Bill Powers on realignment article

Seems like every article or interview Pres. Powers or Deloss Dodds does comes across as professional and confident. Like they actually know who they are and where they want to lead the University.

Conversely, when I read articles or interviews from Aggy and Missouri (and officials from other universities), all I hear are whiny men in positions of power who don't have a clue what they are doing, and react largely in response to what other schools (namely us
cool.gif
) are doing. Really makes me proud to a Longhorn.

Hook'em
 
///
everything he said

Also, Powers said two things I've grown to maintain overall as realignment has shuffled along:
1) I favor 10 teams, not 12 or 14.
I have never liked a conference title game. I prefer playing ALL members of a conference every year.
2) I have never believed in 'mega' conferences, the 16-team angle, much less the 20-team conference of pods reaching far and wide. I was uneasy at the beginning of that concept, and Powers just validated my sense of it.

On those views, I'm in complete agreement. Hope it shakes out down the road -- meaning 10-15 years -- that large conferences are unpractical and counterproductive, especially given economic uncertainties (ie., fiat currency, inflated conditions, banking, and political fiscal troubles... that all trickle down and out).

I predict the SEC will regret it's move toward 13, and probably it's forced move to 14 teams. Once it's into a 14-team conference, time will pass and soon the games will show their diluted results. It's the old proverb: you never know you've had enough, until you've had too much.

The 14 teams will end up with overkill in the scheduling and televising of the games and will also drive to the point that it's no big deal to watch any of those teams play. "Alabama vs LSU... big ******* deal, who gives a ****. Last week it was Ark vs Ole Miss, or was it Miss State vs Auburn? No, wait, they played last year, or was it the year before? You mean they don't play again until next year? And where do they play next? I mean who will be the home team? Is Vanderbilt still in that conference? What happened to South Carolina? They have not played LSU or Arkansas .. since.. when? Do they play anymore?"
tongue.gif
 
The more I start thinking about 10 team conferences the more intimate and heated the rivalries become even for your typical mismatches like Texas vs. Rice. It was nice to play them every year vs. playing Iowa State every few years.
 
Good article. You know, I still don't really understand the constant characterization (mostly by foes) that Texas is an arrogant institution, which we all have heard for a number of years. Other than Dodds "We are the Joneses" comment (which rubbed me the wrong way when I first heard it--you let others call you the "Joneses", don't hang that moniker around your own neck) and some of the "We are Texas" lines I see on this board and others (generated by diehard fans, and every school has those), I'd like to hear some specific examples of institutional conduct that support the "arrogant" tag, if there are any. Someone please enlighten me.
 
The one thing that gives me comfort is that Powers and DeLoss are smart. All of this have been thought out and seems like we roll with the punches pretty good as well.
So what if we make a few people jealous along the way...

WE ARE TEXAS...and we're ORANGE!
 
I want the Big12 to have 12 teams but ONLY 11 Football members and NO conference championship game. The 12th team is ND and joins in all sports except Football.

I don't care who we take as the 11th team. I'd prefer a sound academic school with good athletic potential.
 
+1 on getting rid of the conference championship game. In a lot of years it has served little to no purpose.
 
The SEC certainly won't regret adding A&M and going to 13, the SEC already has every other conference on the ropes and is about to make the separation insurmountable. They have the last 5 NC's that have gone to 4 member schools and with Bama and LSU they will likely make it 6 in a row. The key to the A&M add is market footprint, the only weakness of the SEC was lack of major TV markets. A&M solved that problem, especially with the large population of Arkansas and LSU grads already in Texas.

It's all about money in the end and the SEC is going to blow everyone away in the next 2 years once the dust settles. They have been setting up the pieces to essentially make their league into the NFL light. The SEC network is getting primed up and ready to launch and it will blow away anything else around. Look at the online content on the SEC website, it's tremendous. Look at their mobile app. Look at how they already have every SEC home game branded with "SEC Network" all over the place for a network that doesn't actually exist on TV yet. Their branding is tremendous.

