As someone with inside information, I think the “credit” for Nebraska’s move to the Big Ten should almost exclusively go to Chancellor Harvey Perlman. It wasn’t primarily an athletics decision; he wanted to be counted among the prestigious research universities of the Big Ten.
Haha, thanks! Unfortunately most of my other info is about the boring work of running the university and not from the athletics department, so I don’t think there’s enough material there.
Teams with legitimate fan interest (which equals the ability to generate revenue) are moving into situations where they will be less interesting and generate less revenue. USC & UCLA leaving the PacX is a short-term gain, but it lowers the ceiling on what they'll earn long term. Fans will care less about those two teams when they're members of a Frankenstein conference. Their membership in a west coast conference was a large part of their identities, and what made them interesting to fans.
Totally agree with this. The former Pac 12 schools are going to have a lot of random games in faraway places in inconvenient time zones. Even if it works out in football, what about the other 20 sports?
The other 20 sports will continue to play regional games just like always. No tennis team is flying cross-country on a Tuesday.
Ridiculous football travel is why I was always pretty sure Washington and Oregon would end up in the Big 10 eventually. Although I thought it would take a couple years of four, three-time-zone trips by USC before they finally acquiesced.
As someone with inside information, I think the “credit” for Nebraska’s move to the Big Ten should almost exclusively go to Chancellor Harvey Perlman. It wasn’t primarily an athletics decision; he wanted to be counted among the prestigious research universities of the Big Ten.
Oh man I think you need an anonymous Substack, Bridget. I’d subscribe
Haha, thanks! Unfortunately most of my other info is about the boring work of running the university and not from the athletics department, so I don’t think there’s enough material there.
Looking back, this seems like it’s mostly Texas’s fault.
I can get on board with this conclusion
This will end up being the reason for cutting non revenue generating sports. I can hear the AD's now moaning about travel costs.
Teams with legitimate fan interest (which equals the ability to generate revenue) are moving into situations where they will be less interesting and generate less revenue. USC & UCLA leaving the PacX is a short-term gain, but it lowers the ceiling on what they'll earn long term. Fans will care less about those two teams when they're members of a Frankenstein conference. Their membership in a west coast conference was a large part of their identities, and what made them interesting to fans.
Totally agree with this. The former Pac 12 schools are going to have a lot of random games in faraway places in inconvenient time zones. Even if it works out in football, what about the other 20 sports?
The other 20 sports will continue to play regional games just like always. No tennis team is flying cross-country on a Tuesday.
Ridiculous football travel is why I was always pretty sure Washington and Oregon would end up in the Big 10 eventually. Although I thought it would take a couple years of four, three-time-zone trips by USC before they finally acquiesced.