1 00:00:06,280 --> 00:00:08,280 You're listening. To the Back Home Network 2 00:00:08,480 --> 00:00:19,200 presented by Home Field Apparel. Welcome back to Crimson Cast 3 00:00:19,200 --> 00:00:20,440 folks. Galen Clavio here. 4 00:00:20,760 --> 00:00:23,600 We've got a mini episode today and we're excited about it. 5 00:00:23,600 --> 00:00:27,120 We've got our good friend Andy Whittry back once again joining 6 00:00:27,120 --> 00:00:32,630 us on the show as we've got some more college sports business to 7 00:00:33,070 --> 00:00:36,230 discuss here today. Some news that came down 8 00:00:36,230 --> 00:00:37,590 yesterday. We're trying to do some more 9 00:00:37,590 --> 00:00:41,190 episodes like this where we we had a topic, we don't need to do 10 00:00:41,190 --> 00:00:44,110 an hour, we can do 10 minutes. So we're gonna do 10 minutes on 11 00:00:44,550 --> 00:00:49,230 this topic and and just kind of feel out where it's at and kind 12 00:00:49,230 --> 00:00:51,270 of give people an update on where things are going cuz I 13 00:00:51,270 --> 00:00:53,910 think it'll be of interest to you folks out in the audience. 14 00:00:53,990 --> 00:00:57,310 First of all, Andy, great to see you and talk with you again how, 15 00:00:57,310 --> 00:01:01,010 how are things going? Things are good. 16 00:01:01,010 --> 00:01:03,250 I told you I'm wearing my Georgia Bulldogs hoodie. 17 00:01:03,250 --> 00:01:04,970 Have no affiliation with Georgia. 18 00:01:04,970 --> 00:01:07,890 This is not some like Tom cream bit, but if we're here to talk, 19 00:01:07,890 --> 00:01:11,970 a bunch of 15 and 17 Power Five schools, I thought was dressed 20 00:01:11,970 --> 00:01:14,250 for the occasion. So I'm ready to talk about a 16 21 00:01:14,250 --> 00:01:16,990 team conference. Tournament that frankly, no one 22 00:01:16,990 --> 00:01:18,110 asked for. So let's do it. 23 00:01:18,190 --> 00:01:20,150 Yeah, this is a really fascinating area. 24 00:01:20,150 --> 00:01:22,270 We're going to talk through this first. 25 00:01:22,470 --> 00:01:25,270 Just a reminder to everybody that we are part of the back 26 00:01:25,270 --> 00:01:26,510 home network here at Crimson Cast. 27 00:01:26,510 --> 00:01:28,390 In the back home network is brought to you by home field 28 00:01:28,390 --> 00:01:32,790 apparel, your place to go for the finest in college fashions, 29 00:01:32,790 --> 00:01:35,110 the softest fabrics. They've been rolling out new 30 00:01:35,110 --> 00:01:39,150 product pretty much every week since like 2017. 31 00:01:39,150 --> 00:01:41,630 It's been crazy in the best possible way. 32 00:01:41,910 --> 00:01:44,350 Get yourself outfitted for this fall. 33 00:01:44,470 --> 00:01:46,190 Pick up a hoodie. Pick up a crew neck. 34 00:01:46,510 --> 00:01:49,430 You still got some time for, like, you know, regular tshirts 35 00:01:49,430 --> 00:01:51,790 at this point. But there's also Bomber Jacket 36 00:01:51,790 --> 00:01:54,430 time, which is coming up pretty soon as the weather gets a 37 00:01:54,430 --> 00:01:57,830 little bit colder. Go to homefieldapparel.com, use 38 00:01:57,830 --> 00:02:02,390 the code home, HOME. Get 15% off your first order. 39 00:02:03,060 --> 00:02:06,460 All right, so let's talk about what Andy referred to. 40 00:02:06,700 --> 00:02:11,060 And that is this news that came down yesterday, which was 41 00:02:11,060 --> 00:02:14,620 reported, I think, originally by Seth Davis. 42 00:02:15,300 --> 00:02:19,740 And essentially what it said was that Fox Sports are our old 43 00:02:19,740 --> 00:02:23,300 friends, are in negotiations with several power conferences 44 00:02:23,300 --> 00:02:27,260 to, quote, hold a postseason men's basketball tournament in 45 00:02:27,260 --> 00:02:31,700 Las Vegas featuring teams that did not qualify for the NCAA 46 00:02:31,700 --> 00:02:34,860 tournament. And as Andy pointed out, it's 47 00:02:34,940 --> 00:02:37,420 intended to include sixteen teams. 