Why does this matter? The SEC already has a "look in" provision with both 1st and 2nd Tier TV deals. They currently pay out over $18 mill per school and estimates with the A&M add are that will go up to a minimum of $26 mill. Then comes the SEC network which is a guaranteed winner because it will may even carry better ratings than ESPN in some SEC states because it will have enough content to keep it interesting and it will be all about the SEC which is all people there care about besides NASCAR. Estimates are that the initial payout per school for the SEC Network will be $12-15 mill per school and going up making a total payout for TV to EVERY SEC school pushing $40 mill.

SEC schools already dominate every list of revenue and profitability and that additional money will make it even more outrageous. There are some schools that can compete, Texas being one of them, but the overall strength of the conference is going to crush everyone else. Add to that the fact the strength of the recruiting base, population growth, and quality of HS football programs in their footprint and no one will catch them. The SEC already is filled with 90-100k stadiums that sell out every week and top notch facilities, that's only going to grow. Next item up for discussion will be taking the Big East's AQ status from the BCS and allowing a 3rd BCS school to go from a conference, which will likely go to an SEC school every year.

A&M will have to adjust to the SEC without question. It's a step up and they will be lucky to go 8-4 the first couple years. Realize though that A&M is about to get a massive influx in cash in the next 5 years though. The B12 payout to A&M last year was less than $10 million, in short order they will get almost 4 times that amount. Facilities and Kyle Field are also about to get major upgrades and they are pretty solid right now. A&M is also going to be the largest school in the SEC and will have one of the largest alumni bases. They will be fine.

The problem with the B12 is it is now severely limiting itself. There are no schools they can poach that will add value and half the schools in the conference will leave if they can get into the Big 1G, Pac 12, or SEC and possibly even the ACC. Problem for them right now is they can't because they simply don't add enough value or they have too much baggage.

Texas is going to leave the Big 12 at some point, it's simply a matter of time. The conference is going to look like the SWC at the end compared to the other conferences soon. The only benefit to staying in the B12 for now is the LHN will get a true trial run to see if it is viable but so far it has been a dismal flop. It isn't getting picked up by carriers and it may not in the end. The only audience for it is hard core Longhorn fans and there just aren't that many of them to justify it.

Personally I am shocked anyone still thinks Dodds is the right man to lead Texas AD anymore. If you look at where the program was just 2 years ago, dominating a league that still had NU, CU, and A&M, and then you look at where the future is that should be enough. It's also hard to overstate just how much damage the image of UT has taken on a national level over the last 6 months especially. All for a network that is doomed for failure longterm. The individual sports have steadily declined since 2005 as well. MBB has gone backwards outside of a few big wins, the NCAA Tourney and B12 Titles are really all that matter and it hasn't done well at either lately. Women's BBall has fallen from a powerhouse to mediocrity despite having the highest paid coach in the country. Baseball is really the only sport that has maintained it's level somewhat. Outside of Swimming every other sport is somewhere between mediocre to moderately good. Of course Football is the key but that is rebuilding at best. Texas is likely to lose to both OU and A&M for 2 consecutive years for the first time since the '80s. Considering Texas has twice the revenue of any other school in the B12 that simply shouldn't be acceptable.
 
The NC's are the symptom. The key is the SEC has such a rock solid foundation with big time schools, top notch facilities and large stadiums, and a tremendous recruiting base. They may not win every NC but they will consistently be the strongest conference going forward once they get their new TV deal and SEC Network launched. They are the strongest by far and they are about to get a great deal stronger.

I don't disagree with you about the SEC being arrogant either. They look down on anyone that isn't in the SEC as being bush league outside of a few schools. They can also back it up though.
 
