PAC 12 playing hardball on playoff expansion (and why SEC expansion may not be good for Tennessee or college football)

#1
tennesseekilt

tennesseekilt

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#1
The SEC is growing stronger, but that may not be good for the rest of college football, or for the weaker teams in the SEC itself. Consider that the addition of Texas and Oklahoma may end up torpedoing playoff expansion, with the PAC 12 and other conferences pulling a "not so fast" after the SEC's move. As the below piece explains:

Texas, Oklahoma join SEC: Longhorns, Sooners accept invitations as Big 12 powers begin new wave of realignment

What does that mean? Well, it means Tennessee and the rest of the SEC will have to beat on each other to try to win the same 1-2 playoff spots they had a shot at before, while Ohio State and Clemson skate to the other 2 slots every year. How is this good for any SEC team not named Alabama?

This seems like a BAD IDEA based on money alone, certainly not the good of the sport.
 
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#4
#4
Of course it’s not good for the rest of college football. Whether or not the whole is greater than the sum of the parts is something we’ll find out, but I’d guess not. The west coast just doesn’t care as much about college sports as the south and Midwest do. I think as long as the SEC and B1G exist and are competitive then college football will be fine.
 
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#5
#5
volsknx said:
As far as the SEC is concerned pertaining to the playoffs, it wont really matter. The SEC will probably have two of the four slots or six of the twelve slots.
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That's an issue when you have 16...maybe 20 or 24 teams.
 
#6
#6
tennesseekilt said:
The SEC is growing stronger, but that may not be good for the rest of college football, or for the weaker teams in the SEC itself. Consider that the addition of Texas and Oklahoma may end up torpedoing playoff expansion, with the PAC 12 and other conferences pulling a "not so fast" after the SEC's move. As the below piece explains:

Texas, Oklahoma join SEC: Longhorns, Sooners accept invitations as Big 12 powers begin new wave of realignment

What does that mean? Well, it means Tennessee and the rest of the SEC will have to beat on each other to try to win the same 1-2 playoff spots they had a shot at before, while Ohio State and Clemson skate to the other 2 slots every year. How is this good for any SEC team not named Alabama?

This seems like a BAD IDEA based on money alone, certainly not the good of the sport.
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Of course it's bad for the sport...as this and other SEC expansion ideas being floated are. The PAC and others are just trying to tie their hands and saying if you go and completely unbalance the game, we're going to make it hard on you...hopefully creating division or a movement away from these superconference aspirations. They're looking to screw over Sankey as everyone should. Put the troll baby in his place.
 
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#9
#9
Volprofch05 said:
The PAC-12 is already always excluded from the playoff, it would be stupid for them to oppose expansion just due to sour grapes
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Not sour grapes. It is LEVERAGE. Sankey and his minions would be screwed in a scenario where 4 team playoff continues and the SEC is bringing in all these major programs. They might be forced to halt their ruining of CFB.
 
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#11
#11
TnVol! said:
There will be an expanded playoff.
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Watching a sports talk show and they just said the committee is p!zzed at Sankey since he was on the committee and knew Tx and Ou were about to come to the SEC. Said because of that, they will not expand this year.
 
#12
#12
Devo182 said:
Not sour grapes. It is LEVERAGE. Sankey and his minions would be screwed in a scenario where 4 team playoff continues and the SEC is bringing in all these major programs. They might be forced to halt their ruining of CFB.
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It’s a good point, but I just don’t think the PAC-12 is the king of leverage under their current circumstances.
 
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#14
#14
Devo182 said:
Some word they are in talks with the B1G on this matter. Guess it depends how well they can politic this thing...
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Yeah, I was thinking if they can get the other leagues to join the effort, then they’d be in business.
 
#17
#17
Playoff expansion is what will ruin the sport. The regular season will become meaningless and the regular season is what makes CFB great.

+1 was a good idea, because some years there were 3 or 4 great teams rather than 1-2, but there have never been a year where 10 or 12 teams deserved to compete for national title.
 
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#18
#18
DiderotsGhost said:
Playoff expansion is what will ruin the sport. The regular season will become meaningless and the regular season is what makes CFB great.

