team x wants to be number one at all costs. team b beats them from the top, and team a wants to beat them and they look, theyinvest more incoaches, more players more portal, more player resoeach and recruit and that costs money. Therefore more money... then team c wants the same ss team b. At the same time, we get the message team a is the best, and the rest are laning behind. and 'perceive as losers'.. IT just feeds on itself....Then coaches are getting paid to the market, and the players were not, so they are now. We are fans were piveledge to see the athletes play, for our entertainment, and they put on the show. in the past they got just a scholarship, fans get skyobxes trips to bowls... Its just big business.

Sankey does need to be lectured on caring more about the good of the sport than his ego, or maybe he needs to get better at lecturing his selfish South Ego Conference AD’s!

This model could be taken as completely opposite from what you just said. And no, Bama etc cannot make more money in the old model than the new. It does not matter if schools at the VT level don't get shown and lose supporters. I am also going to re visit something I said when I subscribed to TSL. Big media has seemingly determined that they only need about 30 national teams to make the most. If they needed more teams and towns, then MLB, NFL and the NBA would have more than the about 30 teams.

teams being successful will become increasingly smaller until none are left. After they squeeze out the B12 and ACC, the next move will likely be for the top tier SEC & B1G teams to break away into a premier league. ESPN will probably pay them $25M per premier game while only paying $3-$5M for other games. I see the premier league including Alabama, Georgia, Texas, Notre Dame, Ohio St., Michigan and six of USC, Penn St., Tennessee, LSU, Oklahoma, FSU and Florida.

Every soccer club in England and Wales, the big and the small, has access to the Premier League based on on-the-field performance. And every club in the PL has to earn its stay based on performance every year, or they are relegated. That's not what you are describing WRT college football. What you are describing is a Super League. And soccer in Europe basically shot down that idea several years ago thankfully.

There is no Premier League. The Premier League has already begun transforming into a 38-40 team Super League, and currently sits at 34 members. It's only now that we find out if VT gets sorted to the Championship or League One. And without any hope of promotion to the Super League. ESPN is paying out parachute payments to schools now remaining in the Championship (Big 12) for 6-12 years and will soon begin paying parachute payments to League One teams (ACC) when UNC and Clemson go to the SEC and Miami and FSU leave for the Big Ten in the next few years. By 2036, they will have systematically reduced the remnants of the Big 12 and ACC to competitive afterthoughts and will no longer need to pay the large parachute payments they are currently paying them. The automatic bids to the CFP by 2036 will be painful to watch as the top tier teams from the Big 12 and ACC get routed by 4th/5th place SEC or Big Ten teams. By 2036, schools that can't hang like Purdue, Rutgers, Maryland, Mississippi State, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, probably Nebraska, etc... will be relegated to the ACC and Big 12 and the Super League will finally be complete. ** Edited by hokieZ71 at 5/29/2025, 6:19:25 AM

beneficiaries of government/taxpayer money for over a century, and now think it's totally kosher to kick longstanding athletic departments of other schools to the curb, just because TV execs show up with a wad of cash. If they are that big time, then just privatize the schools, eliminate their federal student aid, and strip them of their federal research grants and send them to schools willing to play with a spirit of cooperation with regard to other colleges. THEN, we will see how big time they are. The greed and the failure to know where you came from disgusts me. ** Edited by Maroon Baboon at 5/29/2025, 9:20:56 AM

either in the form of federal student aid or research cooperative agreements/grants/contracts?

But most of the P2 schools are public schools (save USC, Northwestern, and Vanderbilt). And some of these public schools were even land-grant schools, basically owing their original existence to the federal government and American taxpayer. So anyone who's saying, "this is about the 'free market,' so schools should be allowed to do what they want," doesn't understand free markets and private vs. public goods and sectors. If someone wants to act like the schools and the athletic departments are "businesses," then it's time to cut off the corporate welfare. ** Edited by Maroon Baboon at 5/29/2025, 3:39:13 PM

schools are no longer eligible to receive federal support, but non-P2 NCAA DI, NCAA DII, NCAA DIII, NAIA DI, and NAIA DII are still eligible to receive federal aid?

the same thing? And the Citadel wasn’t hurting other institutions with their all male policy. Both are by modern definitions an equity issue.

circumstances/regulations slightly different than the private schools you referenced. There are six senior military colleges in the US that offer military Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) programs under 10 U.S.C. § 2111a(f). Norwich University Texas A&M University The Citadel Military College of South Carolina University of North Georgia Virginia Military Institute Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Since those 6 schools chose to become and remain a SMC, I don't believe they had a choice not to become co-ed given the federal laws that exist. At least I believe they had a choice to switch from being a SMC to a ROTC at a traditional school. Q: How Are ROTC Programs At SMCs Different Than ROTC Programs At Traditional Colleges? A: The ROTC programs at SMCs differ from ROTC programs at other institutions in one huge way—intensity! Traditional ROTC programs operate more like an extracurricular activity, while SMCs run more like military service academies. At SMCs, you’ll be part of a Corps of Cadets that live and study in an immersive military environment. You’ll also wear your uniform at all times, receive intense military training, physical training, and be subject to military discipline and a cadet code of conduct. https://veteran.com/senior-military-colleges/

Basically they only put their uniform on once a week when they went to their military classes. The rest of the time they wore civilian clothing, like every other college student. ** Edited by EDGEMAN at 5/30/2025, 10:03:16 AM

want to watch this soccer model with just 30-36 teams over and over again, while the teams the have supported for years wilt on the vine? Human nature has told us that the top teams lead the ratings, but regional games bring in the advertising cash.