48 00:02:37,620 --> 00:02:40,860 And they would play during the final week of March at T-Mobile 49 00:02:40,860 --> 00:02:44,020 Arena, which is where the Vegas Golden Knights play. 50 00:02:44,060 --> 00:02:46,460 And I think there's like two or three power conference 51 00:02:46,460 --> 00:02:48,500 tournaments or regular conference tournaments that play 52 00:02:48,500 --> 00:02:51,340 there as well. So there's a lot to unpack with 53 00:02:51,340 --> 00:02:54,700 this. First of all, you're absolutely 54 00:02:54,700 --> 00:02:56,870 right. If I were to pick the team that 55 00:02:56,870 --> 00:02:59,950 was most likely to be in this tournament, of all of the teams 56 00:02:59,950 --> 00:03:02,750 in the power conferences, Georgia would be, I think, the 57 00:03:02,750 --> 00:03:06,070 absolute first pick, probably closely followed by Minnesota, 58 00:03:06,750 --> 00:03:10,390 you know, So these are the kinds of programs we would likely see. 59 00:03:10,390 --> 00:03:13,350 Rutgers would be a regular participant in this. 60 00:03:14,030 --> 00:03:16,190 There's a bunch of things I think that need to be talked 61 00:03:16,190 --> 00:03:18,510 about right off the bat. So first of all what you said 62 00:03:18,870 --> 00:03:23,220 this is a tournament that nobody really asked for and it is 63 00:03:23,220 --> 00:03:27,540 essentially a tournament that is in direct competition with the 64 00:03:27,540 --> 00:03:31,300 NIT and you know that's been something that really has been 65 00:03:31,300 --> 00:03:34,460 brought out There were some quotes in a sports sorry was 66 00:03:34,460 --> 00:03:38,700 that this was A and that's the IT was an si.com piece from 67 00:03:38,700 --> 00:03:43,100 Gonzaga Nation. Dan Dickow the the the Gonzaga 68 00:03:43,100 --> 00:03:46,420 alum and great who played basketball for them had a quote 69 00:03:46,740 --> 00:03:51,150 saying that this tournament has proposed quote it will 70 00:03:51,150 --> 00:03:54,790 completely destroy the NIT tournament and it's going to 71 00:03:54,790 --> 00:03:58,230 create an even bigger gap between your haves and have nots 72 00:03:58,470 --> 00:04:00,830 in college athletics. And Andy, let's kind of start 73 00:04:00,830 --> 00:04:03,270 there. It it looks like a proposal that 74 00:04:03,270 --> 00:04:06,910 is 100% aimed at the NIT tournament and trying to cut it 75 00:04:06,910 --> 00:04:11,500 off at the knees basically. It really was. 76 00:04:11,500 --> 00:04:14,980 And there's no sort of, you know, NIT traditionalist that 77 00:04:14,980 --> 00:04:17,540 existed and probably since like the 1940s, right? 78 00:04:17,540 --> 00:04:20,740 Like no one is clamoring for, oh, we we need the NIT. 79 00:04:21,100 --> 00:04:23,940 But I think it was the latter point of Dan Dickows quote, 80 00:04:23,940 --> 00:04:26,220 something that Matt Brown addressed today in the Extra 81 00:04:26,220 --> 00:04:28,260 Points newsletter, which I highly recommend. 82 00:04:28,740 --> 00:04:31,700 Is this more of the the representation of what this 83 00:04:31,700 --> 00:04:33,940 means? It's not that this is going to 84 00:04:33,940 --> 00:04:37,860 kill the NIT, although it might it it's what does this mean if a 85 00:04:37,860 --> 00:04:40,060 broadcaster has this kind of leverage? 86 00:04:40,510 --> 00:04:43,270 And can make this kind of chess move frankly and say, you know 87 00:04:43,270 --> 00:04:44,710 what, we're going to create our own tournament. 88 00:04:44,710 --> 00:04:47,750 We'll stage it ourselves. You've mentioned to me over text 89 00:04:47,750 --> 00:04:51,190 the angle of supplementary revenue of can this generate a 90 00:04:51,190 --> 00:04:53,790 few extra million for some of these power conferences? 