ve become more in the mode of just hand me the popcorn.
 
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