The money it too good he says. The 19:20 mark is where they talk about the super league and fan regionality. The Fox guy believes most college football fans are just fans of college football and will watch these 30-32 teams. I have heard another former Fox guy and former CFP executive, Bill Hancock, say the same thing. I disagree myself, and hope this super league fails miserably if it happens.

...any "super league" that doesn't include VT. Not going to happen! If I want to watch pro football, I'll watch the NFL.

shortsighted decisions on the part of ESPN and these super/premier teams will prompt them to try it.

the gambling industry is a billion dollar business. If it is true that change is the only constant in life/this world, then it is reasonable to assume that the business model for sports broadcasting is subject to change too. It is possible that ratings may be the "old way of doing things" and the amount of bets placed during a sporting event is the "new way of doing things." Particularly if those associated with gambling apps, which ESPN has one, is able to generate more money from gambling than from sponsors. There may even come a day when ESPN (or whatever network) views the money generated from gambling as its primary revenue and money generated from sponsors as more "icing on the cake."

I am convinced the suits at ESPN do not understand their audience or product. They think they do, but they don't. For example, I like having one wife, but I wouldn't like having five wives five times as much. Lots of pencil pushers making bad business decisions based on wrong assumptions. There's the whole stewardship angle to the love of college football that will completely go away when it's the "less good NFL". Face it, NFL games are great, and we all give a pass to the college players, but the more they are just "not as good pros as the NFL players", the less forgiveness they get from fans. ** Edited by MrBayAreaHokie at 5/28/2025, 5:45:01 PM

in my lifetime and have thus far avoided the impulse. If college becomes no **** straight minor league ball with no connection to universities...well, ok. I will watch Green Bay Packers at Pittsburgh Steelers. I kinda doubt I'll get geeked up for College Station Nittany Lions at Iowa City Hawkeyes.

Cookie cutter production with auto tune. Blech!

Original coke

When they move the the shell, they think they are gaining territory, but never look back to what they are giving up. None of these losers don't even look back to see what rivalries are gone.

So where do you think they will draw the line? I think they would piss off a lot of big brand schools (and states) for anyone cut after the first 12. I think you would need to get to at least Washington on this list (22 teams total).

Auburn and Mich St. They might take two teams from either Texas or Florida (large states), but i would not expect any other states to get more than one team. From your chart, that would be Alabama, Ohio St. Michigan, Notre Dame, LSU, Oklahoma, Georgia, Florida, Penn St. Texas, USC and one other very lucky team.

decision. If their target audience is people who use the various gambling apps, then whichever teams generate the most "action" may become the criteria. At least it is possible for people to place bets on a game without that person watching the game on some sort of device.

That’s a main portion of their business model. Show content that gets lots of viewers so that they can generate advertising revenue.

interesting to see how critical viewership is going forward. It is possible that ESPN's business model is changing/evolving if viewership is the old model and gambling is the new model.

games and on on his betting platform as better for ROI than full stadiums and zany fans. And they are not looking as much has what teams have done on the field as how much $$$ they can return assuming the income from the bettors will be as they seem to think.

possible a person doesn't even need to watch the game in order to place bets (including parlays). A person could make the case that the various fantasy leagues have created the blueprint for how it could work. People may tune into a particular game to see how one of their fantasy players may be doing in it, but it isn't a requirement since all people really care about are the final stats.

Everything is about short-term gains at the expense of long term sustainability. I don’t think college sports will be any different, unfortunately.

...for the other conferences to prevent alienating the vast majority of college football fans. But I'm beginning to think greed has clouded their judgment so badly that they will truly bite off the hand that feeds them. And in some sick way, I'm actually cheering for that...I'm hoping for a complete "reset" of collegiate athletics that recreates something that looks a lot more sane than the status quo. It will probably take a long time to get there, but I definitely do not believe the current trajectory is sustainable over the long haul.

They both have said it repeatedly, maybe it’s not a negotiating ploy. Maybe they really mean it. After all Saban was the first one to bring an NFL size staff like he had with the Dolphins, with 25+ on staff, and completely dominated College Football until mainly his former Assistant Coaches got jobs and did the same thing. So maybe it’s time to believe Sankey and Saban, ~32 teams, not a member of the NCAA, own playoff, own basketball tournament, own everything tournaments/playoffs, yes and own rules on everything, including Academics. The SEC has publicly said they are talking to Goldman Sachs about financing, maybe there is another stealth entity called the NFL involved too? I know it sounds unbelievable, but how many times in the last 5 years have we said unbelievable!?!?

of College Gameday this year and just happened to hear Saban spill the beans.