91 00:04:54,350 --> 00:04:57,670 Is that what if this is just the first step towards the eventual 92 00:04:57,670 --> 00:05:00,870 breakaway of of, you know, high major schools and forming their 93 00:05:00,870 --> 00:05:03,550 own tournament? Is that this is just step one? 94 00:05:04,030 --> 00:05:05,670 What is step three or four look like? 95 00:05:05,670 --> 00:05:08,510 If this thing is a success and however we even measure success 96 00:05:08,510 --> 00:05:11,430 for the tournament like this. Yeah, I I think there's two main 97 00:05:11,430 --> 00:05:13,470 pieces and you kind of brought up all of them. 98 00:05:13,470 --> 00:05:17,870 So the first is this idea of, you know, if you're paying 99 00:05:17,870 --> 00:05:21,070 attention to the sports media landscape, there is a clear belt 100 00:05:21,070 --> 00:05:24,110 tightening happening on the network side, which is where all 101 00:05:24,110 --> 00:05:27,510 the money has come from. I mean ESPN lost the entire 102 00:05:27,510 --> 00:05:30,230 first couple of weeks of college football and almost lost the 103 00:05:30,230 --> 00:05:33,990 Monday Night Football game last night to you know, to not having 104 00:05:33,990 --> 00:05:38,070 people who are on Charter or Spectrum cable, which is like 105 00:05:38,070 --> 00:05:41,550 10% or 15% of cable households in the United States, like it 106 00:05:41,550 --> 00:05:43,590 just wasn't on. And then they they made a deal 107 00:05:43,590 --> 00:05:45,870 yesterday. So Monday Night Football was on. 108 00:05:46,270 --> 00:05:48,230 You know both sides gave up some concessions. 109 00:05:48,230 --> 00:05:52,470 I think ESPN and Disney kind of won that battle a little bit. 110 00:05:52,790 --> 00:05:56,310 But that's a that's a shot across the bow in terms of how 111 00:05:56,310 --> 00:05:58,350 the revenue structure is working right now. 112 00:05:58,670 --> 00:06:02,890 In as much as ESPN does not have a limitless supply of revenue 113 00:06:03,250 --> 00:06:06,410 forever coming in and cable providers are going to start 114 00:06:06,410 --> 00:06:09,850 looking at the amount of money that they're paying to Disney 115 00:06:09,850 --> 00:06:12,930 and ESPN and saying you know what, especially if you're going 116 00:06:12,930 --> 00:06:15,250 to go over the top, if you're going to go direct to consumer, 117 00:06:15,330 --> 00:06:19,370 why are we paying you this extra money when most of our users of 118 00:06:19,370 --> 00:06:21,890 cable don't use this service in the 1st place. 119 00:06:22,170 --> 00:06:25,330 And so I think you know, part of it is the conference is looking 120 00:06:25,330 --> 00:06:28,470 around and saying uh oh okay, that's may not, that's not 121 00:06:28,470 --> 00:06:31,790 affecting us in the current negotiation for media rights 122 00:06:31,790 --> 00:06:33,390 because there's a lot of those have been signed. 123 00:06:33,470 --> 00:06:35,910 But what about the next one? What about, you know, the the 124 00:06:35,910 --> 00:06:38,510 next SEC negotiation? What about the next Big 10 125 00:06:38,510 --> 00:06:43,390 negotiation which leads then to looking at their media partners 126 00:06:43,390 --> 00:06:45,950 and saying where can you find us additional revenue? 