9-Game Big Ten Schedules - Good or bad for tOSU?

[BB73]

Yesterday, as posted by jwinslow in the future schedules thread, the B1G announced that there would be 9 conference football games played starting in 2017.

Reasons to like it
1. It gives the B1G more games that it has complete control over for TV and other deals.
2. It could be said that more conference games will produce a more legitimate champion.
3. It will often mean 1 less cupcake on the schedule, and most fans want less cupcakes.

Reasons to not like it
1. It makes a repeat matchup in the CCG more likely, since there will now be 4 cross-division games for each team, rather than the 3 from 2011-2016. Generally, I think CCG rematches are not desirable.
2. Less home games means less revenue for tOSU. Without changes that Tennessee will agree to, there are currently only 6 home games slated for tOSU in 2018. That's a budgeting issue for the tOSU Athletic Director.
3. Divisional races will be unbalanced, with 3 teams having 5 games and the other 3 teams having 4. In odd-numbered years, tOSU and these teams will have 5 conference home games (Iowa, Sparty, and Nebraska from the Legends, and Illinois and Indiana from the Leaders)
4. The additional road conference game every other year could make it more difficult for tOSU to win the National Championship.

So, what do you think? Is this a good thing for Ohio State or not? Or is it a good thing for the B1G and not a good thing overall for tOSU? If you have other reasons for liking or not liking it, I'll add them to the lists in this post, making it easier to see all of the reasons together.

These schedules are subject to change, but are a best guess based on alternating home/away for the 6 permanent B1G teams on the schedule over the next several years.

2017............2018............2019............2020............2021.........
Oklahoma........at Tennessee....Tennessee.......(at?) Georgia...(at?) Georgia
Cupcake-Game1...Cupcake-Game1...Cupcake-Game1...Cupcake-Game1...Cupcake-Game1
Cupcake-Game2...Cupcake-Game2...Cupcake-Game2...Cupcake-Game2...Cupcake-Game2
Wisconsin.......at Wisconsin....Wisconsin.......at Wisconsin....Wisconsin
Penn St.........at Penn St......Penn St.........at Penn St......Penn St
Indiana.........at Indiana......Indiana.........at Indiana......Indiana
Legends-Game1...at Legends-Gm1..Legends-Game1...at Legends-Gm1..Legends-Game1
Legends-Game2...at Legends-Gm2..Legends-Game2...at Legends-Gm2..Legends-Game2
at Purdue.......Purdue..........at Purdue.......Purdue..........at Purdue
at Illinois.....Illinois........at Illinois.....Illinois...... .at Illinois
at Legends-Gm3..Legends-Game3...at Legends-Gm3..Legends-Game3...at Legends-Gm3
at TSUN.........TSUN............at TSUN.........TSUN............at TSUN

Each year, the 3 Legends games will be either Nebraska, Iowa, Sparty, Minnesota, or Northwestern. If those games are divided equally (as expected), there will be 3 home and 3 away games with each of those 5 teams over a 10-year period.

 

[BUCKYLE]

If they're going to add another game, it should be another protected cross divisional opponent. tOSU should play Nebbie every year.

 

[matcar]

If they're going to add another game, it should be another protected cross divisional opponent. tOSU should play Nebbie every year.

Definitely would support stronger SoS...which the 9 game conf schedule would generally do as well.

 

[Jaxbuck]

The unintended consequence I see is the loss of big time OOC matchups.

If you only have 3 games to work with you are going to want them all at home for revenue purposes. Big time teams require a home and home.

Maybe the B1G tv money will offset that but it's the first thing that jumps out at me.

 

[Muck]

The unintended consequence I see is the loss of big time OOC matchups.

If you only have 3 games to work with you are going to want them all at home for revenue purposes. Big time teams require a home and home.

The Noid up north has stated that is their plan.

I don't believe we can or should go on the road for nonconference games when we can put 113,000 people in our stadium., It's, financially, the right thing to do. It's the right thing to do for our fans, in terms of their ticket packages. And we're going to alternate with Notre Dame, so we're going to have one game on the road every other year. So the rest of those games, I would like to have at Michigan Stadium.