This thread is the perfect example of the differences in thinking between the two major groups of football fans. There is a group that eschews conference playoffs in particular, Division 1 playoffs in general, and just doesn't care if some schools in the conference will ever pull their fair share. Money is just not a significant factor in this group's considerations.

There is another group that sees the impetus toward a Division 1 college football playoff to be inexorable (for a variety of reasons). This is the group that I belong to. All college sports have playoffs in every sport in every division, men or women, except one: Division 1 college football. That will change, and the movement toward change is happening fairly swiftly right now.

As aggressor's comments suggest, Texas is clearly and tenaciously resisting that change. The resistance to the change ostensibly manifests at all levels of the Texas administration from William Powers, to DeLoss Dodds, to Mack Brown.

For awhile I thought Texas' support for the recent moves of the Big 12, such as adding TCU, were about getting the LHN off the ground. But I don't think the LHN is the driving factor at Texas right now, based on the published comments of Texas personnel, such as this thread's linked article referencing William Powers. It would appear this current group of UT Administrators is absolutely intent on locking Texas into a small provincial conference that Texas (or OU) can dominate.

I must therefore concur with aggressor's position that Texas' leadership is, at this critical juncture, apparently remiss. I say "apparently" because I have to take them at their word. They are saying "10 is good", and "TCU is wonderful," and "no interest in the SEC or Big 10." To claim no interest in the SEC or Big 10, yet some interest in the PAC and ACC, is just wrong-thinking, even for Texas.

For example, somebody upthread seems to think that Texas vs. TCU will generate just as much, and possibly more, interest in most years in the future than, say, the SEC's Alabama vs. LSU. The reasoning is that Texas will play TCU every year, but Alabama wouldn't play LSU every year, being in different SEC divisions, and therefore more people will have interest in Texas vs. TCU. This is an astounding comment to me.

I will admit there is much genuine interest and enthusiasm for TCU right now (at least in the Big 12). As there will be, no doubt, for Louisville, or Tulane, or Cincinnati, if they are eventually added, depending on the Missouri situation. But Air Force got it right. In the Big 12, Air Force would have to go head-to-head with recruiting against Texas and OU, and that's a losing record proposition for Air Force. Air Force wants their kids to have a legitimate shot at winning the conference of which they are a member, and not just join the Big 12 for a bigger payday.

Add TCU to Baylor in failing to fill their insufficient stadiums (along with the others who do not draw fans), factor in Texas' eventual dissatisfaction in the mid-major's failure to add to the gross television revenue contracts (as Texas became dissatisfied in the SWC), endure the inevitably thrilling 35-14 outcomes year-after-year (TCU, for example, like Baylor, will not compete in the Big 12 in most years), and the luster the mid-majors will quickly fade. Or perhaps Texas wants more TCU-type schools to generate more Tier 3 football games?

Texas recent decisions will be assessed over the template of time. We shall see how history judges Texas leaders and their current decisions in a fairly short period of time. Perhaps as quickly as 5 years. The SEC is simply going beyond. The SEC's grabbing a part of the State of Texas is a paradigm shift in the landscape of college football, and does in fact blow a huge hole in the Big 12. To argue otherwise demonstrates substantial arrogance on our own part.

In the meantime, William Powers will not, most likely, get his wish:
In reply to:
Click to expand...
 
Aggressor,

I read somewhere recently where the SEC may not be able to simply tear up it's relatively new long term TV contract. Is it a given in your mind that they'll be able to renegotiate to get better than Pac 12 money?

And what say you about Florida and it's 11M Tier 3 deal? Sorry if you've covered this before.
 
Slive has mentioned several times very directly that there is a "look in" provision and in fact did it again immediately following A&M being admitted. He has been very specific. There is also a provision that A&M will automatically get a full share as an additional cost to the networks, they don't have to further split the pie.

The Sunshine Network is a potential complication and part of the reason for the delay in launching the SEC Network. It's coming though. In fact they are already making plans on building the Network up to the point where they keep all or most of the Tier 2 TV rights when that contract expires.

