The New Big 12-2: How Do We Stack Up In TV Markets?

Thanks for the analyses and commentary, srr50. You’re the gold standard for me on this issue.

Too many raw and disappointed emotions amongst Longhorns fans and others at the moment for many to consider the idea that maybe, just maybe, our brass did the smart thing at this time. Short term deep breath with a possibly lesser overall product for a better shot at a future bigger. better, more lucrative position for the University of Texas.

We remain in the cat bird’s seat.

5 years from now when UT has the network up and running do they go independent? The big 12 can’t contain you. At this point you’re the freakishly large peewee football player that all the other parents are concerned about. No fault of your own but most of us hate you and fear you’ll kill our kids.

I understand why you don’t want to revenue share with ISU KSU and OSU but would you be willing to split with Illinois or Oregon State or Mississippi State? As an outsider I get the impression you wouldn’t.

Kind of a funny thought:

http://espn.go.com/espn/page2/index?id=5293231

Name Brands and Traditional Powers matter more than TV markets.

TV markets matter when you are selling your name brand on the dual revenue streams of cable.

Have you done some sort of analysis on the Pac-10 previously? I ask because they didn’t make it onto this list.

I just didn’t get to it tonight, I’m sure I will soon.

Depends on the definition of TV markets. OU, ND, Neb, Tenn, etc. all disagree as they reside in states without a large city for TV markets. Quite frankly, I don’t even know what we are debating. The Big 10 just paid big bucks for a team that’s a traditional heavy weight that resides in a state of 700k.

SRR, I didn’t mean for that to come off as surly. I just don’t know what I’m debating.

Very fascinating stuff, srr. Thank you.

Groundhog,

Remember picking up Nebraska gets the Big 10 a Conference Championship game, so there was some desperation in getting to 12 (just like the Pac-10 has done). Nebraska seemed to be the best national bet in a rather weak pool of willing applicants. If Nebraska doesn’t return to prominence then the gamble could look foolish in 5 years, especially if the conference can’t get Texas on board and they continue to get punished in BCS games. Nebraska still has national cache but if they don’t become the Big 10 West’s big dog they might turn into another Pittsburgh or Syracuse, two once prominent programs that seem unlikely to ever return to their glory days.

“College is king in those markets”

Really? College is king in the Boston market? That is complete and total nonsense. Boston College is an afterthought in Boston – the ACC’s largest TV market.

He said college is king in the 20-40 range markets.

Which is true for 3 of the 4 (not Baltimore).

How incredibly lame. We are better off re tv markets than we were before and no worse than we would have been in a diluted PAC16.

And fuck the Big10. They have nothing to offer except a murderer’s row every year. UNL will disappear up their own assholes in the league.

Marketing 101 says there are 2 paths to success – a great market or a great product

The SEC has been around for 75 years & as srr correctly points out, they have done a fantastic job of promoting their brand. Disagree all you want about the football being played, the perception is that the SEC is the best product on the market today.

The Big 10 took the alternate route and capitalized on TV markets/size to find success.

The new Big 12 does not have the Big 10’s market or the SEC’s product. Short-term that isn’t going to change.

Srr50-

You know I love ya, but U Maryland is actually located in the close-in DC Maryland Suburbs, so DC is it’s primary market, not Baltimore. It’s a straight shot up Rhode Island Avenue in the District onto Rt. 1 into College Park.

It’s a common misperception that all things Maryland are Baltimore, a perception the legislature in Annapolis is only happy to feed.

The two most populous counties in Maryland are Montegomery and Prince George’s (PG-Holla!!!), which wrap entirely around the District. College Park is located in the North Western part of PG, about 15 minutes from my house right on the DC/Maryland line.

Will be interesting to see the PAC -10 numbers. They are going to have some very large media markets (LA, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, now Denver), but that list is also probably going to be the most college football appathetic markets. Of course that probably doesn’t matter much as long as you can sell into those cable markets – all or nothing.

On a side note, I find it interesting that I currently get the Big 10 Network as part of my standard package on U-verse in San Antonio.

Look, I think one thing that you are leaving out of the analysis is the impact that name brand teams playing head-to-head have on national viewing. I’m a Texas kid that did a one year grad program at a Big-10 school, but I’m still more likely to watch a Big-10 matchup than a Big-12 matchup, simply because I at least have a “feel” for who is playing (ie, people will watch Penn State, Iowa, maybe even Wisconsin, even when they aren’t that great because of name recognition.) The same holds true for the SEC, and many of the Pac-10 games.

The Big 12-2 doesn’t have much of this. Recall, even when Mizzou and Kansas were playing good ball, they didn’t have a “name brand,” and no one wanted to watch. This is why the Big 12-2 doesn’t work. Nebraska and Colorado going down the shitter really hurt us. They had national names, and were teams that people knew. I think, in addition to those losses, the change in Tech’s coaches will probably hurt viewership, and I’ll get to that later in my post.

On average, there will be a maximum of a half a dozen or so match ups worth watching in the Big 12-2 over the course of the whole season, and on a year to year basis, only a handful of those matchups will not include Texas.

The only teams with any semblance of national recognition, and let’s face it, even Texas media market recognition, are OU, A&M and Tech. (OU because they win, A&M because they were kind of okay in the 80’s and 90’s when most current viewers were growing up, and you’re going to crucify me for this one, but Tech because of the kind of offense they run(ran?).

You simply can’t run a conference on that few interesting matchups and make TV money.