2010 SEC and Big Ten OOC football schedules

[Steve19]

If the SEC wins its 5th BCSNC in a row...

To begin, BigWoof, that was a good post and your restraint is appreciated.

GuB makes a good underlying point. Prior to this year is that the SEC hasn't been pressed to play a tough OOC schedule due to the often warranted adulation from the press.

That may have changed last year. There were plenty of rumblings at the end of last year in the media about SEC. If you recall, there were "Is the SEC over-rated?" stories starting to appear. The way the press reported the bowl games, it seems that Alabama looked great in the NC game but many other SEC other performances raised questions or confirmed more about the losing team than the winning team (i.e., Fla vs. Cincy without their coach).

Hard to say how this plays out this year, but if Penn State does beat Alabama (< 50% chance), look for a feeding frenzy to begin on the entire SEC OOC schedule.

 

[Steve19]

tOSU funds as many if not more sports as UF and every other year, they get way less money than a home game because we play at their place.

Kyle, I think you are right:

Overall
*With 36 varsity sports, Ohio State is the largest fully funded athletics program in the country and is a totally self-supporting auxiliary unit of the University.

*During the 2009-10 fiscal year, the Department of Athletics will pay nearly $29 million of its $117 budget to the University for funding support toward the University?s academic mission, including $14.5 in grant-in-aid reimbursement.

*U.S. News and World Report ranks Ohio State as one of the Top 20 public universities. (link)

 

[BB73]

Just a few random thoughts after reading through this often-discussed topic.

1 - While many of us don't get the 'S-E-C' thing, most of us were quite happy with the bowl wins by Iowa, PSU, and Wiscy over GTech, LSU, and Miami respectively. We took pride in the fact that the Big Ten was the first conference since 1998 to win 4 bowl games against top-15 opponents in one season. And that in 1998 it was also the Big Ten, so the conference has done that twice in the BCS years, and no other conference has. We may not have been cheering 'Big Ten' from the stands when tOSU won the Rose Bowl, but we understand that other teams winning their bowl games matters for the prestige of the Big Ten, and by extension, for the prestige of tOSU.

2 - I don't understand how the cocktail party can pay each team $1.6 million per year if the teams only get $2.2 million per home game - I have to question that $2.2 million number.

3 - Nutria, the Miss State game behind Auburn was clearly an oversight/typo, as Miss St was listed as a conference member a few lines later.

 

[BigWoof31]

This has been a good thread and it's prompted me to ask one more open ended questions today before things got too busy.


1. From an "inside the conference" perspective - it seems like we're not getting fair shake in the majority of criticism.
Is it:
A. "You won't leave your region (the South) to play games! You never travel far and that is crap!"
B. "You're schedule is full of cupcakes! You don't play anyone tough OOC!"

The answer to A is: Fine - we'll schedule home and home matchups with Washington State, Baylor and Syracuse. How's that for travel?
The answer to B is: Then you should have no problem with us picking up Florida State and Miami for OOC games, correct?


Just trying to get a better handle on the criticism folks. The better I understand it - the easier it is for me to avoid being dinged out the wazoo later in the year.

 

[jwinslow]

Just trying to get a better handle on the criticism folks. The better I understand it - the easier it is for me to avoid being dinged out the wazoo later in the year.

I think it's a spinoff of bitterness for having to play out of region each offseason. This was also a criticism that predated the role reversal in reputation after Jan 07.

 

[BigWoof31]

2 - I don't understand how the cocktail party can pay each team $1.6 million per year if the teams only get $2.2 million per home game - I have to question that $2.2 million number.

I'll let GUB provide the linkage - but every couple of years the package gets up for negotiation. The Georgia Dome is thrown around, Raymond James in Tampa is thrown around - but JVille always comes up with more money.

 

[jwinslow]

I believe I read that Jax gets 25-30 million in local revenue from hosting this event each year.

 

[BB73]

I believe I read that Jax gets 25-30 million in local revenue from hosting this event each year.

If the City or the Jax Chamber of Commerce tosses in something like a million per team it would make sense. The ticket sales shouldn't exceed what the teams would get if they alternated home games.