127 00:06:46,270 --> 00:06:50,630 And much like Fox did with finding extra money to bring 128 00:06:50,630 --> 00:06:54,190 Oregon and Washington into the Big 10 in in football and all 129 00:06:54,190 --> 00:06:58,550 sports, this to me strikes me as a way for Fox to say, hey, look, 130 00:06:58,670 --> 00:07:02,070 we can create something that may not be initially successful, but 131 00:07:02,070 --> 00:07:05,310 this is clearly going to be a new source of revenue that isn't 132 00:07:05,310 --> 00:07:09,070 already there, that we might be able to pay directly to you, the 133 00:07:09,070 --> 00:07:11,150 power conferences who are part of it. 134 00:07:13,610 --> 00:07:15,610 I think what is interesting too Galen you mentioned is this 135 00:07:15,610 --> 00:07:17,930 actually a play that the conferences sort of floated 136 00:07:17,930 --> 00:07:20,770 almost like inception wise through the networks you know 137 00:07:20,770 --> 00:07:23,410 through Fox. And I think that Bret your mark 138 00:07:23,410 --> 00:07:25,690 to maybe bring this full circle and I, you guy I think the 139 00:07:25,690 --> 00:07:28,330 father of an I U alarm or current I U student. 140 00:07:28,690 --> 00:07:32,730 He's been very active in pushing college basketballs basketball 141 00:07:32,730 --> 00:07:34,850 as far as the value, you know that he sends it out. 142 00:07:34,850 --> 00:07:37,330 What if we break that apart from the football rights? 143 00:07:37,850 --> 00:07:39,370 And that is almost its own TV package. 144 00:07:39,410 --> 00:07:41,130 Yeah. Well, it's taking the Big 12 to 145 00:07:41,170 --> 00:07:42,370 mix it. He's taking them to New York 146 00:07:42,370 --> 00:07:43,090 City. Yeah. 147 00:07:43,130 --> 00:07:45,570 And is this a way that he's looking for that around the 148 00:07:45,570 --> 00:07:47,090 margins revenue that you mentioned? 149 00:07:47,210 --> 00:07:49,290 Yeah, I mean, I so I think it's important for people to 150 00:07:49,290 --> 00:07:52,130 understand what like where does the money go? 151 00:07:52,170 --> 00:07:55,330 Like, why is why is football considered more valuable than 152 00:07:55,330 --> 00:07:57,210 basketball? And part of the reason is 153 00:07:57,520 --> 00:07:59,960 football. And the money from football is 154 00:07:59,960 --> 00:08:03,400 not controlled by the NCAA. It's controlled by the 155 00:08:03,400 --> 00:08:06,920 conferences and Notre Dame. And they're the ones that make 156 00:08:06,920 --> 00:08:08,600 the deals directly with the networks. 157 00:08:08,600 --> 00:08:10,920 They're the ones that make the deals for the College Football 158 00:08:10,920 --> 00:08:14,120 Playoff collectively and then they get the money and 159 00:08:14,120 --> 00:08:16,600 distribute it. It isn't shared with all of the 160 00:08:16,600 --> 00:08:20,640 schools, all what, 10-11 hundred schools in the NCAA. 161 00:08:21,390 --> 00:08:23,030 That's not the case with basketball. 162 00:08:23,230 --> 00:08:26,230 Basketball is controlled, at least the tournament is 163 00:08:26,230 --> 00:08:30,190 controlled by the NCAA. Teams are paid out in wind 164 00:08:30,190 --> 00:08:33,190 shares. You know, so you know you're you 165 00:08:33,190 --> 00:08:36,390 get 8 teams in the tournament and depending on where they 166 00:08:36,390 --> 00:08:38,630 finish in the tournament, you're going to get X number of wind 167 00:08:38,630 --> 00:08:42,070 shares and then that is paid out on a five year rolling average. 168 00:08:42,070 --> 00:08:46,110 Very convoluted system, but that's 8085% of the NCAA's 169 00:08:46,110 --> 00:08:49,070 operating budget comes just off of what they make off the men's 170 00:08:49,070 --> 00:08:52,750 NCAA tournament which is like a billion or a billion 1A year. 171 00:08:54,110 --> 00:08:56,790 Looking at this, I mean, you look at it, it's like, well, 172 00:08:56,830 --> 00:08:59,430 it's, you know, Charlie Baker, the NCAA commissioner, 173 00:08:59,430 --> 00:09:01,230 specifically asked FOX don't do this. 174 00:09:01,230 --> 00:09:04,270 Like please do not do this because we're worried about the 175 00:09:04,270 --> 00:09:08,190 NIT, the same tournament they they tried to kill and then took 176 00:09:08,190 --> 00:09:10,310 over 20 years ago. I mean, just keep in mind. 177 00:09:10,310 --> 00:09:13,470 So it's I I I've got a little bit of a suspicion about how 178 00:09:13,470 --> 00:09:17,150 authentic those concerns are for the NIT on the part of the NCAA. 179 00:09:17,150 --> 00:09:19,810 But they're looking at this and they're saying right now we 180 00:09:19,810 --> 00:09:22,810 control essentially almost all of the postseason revenue. 