r/CFB • u/Thomallister1291 Oregon Ducks • Alabama Crimson Tide • 21h ago

News [Pete Thamel] Per sources, the amount Fox is expected to get back for the cancellation of the Big Ten title game, which it owns the television rights to, is estimated in the $50 million range annually.

https://x.com/PeteThamel/status/2111241297298387030
1.5k Upvotes

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816

u/WillowHaunting429 21h ago

Why have a conference?

715

u/mel34760 Penn State • West Florida 21h ago

That’s where this is headed…

210

u/YodaForceGhost Maryland Terrapins • Big Ten Network 21h ago

Back to the old days where almost every big team was independent or their conference was so small that they played a bunch of other big teams

59

u/Hulkodium Oklahoma Sooners • Big 8 Renewal 20h ago

Might as well at this point.

23

u/binzoma Miami Hurricanes • Waterloo Warriors 18h ago edited 18h ago

honestly at this point just go to a regional tiered system like the english soccer ladder. promotion/relegation.

NE top, championship, league

SE top, championship, league

etc

itd make more sense than whatever the fuck is going on now

edit: if they did that, they'd get to have 3 full playoffs/champions..... think of the money ncaa think of the money. and with no pesky conferences in the way it'd all be yours......

say you do the round of 16 in the regions, you could have top 4 go straight to the 'main' playoffs, next 4 do a 'qualification game, with the 2 winners getting to go on. 6 per region/tier, thats a 24 team playoff for each, 72 playoff teams in total in the nationals, plus another 24 who played a playoff game in the 'regional/tier' playin.

21

u/Designer_B Iowa Hawkeyes 18h ago

Until somebody like Auburn gets relegated for Toledo.

12

u/Flobking Syracuse Orange 17h ago

Until somebody like Auburn gets relegated for Toledo.

The way the sec and big ten act they could be the two main conferences and every other team be in one giant league.

3

u/Bill3ffinMurray Nebraska • $5 Bits of Broken Chair Tro… 17h ago

That’d be great!

5

u/IamGleemonex Texas Longhorns 6h ago

> honestly, at this point just go to a regional tiered system

Minus the promotion/relegation part, that was what we used to have:

West coast - PAC 8/10
Southern middle - Big 8
Texas/Arkansas - SWC
Midwest - Big 10
Southeast - SEC
Northeast - Big East
East coast - ACC

Then all the realignments started and messed up all of this.

1

u/redditing_1L Iowa State Cyclones • Miami Hurricanes 11h ago

How dare you?! That historic Maryland vs. USC rivalry needs to be protected!!!

50

u/fuchsia_fascia 21h ago

Penn State football was at it's best as an independent...

42

u/melorous Auburn Tigers • Team Chaos 20h ago

Well, they are currently embracing their past...

19

u/[deleted] 20h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

18

u/WillowHaunting429 21h ago

Let a computer do a random schedule, like the NFL does and weights it based upon your prior year finish?

111

u/p-wing Washington State • Tennessee 21h ago

NFL schedule isn't random, but it is custom designed.

14

u/WillowHaunting429 21h ago

yeah, its not random and that's a poor choice of words here, but why not do a weighted schedule like the NFL?

46

u/JeffGoldblumsChest Florida Gators • Team Meteor 20h ago

Maybe we could even group teams together, that would play each other more often, like the NFL does

26

u/steckums Ohio State Buckeyes 20h ago

What about like, if the teams that were grouped were in similar areas geographically?

14

u/somebodysbuddy Lehigh Mountain Hawks • Marching Band 20h ago

You mean like Dallas being part of the East and Atlantic Coast?

7

u/-Jack-The-Stripper Virginia Tech • Cincinnati 19h ago

I know people meme on the Dallas in the NFCE thing, but if you ever go through the history of NFL divisions it’s actually pretty interesting why certain teams ended up where they are.

In Dallas’ case, they were always kind of on an island in the early days, so they just had to get put somewhere. It was an accident of history pretty much that they had to slot in with some east coast teams. Divisions grew, shrunk, realigned, grew and shrunk again, and through it all Dallas just happened to have been alongside Philly, NY, and Washington. When the four-team divisions were finalized, they stayed with their historic rivals. People can poke at it, but the NFCE is exactly what it should be - a group of teams that have been playing for decades and absolutely despise each other.