+1 was a good idea, because some years there were 3 or 4 great teams rather than 1-2, but there have never been a year where 10 or 12 teams deserved to compete for national title.
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I agree with a lot of your argument. However, I don't think we can ignore problems that have been caused by the 4-team playoff. Part of the reason there has not been more deserving teams of late is that recruits essentially know that if they want to sniff the playoffs, they pretty much have to go to (currently) Bama, Clemson, Ohio State, and to a lesser degree one other team (maybe Oklahoma, LSU). One hope is that expanding the playoffs will cause top recruits to consider more schools where they can increase playing time and have a chance at the playoffs.
 
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#19
#19
I want to see chaos as a result of this expansion. I’m not a fan of it nor of ESPN so I want to see lawsuits, agreements, more realignment, and everything just get out of control.
 
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#20
#20
tennesseekilt said:
The SEC is growing stronger, but that may not be good for the rest of college football, or for the weaker teams in the SEC itself. Consider that the addition of Texas and Oklahoma may end up torpedoing playoff expansion, with the PAC 12 and other conferences pulling a "not so fast" after the SEC's move. As the below piece explains:

Texas, Oklahoma join SEC: Longhorns, Sooners accept invitations as Big 12 powers begin new wave of realignment

What does that mean? Well, it means Tennessee and the rest of the SEC will have to beat on each other to try to win the same 1-2 playoff spots they had a shot at before, while Ohio State and Clemson skate to the other 2 slots every year. How is this good for any SEC team not named Alabama?

This seems like a BAD IDEA based on money alone, certainly not the good of the sport.
Click to expand...

There’s another point here, also, that you’re missing that might be the bigger matter here (and really it gets lost in most of the general conference vs conference hoopla). Expanding the playoff now means locking up the media rights now with ESPN, in a contract not only based on the current conference structure but also one with ESPN likely insisting on a longer deal than 4 years. An 8-10 year TV deal made now could leave a lot of money on the table once the Texas and Oklahoma move actually happens, coupled in turn with a lot of that expanded playoff CFP revenue still being contractually split with what remains of the Big 12 in 2025 or whenever until the next renewal period.

It feels like they and the other major conference commissioners are also very aware of this and it’s less an “oh no, stop this, we’ll never win, etc” but equally or more making sure that a sh-t ton of money isn’t left on the table from the contracts being created this year with the current set up.

The money gained by a conference for a team making the playoff spot (currently $6 mil per semifinal) is a bit minimal compared to each Power 5 conference’s guaranteed yearly take of $66 mil from the CFP - and that number increases with an expanded playoff. Making that expansion and that contract now means still splitting with a Big 12 that’s lost 50-75% of its value…so $66+++ million going to a conference consisting of Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, TCU, Baylor, West Virginia and whoever else each year from whenever Texas & OU leave until that new ESPN contract ends. And that’s an amount that could instead be split and added to the ACC, SEC, Big 10, and Pac-12 CFP takes if they wait until 2025 (or whenever Texas and OU actually leave) instead.
 
#21
#21
tennesseekilt said:
The SEC is growing stronger, but that may not be good for the rest of college football, or for the weaker teams in the SEC itself. Consider that the addition of Texas and Oklahoma may end up torpedoing playoff expansion, with the PAC 12 and other conferences pulling a "not so fast" after the SEC's move. As the below piece explains:

Texas, Oklahoma join SEC: Longhorns, Sooners accept invitations as Big 12 powers begin new wave of realignment

What does that mean? Well, it means Tennessee and the rest of the SEC will have to beat on each other to try to win the same 1-2 playoff spots they had a shot at before, while Ohio State and Clemson skate to the other 2 slots every year. How is this good for any SEC team not named Alabama?

This seems like a BAD IDEA based on money alone, certainly not the good of the sport.
Click to expand...


The SEC will end up using the PAC 12 like a minor league system. Prove yourself in the PAC 12 and you might receive a transfer offer from an SEC team in the big league.
 
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#24
#24
volsknx said:
Watching a sports talk show and they just said the committee is p!zzed at Sankey since he was on the committee and knew Tx and Ou were about to come to the SEC. Said because of that, they will not expand this year.
Click to expand...
I didn't mean this year but it will happen soon.
 
#25
#25
DiderotsGhost said:
Playoff expansion is what will ruin the sport. The regular season will become meaningless and the regular season is what makes CFB great.

+1 was a good idea, because some years there were 3 or 4 great teams rather than 1-2, but there have never been a year where 10 or 12 teams deserved to compete for national title.
Click to expand...
Don't disagree but they could also have each super conference play a semifinal and final for the conference championship with the winner of each super conference getting a first round bye or something along those lines. Make each super conference championship the first two rounds of the overall playoffs.
 
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