181 00:09:23,170 --> 00:09:26,130 They don't control the CB. I I don't think the CIT even 182 00:09:26,130 --> 00:09:29,250 exists anymore, and that was minuscule anyway. 183 00:09:29,250 --> 00:09:32,930 But they're controlling all the revenue for the top 96 teams 184 00:09:32,930 --> 00:09:37,610 basically in college basketball, peeling away even a part of 185 00:09:37,610 --> 00:09:40,050 that. And showing power conference 186 00:09:40,850 --> 00:09:43,250 schools and the power conferences themselves that, 187 00:09:43,250 --> 00:09:48,160 hey, you don't have to have 40% of the revenue that your teams 188 00:09:48,160 --> 00:09:53,200 are generating going to like Montclair State or or Hanover 189 00:09:53,400 --> 00:09:55,880 or, you know, whatever small college that you know is part of 190 00:09:55,880 --> 00:09:58,980 the NCAA but isn't. Division One like that is not to 191 00:09:58,980 --> 00:10:02,300 be that way. Instead, what we can do is set 192 00:10:02,300 --> 00:10:05,180 up a deal directly with you pay the conferences that are 193 00:10:05,180 --> 00:10:08,220 participating the money. You keep more of the money and 194 00:10:08,220 --> 00:10:11,180 we can probably generate more because we can leverage our 195 00:10:11,180 --> 00:10:14,740 assets from a commercial perspective to bring additional 196 00:10:14,740 --> 00:10:18,580 revenue in that the NCAA can't do by subcontracting at all to 197 00:10:18,580 --> 00:10:20,980 ESPN. You know, the way that they're 198 00:10:20,980 --> 00:10:25,970 doing it right now. It really is a flank right. 199 00:10:25,970 --> 00:10:28,930 It's a way that you can kind of get outside the current purview 200 00:10:28,930 --> 00:10:30,930 of the in state of life governance structure and all the 201 00:10:30,930 --> 00:10:33,450 finances you just touched on. And that's why I think it is 202 00:10:33,450 --> 00:10:35,610 concerning if not the immediacy of it. 203 00:10:35,970 --> 00:10:38,050 But is it forecasting what lies ahead. 204 00:10:38,050 --> 00:10:40,890 And we've seen with the current summer realignment, the power 205 00:10:40,890 --> 00:10:44,210 that Fox and especially ESPN have been really dictating. 206 00:10:44,290 --> 00:10:47,250 Who are you going to pay for? What schools, what brands, who 207 00:10:47,250 --> 00:10:50,130 draws eyeballs? And this is sort of a corollary 208 00:10:50,130 --> 00:10:53,730 to that of a new tournament that's Fox controlled. 209 00:10:54,160 --> 00:10:57,400 Based on their their inventory, what schools are part of that? 210 00:10:57,800 --> 00:10:59,960 And I don't know who's going to wash it outside of some really 211 00:10:59,960 --> 00:11:03,360 sicko betters, but it's kind of the forecasting of how 212 00:11:03,360 --> 00:11:05,400 concerning is this for the future of this whole entity. 213 00:11:05,560 --> 00:11:08,240 Yeah, well, it is. And and look, I think the, the 214 00:11:08,240 --> 00:11:13,040 larger item that the NCAA should really be worried about is what 215 00:11:13,040 --> 00:11:15,280 you just said. I mean, we always hear like 216 00:11:15,280 --> 00:11:18,440 college basketball not as not as valuable as college football, 217 00:11:18,440 --> 00:11:21,000 and it probably never will be because football is just so much 218 00:11:21,000 --> 00:11:24,310 more popular as a sport. But I also think there's a real 219 00:11:24,310 --> 00:11:27,590 argument to be made from a market perspective that the 220 00:11:27,590 --> 00:11:32,630 NCAA's management of the NCAA tournament and the overall lack 221 00:11:32,630 --> 00:11:37,750 of leadership around college basketball has to some degree 222 00:11:37,750 --> 00:11:42,510 artificially lowered the current market value of the product. 