—
CU At The Game Podcast – Special Episode: CU’s Bold Move to Return to the Big 12, and How Colorado is Reshaping the Future of Two Power Five Conferences
—
Welcome to a special episode of the podcast. I am joined by Brad Geiger and Neil Langland, and we discuss CU’s decision to rejoin the Big 12. We address the criticisms of the move, including leaving the AAU-rich “better fit” of the Pac-12 for the “Truck stop conference” of the Big 12, and CU’s audacity to make the move before the Pac-12 media contracts were announced. We then respond to the pundits, including Oregon head coach Dan Lanning, who have taken their shots at the Buffs as they abandon the ship which is the floundering S.S. Pac-Whatever.
We then, armed with at least an outline of what the Pac-12 media contracts will look like going forward, take a look at the future of the two conferences. Did Colorado make the right move, choosing the stability of the Big 12 media deals over what appears to be the Pac-12’s streaming-centric deal with Apple-Plus? Will the Buffs’ move incite a stampede of realignment? How will the CU programs – including its basketball teams – fare in the newly configured Big 12?
… Let’s find out …
—
Most recent CU at the Game Podcast episodes …
- Spring Game Recap / Prime Cuts: Making Sense of CU’s Drastic Roster Overhaul
- Completing the Roster: Which gaps need to be filled with the few remaining scholarships?
- Mailbag Edition: Entering the First Summer of the Coach Prime Era
- CU at the Crossroads: Media Revenue Contracts and Future Conference Membership at Stake
- The Yea or Nay Episode: Just How Will CU’s 2023 Season Play Out?
- The Potluck Podcast: You Can’t Always Get What You Want
- Fall Camp Unit-by-Unit Preview: Offense
—
Below is Episode 16 of Season 4 for the CU at the Game Podcast. You can listen to the podcast simply by clicking on the play button below, or listen to it at Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio … or wherever you find your podcasts!
4 Replies to “CUATG Podcast: CU’s Audacious Move To Rejoin the Big 12”
Big-12 west
Arizona
ASU
BYU
Colorado
ISU
Kansas
KSU
Utah
So I was wrong on that thought……. Man just goes to show you how bad the PAC12 was in its negotiations….. it looks like they are going to have to take a reduced payout for a while and probably eat a travel loss. And the PAC12 couldn’t figure out how to get some of the money out of ESPN or Fox that they are going to pay the big 10….. think about that. The teams in the big10 are not taking that money out of there payouts so the big10 convinced ESPN and Fox to pony up the money but the PAC12 couldn’t…..
Interesting that the Big 10 is interested in Oregon/Washington and maybe Stanford/Cal. The univeristy presidents of the Big 10 want all four, but the conference AD’s want just Oregon/Washington. To me the presidents want the academic profile of Stanford and Cal in the Big 10, but the reality is they are just handing 20-30 million a year to Stanford (who really doesn’t need it) and Cal’s (who really does) athletic departments. Being part of the AAU has nothing to do with athletics, just ask Vanderbilt, who is bringing in a haul of money but it irrelevent in the SEC.
So my initial thought was that Oregon and Washington might have a chance at a reduced payment b1g membership. It would stick in their craw to take 30mm while everyone else is getting 50 but there is no way they are going to get full payouts. As I thought through this more I think it is even less likely than I originally thought. It is clear from the PAC12 negotiations the media companies are done adding schools. I think the Big12 was lucky to get the ability to add 2 schools in for free. The b1g current payout is 50mm base raising to 80 over the rest of the decade. Without altering the contract that means the other schools would have to lose between 6-7 million per pair that is added and that is at the reduced payout! So unless the media partners move I think there is no chance this happens. And if the media partners wouldn’t move to get these teams on a PAC12 schedule why would they move to get them in the b1g? Much less 4 teams. I think the wisdom of CU moving early, controlling its own destiny is going to show better and better. I really like the comment on the podcast about the arcane calculations of subscribers. How do you know if football adds to subscribers unless Apple tiers its product (then we are back to the PAC12 network model that failed so spectacularly). Or do we just get more money as Apple gets more viewers? Not sure I want to tie my revenue to apple’s current line up. Compared to Netflix and Amazon Apple’s stuff seems underwhelming. They seem to be picking these high brow sci fI conversions.