POSTED THIS IN ANOTHER THREAD. THOUGHT IT DESERVED IT'S OWN.
From an Article in 2016...I'm sure the money will be bigger now than stated in this article.
This story is from Fox Sports so it has credibility.
https://www.foxsports.com/college-f...10-years-alabama-ohio-state-notre-dame-051616
Big Ten, Pac-12, Big 12 and ACC have signed corresponding Grant of Rights agreements that make it prohibitively difficult for them to jump ship before then.
College Football Playoff’s 12-year contract ends with the 2025 season. The next big realignment shift will go hand in hand with the evolution of the playoff.
The playoff race now dwarfs all other aspects of the season, including the other bowl games. Last year’s Iowa-Stanford Rose Bowl – between two teams that barely missed the playoff — garnered the bowl’s lowest TV rating on record.
The Notre Dame-Ohio State Fiesta Bowl, pitting two mega-brands stocked with star power, garnered less than half as many viewers (9.8 million) as the same bowl match up a decade earlier.
The playoff will inevitably expand to at least eight teams, if not more, when the current deal ends, and it will separate completely from the bowl system. Early-round games will be played on campus, just like in the NFL. In turn, our national focus will narrow almost entirely to teams perceived as playoff contenders, which, if we’re being honest, comprise fewer than half of the 65 Power 5 schools, and certainly none of the other 63 FBS schools.
As we know, all revolves around the mighty TV dollar, but the TV business is drastically changing. Who knows how we’ll be watching sports in 10 years, but it likely won’t be via the current bundled cable model. At the very least, consumers will be able to decide for themselves which media entities (ESPN, FS1, NCBSN, etc.) they’re willing to pay for. Or perhaps no longer will be a middleman and you will purchase game broadcasts straight from the leagues themselves to stream on your own device.
Whereas the last round of realignment was driven by inventory — bundle together as many schools from as many markets as possible to command the highest possible subscriber fees — the next round will be more about content. Put on the biggest possible games to garner the largest possible audience because the viewers themselves will become the buyers rather than Comcast or Time Warner.
Call it the College Football Playoff Confederation.
Can’t winnow down the 65 current Power 5 schools to 24 without hurting some feelings. While many of the names are obvious (USC, Texas, etc.), others will surely elicit outrage from fans of schools excluded at their expense. But the overriding goal is to bring together the 24 most appealing programs from both a TV and competitive perspective.
Let’s set the price hypothetically at $250 — the same as DirecTV’s NFL Sunday Ticket. And let’s say 11 million people – about the number that watched last year’s LSU-Alabama game – sign up. The cut for each of the 24 schools would be a staggering $114.6 million.
There are admittedly issues that come with this. First of all, I assume the rules against compensating college athletes will look much different by 2026 because there’s no way to justify cutting the players out of $114.6 million. There’s also the issue of player safety — the champion would potentially play 15 straight games against top-level competition. If this is indeed separate from the NCAA, then theoretically the schools could devise their own scholarship limits and eligibility standards.
So as the Big 12 continues to debate the merits of adding Cincinnati, UCF or Houston and starting a conference network, know that way of thinking may soon become a relic. It’s fine as long as the traditional linear cable business remains dominant. By 2026, though, we’ll all be much choosier about what content we pay for.
From an Article in 2016...I'm sure the money will be bigger now than stated in this article.
This story is from Fox Sports so it has credibility.
https://www.foxsports.com/college-f...10-years-alabama-ohio-state-notre-dame-051616
Big Ten, Pac-12, Big 12 and ACC have signed corresponding Grant of Rights agreements that make it prohibitively difficult for them to jump ship before then.
College Football Playoff’s 12-year contract ends with the 2025 season. The next big realignment shift will go hand in hand with the evolution of the playoff.
The playoff race now dwarfs all other aspects of the season, including the other bowl games. Last year’s Iowa-Stanford Rose Bowl – between two teams that barely missed the playoff — garnered the bowl’s lowest TV rating on record.
The Notre Dame-Ohio State Fiesta Bowl, pitting two mega-brands stocked with star power, garnered less than half as many viewers (9.8 million) as the same bowl match up a decade earlier.
The playoff will inevitably expand to at least eight teams, if not more, when the current deal ends, and it will separate completely from the bowl system. Early-round games will be played on campus, just like in the NFL. In turn, our national focus will narrow almost entirely to teams perceived as playoff contenders, which, if we’re being honest, comprise fewer than half of the 65 Power 5 schools, and certainly none of the other 63 FBS schools.
As we know, all revolves around the mighty TV dollar, but the TV business is drastically changing. Who knows how we’ll be watching sports in 10 years, but it likely won’t be via the current bundled cable model. At the very least, consumers will be able to decide for themselves which media entities (ESPN, FS1, NCBSN, etc.) they’re willing to pay for. Or perhaps no longer will be a middleman and you will purchase game broadcasts straight from the leagues themselves to stream on your own device.
Whereas the last round of realignment was driven by inventory — bundle together as many schools from as many markets as possible to command the highest possible subscriber fees — the next round will be more about content. Put on the biggest possible games to garner the largest possible audience because the viewers themselves will become the buyers rather than Comcast or Time Warner.
Call it the College Football Playoff Confederation.
Can’t winnow down the 65 current Power 5 schools to 24 without hurting some feelings. While many of the names are obvious (USC, Texas, etc.), others will surely elicit outrage from fans of schools excluded at their expense. But the overriding goal is to bring together the 24 most appealing programs from both a TV and competitive perspective.
Let’s set the price hypothetically at $250 — the same as DirecTV’s NFL Sunday Ticket. And let’s say 11 million people – about the number that watched last year’s LSU-Alabama game – sign up. The cut for each of the 24 schools would be a staggering $114.6 million.
There are admittedly issues that come with this. First of all, I assume the rules against compensating college athletes will look much different by 2026 because there’s no way to justify cutting the players out of $114.6 million. There’s also the issue of player safety — the champion would potentially play 15 straight games against top-level competition. If this is indeed separate from the NCAA, then theoretically the schools could devise their own scholarship limits and eligibility standards.
So as the Big 12 continues to debate the merits of adding Cincinnati, UCF or Houston and starting a conference network, know that way of thinking may soon become a relic. It’s fine as long as the traditional linear cable business remains dominant. By 2026, though, we’ll all be much choosier about what content we pay for.