If the Power Five creates their own division within the NCAA, or leaves the NCAA entirely, I seriously doubt I’ll even care about college basketball anymore.
That’s not a threat. I wish it were, but the reality is I’m not in a position of any real power or influence, so I couldn’t make it a threat even if I wanted to. It’s just a statement as to what my feelings are. I just won’t care anymore. I probably won’t watch it nearly as often, and I probably won’t be interested in doing all that much with Hoops HD anymore. I suspect that I am far from the only person that feels this way. I believe that millions of other people (maybe even tens of millions) feel the same way. But, I don’t know that for a fact. I only know how I feel about it, and that’s pretty much how I feel.
To bring you up to speed, the NCAA released a statement today, which was really just bunch of words that said nothing more than that they had met and they had a plan. Geez, THAT’S GREAT!!! (CLICK HERE TO READ THE STATEMENT). What we know at this point is that a new “Transformation Committee” has been created, and that there is a Special Convention next month, and that the topic at hand is possibly creating a new division within the NCAA. That’s really all we know. What we don’t know for certain, but that may be of high concern, is that the changes being discussed will consist of the Power Five/Autonomy Five (ACC, SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac 12) becoming their own division, and threatening to leave the NCAA altogether if that doesn’t happen.
We’ve heard these rumblings for close to 30 years now, and perhaps even longer than that. We’ve heard them for so long that it has become very easy to ignore them. It’s a fire alarm in a college dorm. It always goes off, but the building is never on fire, so you just start ignoring it. I don’t think we should ignore it this time. The building may actually be on fire. The moans and groans from the P5 as to how unhappy they are with the NCAA seem to have grown in both size and sound. It’s now louder, and bigger, and coming from more people. In some cases, I can kind of understand the gripes. They don’t feel that some of the NCAA rules, and policies, and governance that has been put in place for low performing Under the Radar schools is in the best interests of the P5 schools and they don’t want to be bound by it. But my response to that is that they already have a great deal of autonomy, so I don’t quite understand why they would need to form their own division to get the governance that they want.
Another, perhaps bigger, issue is the revenue sharing. They feel they should get more of it. Okay, I can understand that. That’s only natural. But, my response to this is that they already get more of it. A LOT more of it!! So one of the questions I have for them is how much more they think they can actually get by creating their own division and/or leaving the NCAA altogether?? And…from where would more money come from??
Do they think it will come from TV?? Every conference has its own independent media deal. The Big Ten, Pac 12, ACC, and SEC even have their own networks. Their membership with the NCAA does not require them to share any of that. So, how would leaving the NCAA result in them getting any more money from TV??
Do they think it will come from football?? The College Football Playoff (CFP) does share revenue with all ten conferences (meaning both the P5 and the G5), but the lions share of it goes to the P5, and the access to the playoff itself is so slanted toward the P5 that it practically an exclusively a P5 event. It TECHNICALLY isn’t, but it PRACTICALLY is. No non-P5 team has ever been selected for the CFP, and while Cincinnati may be selected this year, they will also become a P5 program next year. The NCAA has no control at all over the CFP. It is not an NCAA Championship Event. No NCAA trophy is awarded. There is no required shared revenue throughout the NCAA membership. So with that in mind, when it comes to FBS football, the P5 has practically pretty much already left the NCAA. They have their own championship that is pretty much exclusively for their own teams and while not all the revenue goes to them, it might as well because the share that the G5 gets is so much less.
And now for the big question…Do they think it will come from having their own basketball tournament?? If that’s what they think, then I STRONGLY believe they are wrong! It is my understanding that the current NCAA Tournament basically generates $1.1 billion a year in revenue just from the TV deal with CBS/Turner. And yes, unlike football, that revenue is shared throughout the entire NCAA D1 membership, and it also goes to fund other championships for other sports throughout all three NCAA divisions. If the P5 is looking at that and thinking “Why do we have to share that $1.1 billion with the rest of the NCAA?? Why can’t we keep that all for ourselves??” then I think they are hugely underestimating the appeal that the non-p5 teams have on the NCAA Tournament. People like to watch the good teams from the Under the Radar conferences play against the P5 caliber teams in the early rounds. They’d much rather watch Abilene Christian, or North Texas, or New Mexico State, or Loyola Chicago, or any number of good Under the Radar teams play against good P5 teams than watch bad P5 teams with .300 records play against good P5 teams. We get games like that all season long, and they are objectively not compelling to watch.