Remember kids, stay safe and...

 

[LovelandBuckeye]

The unintended consequence I see is the loss of big time OOC matchups.

^^^THIS^^^

and

The CCG being a possible repeat bothers me but I will most likely get over it pretty fast.

 

[BB73]

The unintended consequence I see is the loss of big time OOC matchups.

If you only have 3 games to work with you are going to want them all at home for revenue purposes. Big time teams require a home and home.

Maybe the B1G tv money will offset that but it's the first thing that jumps out at me.

Smith made the following statement yesterday, but time will tell. No matter how you slice it, if they continue the high-profile road game every other year, there will be 1 less home game each 2-year period. That's millions of dollars for teams like tOSU.

Dispatch

Teams will alternate between five and four conference home games per year. In 2017, Iowa, Michigan State and Nebraska of the Legends Division will get the five home games, and Illinois, Indiana and Ohio State will get five in the Leaders Division.

"We supported the nine-game conference schedule because it represents what is best for the conference," OSU athletic director Gene Smith said. ?Nonconference scheduling is becoming more and more challenging each year, but we will not change our philosophy. We will continue to focus on playing FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) programs while creating some home-and-home contests" with high-profile programs.

Smith has said that Ohio State prefers to have eight home games at least every other year for revenue purposes. Playing nine conference games will take away one of the nonconference opportunities each year, and when five of those league games are on the road, OSU will need its three nonconference games to be at home.

Cont'd ...

 

[DaddyBigBucks]

IF TSUN will get back to being tOSU's toughest every-year opponent, then this is OK with me as there is an extra conference home game in the years they play TSUN on the road.

IF Bret Bulimia is better than I expect and wisky becomes tOSU's toughest every-year opponent, then the opposite seems to be true. In other words, in years when the Bucks are playing an extra road game, they are playing at Camp Randall. From a certain point of view, you could say that their extra road game is always in Camp Randall.

 

[Jaxbuck]

Smith made the following statement yesterday, but time will tell. No matter how you slice it, if they continue the high-profile road game every other year, there will be 1 less home game each 2-year period. That's millions of dollars for teams like tOSU.

Dispatch

Well they know their numbers. "Home games are worth x so can we live with the loss of x and what do we gain and whats the overall budget look like?" type of thing.

That's OSU however, most teams probably can't afford to lose that 3rd game. Hell Wisconsin won't play anyone but tomato cans now, wait until you give them an excuse like that, they'll be lining up high school teams.

Overall there is no doubt in my mind reason to like it #3 on your list isn't actually going to be a benefit for fans of the B1G as a whole if cupcakes bother them.

 

[muffler dragon]

Personally, there is very little positive to this consideration.

 

[jlb1705]

In my IMO this will make more sense when the 16-team superconferences and a playoff materialize.

 

[Tlangs]

will scUM, Purdue, and Sparty continiue their series with ND? Seems like most teams will want 3 cupcakes at home then confrence play. I would also consider playing ND on the road a road cupcake game.

 

[RugbyBuck]

"I don't believe we can or should go on the road for nonconference games when we can put 113,000 people in our stadium."

The legal term of art for this is "assuming facts not in evidence".

Friday, August 5, 2011 and michigan still sucks.

 

[BB73]

"I don't believe we can or should go on the road for nonconference games when we can put 113,000 people in our stadium."

The legal term of art for this is "assuming facts not in evidence".

They jammed in 113,090 for last September's game against UConn.

TSUN.link (no need to click it and hurt your eyes - but it's there to back up the statement)

 

[Buckeye86]

will scUM, Purdue, and Sparty continiue their series with ND? Seems like most teams will want 3 cupcakes at home then confrence play. I would also consider playing ND on the road a road cupcake game.

An excuse to end the Big Ten's annual games with ND might be a positive from this. ND can either join the Big Ten or enjoy the scheduling nightmare that trying to fill that 3-4 game hole will be.