OT: Pro Bowl

[Ree4]

I also have not watched a pro bowl in forever, around 30 years, because it became like the NBA all star game which was no defense, just like their regular games. For any of you who remember it the old College All Star game pitting of course college all stars who had already been drafted or picked on nfl teams played last year's nfl champ. Most of the games were over at halftime or mid third qtr but the all stars busted their butts as did the pros. There were a couple of games where a few great all stars put a scare into the big boys.

I will say I like the NBA All Star weekend game where players are coaches and a bunch of celebrities are playing. It's hilarious. Watching Kevin Hart play is like watching Billy Madison play against grade-schoolers.

 

[Ree4]

I get that ESPN favors the SEC, and they get more attention and all that, but what exactly are the powers that be doing to keep the ACC/SEC southern schools superior?

Those schools are in the area of the country with 80% or better of the top recruits, year-round nice weather, more rabid fans (i.e. more athletics revenue), and schools with almost zero academic requirements for admission. Of course they are going to dominate. It's the way it is.

What are the powers that be doing?

A huge percentage (75-80%) of players tend to go to a school that is within 75 miles of home. It just so happens that most of the great players that come out of high school come out of the southeast for various reasons that have been mentioned already. It's not like the SEC has done anything special other than keeping great players at home - something they're expected to do.

 

[Fryowa]

A huge percentage (75-80%) of players tend to go to a school that is within 75 miles of home. It just so happens that most of the great players that come out of high school come out of the southeast for various reasons that have been mentioned already. It's not like the SEC has done anything special other than keeping great players at home - something they're expected to do.

Yeah, the notion that there’s some great conspiracy to keep the Alabamas and Georgias of the world on top is ridiculous.

 

[okeefe4prez]

A huge percentage (75-80%) of players tend to go to a school that is within 75 miles of home. It just so happens that most of the great players that come out of high school come out of the southeast for various reasons that have been mentioned already. It's not like the SEC has done anything special other than keeping great players at home - something they're expected to do.

Tyler Goodson was a solid RB for Iowa. I think his only P5 offer in the south was for Wake, which is typically trash and probably shouldn't even try to compete in big league football because the school is smaller than UNI but not drowning in cash like Notre Dame.

Ohio has a chance to draw elite players out of the South but that is about it. Other than them, the Yankee teams are just trying to find diamonds in the rough in the football rich areas in North Georgia, Florida and Texas. Sometimes it works, most of the time it doesn't.

Some of the college towns in the South are way better than their northern counterparts, too. Like Knoxville, TN is ridiculous. And Boone, NC, where App State is really freaking nice, too. If it was on an athletic scholarship and my boy didn't qualify for an elite academic school, I'd totally send him to some place like that or Clemson over most of the shit towns in the Midwest. Have any of you been to Ames? Or Champaign? Or West Lafayette? Or Lansing? Shiver.

 

[Fryowa]

Have any of you been to Ames? Or Champaign? Or West Lafayette? Or Lansing? Shiver.

I've been to all of those but WL, and Lincoln Nebraska is worse than all of them. Not necessarily in crime or whatever, but in general. That place is a shithole in the middle of a desert full of other shitholes.

 

[Ree4]

Yeah, the notion that there’s some great conspiracy to keep the Alabamas and Georgias of the world on top is ridiculous.

I don't think it's a conspiracy by any means but "the powers that be" sure aren't looking for parity. Moving Oklahoma and Texas to a loaded conference sure doesn't improve parity. Having the "#1" sports network behind them doesn't help either. There's nothing nefarious about it, just unregulated capitalism pushing an industry toward monopoly as usual.

I'm not saying it should be regulated by any means and I don't even know how you would do it; I'm just pointing out that parity will only get worse as long as money dictates everything in CFB. I hate to see my favorite sport die.

 

[haydensly]

I don't think it's a conspiracy by any means but "the powers that be" sure aren't looking for parity. Moving Oklahoma and Texas to a loaded conference sure doesn't improve parity. Having the "#1" sports network behind them doesn't help either. There's nothing nefarious about it, just unregulated capitalism pushing an industry toward monopoly as usual.

I'm not saying it should be regulated by any means and I don't even know how you would do it; I'm just pointing out that parity will only get worse as long as money dictates everything in CFB. I hate to see my favorite sport die.

I agree with your take. No conspiracy involved here and the South is going to get the best athletes and field the best teams. The gap is only going to get wider, IMO.
I do have a feeling though that in time that there is potential for the rest of the country to start to tune out on college football. And that won't be good for the long term health of the sport.

 

[Fryowa]

I agree with your take. No conspiracy involved here and the South is going to get the best athletes and field the best teams. The gap is only going to get wider, IMO.
I do have a feeling though that in time that there is potential for the rest of the country to start to tune out on college football. And that won't be good for the long term health of the sport.

The SEC will eventually leave the NCAA and start it's own league. There's no law that says college football has to be played under the umbrella of the NCAA and they're already talking about it.

