Actually not much of a surprise:
clt says bilas is being myopic. the best event in mbb is the tourney and that is because of the chaos of the upsets
Good post and one Bilas should read!
He also says fans. Iām not saying that media doesnāt want it. Iām saying mostly all parties want it except G5. To only say the media wants it or is making it happen implies that the SEC is saying we donāt want this, but ESPN is making us do it.
Iām new here so going to give my take on conference realignment based almost entirely on feel, and how Charlotte can try and make the most of it. For some context Iāve been a huge sports fan for as long as I can remember and a recent grad. Oregon-Auburn is the first natty I remember watching as to my frame of memory.
College sports was built on regional rivalries and a postseason where David CAN beat Goliath a decent chunk of the time. Private Equity has decided that college sports is the easiest place to go make some money, so that is what they are going to try and do. At this point, the government (maybe lawsuits) is the only one that can stop em . From what I have seen over the years, I donāt have a whole lot of faith in that. If they break away, so be it. But the other 70 FBS and 300ish D1 have to band together and tell them to breakaway in every sport.
Obviously money and funding of programs will be an issue with the loss of revenue from buy games, etc. but it wonāt be too long til the big schools start to see an erosion of support from some of their most loyal fans/boosters. Canāt imagine SMU or Cal gets Chapel Hill rocking in the same way App/CLT/ECU would. Then the support for the University/college town businesses start to slide. You see where Iām going here. Thereās an intrinsic value in being able to play schools regionally, because youāre far more likely to get a āhouse dividedā there in full, instead of none of them showing up cuz UNC is hosting a school 3000 miles away.
Iām also sure theyāll find a way to price gouge the fans who actually care out of the stadium, and then you lose the culture that makes the product so valuable. How to turn Death Valley into BofA level Wine and Cheese 101. This is when the Walmart Fans (love that term btw) disappear after they start charging Target prices because the lack of a true tie to the schools that they support.
Anyways, back to Charlotte. Despite the lack of on-field success, we have found our way into the AAC, which all factors considered isnāt a terrible place to be. Iād say weāve been pretty lucky to end up here. Surrounded by (mostly) like minded schools who like the AAC, but all have that conference they would love to jump ship to.
While maybe PE is able to ruin college athletics like they have pretty much everything else, weāve gotta have some hope here. The way I see it, weāll probably see some even crazier shit, but when it is time for the next set of media rights deals in a decade or so, regional congruence in conferences will be among the top priorities, if not #1. A world where schools start moving like crazy again, just to create conferences that look similar to the way they did in the mid to late 2000ās doesnāt seem out of the realm of possibility.
A poor Olympic showing in sports the NCAA sponsors over the coming years (especially in comparison to China) could be the catalyst for the changing of widespread sentiment.
This puts Charlotte in a unique position where we probably will not fall in stature(at worst a power in D-1AA), but gives us time to get our facilities and programs into a significantly better spot come the next big shake up.
If you just want a summary, hereās what I think our light at the end of the tunnel has to be as a fanbase.
Jim Phillips and the Atlantic Coast Conference desperately want us to be good so that they can extend an invite for Charlotte to join the ACC. North Carolina as a state is booming, Charlotte as a city is booming, and they understand that CLT is a sleeping giant and want to be in position to capitalize on it when we are ready. Their offices are now in the thick of South End. They play almost every single ACC Championship within the borders of North Carolina in the coming years. Weāve just got to make sure the niners are in the right spot when the time comes.
In this scenario, when I refer to the ACC, I donāt mean whatever watered down version exists today. Iām talking about the one that played the ACCT in Greensboro every year, as god intended. Tobacco Road no longer has the regional pull it once did, they need a southern metropolis, they need Charlotte. The powers at be understand which school is going to be the lynchpin to this city, and they don green, gold, and white.
It may look bleak at times but keep an eye on the light at the end of the tunnel. This is a short term money grab trying to make easy money off of the common mans passion. Passion is not an asset on a balance sheet, and goodwill doesnāt pay the bills. This is not a sustainable solution that is guaranteed to be profitable for years and decades to come. It may get worse before it gets better, but that is when you start looking for the signs of erosion in what got college sports here in the first place, youāll see them.
Sorry for that being so long but I hope yāall see where Iām coming from.
There are two cities that to this day have firmly rejected college sports. New York City and Los Angeles. That just so happens to be where the people who are most in favor of a āsuper conferenceā reside. They donāt get it. They never will. Donāt let some short sighted businessmen be the reason you stop believing in the long term vision of this school, Athletic Department and college sports as a whole. If any fanbase in American sports has a backbone, itās this one.
I agree. Fighting back against the media and spreading our side via word of mouth will be hugely important in the coming months and years.
The optimism is refreshingā¦I wish Jim Phillips felt that way. He is probably looking at other markets unless he loses more than 1 NC program.