 

[jwinslow]

From my earlier article

Travel costs factor in as well. Georgia receives $100,000 from Jacksonville to help defray its costs, but if the game alternated between the campus sites, the Bulldogs would not get any help. Each Southeastern Conference road trip costs about $150,000, meaning Georgia would be out an additional $300,000.
UF's costs from Gainesville to Jacksonville are about $50,000. That's $200,000 over a four-year period. Two trips to Georgia, however, would cost the school about $300,000.

In addition, the city picks up the costs for game-day operations: security, ticket takers, ushers, concession workers, medical services, cleanup, etc. McGarity said the cost for those services is about $250,000 at Florida Field. Over four years, that's a $500,000 savings.

 

[BigWoof31]

To be sure, it's a nice little pay-day for getting your cock punched in 4 years out of 5. :(

 

[Steve19]

i quit reading when i realized you didn't know Auburn and Miss St. are in the same conference

Sorry, tongue-in-cheek, late night shenanigans to try and beef up that "tough schedule". Like BB73 said, clearly I did.

 

[Steve19]

This has been a good thread and it's prompted me to ask one more open ended questions today before things got too busy.


1. From an "inside the conference" perspective - it seems like we're not getting fair shake in the majority of criticism.
Is it:
A. "You won't leave your region (the South) to play games! You never travel far and that is crap!"
B. "You're schedule is full of cupcakes! You don't play anyone tough OOC!"

The answer to A is: Fine - we'll schedule home and home matchups with Washington State, Baylor and Syracuse. How's that for travel?
The answer to B is: Then you should have no problem with us picking up Florida State and Miami for OOC games, correct?


Just trying to get a better handle on the criticism folks. The better I understand it - the easier it is for me to avoid being dinged out the wazoo later in the year.

I think the answer is "C both". The Big Ten has followed with scheduling some cupcakes in recent years, so posters should think twice before throwing stones from the glass house, even if the glass does look a bit thicker.

In my mind the problem is that SEC teams almost never schedule tough opponents away from home. When have we seen an OSU-Texas or OSU-USC type of game? For me that is the problem because the result is that SEC teams get ranked high at the start of the year. Then, they win more games, in part because they don't leave home and they place very easy OOC schedules. Then, when they beat each other during conference play, SEC teams seem to drop more slowly than others drop down the rankings because "SEC is the toughest conference."

So, I guess I'll take door number 3.

 

[BigWoof31]

Tennessee Volunteers Football Future Schedules

If I'm going to tip my hat to any one team in my conference - I have to do so to UT.

Future schedules include games against Cincy, Oregon, Oklahoma, UCONN, Nebraska, North Carolina and Ohio State.

Given their recent matchups with ND, UCLA, and Cal - it's pretty clear that Cheeto Orange Nation isn't afraid to take their [censored]-show on the road.

 

[BB73]

From my earlier article

So over 4 years Florida saves 500K in operating expenses and $100K in travel, that amounts to 300K every other year, or 6,000 seats at $50.

The Swamp seats about 6,000 more than Jax Muni (formerly Alltel), so the tiered pricing ($70 club seats) must be the big factor. Sanford Stadium ('between the hedges' for Woof) is over 92K, with plans to add 9,000 more seats.

How do Florida and Georgia sell out over 90K seats and only make $2.2 or $2.3 million per home game? A lot of student tickets must drive the average ticket price well below $40.

I'm not trying to kill the WLOCP, it's just that the numbers didn't add up to me. The club seats instead of the large student section explains it.

 

[jwinslow]

Tennessee Volunteers Football Future Schedules

If I'm going to tip my hat to any one team in my conference - I have to do so to UT.

Future schedules include games against Cincy, Oregon, Oklahoma, UCONN, Nebraska, North Carolina and Ohio State.

Given their recent matchups with ND, UCLA, and Cal - it's pretty clear that Cheeto Orange Nation isn't afraid to take their [censored]-show on the road.

They've been very progressive in this area, and finished up a decade where they visited:

W - South Bend 01
W - Miami FL 03
L - Notre Dame 05
L - Berkeley 07
L - UCLA 08

Obviously the Miami FL win doesn't fit the earlier 'leave SEC region' metric, even though it probably should for a tennessee team. That's a lot different than SCar playing Clemson or Ga Tech taking on Florida (hypothetical).