223 00:11:42,510 --> 00:11:44,550 The product is loved by a lot of people. 224 00:11:44,550 --> 00:11:46,950 Lot of people really love college basketball. 225 00:11:47,230 --> 00:11:50,120 But because there's nobody in charge of the sport and because 226 00:11:50,120 --> 00:11:52,280 the tournament is still organized in essentially the 227 00:11:52,280 --> 00:11:57,560 exact same way it was organized in 1979, that, you know, quite 228 00:11:57,560 --> 00:12:01,560 frankly, there's there's, you know it, it it serves a 229 00:12:01,560 --> 00:12:04,200 different purpose than what a lot of the conferences and the 230 00:12:04,200 --> 00:12:07,570 schools are interested in. And in an era, as we're seeing 231 00:12:07,570 --> 00:12:11,170 in college football, where you're likely to see maybe about 232 00:12:11,170 --> 00:12:15,370 half of the FBS subdivision dropped to a lower tier from a 233 00:12:15,370 --> 00:12:18,250 revenue generation perspective because the top schools are 234 00:12:18,250 --> 00:12:20,770 like, hey, why are we just spreading this money around? 235 00:12:20,770 --> 00:12:23,010 Why aren't we consolidating it and keeping it ourselves? 236 00:12:23,410 --> 00:12:26,250 There's a real good chance a similar thing might happen in 237 00:12:26,250 --> 00:12:28,250 college basketball. And I know fans don't want to 238 00:12:28,250 --> 00:12:31,170 see that, but that's what schools and conferences want to 239 00:12:31,170 --> 00:12:32,410 see. And that's ultimately who's 240 00:12:32,410 --> 00:12:37,010 making a lot of these decisions. I don't know if it's too much of 241 00:12:37,010 --> 00:12:40,290 A stretch compare this to like the live Golf Tumor or some sort 242 00:12:40,290 --> 00:12:42,650 of like true horse, but we've seen for I feel like a year, 243 00:12:42,650 --> 00:12:45,490 year and a half now Galen that there's been for this trial 244 00:12:45,490 --> 00:12:49,530 balloon of would have expanded by tournament to 96 or to the 245 00:12:49,530 --> 00:12:52,090 high 80s. And a lot of traditionalists and 246 00:12:52,090 --> 00:12:55,050 purists, which I think will be the overall majority of fans and 247 00:12:55,050 --> 00:12:57,570 observers, seem pretty against that. 248 00:12:58,050 --> 00:13:00,410 I don't know what the practical implications would be of an 249 00:13:00,410 --> 00:13:03,590 expanded bracket, but. 64 and then 65. 250 00:13:03,590 --> 00:13:06,870 Now 68 feels like a pretty good number, fits perfectly. 251 00:13:06,870 --> 00:13:09,790 And 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of paper. People love the bracket. 252 00:13:10,150 --> 00:13:11,910 Is that. I do wonder, is this some sort 253 00:13:11,910 --> 00:13:14,390 of sacrificial lamb? If you know what, we're going to 254 00:13:14,390 --> 00:13:17,990 float this, if they have to, to kill that to maybe increase the 255 00:13:17,990 --> 00:13:20,150 size of the tournament, increase the field size. 256 00:13:20,550 --> 00:13:23,510 Because you think about conferences, It will now be 18 257 00:13:23,510 --> 00:13:25,470 teams and potentially more in the future. 