A topic for the lawyers out there: the P2 and anti-trust law
I have been thinking a lot about how the Big10 and SEC have been behaving in the marketplace in the last 24 months, with the poaching of schools and the destruction of a weaker conference (PAC12) as a result. What really got my goat is their negotiating stance for the re-formatted playoff (before we get even one year under our belt in the first expanded playoff) - where they wanted guaranteed byes for their members as their opening position - and ended with a fallback position of them receiving disproportionately larger revenue shares, plus more guaranteed slots for their conferences. This felt to me like an anti-trust violation, but I am not a lawyer.
I am a capitalist - I have no problem with the companies with the best products with the largest appeal leveraging their scale and appeal to increase their market share, which in the end will drive more value for consumers and the economy (despite what Lina Khan thinks). But what the Big10 and SEC are doing is not that. They are expanding market share through coercion, not competition.
Not to mention, their behavior might also threaten the tax exempt status that college conferences enjoy - none of the BILLIONS of TV revenue is taxed - based on the fact they are "501(c)(3) organizations" that conduct business for the furtherance of an educational purpose. There is an argument that "the athletic department is the front door of the university" in a world that competes for students, resources, professors, etc., but that argument starts to fail when the scale of revenue reaches the heights it has, and the leaders of the industry are consolidating power for its own sake. Here is a link with some discussion of the tax exemption question. https://taxfoundation.org/blog/college-sports-tax-free-re...
Back to the anti-trust question - lawsuits should be coming, based on how the last CFP negotiation went down. Who will bring them is the big question. Schools like us that want to be invited to the dance are not likely to be plaintiffs in the short term. In the near term it could be G5 schools, and the spurned schools of the Pac12. Below is a link with some discussion on this topic.
6 Replies
T
TDVick
2y
about 2/3 of the pie since they have the SEC and ACC. Perhaps Fox is just as bad, but I really want to see the people at ESPN being severely punished for this and having to compensate ALL of the schools that went along with the very shady and VERY MISREPRESENTED ACC deal that went into effect around 2015. If ESPN doesn't have monopoly power, then WHO does? I really think that ESPN/Disney should be on the hook for making the ACC teams whole versus the SEC revenues.
** Edited by TDVick at 4/7/2024, 8:16:48 PM
(In response to this post by MaroonLantern)
I feel that what the B1G did to the Pac-12 was some real Robber Baron stuff
Right out of the textbook of Jay Gould. Totally short sold them. Skimming off the top, then sending out their YouTube and media connections to stoke the others to go to the BigXII, then swooping in to get Oregon and Washington on a discount.
It just reeks to high heavens.
The break up of the longstanding Pac-12/10/8 was a deeply sad day for college sports. Combine that with OU and Texas to the SEC, and plenty of quality and proud athletic departments are left to slum around looking for any bottom of the barrel deal they can find. Stanford to the ACC for basically nothing? Turrible.
(In response to this post by MaroonLantern)
V
VTCALS72
2y
and the 4 corners schools to the XII was orchestrated from ESPN/Big Media. It is kind of like the ACC/ND thing to provide a safe harbor for schools they have not put in the Oregon ST/Wash ST class.
(In response to this post by Maroon Baboon)
V
VPI 1924
2y
Oregon State and Wahington State have been literally screwed by the Big. If they don’t have a case no one does.
(In response to this post by MaroonLantern)