4

u/ryanhollister 12h ago

i remember when the phoenix cardinals were in the NFC east

1

u/muttonchops215 Ohio State Buckeyes • Iowa Hawkeyes 17h ago

BIG EAST is back with Texas schools as the members.

0

u/Quick1711 South Carolina Gamecocks 19h ago

There is no other way to make the NFC East.

2

u/SwansOrange UBC Thunderbirds 15h ago

Panthers to NFC East, cowboys to NFC South

1

u/DrHToothrot Florida State • Wyoming 19h ago

I might be on board for this, but I'd need to have the teams these individual geographic groups all play each other in a given year.

1

u/muttonchops215 Ohio State Buckeyes • Iowa Hawkeyes 17h ago

This checks out.....see Indianapolis as "South" and Dallas as "East". And Baltimore as "North" while we are at it.

7

u/Time-Wolf USF Bulls 20h ago

32 teams vs 130

5

u/Pinewood74 Air Force Falcons • Purdue Boilermakers 20h ago

Doesn't really matter the number of teams, you could do NFL style scheduling with just about any grouping. And FCS can fill in as overflow where needed.

Not that it will ever happen, granted.

2

u/p-wing Washington State • Tennessee 20h ago

I would do that in a heartbeat.

Six rivalry games per season (annual or semi-annual basis).
Six regional at-large games per season.

The at-large games would be selected to try to equalize strength-of-schedule across the whole subdivision.

W-L record is counted first, then overtime results, then strength-of-schedule.

10

u/BabyBearBjorns LSU Tigers • Tulane Green Wave 20h ago

The Computer AI has decided on a Hawaii vs Boston College night game in Chestnut Hill.

2

u/mkt853 19h ago

Claude would never do that. He will only generate fair and fun schedules!

0

u/KensingtonSlimblade LSU Tigers 21h ago

Good

63

u/cooterdick Tennessee • North Carolina 21h ago

To negotiate tv deals. That’s really their main purpose now and has been since the 80s.

4

u/WillowHaunting429 21h ago

That can all be handled centrally.

This is a mess, and I think it is far from over.

There is still this pesky College Sports Act or whatever it is called that remains unpassed....and if you screw too many Senators and Representatives with their home state schools then you lose their votes....so still need 60 votes in the Senate.

House has its version, Senate has its version....and neither are the same....and now this comes up and why would they screw their home schools now if this is the direction it goes?

17

u/cooterdick Tennessee • North Carolina 21h ago

They tried that. The NCAA was in charge. It was a mess. Oklahoma and Georgia sued the NCAA to let schools have the rights to negotiate their own tv deals. Schools saw it smart to collectively negotiate as conferences. Now we’re where we are today.

2

u/WillowHaunting429 21h ago

Of course they did, but now the top X programs are going to combine for the CFP, they can sign away their rights for the cash in the CFP offer...and do whatever they want

the point is this is far from done.

136

u/Stoneador Notre Dame Fighting Irish • Sickos 21h ago

Now you’re talking

80

u/DillyDillySzn Arizona State Sun Devils • WashU Bears 21h ago

Notre Dame always wins in the end

48

u/Katwill666 Notre Dame • Morehead State 20h ago

"You couldn't live with your own failure. Where did that bring you? Back to me."

32

u/FuegoFerdinand Kentucky • Morehead State 21h ago

Everything's coming up Notre Dame.

4

u/drewcifer492 Cincinnati Bearcats 21h ago

Maybe in 1988 they did

12

u/FreeSpeechIsDeadge Notre Dame • Michigan 20h ago

And 1993.

1

u/Sea_Conference5661 Nebraska Cornhuskers • UCLA Bruins 20h ago

Boston College sends their regards 🗡

15

u/FreeSpeechIsDeadge Notre Dame • Michigan 20h ago

Same record and head to head win over the “National champion.” Unearned gift for Bobby Bowden because the voters thought it was his turn.

6

u/NDVermin Notre Dame Fighting Irish 20h ago

That's some wild flair my friend

32

u/GhostOfAbydos Notre Dame Fighting Irish 21h ago

They’re starting to see the light

13

u/emaugustBRDLC Notre Dame • DuPage 15h ago

Notre Dame join a conference posters down bad.

