$2 Billion & the Big 10

[HawkIowa44]

Sources: Big Ten mulling $2B private capital deal

The Big Ten is in talks about a private capital deal, which includes a 10-year grant of rights extension through '46, that would infuse at least $2 billion into the league and its schools, sources told ESPN.

www.espn.com

How long before Ohio St and Michigan demand more than the rest or leave, similar to what Texas did to the Big 12?

 

[Garandx]

I swear if its the Saudis...

 

[trj]

This shit is soooo above my pay grade. I had to do the Google AI thing to understand the difference between private capital and private equity.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

I swear if its the Saudis...

The LIV conference!

 

[hawkinn3]

I hate this. I love that that players get paid but all sport is soulless bullshit now.

The actual games are inconsequential spectacles for morons like me.

 

[dagdaj]

I hate this. I love that that players get paid but all sport is soulless bullshit now.

The actual games are inconsequential spectacles for morons like me.

I would say my interest in college football as a whole probably peaked about 2-3 years ago.
Granted, it's gone from 125% to maybe 123%.
But, definite peak.

I can't think of any reasons why I think college football has gotten better or more interesting to me. I mean, I would consume like 10+ hours of it over the course of a weekend? 40+, if you count YoutTube multiview. What more do you want of me?

I can think of several reasons why it's worse:

-Bowls are completely meaningless. Even in the past, the lesser bowl was another 2 months of practice for your team. I suppose you could argue it's practice for guys lower on the depth chart who might play next year. But the outcome is completely and 100% meaningless.
-The last few years I had to cheer my heart out for a guy who I rooted against for the previous couple seasons.
-This year, it's kinda like the MLB HOF thing. I mean, what if by some stroke of lightning in a bottle Gronowski went into "the HOF". Sure, I'd be thrilled. But, how am I gonna feel if he's wearing an SDSU helmet?
-The playoff and crowning a champion has nothing to do with crowning a champion. It's money. Otherwise, teams that did not win their conference wouldn't be involved. There's too many teams for wild cards.
-As a kid, who only partially paid attention to college sports, I was fascinated by all the tradition. Most of it originating from the conferences like the Big 10/8/SEC/ACC/etc. The holier-than-thou independent Notre Dame. The Army/Navy game. I longed to become part of what is now nostalgia. Now, it's all about money and winning.

All I can say is thank god for Caitlin Clark. And thank god she was born when she was. The day she actually committed to Iowa, even if she knew she was going to break records, there was no way of knowing she would have been making millions while still in college. If she had been born 2-3 years later (I like to think nothing would have happened any differently), what might have changed? Someone makes an offer too good to pass up? And she breaks the record at LSU or U-Conn? I would bet millions the impact on sports, women's sports, and the WNBA would have been far less. Probably never would have been able to break the record in that situation. That means no extra scheduled nationally televised games.

I have been worried about football for a long time. The paradigm shift due to CTE. Far fewer kids playing football than in 1990. Far fewer kids are even being born. I hope for a soft landing, but to get there, we are going to lose a lot of "D3" and "D2" programs. And it won't surprise me to eventually see it reach the 130 teams we know of as college football.

 

[Fryowa]

I would say my interest in college football as a whole probably peaked about 2-3 years ago.
Granted, it's gone from 125% to maybe 123%.
But, definite peak.

I can't think of any reasons why I think college football has gotten better or more interesting to me. I mean, I would consume like 10+ hours of it over the course of a weekend? 40+, if you count YoutTube multiview. What more do you want of me?

I can think of several reasons why it's worse:

-Bowls are completely meaningless. Even in the past, the lesser bowl was another 2 months of practice for your team. I suppose you could argue it's practice for guys lower on the depth chart who might play next year. But the outcome is completely and 100% meaningless.
-The last few years I had to cheer my heart out for a guy who I rooted against for the previous couple seasons.
-This year, it's kinda like the MLB HOF thing. I mean, what if by some stroke of lightning in a bottle Gronowski went into "the HOF". Sure, I'd be thrilled. But, how am I gonna feel if he's wearing an SDSU helmet?
-The playoff and crowning a champion has nothing to do with crowning a champion. It's money. Otherwise, teams that did not win their conference wouldn't be involved. There's too many teams for wild cards.
-As a kid, who only partially paid attention to college sports, I was fascinated by all the tradition. Most of it originating from the conferences like the Big 10/8/SEC/ACC/etc. The holier-than-thou independent Notre Dame. The Army/Navy game. I longed to become part of what is now nostalgia. Now, it's all about money and winning.

