College sports isn’t broken. Duke just proved it’s for sale. What if Ohio State is next?
- Thread starter gobigblue812_rivals29381
- Start date
They absolutely do not have more money than Duke, and I find it very hard to believe that schools like Michigan, Texas and Miami couldn't outspend them if they wanted to.
What a school cares to spend on their program is only part of the equation. Sure, Kentucky will put more money of their budget towards the basketball program than probably anyone else. Doesn't mean that its ilan infinite well. I dont believe Kentucky can make $20mil/year work for the long haul, and they certainly cant make the $40-$50mil that Duke is headed for.
Theres going to be a good 15 to 20 schools who CAN outspend UK if they want to. Most wont, but some will.
Theres going to be a good 15 to 20 schools who CAN outspend UK if they want to. Most wont, but some will.
I disagree on the market for college basketball. There's a reason that ALL our games are on ESPN or ESPN2. From a ratings perspective, it's apparently Duke, UK, and then UNC. SO we're literally at least the second biggest market.
I'm not defending streaming, however....
I remember 30 years ago. You got the following:
- 3 to 4 Sunday Games on Network TV
- 1 Sunday Night Game on ESPN
- 1 Monday Night Game on Broadcast TV (ABC)
- All playoff games (of which there were at most 4 games on a weekend)
There was literally no other way to watch the full slate of games save for going to some sports bar that somehow carried everything (can't remember if that existed).
Now, you get the following:
- 3 to 4 Sunday Games on Network TV
- 1 Sunday Night Game on Broadcast TV
- 1 Monday Night Game on ESPN
- All but 1 playoff games (of which there are 6 on the opening weekend, so you actually get 1 more than before)
+
- You can stream a Thursday Night Game on Amazon Prime which roughly 75% of American households have
- You can order YouTube TV Sunday Ticket for a huge portion of games not available locally
- Stream a few random games that were never available before (international, one holiday game)
So I'd argue with your basic cable package you get to see a few more games than you did 30 years ago. Add some streaming you get to watch a lot more. Add all the streaming and you get to watch every game.
This is actually one thing where I don't feel like the experience is that much worse.
Oh, I more meant like city "markets".
Kentucky is always going to have a top5 viewership, but I don't know if that has any real value in the NIL era.
Using Miami University as an example. They will never have the viewership that Kentucky basketball has, but they will have a larger city in terms of population and GDP to tap into. And because of that, I think schools in bigger cities/richer markets have a greater ability to produce multi-millionaires and billionaires whose businesses' (and wallets) can help fund a program with ease. SImply put, Miami has more resources to put into it's program, IF it chooses to do so.
I just took a look at GDP per city, and to preface, this obviously isn't the be-all end-all for schools. Just that it's a factor. Miami is 12th for GDP and 8th in population. Lexington didn't make the list, but Louisville is 49th in GDP and 44th in population (among the top50 cities for GDP value). What worries me about these statistics is that not only could Miami find a lot of ways to outspend Kentucky when it has this much more to tap into.. but 50 other markets (or more) are also ahead of Lexington/UK.
It just make me think that it's going to be very tough for UK to spend in the top10 every year now, when it essentially spent 1st or 2nd for the last 50 years in terms of the money it put towards Basketball. I think Kentucky and Kansas are in for some tough times, and they are gonna have to get creative in how they keep their program at the top. It can certainly be done, but it will be tricky.
University of Miami. Miami University is the one in small town Ohio.
I don’t expect to ever see any annually dominant programs in any sports moving forward. NIL isn’t the downfall, it’s simply gone as we know it. The dynasty days are done. Getting to a championship and winning will be even more difficult in this new era. The coaching and recruiting game is very different. It requires someone with serious business savvy. It doesn’t seem we have that and we see th results.
As long as it doesn't involve football money, more power to the basketball program..
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No, I’m a college basketball fan. If Kentucky had a good basketball team, I would watch them play too.
I was thinking the same thing as I read the article. There’s been a lot of talk of super leagues, but maybe the future is the opposite: a lot more independent teams.
I don't think 95% of Miami residents even know there is a college basketball team in Miami.
True but we probably would have said the same thing for BYU. All it takes is a few super rich alum who want to fund the whole thing, if they want.
Thats my worry, its not Miami specifically, or Michigan. Its that theres now dozens of power programs who can now pay for the type of team Kentucky has. Back when you couldn't pay players, it was very tough for the rest of the power conference teams to compete. Now it just takes some NIL.
I wouldn't compare Miami to Utah. I work with a Mormon guy right now who lives in Salt Lake, but was not from Utah originally. But moving their surprised him about how big BYU sports is. He told me yesterday that life there revolves around BYU. It's a much different situation. I'd compare it closer to UK in fact. They take a lot of pride in BYU sports - and a large portion of the state cares about the program.