Slive is a very, very smart man and he knows exactly what he is doing. He has the best product with the strongest regional and national brand and he knows it, so do the networks. It's not just about the championships it is the fact that every week they have at least 3 games that are as good as any other conference's best game.
 
Actually it isn't hard to leverage at all. The SEC contract was set up to be renegotiated from the beginning and they just added 42% more TV sets to their footprint and 2 Top 10 Media markets to the 1 they had before. The SEC is the best product out there in college football when it comes to quality of play and viewership, ESPN and CBS will do just about anything to keep them happy.
 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
What are you doing posting at 4:25am on a Longhorn board? Not sure this is an issue worth having insomnia over.
 
I didn't realize that adding College Station, TX will add 42% more TV sets to the SEC viewership.

The SEC will get Houston as part of that aggy base, but you can't lump the entire state of Texas in because of one school. There are 5 other D-I schools in the state of Texas not playing in the SEC.
 
The SEC Network isn't up and functioning yet. However, when it is running, I wouldn't be surprised if it's added to most Texas TV packages. But it's not just about subscribing to the SEC network games, it's about actually watching the SEC network games.

For example, right now I get the BTN for some reason. Obviously, part of my DirectTV money is going to the B1G, and the B1G is loving that. While I get the BTN, I don't much watch it, however. I didn't much care to watch Northwestern v. Iowa yesterday, which was one of the BTN games available to me. The B1G is not getting any credit for my actually watching the BTN because I don't watch it.

Instead, I watched most of Baylor v. A&M, leading into OSU v. Texas. After the Texas loss, I then watched KSU v. TT on FSW. Being a Texas alum, I like to watch other "pointless" B2 games, and not "pointless" B1G games. In fact, I even watched KSU v. TT over a pretty good SEC Florida v. Auburn game (at least it was good early on), each of which involved head coaches who were recent Texas defensive coordinators. But see, I no longer much care about Gene Chizik or Coach Boom anymore, except for historical purposes. I mainly care about B2 conference games, at least if one is then being televised and I can pick it up.

And that's all the SEC cares about: Conference viewing habits. They want all those A&M alums and fans -- a very large fanbase -- watching other "pointless" SEC games (not merely A&M games), instead of "pointless" B2 games or B1G games, etc. And they will get that kind of viewing behavior from aggy fans because they added Texas A&M to the SEC.

I doubt I watch a full A&M game again on TV for years and years after this season. Aggy fans will no longer watch Texas or TCU or Iowa State. They will watch Missouri, Vanderbilt, MSU, South Carolina, and, of course, the kings, because all those teams are part of the SEC, the aggy conference.

The SEC now has it all. Massive TV metropolitan areas, thanks to Florida, Atlanta, and now Texas. Tremendous stadiums with huge fan draws (6 out of the top 10). Large traditional recruiting grounds with, now, the formal addition of Texas into their "traditional" recruiting footprint. Big conference games with lots of kings that will generate significant national interest year-after-year.

Jackpot SEC in Texas. And hello massive, massive Tier 1 and 2 TV contract.

I will make a prediction right now: When the State of Texas is factored into the SEC television contract, A&M will make more money from being in the SEC than Texas will make from being in the B2, including whatever Texas ultimately generates from the LHN. I hope this prediction is incorrect. I very much want the LHN to be successful.
 
XOVER,

What are you so bitter about? Did conference realignment not go as you wanted? Well, I wanted something else too, but thats the way it goes. However, I dont think its really over yet. Lets just see what happens. But, you can get aggy season tickets if you think the SEC is so wonderful. I hear their stadium will hold over 200,000 as soon as they restripe the seats to 3".
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Weekly Prediction Contest

* Predict HORNS-AGGIES *
Sat, Nov 30 • 6:30 PM on ABC

Recent Threads

Prediction Results Threads

2024 Schedules

Back
Top