258 00:13:25,910 --> 00:13:28,550 If you're one of these bigger conferences, you're the Big 10 259 00:13:28,670 --> 00:13:33,700 and you want now. 12/13/14 schools, to get a bid, something 260 00:13:33,700 --> 00:13:36,660 has to give, right? Because it is 6018 tournament 261 00:13:36,900 --> 00:13:39,300 you're showing probably is what, 10 bids, I'd say. 262 00:13:39,620 --> 00:13:42,940 But now if you're going to be a really solid, I don't know, UCL 263 00:13:42,940 --> 00:13:46,180 squad in five years and you're going to finish 10th or 11th and 264 00:13:46,180 --> 00:13:47,980 you're in the bubble, the Big 10 doesn't want that. 265 00:13:47,980 --> 00:13:50,740 So is this some way to actually create some leverage 266 00:13:50,740 --> 00:13:53,380 artificially by saying, you know what, we'll have this new 267 00:13:53,380 --> 00:13:56,080 tournament? But OK, if you expand the field 268 00:13:56,120 --> 00:13:58,720 maybe we'll we'll kill this off or change the format. 269 00:13:58,800 --> 00:14:01,560 I I don't know if that's the new, but that did cross my mind 270 00:14:01,560 --> 00:14:03,160 as well. Well, the other one other thing 271 00:14:03,160 --> 00:14:05,760 I'll note in this and this will will end on this note, in the 272 00:14:05,760 --> 00:14:09,200 original reporting, there's only three conferences involved in 273 00:14:09,200 --> 00:14:10,480 this. It's not all the power 274 00:14:10,480 --> 00:14:14,320 conferences, it's the Big 10. It's the Big 12 and it's the Big 275 00:14:14,320 --> 00:14:16,480 East. And what do all those have in 276 00:14:16,480 --> 00:14:18,400 common? They have a direct tie in with 277 00:14:18,400 --> 00:14:20,800 FOX. This is a FOX sponsored 278 00:14:20,800 --> 00:14:22,640 tournament. You know who's not involved in 279 00:14:22,640 --> 00:14:27,230 this is the ACC. And and that that's a huge thing 280 00:14:27,230 --> 00:14:30,550 to keep in mind because we've already seen these fault lines 281 00:14:30,550 --> 00:14:34,590 drawn when it comes to college football and who's tied in with 282 00:14:34,590 --> 00:14:36,670 what. And a lot of these items that 283 00:14:36,670 --> 00:14:40,910 we're seeing in college football are predicated on Fox and to a 284 00:14:40,910 --> 00:14:45,790 lesser extent CBS and NBC chipping away at the ESPN 285 00:14:45,790 --> 00:14:49,390 hegemony that has existed for years around college football. 286 00:14:49,390 --> 00:14:53,010 And they're succeeding because ESPN, to some degree has allowed 287 00:14:53,010 --> 00:14:57,770 themselves to get outflanked by connecting themselves so closely 288 00:14:57,770 --> 00:15:03,290 with the SEC and the ACC. And so for Fox, not just to, you 289 00:15:03,290 --> 00:15:06,130 know, design this, but basically say, hey, if you're a close 290 00:15:06,130 --> 00:15:10,010 partner of ours, if you're Big 12, Big 10, a Big East, you're 291 00:15:10,010 --> 00:15:13,330 going to be not only invited, but you're going to get to share 292 00:15:13,330 --> 00:15:17,410 in this extra revenue that the SEC&ACC schools aren't. 293 00:15:17,810 --> 00:15:21,220 Now you're getting an even greater bifurcation existing in 294 00:15:21,220 --> 00:15:24,220 college sports where it's not just about power versus non 295 00:15:24,220 --> 00:15:28,540 power, but it's about who did what horse did you bet on 10 296 00:15:28,540 --> 00:15:32,220 years ago, 15 years ago in terms of your media partners and your 297 00:15:32,220 --> 00:15:37,260 overall revenue structure. That's why I think this proposal 298 00:15:37,260 --> 00:15:39,620 might be the best maybe for those second, third conferences, 299 00:15:39,620 --> 00:15:41,900 the Big 12 in the Big East, because the Big 10, as we know, 300 00:15:41,900 --> 00:15:43,420 will have no shortage of revenue. 301 00:15:43,580 --> 00:15:45,260 They'll always want more, but they'll have no shortage 302 00:15:45,260 --> 00:15:47,620 relatively SEC and the rest of the conferences. 303 00:15:47,900 --> 00:15:50,720 But when the Big 12 is positioning itself for. 3rd 304 00:15:50,720 --> 00:15:52,120 place, if you will, in the Big East. 305 00:15:52,320 --> 00:15:54,400 Where does that factor in? In the basketball landscape? 