 

[okeefe4prez]

I've been to all of those but WL, and Lincoln Nebraska is worse than all of them. Not necessarily in crime or whatever, but in general. That place is a shithole in the middle of a desert full of other shitholes.

Duly noted. I tended not to think of towns west of the Missourrah River, but while we're on the subject, Manhattan, Kansas is quite a shithole as well.

Don't get me wrong, there are shithole places in the South as well (I'm not a fan of Coumbia, SC, for example), but there are some pretty nice towns around the country that make places like Iowa City look bad.

 

[okeefe4prez]

I agree with your take. No conspiracy involved here and the South is going to get the best athletes and field the best teams. The gap is only going to get wider, IMO.
I do have a feeling though that in time that there is potential for the rest of the country to start to tune out on college football. And that won't be good for the long term health of the sport.

That's already been happening. Fair weather fandom has taken hold at a lot of places. Hell, it wasn't that long ago where you could get Michigan tickets for buying a 2 liter of Coke or whatever. Even Nebraska has to sell massive blocks of tickets to donors for pennies on the dollar to keep their "sellout streak" alive. The kids aren't as interested unless their team is really good and then even at Bama they have a hard time filling the student section for lower tier games.

College football will go the way of boxing, where they will keep jacking up content prices. Boxing has cratered in popularity, but they have perfected a system to bring more money into the ecosystem by gouging the shit out of the fans for tier one level content. College football will do the same. Just give it another decade.

 

[trj]

6.9 million people watched the Pro Bowl the lowest number since 2006. I am not sure why nearly 7 million people didn't have anything better to do. Without doing the research I am guessing that makes it a top 10 show for the week. Why on Earth would the NFL get rid of the Pro Bowl when it is such easy money?

 

[haydensly]

The SEC will eventually leave the NCAA and start it's own league. There's no law that says college football has to be played under the umbrella of the NCAA and they're already talking about it.

You might be right on that. But that would further separate them from the rest of the country. And at some point, the other two thirds of the country have to show some interest for the sport to remain as popular as it is now.

 

[Fryowa]

You might be right on that. But that would further separate them from the rest of the country. And at some point, the other two thirds of the country have to show some interest for the sport to remain as popular as it is now.

You'll have fans of the super league and you'll still have fans of the leftovers. I'll still attend and watch Hawkeye football even if there's a non-NCAA super league.

What's going to cause the downfall of college football isn't branching out or the "monopolies" that major teams have on championships. What's going to cause the downfall of college football is CTE and just general disinterest by casual fans (not hardcore fans like us).

 

[haydensly]

That's already been happening. Fair weather fandom has taken hold at a lot of places. Hell, it wasn't that long ago where you could get Michigan tickets for buying a 2 liter of Coke or whatever. Even Nebraska has to sell massive blocks of tickets to donors for pennies on the dollar to keep their "sellout streak" alive. The kids aren't as interested unless their team is really good and then even at Bama they have a hard time filling the student section for lower tier games.

College football will go the way of boxing, where they will keep jacking up content prices. Boxing has cratered in popularity, but they have perfected a system to bring more money into the ecosystem by gouging the shit out of the fans for tier one level content. College football will do the same. Just give it another decade.

I agree with what you're saying but you can't have a nationwide sport like college football if there is only one top-tier section of the country that controls it. As it stands today, attendance is down in at a lot of college football venues. And that may not be happening in the SEC. But television ratings remain high and that is what drives the big money coming into the sport. If those fall off, the entire model gets shaky and it could change the game significantly.
To your point about the younger generation showing a decreasing level of fandom, that has to be keeping AD's up at night.

 

[SmokeTownHawk]

I don't think it's a conspiracy by any means but "the powers that be" sure aren't looking for parity. Moving Oklahoma and Texas to a loaded conference sure doesn't improve parity. Having the "#1" sports network behind them doesn't help either. There's nothing nefarious about it, just unregulated capitalism pushing an industry toward monopoly as usual.

I'm not saying it should be regulated by any means and I don't even know how you would do it; I'm just pointing out that parity will only get worse as long as money dictates everything in CFB. I hate to see my favorite sport die.

Exactly. The NFL has parity by virtue of the draft and free agency. But I don't know how college would accomplish this leveling of the playing field, just that this disparity is not good for the game in the long term.

 

[okeefe4prez]

I agree with what you're saying but you can't have a nationwide sport like college football if there is only one top-tier section of the country that controls it. As it stands today, attendance is down in at a lot of college football venues. And that may not be happening in the SEC. But television ratings remain high and that is what drives the big money coming into the sport. If those fall off, the entire model gets shaky and it could change the game significantly.
To your point about the younger generation showing a decreasing level of fandom, that has to be keeping AD's up at night.