If the P5 formed their own division and staged their own tournament with just the 69 teams that are members of those conferences, I’m not saying there wouldn’t be any interest in it at all. But,I do not think there’d be an annual $1.1 billion dollars worth of interest in it. Not even close. And that tournament would not feel at all like what the NCAA Tournament currently feels like to the fans. Not even close. And, yeah while there may be way less money than the over a billion it makes now, I get that they’d only be splitting it 69 ways instead of 358 ways, but here’s the thing…not all 358 schools get the same amount under the current structure. It’s the total number of games that the members of a conference play that determines the payouts. If your conference has a lot of teams qualify and wins a lot of games, then they’ll get higher dollar amount. So, in a typical year, the P5 schools get a larger share of the money than most other conferences. How much more can they really make by just having their own tournament?? I’d venture to say that it wouldn’t be a substantial amount. It may even come out to less. But…okay, let’s just say for the sake of argument that they can make a little bit more per school by going it on their own. I am not conceding that point, but am merely supposing it. My question is would it really be worth it?? Because, you know what would NOT increase?? The brightness of the spotlight that would be on the event. I think it would be significantly dimmer, ESPECIALLY for the 48ish games that make up the first couple of rounds of their tournament. When it comes to branding, and marketing, and all of those so-called “intangibles” that the NCAA Tournament can provide for an institution, is making a little more money worth performing on a smaller stage?? My feelings are that it is definitely not.
So my final thought is this….
We’ve all heard this statement many times. “There’s nothing like March Madness! There’s nothing like the NCAA Tournament!” And you know what…there really isn’t! But let’s look at one of the major things that makes it unlike anything else. It really is tangible to just about everyone!! The NFL Playoffs are great, but not everyone lives in an NFL city, and many of those people who don’t probably don’t care about the playoffs nearly as much. Same with the NBA. Same with the MLB. When it comes to the FBS College Football Playoff and Bowl Games, I would argue that those actually aren’t that great at all. Anyone who is not a member of a select group of conferences is practically shut out no matter how good they are. But the NCAA Basketball Tournament?? that IS great!! It truly is a great event!! You don’t need to live in a pro sports town. You don’t need to have some sort of exclusive tie-in to a particular conference or group of conferences the way you do with college football. Teams have to be good to make it to the NCAA Tournament, but all 358 D1 schools have a path to it. If you live in a small town and went to a Southland school, or an OVC school, or an MVC school, you can still be a part of it. Your school has a path to it. That’s why it’s great. That’s what will be ruined if the P5 opts for their own division. And…if that happens…you know what you’ll never hear anyone say anymore?? “There is nothing like March Madness!!” You know WHY you won’t hear that anymore?? Because it will no longer be true.
So even if they do think they can make more money (which, again, may not even be the case) the question has to be at what cost?? Getting back to those “intangibles” that I mentioned previously, they’d probably be trading in some really good ones for some really bad ones. Would it be worth it?? Bad intangibles can sometimes end up being bad for the finances.
Puppet Ramblings: A Statement Regarding Next Month’s NCAA Special Convention
If the Power Five creates their own division within the NCAA, or leaves the NCAA entirely, I seriously doubt I’ll even care about college basketball anymore.
That’s not a threat. I wish it were, but the reality is I’m not in a position of any real power or influence, so I couldn’t make it a threat even if I wanted to. It’s just a statement as to what my feelings are. I just won’t care anymore. I probably won’t watch it nearly as often, and I probably won’t be interested in doing all that much with Hoops HD anymore. I suspect that I am far from the only person that feels this way. I believe that millions of other people (maybe even tens of millions) feel the same way. But, I don’t know that for a fact. I only know how I feel about it, and that’s pretty much how I feel.
To bring you up to speed, the NCAA released a statement today, which was really just bunch of words that said nothing more than that they had met and they had a plan. Geez, THAT’S GREAT!!! (CLICK HERE TO READ THE STATEMENT). What we know at this point is that a new “Transformation Committee” has been created, and that there is a Special Convention next month, and that the topic at hand is possibly creating a new division within the NCAA. That’s really all we know. What we don’t know for certain, but that may be of high concern, is that the changes being discussed will consist of the Power Five/Autonomy Five (ACC, SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac 12) becoming their own division, and threatening to leave the NCAA altogether if that doesn’t happen.
We’ve heard these rumblings for close to 30 years now, and perhaps even longer than that. We’ve heard them for so long that it has become very easy to ignore them. It’s a fire alarm in a college dorm. It always goes off, but the building is never on fire, so you just start ignoring it. I don’t think we should ignore it this time. The building may actually be on fire. The moans and groans from the P5 as to how unhappy they are with the NCAA seem to have grown in both size and sound. It’s now louder, and bigger, and coming from more people. In some cases, I can kind of understand the gripes. They don’t feel that some of the NCAA rules, and policies, and governance that has been put in place for low performing Under the Radar schools is in the best interests of the P5 schools and they don’t want to be bound by it. But my response to that is that they already have a great deal of autonomy, so I don’t quite understand why they would need to form their own division to get the governance that they want.
Another, perhaps bigger, issue is the revenue sharing. They feel they should get more of it. Okay, I can understand that. That’s only natural. But, my response to this is that they already get more of it. A LOT more of it!! So one of the questions I have for them is how much more they think they can actually get by creating their own division and/or leaving the NCAA altogether?? And…from where would more money come from??
