Everyone has a plan to save college football, but nobody seems sure how to actually get it done. The only thing that seems certain is that it will be driven by the two remaining power conferences – the Big Ten and SEC. And if their joint show of strength this week was any indication, they aren’t interested in receiving any outside assistance from private equity.
A lengthy report from Yahoo’s Ross Dellenger describing “Project Rudy” interestingly dropped the week when SEC commish Greg Sankey and Big Ten counterpart Tony Petitti met for a summit on the present and future of the sport. The broad overview of the plan is a massive private equity investment that would separate the four major conferences in a 70 team breakaway that would then unite to sell one collective media deal and cash in on the riches.
But following their meeting on Thursday, Sankey and Petitti brushed off the offer of outside assistance, suggesting that the conferences were more than happy to figure things out themselves.
Via ESPN ‘s Heather Dinich:
Following an “unprecedented” meeting between the SEC and Big Ten on Thursday, the commissioners of both conferences addressed multiple weighty issues facing college athletics and strongly pushed back on recent pitches from private equity groups to help offset increased expenses that will result from the NCAA’s expected House settlement.
It was an important united front from two of the most powerful people in college sports, as any drastic changes that would include private equity are unlikely to garner national support without the backing of the SEC and Big Ten.
“I have yet to see a single thing in any plan that I’ve learned details about that contains things that we couldn’t do ourselves and our A4 colleagues as well,” Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti said. “At the end of the day, there’s a strong commitment that you have the ability to do all of this ourselves.
“… The notion that college football is broken — what we do is broken — is just not right.”
And truth be told, why would the SEC and Big Ten bring in private equity that would simply serve to suck them dry and gain a share of the profits themselves? It’s not as if private equity suddenly has the best interests of college athletics in mind – they see a massive opportunity to make a crap ton of money – money that could just as easily stay in college football, predominantly with the Big Ten and SEC.
The commissioners also indirectly addressed a rumored scheduling agreement that could happen between the two conferences. Both spoke highly of the impact of the recent Texas-Michigan matchup. And although it doesn’t appear that anything is on the horizon in a formal way, expect to see more high profile matchups between the leagues in the future.
“Is there a way for us to be intentional about our scheduling?” said Sankey, who was in Ann Arbor last month to see Texas at Michigan. “Just an incredible experience, and you stand on the sideline prior to kickoff thinking, what if we can do this more with our nonconference games? We respect where we have in-state rivalries that take place in nonconference scheduling, but we had a real general conversation about the what-ifs in football and basketball.”
Petitti said part of the discussion is about those games being scheduled organically on campus through athletic directors having conversations.
“The question is there a structure where the two league offices work together to create more of those matchups?” Petitti said. “We had a pretty big discussion about the path to play each other more — see if you can figure out how you can actually do it; decide what games you want, how many — but that’s a broad discussion.”
More big non-conference games in the regular season would be fantastic, especially if it would take place on campuses and not at sterile neutral sites. It’s a big deal when Texas visits Michigan or when Georgia and Ohio State play a home-and-home (although that won’t happen until 2030 and 2031 respectively).
But let’s be honest, the Big Ten and SEC are having these talks because they have broken away from the rest of the pack financially and see an even brighter future for themselves when it comes to revenue. The only question is whether or not they bring anyone else along for the ride.
[ ESPN ]
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