306 00:15:54,880 --> 00:15:57,840 Where does an extra, you know, I don't know, 5 or 10 million go 307 00:15:57,840 --> 00:15:59,440 for those conferences in the schools. 308 00:15:59,720 --> 00:16:02,880 That might mean more for the Big 12 and Big East than this new 309 00:16:02,880 --> 00:16:05,320 bloated Big 10. Especially going back to Bret, 310 00:16:05,320 --> 00:16:07,560 your remark, the love of basketball and looking for new 311 00:16:07,560 --> 00:16:10,200 opportunities there. If that's you know Big 12 versus 312 00:16:10,200 --> 00:16:14,440 ACC and the people know has this tie in and the ACC does not and 313 00:16:14,440 --> 00:16:17,000 they still have the infighting with Clemson and Florida State 314 00:16:17,440 --> 00:16:20,380 and North Carolina. That might go a long way around 315 00:16:20,380 --> 00:16:23,140 the edges, especially as far as the messaging and how aggressive 316 00:16:23,140 --> 00:16:25,580 the Big 12 has been. I do think that's certainly an 317 00:16:25,580 --> 00:16:26,660 angle to watch. Yeah. 318 00:16:26,660 --> 00:16:30,100 And I'll I'll end on this. Maybe this is the actual 319 00:16:30,100 --> 00:16:34,820 strategic alliance that the Big 10, Big 12, Big East, not the 320 00:16:34,900 --> 00:16:39,220 Big 10, ACC, PAC 12, one that got floated 2 years ago and then 321 00:16:39,220 --> 00:16:43,340 immediately got destroyed. So, Andy, some fascinating stuff 322 00:16:43,340 --> 00:16:46,780 is always here. And any final thoughts from you, 323 00:16:46,780 --> 00:16:51,120 I guess, before we wrap up? I would say unlike the actual 324 00:16:51,120 --> 00:16:53,760 alliance from 2 summers ago, there would be an actual 325 00:16:53,760 --> 00:16:57,120 contract, presumably not just a bunch of grown men making eye 326 00:16:57,120 --> 00:16:59,680 contact and shaking hands. Presumably you'd think there 327 00:16:59,680 --> 00:17:02,680 would be an actual, you know, pen to paper agreement to keep 328 00:17:02,680 --> 00:17:06,280 these people in line, unlike Jim Phillips, George Cliff Cough and 329 00:17:06,280 --> 00:17:08,740 Kevin Warren. Yep, that's. 330 00:17:08,859 --> 00:17:11,339 I think you're probably right because I'm guessing this is 331 00:17:11,339 --> 00:17:14,619 being drawn up at the network level, not necessarily at the 332 00:17:14,619 --> 00:17:16,660 conference level. So you can be sure that they'll 333 00:17:16,660 --> 00:17:19,420 be some actual ink on paper with this. 334 00:17:19,420 --> 00:17:23,060 Anyway, as always, great to have our friend Andy Whittree joining 335 00:17:23,060 --> 00:17:24,619 us. We'll hopefully have him on more 336 00:17:24,940 --> 00:17:26,060 throughout the course of the fall. 337 00:17:26,060 --> 00:17:30,260 Because Andy, I got a sense that college sports business not 338 00:17:30,260 --> 00:17:32,820 going anywhere for a while, probably going to have some 339 00:17:32,820 --> 00:17:34,740 stories coming out of this on a regular basis. 340 00:17:34,740 --> 00:17:37,300 So. So thank you for joining us and 341 00:17:37,300 --> 00:17:38,940 thanks all you folks for listening in. 342 00:17:39,100 --> 00:17:42,140 Thanks to our partners at the Back Home Network. 343 00:17:42,140 --> 00:17:45,500 Thanks to our presenting sponsor, Home Field Apparel. 344 00:17:45,700 --> 00:17:47,140 We'll be back later on this week. 345 00:17:47,140 --> 00:17:50,620 We got a big I U Louisville football preview, keep an eye 346 00:17:50,620 --> 00:17:52,060 out for that. Until then. 347 00:17:52,060 --> 00:17:53,740 I'm Galen Clavio for Crimson Cast. 348 00:17:53,740 --> 00:17:55,300 We'll catch you folks on the flip side. 349 00:17:55,300 --> 00:17:56,820 Bring back the Bison. So long, everybody.