TV ratings are important for the NFL because they have an OTA model and their content value is directly driven by ratings. The NCAA has been happy to embrace the cable model. The tournament used to be a mainstay of CBS, but now it's on cable. The entire bowl and playoff lineup with a couple of exceptions is on cable. You can lose a lot of viewers but so long as you can fleece the remaining viewers you will make more money. Hell, Iowa took this approach to tickets in what, 2005? They realized that even if you don't sell out the season ticket package you're way better off if you jack the prices up and lose 10% of the fans who can't or won't pay for season tickets. Virtually every school has done this. They do not give a shit about the number of viewers anymore, they only care about revenue maximization.

 

[Fryowa]

Exactly. The NFL has parity by virtue of the draft and free agency.

Those are some of the main reasons why I find the NFL boring as hell.

Every year is a complete shuffling of the deck and it leads to randomness. One year a team goes 16-2, then 3-15, then 8-8 because free agency shuffles the deck with players and coaches. I hate the Patriots, but they were the last great team that we'll ever see. Love it or hate it, at least it's fun to see a dynasty like that happen and watch 1) the Patriots try to sustain it, and 2) other teams try to beat it.

And the draft...don't get me started. The "worst goes first" system is total bull shit and a career-killer for a lot of guys. Why should the best college players automatically be damned to the worst football teams? Time has shown it does not make NFL teams better. Once in a blue moon it helps slightly, but 99% of the time it does nothing. Look at Cleveland. Look at Jacksonville. Look at Detroit. Drafting high has done nothing for these teams. Besides that, it gives incentive to tank and not give a shit once your team is out of the playoff running. Who wants to watch a team play that's ok with losing?

The draft needs to go to a full on, equal chance lottery. One ball per team per round for the first 5 rounds, then start the "worst goes first" bullshit.

 

[Fryowa]

You can lose a lot of viewers but so long as you can fleece the remaining viewers you will make more money. Hell, Iowa took this approach to tickets in what, 2005? They realized that even if you don't sell out the season ticket package you're way better off if you jack the prices up and lose 10% of the fans who can't or won't pay for season tickets.

I think this dynamic is changing a little. With Iowa it'd be a lot more than 10% now with a younger demographic.

My friend's daughter is a grad assistant working in the ticket office, and she says they're converting TONS of season tickets into mobile pass customers, and gaining tons of new customers because they're so much cheaper. It's a situation where the old fogeys in the 55+ club still want their dedicated seats just like the want their paper tickets and landline phones. From conversation with her it sounds like a much larger block of mobile passes (more than double last year) are going to go on sale because they sell out fast.

The 20-50 crowd are wanting cheaper options and don't mind electronic tickets or sitting somewhere different each week. I love it. $275 vs. $500 for the exact same seating areas? Shiiiiiit, man.

Now one could argue, "hey, they'll just jack up the price of the mobile passes..." and you might be right. But like you said, interest is waning and the fogey crowd is dying off in a hurry. The remainder of folks ain't gonna pay $600 on up to a grand or more per seat anymore. They'll just stop coming to games. I know myself that if they get rid of the mobile pass I'll stop going except my once or twice a year trip with tix that I either scalp from buddies or get cheap off stub hub. Iowa isn't a Michigan where you're going to fill that thing with nothing but rich donors in perpetuity.

 

[Ree4]

They do not give a shit about the number of viewers anymore, they only care about revenue maximization.

Not that we needed it, but this is more proof that money drives everything, not keeping fans entertained or interested. Just like our GDP it has to grow every year or we're doomed. It's such a terrible model as it's only considering short-term revenues.

 

[okeefe4prez]

I think this dynamic is changing a little. With Iowa it'd be a lot more than 10% now with a younger demographic.

My friend's daughter is a grad assistant working in the ticket office, and she says they're converting TONS of season tickets into mobile pass customers, and gaining tons of new customers because they're so much cheaper. It's a situation where the old fogeys in the 55+ club still want their dedicated seats just like the want their paper tickets and landline phones. From conversation with her it sounds like a much larger block of mobile passes (more than double last year) are going to go on sale because they sell out fast.

The 20-50 crowd are wanting cheaper options and don't mind electronic tickets or sitting somewhere different each week. I love it. $275 vs. $500 for the exact same seating areas? Shiiiiiit, man.

Now one could argue, "hey, they'll just jack up the price of the mobile passes..." and you might be right. But like you said, interest is waning and the fogey crowd is dying off in a hurry. The remainder of folks ain't gonna pay $600 on up to a grand or more per seat anymore. They'll just stop coming to games. I know myself that if they get rid of the mobile pass I'll stop going except my once or twice a year trip with tix that I either scalp from buddies or get cheap off stub hub. Iowa isn't a Michigan where you're going to fill that thing with nothing but rich donors in perpetuity.

That change came about due to a technological innovation. Iowa is blessed with strong demand for season tickets, but outside the SEC, Clemson, Florida State and the top half of the Big Ten that is atypical. Anyway, the colleges all made a conscious decision years ago that was in essence "we're better off selling 50,000 tickets for $1000 a piece than 80,000 tickets for $400 a piece." Technology has definitely provided for many opportunities for schools to tinker with variable pricing packages and distribution which is helping keep stadia fuller than they would be.