All I can say is thank god for Caitlin Clark. And thank god she was born when she was. The day she actually committed to Iowa, even if she knew she was going to break records, there was no way of knowing she would have been making millions while still in college. If she had been born 2-3 years later (I like to think nothing would have happened any differently), what might have changed? Someone makes an offer too good to pass up? And she breaks the record at LSU or U-Conn? I would bet millions the impact on sports, women's sports, and the WNBA would have been far less. Probably never would have been able to break the record in that situation. That means no extra scheduled nationally televised games.

I have been worried about football for a long time. The paradigm shift due to CTE. Far fewer kids playing football than in 1990. Far fewer kids are even being born. I hope for a soft landing, but to get there, we are going to lose a lot of "D3" and "D2" programs. And it won't surprise me to eventually see it reach the 130 teams we know of as college football.

Same thing here. I'm a college football junkie in the worst way. My Saturdays that I don't go to games (more and more nowadays) are as follows...

--I'm a lifelong early bird who doesn't drink so I never have hangovers...I get up at 5:30, have coffee in the garage, and watch Andy Griffith till about 6:30 or 7:00.

--Go to HyVee and grab side munchies and fire up my smoker for whatever I thawed out.

--Take care of any odds and ends like oil changes, yard duties, errands etc. from about 8:00-10:00. Garage TV is on pre-game shows in the background.

--From first kickoff till midnight I'm watching football and relaxing. If there aren't any super interesting games on I could be tinkering in the garage at the same time but I'm watching football. I've worked M-F only for the past 23 years so Saturdays in the fall are my designated chill out and de-stress time, and I'm selfish about it unless there's something bigger going on like a family gathering on my gf's side or my son and I have something planned. He's 19 now with a damn good job and a girlfriend so that's less and less. My girlfriend knows that's my routine and she's totally fine with it. She actually encourages it because we she knows that's my escape for the week and she'll watch football too. She's a Hawk fan so she pays close attention during those, but the other ones we kinda just sit around and during other games she'll read a book on her kindle, do stuff around the house, etc. All friends are welcome to come and go as they please and a lot of times they do during the Hawks games. Sundays are whatever she wants to do together for fun, or wants us to get done around the house...she runs the show 100% on Sunday. By the time college football is wrapping up I'm just starting to get bored with it and then Saturdays are fair game.

So...all that said with college football flipped on it's head now and not wanting to lose my fall routine, I just stopped giving a shit. I always want the Hawks to win and I follow them as close as ever, but if they lose I don't let it get to me even a little bit. If they win I'm ecstatic. I know the Hawks aren't going to win a B1G or make the playoffs in my lifetime so I just watch and that's it. Bowl games I might watch, might not. I'm off for a week and a half between Christmas and New Years every year so I usually watch a bunch. But if my son asks me to go ice fishing and the Hawks are playing in the Tampax Bowl, I'll watch the recording later.

That's how I reconcile everything.

 

[NorthKCHawk]

I think we should be cautious about overreacting to this. This is a product of the conferences immense success. Private Capital is a fancy way of saying we will give you a bunch of money now for a piece of the action moving forward. Its not all that different than the conference asking a huge bank for a line of credit. Most moderately successful businesses have a line of credit. Only cash cows get private equity money coming in. BTW, this is already in the NFL. The days of a family owning a franchise outright are over. Only venture/private equity can afford to get into that game and they are salivating to do so because of the revenue streams.

This money, I suspect, will not just be doled out to members all at once, but be used for capital investments like stadiums, or tournaments, facilities, non-revenue sports, etc.

The point is that the sport has gotten so big that this is the way of things. This deal would make sense for all involved to anyone who knows anything about finance. However, the thing to keep in mind is that usually private capital is passive. They should not have any control over the product itself (he says with little conviction in his voice).

 

[Fryowa]

I think we should be cautious about overreacting to this. This is a product of the conferences immense success. Private Capital is a fancy way of saying we will give you a bunch of money now for a piece of the action moving forward. Its not all that different than the conference asking a huge bank for a line of credit. Most moderately successful businesses have a line of credit. Only cash cows get private equity money coming in. BTW, this is already in the NFL. The days of a family owning a franchise outright are over. Only venture/private equity can afford to get into that game and they are salivating to do so because of the revenue streams.

This money, I suspect, will not just be doled out to members all at once, but be used for capital investments like stadiums, or tournaments, facilities, non-revenue sports, etc.

The point is that the sport has gotten so big that this is the way of things. This deal would make sense for all involved to anyone who knows anything about finance. However, the thing to keep in mind is that usually private capital is passive. They should not have any control over the product itself (he says with little conviction in his voice).

The blue bloods have it too easy in the B1G and they have more money by far than anyone else in the conference already. They have no incentive to leave.

I don't see this particular deal changing anything tbh.