Do they think it will come from TV?? Every conference has its own independent media deal. The Big Ten, Pac 12, ACC, and SEC even have their own networks. Their membership with the NCAA does not require them to share any of that. So, how would leaving the NCAA result in them getting any more money from TV??
Do they think it will come from football?? The College Football Playoff (CFP) does share revenue with all ten conferences (meaning both the P5 and the G5), but the lions share of it goes to the P5, and the access to the playoff itself is so slanted toward the P5 that it practically an exclusively a P5 event. It TECHNICALLY isn’t, but it PRACTICALLY is. No non-P5 team has ever been selected for the CFP, and while Cincinnati may be selected this year, they will also become a P5 program next year. The NCAA has no control at all over the CFP. It is not an NCAA Championship Event. No NCAA trophy is awarded. There is no required shared revenue throughout the NCAA membership. So with that in mind, when it comes to FBS football, the P5 has practically pretty much already left the NCAA. They have their own championship that is pretty much exclusively for their own teams and while not all the revenue goes to them, it might as well because the share that the G5 gets is so much less.
And now for the big question…Do they think it will come from having their own basketball tournament?? If that’s what they think, then I STRONGLY believe they are wrong! It is my understanding that the current NCAA Tournament basically generates $1.1 billion a year in revenue just from the TV deal with CBS/Turner. And yes, unlike football, that revenue is shared throughout the entire NCAA D1 membership, and it also goes to fund other championships for other sports throughout all three NCAA divisions. If the P5 is looking at that and thinking “Why do we have to share that $1.1 billion with the rest of the NCAA?? Why can’t we keep that all for ourselves??” then I think they are hugely underestimating the appeal that the non-p5 teams have on the NCAA Tournament. People like to watch the good teams from the Under the Radar conferences play against the P5 caliber teams in the early rounds. They’d much rather watch Abilene Christian, or North Texas, or New Mexico State, or Loyola Chicago, or any number of good Under the Radar teams play against good P5 teams than watch bad P5 teams with .300 records play against good P5 teams. We get games like that all season long, and they are objectively not compelling to watch.
If the P5 formed their own division and staged their own tournament with just the 69 teams that are members of those conferences, I’m not saying there wouldn’t be any interest in it at all. But,I do not think there’d be an annual $1.1 billion dollars worth of interest in it. Not even close. And that tournament would not feel at all like what the NCAA Tournament currently feels like to the fans. Not even close. And, yeah while there may be way less money than the over a billion it makes now, I get that they’d only be splitting it 69 ways instead of 358 ways, but here’s the thing…not all 358 schools get the same amount under the current structure. It’s the total number of games that the members of a conference play that determines the payouts. If your conference has a lot of teams qualify and wins a lot of games, then they’ll get higher dollar amount. So, in a typical year, the P5 schools get a larger share of the money than most other conferences. How much more can they really make by just having their own tournament?? I’d venture to say that it wouldn’t be a substantial amount. It may even come out to less. But…okay, let’s just say for the sake of argument that they can make a little bit more per school by going it on their own. I am not conceding that point, but am merely supposing it. My question is would it really be worth it?? Because, you know what would NOT increase?? The brightness of the spotlight that would be on the event. I think it would be significantly dimmer, ESPECIALLY for the 48ish games that make up the first couple of rounds of their tournament. When it comes to branding, and marketing, and all of those so-called “intangibles” that the NCAA Tournament can provide for an institution, is making a little more money worth performing on a smaller stage?? My feelings are that it is definitely not.
So my final thought is this….
We’ve all heard this statement many times. “There’s nothing like March Madness! There’s nothing like the NCAA Tournament!” And you know what…there really isn’t! But let’s look at one of the major things that makes it unlike anything else. It really is tangible to just about everyone!! The NFL Playoffs are great, but not everyone lives in an NFL city, and many of those people who don’t probably don’t care about the playoffs nearly as much. Same with the NBA. Same with the MLB. When it comes to the FBS College Football Playoff and Bowl Games, I would argue that those actually aren’t that great at all. Anyone who is not a member of a select group of conferences is practically shut out no matter how good they are. But the NCAA Basketball Tournament?? that IS great!! It truly is a great event!! You don’t need to live in a pro sports town. You don’t need to have some sort of exclusive tie-in to a particular conference or group of conferences the way you do with college football. Teams have to be good to make it to the NCAA Tournament, but all 358 D1 schools have a path to it. If you live in a small town and went to a Southland school, or an OVC school, or an MVC school, you can still be a part of it. Your school has a path to it. That’s why it’s great. That’s what will be ruined if the P5 opts for their own division. And…if that happens…you know what you’ll never hear anyone say anymore?? “There is nothing like March Madness!!” You know WHY you won’t hear that anymore?? Because it will no longer be true.
So even if they do think they can make more money (which, again, may not even be the case) the question has to be at what cost?? Getting back to those “intangibles” that I mentioned previously, they’d probably be trading in some really good ones for some really bad ones. Would it be worth it?? Bad intangibles can sometimes end up being bad for the finances.