5

u/Ass_of_Badness Notre Dame Fighting Irish 11h ago

Also Notre Dame should have played a meaningless bowl game posters. Always setting the trends.

1

u/Ancient_Algae64 Notre Dame • Gonzaga 3h ago

Reminds me of when ND invented the forward pass and everyone kept crying about ND needing to run the ball!

96

u/shortbusmafia Georgia Bulldogs 21h ago

So that schools play against other schools that are geographically closer togeth…

Wait, nevermind. Who would have such a dumb idea?

11

u/WillowHaunting429 21h ago

Yeah - that's out the window right now

I think there is more to come on this.

3

u/jrh038 LSU Tigers 19h ago

We still have that some what at least.

Honestly add 4 ACC schools and lets go back divisions that function as conferences in all but name.

TAMU, BAMA, LSU, OU and Texas in the west.

Georgia, Florida, FSU, Miami, and Tenn in the east.

Have two inter-conference games a year - that way you play everyone over 5 years.

0

u/muttonchops215 Ohio State Buckeyes • Iowa Hawkeyes 17h ago

Hey now, this is mainly your and Oklahoma's lawsuit that started this all.

2

u/shortbusmafia Georgia Bulldogs 16h ago

It was me personally who was involved with that? That’s news to me.

13

u/NewAgeLand Syracuse • California 20h ago

PAC-12’s revenge. If we can’t have a real conference, no one can have a conference

30

u/americansherlock201 Miami Hurricanes 21h ago

That’s the next step. Conferences will mean nothing for football so teams will leave their conferences, align with a tv contract and that will be that.

Division 1 college football is dead

8

u/mp0295 Notre Dame Fighting Irish 19h ago

You know Miami didnt join a conference until 1990 right? Was D1 football dead when UM won most of its natties in the '80s?

2

u/muttonchops215 Ohio State Buckeyes • Iowa Hawkeyes 17h ago

What did you think would happen when players got "paid" outside of of their hundreds of thousands in scholarship, boarding, stipend, and tutoring? This was the entire point of the loudest people for this.

5

u/Dry-Membership3867 Jacksonville State • Arkansas 20h ago

ESPN will make sure that doesn’t happen. It will cost them more money

6

u/americansherlock201 Miami Hurricanes 20h ago

Not if the top schools sign tv rights with espn. I’m sure espn would rather have the biggest teams than just the ACC and SEC. Drop the bottom programs and replace them with the big tens best teams and you have more fun lineup on espn

3

u/Dry-Membership3867 Jacksonville State • Arkansas 20h ago

And then what happens when those schools start demanding $50 million a year then? Because they’d have the power to do so at that point

5

u/americansherlock201 Miami Hurricanes 20h ago

Would they although? If espn ends up owning all their rights and the playoff to crown a national champion, quickly becomes a whose with them and who’s not

2

u/Thehiddenllama Alaska Nanooks • Texas Longhorns 16h ago

Somehow, the LHN returned.

1

u/MagicPoindexter Fresno State • Utah State 17h ago

Aren’t they making more than that now in the Big Ten and SEC?

1

u/a5ehren Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets • Team Chaos 10h ago

ESPN is already paying Miss St $50M, they would love to just make $75M deals with Ohio State and Alabama instead.

1

u/Danster21 Montana State • Washington 14h ago

Idk, FCS seems as fun as ever

15

u/randomthrowaway9796 Georgia Bulldogs 20h ago

I honestly think we should get rid of conferences if theyre going to be mega conferences. Just have 3-6 rivals that you play annually, and have a centralized agency handle scheduling for every other game. The issue is there is no centralized agency that can handle something like this.

1

u/Calithrand Oregon State Beavers • Platypus Trophy 17h ago

That's going to happen, alongside BIGSEC making the CFP exclusive to them and leaving the rest of the FBS to go back to being, you know, the FBS. Then, BIGSEC will divide into two conferences, each split into four divisions, with 14 teams making the playoffs...

1

u/WillowHaunting429 20h ago

And you still have other sports to be concerned with, so its bigger than just football in how it all fits

And if certain schools get all the money and others none, its where this falls apart and creates issues like anti trust concerns.

2

u/randomthrowaway9796 Georgia Bulldogs 20h ago

Another thing that a centralized agency could make fair, but the NCAA is far too weak for this.