Though the fan following of college football back then isn't near what it is today. However, back then you may have had people that went to schools like VT have another college football favorite (i.e. Notre Dame, Michigan, Ohio St, etc). You still see things like that today where people who go to Radford may prefer rooting for VT or UVA since they are in a major basketball conference. However, this isn't as usual nowadays since you have fans of JMU football who are full invested - or VT 30 years ago get fully invested since they saw their teams competing with the "big boys." In other words, if you had a breakaway of 30-40 teams 40 years ago, it wouldn't have been a big deal and any college football fan would have kept watching (especially when you just had an ABC game of the week). Now, if you do a breakaway of 30-40 teams, and teams like VT aren't included, you will either see those fans really caring about college football or follow whatever division VT ends up being in. Thus, your % of fans would go down (though the ones watching the breakaway may number more than what there were 40 years ago). I believe that is the balancing act - I believe you could get the bulk of fans onboard if there were 40-48 teams no matter the conference. However, if you keep all the teams in the SEC and Big Ten, I believe you would have to get closer to 60 teams to not alienate too many fans. I still think 56 is the sweet spot if you keep all of the SEC/B10 teams (thus, each conference would go to 28) - you get enough teams in that have a decent storied football past/background while reducing the original number of P5 schools - you could split each conference up in 4 divisions of 7 teams each - play each of your 6 division opponents once to keep some regional rivalries while playing 1-2 rotating opponents from other divisions in your conference as well as 1-2 teams from the other conference (depending on if the 56 teams want to play each other or still play teams outside once or twice). If you keep games just against the other 56 teams, you could just set it up like the NFL and have div winners w/ wild cards. And just like the NFL, you could divide the TV packages all over to increase $$$. ** Edited by The_VT_Rock at 5/28/2025, 12:24:14 PM

NCAA settlement, have their own championships, and be done with them. just have the new college athletic conferences (FBS, FCS, and all division 1)not schedule them in football, basketball, baseball, or anything for that matter. They wouldn't last 3 years.

Have the NCAA run it, for teams that are not in the CFP. Every non-CFP bowl winner who agrees to participate before their bowl game starts gets an invite. Guarantee that every game will at least be on the ACCN. Heck, do it in this season. It would just be free money.

running the DI Football Playoffs (aka DI-FCS Playoffs) now. People may not realize that the DI-FBS schools are essentially running the DI-FBS Playoffs now via the FBS Playoffs LLC or whatever name the nonprofit organization is using now when it switched from the BCS to FBS Playoffs. It is possible the NCAA is providing some level of support to the FBS playoffs without violating the NCAA bylaws (specifically the one about the NCAA being able to only sponsor 1 champion per sport per division level). I guess the question becomes the non-P2s rather handle the administrative responsibilities that would come with having their own tournament vs. merging with the DI-FCS and let the NCAA handle it?

The "we're going to break away" posturing is nothing but empty BS. I keep wondering how long it's going to take everyone else to figure this out, because it's literally the SEC and Big 10's only leverage. There is way, way, WAY more of everyone else than there are SEC and Big 10 members. They cannot "win" a vote on anything. You can say the media money is enormous leverage, but would Disney/Fox continue to think they're as valuable as they are if the rest of the FBS freezes them out and impedes their influence on the governance of the college sports landscape, refuses to schedule them in anything, and refuses to allow them to participate in the NCAAT, etc.? The SEC and Big 10 are playing a zero sum game with everyone else; it's past time everyone else started acting like it and stopped rolling over for every single little thing they demand.

with the expanded 12 team playoff granting "access". Sure but then they squeezed: unequal CFP payouts, control of the CFP structure, re-seeding, the 4-4-2-2-1 model, and OOC scheduling with play-in games against each other. Their illusion has no end in sight. I wouldn't be surprised if they say any non-Big 10 or non-SEC team qualifies for the CFP only if the team is undefeated and only if ranked within the top 4.

When they justified the CFP payout percentages, it was based upon NY6 appearances, not CFP4 appearances. The ACC was only about one game short of the B10 in CFP4 appearances, and a few years earlier, we were even ahead of them. So, we would have gotten the same CFP $ percentage, if they used that. I always thought it was weird that the NY6 was mixed in with the CFP so much. The other 4 bowl games were just other bowl games. albeit big ones. I think that was one of the reasons why they did the NY6, to set up the expanded playoffs to the P2's liking. I think that is a big reason why they did not expand the playoffs to 6 or even 8 teams. With 12, it was very convenient to say, we are comparing apples to apples, the "new" top 12 to the "old" top 12. But the NY6 had contractual ties to the P2, plus appearances there were heavily skewed by brand perception, excluding G5 teams. The NY6 was designed to favor the P2.