Maybe Iām just a delusional kid, but what if he just doesnāt know he feels that way yet. Every meaningful statistic about this university is trending in the right direction. Iām going to do everything in my power to make sure athletics is simply just lagging behind a little bit, not on a different path.
I completely agree with you. My response and thinking depends on the ACC staying intact, the super league not forming, and our football program improving quickly.
This is how I see it, and I hope Mike Hill does as well. If our football team consistently wins 7-8 games a year and we expand our stadium, weāll start getting some attention from major conferences. The way I see it, the SEC wants us to get better, while the ACC needs us to get better. The SEC would love a presence in ACC territory, just for the Charlotte media market, the Fortune 500 companies, and the financial opportunities that come with it. Not to mention ESPNās second HQ is here and they would have a school where the ACC is HQāed.
The ACC already has a foothold here but canāt afford to let the SEC sneak in. Look at what happened with Georgia Tech in 1978āthe ACC grabbed them not for their football or basketball strength, but to secure access to Atlantaās market. I believe the same dynamic is at play for us. The SEC couldnāt get into the city of Charlotte in '79, so they settled for Columbia, SC, close by. With 48 schools in the Power 4 conferences, Charlotte ranks as the 20th largest media market and is the 2nd biggest banking hub in the U.S. That is our biggest chip in the game.
If this is truly about moneyāand it likely isāweāre in a strong position. But we have to get better at football and some other pieces fall into place.
Sir, our brains are working in unison. Our challenge is that success in revenue is harder to achieve than ever before and weāre behind the 8 Ball. All I can do for now is put my ass in a seat, be loud and positive, and donate where possible. Past that, just hope the ball bounces our way when we need it most.
The brands donāt care about the fans they are listening to the giant donors and sponsors and their ADs want as big a pile of cash as possible.
The media partners are offering the wad of cash the schools want so they hold the leverage in what actually happens. Of course the schools can say no - but their sponsors want a bigger platform and the schools want more money and now that they will have to pay players they actually well need more.
The fans are just pawns and the media partners are giving them what they think they will want and assume that all of us will stick around. IMO misreading what actually is the emotional connection and the willingness for the majority of the audience to follow whatever slop they dish out.
Oddly enough itās not much different than the ruining IP behavior that is happening across entertainment. Large corps just controlling everything and making terrible decisions not understanding their audience and then being surprised when the gen public tunes out.
I came to this site as a delusional kid, preaching the need to start football. I wasnāt the only one doing it, but most of us were quickly disabused of our notions by the āold timersā.
20 something years later, weāve had football for over a decade.
My point?
Keep on pushing!
I needed to hear this. Thank you. I will be patient, but unrelenting. Itās a gut feeling, but itās a strong one so Iām going to keep chasing it til the clock hits triple zeros.
That was beautifully said. Saturday was a great example of what can happen regularly in the future.
Maybe I missed it, but how has Los Angeles rejected college sports? They have both UCLA and USC(alifornia). Doesnāt seem like they have a choice about rejecting college sports with those two there.
I doubt that takes away from your points, but it just seems wrong as far as LA goes.
I would sooner think that LA & NY have āthe people who are most in favor of a āsuper conferenceāā because they are the biggest cities, biggest media cities, and have the most people with an arrogant enough mentality to espouse the concept of āflyover countryā. They see $$$ before 
.
I strongly believe no top level league wants a school with a diminutive name like āUNC Charlotteā. Itās so easy for someone who doesnāt know to look down on it by reasonable inference. This brings the overall profile down by association. They wonāt want that.
Maybe that wonāt keep them away if they are desperate enough, but I think theyād then join the name change push. Dubious. Itās an easier sell on our end to just change the name already.
You just said what I said. They donāt care about the fans of the G5 schools. Totally agree. But pretty much everyone else is ok with the contraction idea. Sponsors, P4 big donors, P4 little donors, P4 ADs, venues and lastly networks.
The networks do not own all the leverage. Have you even thpught about how the networks have the money they have to throw at the schools. Because of sponsors and fans.
Think of it this way, the networks are going to offer a package whether contraction happens or not. However, most likely the package is going to be higher after contraction. The networks having all the leverage would mean, if after contaction the networks said āthank you for reducing the number of schools. now weāre going to pay you less than what you were previously gettingā.
Mostly I found the networks being a Mr Burns type dictator conspiracy theory as comical. Mr Burns was a satire character after all. The whole thing is a business negotion by all parties, trying to get whatās best for them.
No they donāt care about any fans - see the destruction of historical rivalries. They need the fans but they donāt care what fans think. They might later, but right now they are doing whatever they want. And they think they can ice out g5 fans and potentially more and maintain their same audience. They assume that even if Charlotte gets screwed that as a college athletics fan I and many like me who are fans of the non top brands will still tune in.
The only reason I say the networks control it all is because they are writing the checks. As long as the schools want to maximize their revenue then the networks hold the leverage. Now if a school or league decides maximum revenue is not the goal then they get the leverage back. So far though it sure seems the only thing leagues care about is how to get the most money,