2

u/a5ehren Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets • Team Chaos 10h ago

Maybe we just drop the pretense that those other sports are anything like football and they play in regional conferences?

0

u/Agile_Land_9951 Big 12 • Pac-12 18h ago

Do we have to screw over the west every time? No one out here has any interest in watching USC or Utah play turkey casserole country.

5

u/EngineerDave Louisville Cardinals 19h ago

Right now Conferences are the only thing left that really has any kind of rules that can be enforced. We saw that with LSU and Texas Tech. If you want a 100% free for all getting rid of conferences is going to be horrible.

3

u/Lazerdude Nebraska Cornhuskers 20h ago

Honestly this. Just make them all independent programs at this point. What's even the point of conferences? It's all just one big round Robin tournament the way this sets up.

2

u/anxiousauditor USF Bulls • BCS Championship 21h ago

Reliable source of TV rights revenues and scheduling arrangements.

2

u/B1GFanOSU Ohio State Buckeyes • Big Ten 20h ago

Notre Dame has entered the chat.

2

u/mp0295 Notre Dame Fighting Irish 19h ago

Yes, why did conferences exists before they started having CCGs in the 1990s and 2000s? Truly, why?

8

u/Toothlessdovahkin Notre Dame Fighting Irish 20h ago edited 20h ago

Finally, people can stop bitching about Notre Dame not being in a conference or not playing a Conference championship game, because no one else is, why are you mad at us?

3

u/IDontTortureChickens Notre Dame • Ball State 19h ago

I assume you are kidding, because the idea that people will stop bitching about us is just adorable.

We just spent a whole offseason fielding complaints about turning down an exhibition bowl, getting into a 12-team CFP as a top-12 team and the old standby of 'you don't play a conference title game,' and the conferences just killed all 3 of those things at once, proving none of it ever actually meant a damn thing to them. Yet I'm 100% confident people will keep complaining about it all.

3

u/garethom Indiana Hoosiers 14h ago

I don't think Reddit commenters that bitch about ND are the people behind this move.

1

u/IDontTortureChickens Notre Dame • Ball State 9h ago

I know they're not. But there was an implicit undertone that the way 'our people' do things is the right way, and it turns out 'our people' didn't actually give a shit and were just waiting until they could get enough money to dump all the things conference people claimed to be in favor of. And I'm guessing the number of people that will notice that and adjust their complaining accordingly is somewhere between zero and zero.

1

u/MarchSadness90 Kentucky Wildcats 20h ago

There won't be conference champions at all anymore.

1

u/muttonchops215 Ohio State Buckeyes • Iowa Hawkeyes 17h ago

Flair checks out.

1

u/shooter9260 Oregon Ducks 16h ago

Notre Dame is screaming from the rooftops with joy

1

u/Midnight_Oil_ 11h ago

"You're right man, we just need one big SUPER CONFERENCE"

1

u/timshel_life Arizona State Sun Devils 20h ago

To keep with "tradition"

1

u/Silver_Driver_1901 20h ago

How would you broker the streaming rights for 60 fbs games every Saturday and the brain damage of scheduling. Conferences solved that

5

u/Calithrand Oregon State Beavers • Platypus Trophy 18h ago

What? Conferences grew out of convenience, schools close to other schools that played each other regularly because... they were close.

As for brokering streaming rights, here's a solution: "Hey (Amazon/Netflix/Peacock/Paramount/ESPN/Apple/literally any other streaming platofrm out there)! Put every FBS game on your platform!" That's kind of like, the whole point of streaming.

2

u/WillowHaunting429 19h ago

Sure, but its all being imploded here.....

0

u/LX1027 Florida Gators 21h ago

Ask Miami that last year ..

3

u/Time-Wolf USF Bulls 20h ago

But that would have been irrelevant in this format. They would have been in as an at large, so the conference tie would be no benefit.

0

u/gillster17 20h ago

It’s should go soccer style with a top conference and then smaller conferences where you can get regulated but if you win your conference you move up.

0

u/HistoricalTaste22k Ohio State Buckeyes 15h ago

So Ohio State can make money off of schools we don't particularly care much for. Also, to have a pseudo civil war between an Northern+Western conference and a Southern one.