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Gene Smith (Former AD, ‘10 AD of the Year, '13 NAAC Organizational Leadership Award)

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Buckeyeskickbuttocks said:
Agree. The failure in ESPN's model is they are limiting themselves to the south east region. No one in California is gonna watch that. No one is Nebraska... Hell, with the exception of the shills in Bristol, no one in New England. Which is to say, they will fail because, even to the extent that beat Delany in the longer game, they will lose the war for alienating 75% of the nation.
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The Big 10 must hire a commissioner who will fight tooth and nail to improve this whatever it takes.
 
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Man, we are losing are minds a little here.

Ohio State is the biggest brand in college sports. Their ratings do numbers. LSU/OSU would have been the most watched game in CFP history.

Bucks will be set up to be back in the thing over the next 3-5 years. Have to play well to beat 2 good teams, no matter what. Maybe they do one year. Definitely aren’t sitting it out.
 
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OHSportsFan said:
Man, we are losing are minds a little here.

Ohio State is the biggest brand in college sports. Their ratings do numbers. LSU/OSU would have been the most watched game in CFP history.

Bucks will be set up to be back in the thing over the next 3-5 years. Have to play well to beat 2 good teams, no matter what. Maybe they do one year. Definitely aren’t sitting it out.
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But the problem is that it's been absolutely shown that we'll never get any benefit of the doubt. We need to be absolutely perfect from our record to the committee room to the replay booth or we have no chance of winning. Hell, I think they only let us in in 2014 because they were certain Bama would wipe its ass with us. When that didn't happen, there was an almost palpable "oh fuck" and since then, they've kept us out or flip flopped the rankings to give us a harder path.
 
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I think a lot more awareness is being brought to the issue which is good. Nationally, you're starting to see some acknowledgment of at least the appearance of impropriety in having an SEC officiating crew call a game owned by ESPN, in which the winner plays an SEC team (I think Thamel at Yahoo did a respectable job questioning the replay officials and subtlety questioning their motives).

For starters, and this isn't even my biggest beef by far, but on what planet does it not appear to be a conflict of interest when an SEC crew is officiating a game in which the winner will play their conference champion? Why even invite that scrutiny? It's odd. Especially when you can easily avoid any appearance of conflict of interest by simply using an officiating crew that has zero skin in the game, like the Pac 12, which is what Ohio State was hoping for.

But secondarily, and this is where I think people are finally starting to connect the dots, why is the Network that owns the CFP, and has an exclusive Network partnership with the SEC and ACC, then using an SEC officiating crew? I know I'm hammering this point, but think about this:

ESPN purchased the College Football Playoff for 12 years (2014 through 2025) at a price tag of nearly $5.7B. And while purchasing the College Football Playoff rights does not mean ESPN gets to pick the (4) teams, to say $5.7B doesn't buy them influence, would be patently absurd.

On we continue though. In 2008, ESPN signed a 15 year deal with the SEC for $2.5B. That deal included the caveat that CBS would continue to get "The SEC Game of the Week". Well, that expires relatively soon, as ESPN just ponied up insane cash for that as well. Announced last week:

At a recent SEC spring meeting in Sandestin, Florida ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro addressed a room full of SEC presidents, athletic directors, and league executives and said ESPN had three main sports priorities: the NFL, the NBA, and the SEC.

Now Pitaro has put his money where his mouth is, inking a massive deal with the SEC.

Just in time for the end of the year, a major shift arrives in sports media: Disney/ABC/ESPN has stolen away the SEC game of the week from CBS. I’m told the rights fee will be north of $350 million per year and could approach $400 million per year, a huge increase from the $55 million a year the league receives now for this TV package.

Putting this into financial context, the SEC game of the week — and the title game — standing alone will bring each of the 14 SEC schools somewhere in the neighborhood of $25 million+ each, which is up from roughly $4 million each under the current deal.

ESPN went big to forestall bids from Fox Sports, who was scheduled to meet with the SEC at league offices in January to make their pitch, and CBS, which wanted to extend its existing relationship with the SEC.

While the deal hasn’t been announced yet, CBS walked away from the bidding table last Friday in a story broken by John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal. CBS’s offer topped out at over $300 million per year, but the company balked at increasing its payout for any of the four remaining years on the deal. (The CBS deal still runs for four more years, which is discussed below and if they were going to stay on CBS the SEC wanted the increased pay to begin immediately).
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https://www.outkickthecoverage.com/disney-abc-espn-steals-away-sec-game-of-the-week/

OK, OK, OK......so the ESPN and SEC are in bed for BILLIONS of dollars, but why would they influence a game between Clemson and Ohio State??

Well, let's look at the ACC deal with ESPN:

It was reported today that the Atlantic Coast Conference signed a long-term extension of its TV rights agreement with ESPN. The former 12-year, $1.86 billion deal ran through the 2022-23 season. The new contract extends ESPN's rights to ACC broadcasts through the 2026-27 season, and also gives the network a package of new perks:


ESPN will get new rights, including an additional 30 men's basketball games annually and 14 more conference-controlled football games. Also included, ESPN will be able to televise three Friday ACC football games each season with Boston College and Syracuse each hosting one of those. And, ESPN will also get an afternoon or evening game on Thanksgiving.

USA Today's report says that the rights fees are expected to pay $17 million to each of the 14 conference schools. That means the total deal is worth about $238 million per year, an annual increase of more than $80 million from the previous contract, and $3.6 billion over the contract's 15 year life. The new deal was expected, given the conference's recent expansion.
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/chriss...d-off-with-new-espn-tv-contract/#723252924139

But doesn't the Big 10 and Ohio State also have a deal in place with ESPN? Well yes, but it's for a "2nd tier" package that includes games after Fox has picked their "Game of the Week".

Big paydays are no rarity in the Big Ten, but the conference's latest reported media rights deals are giving new meaning to "perks of membership."

According to a Monday morning report from the Sports Business Journal's John Ourand, ESPN will shell out $1.14 billion over six years for the second half of the Big Ten's media rights package, meaning the conference's average media rights payout will almost triple.

In April, Fox was reported to have purchased the first half of the package, which begins after the upcoming college basketball season concludes, for an average of $240 million a year.

Additionally, CBS re-upped its basketball deal with the Big Ten, meaning another $10 million a year. All in all, between three deals with three networks for the media rights to football and men's basketball games, the conference will bring in $2.64 billion over the next six years.

And the length of those deals is significant, as well, as the conference will get to do this all over again just six years from now.

According to Ourand, the terms of the new deals with Fox and ESPN include roughly 25 football games and 50 basketball games for each network. Big Ten Network (of which Fox owns 51 percent) will still show its typical allotment of games, as well.

Fox will carry the Big Ten Championship Game every year for the next six years, and Fox will have "game selection advantages" over ESPN, meaning the biggest games will go to Fox (see: Michigan-Ohio State).
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https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/big-ten/report-rest-big-ten-media-rights-go-espn-114-billion


Not surprisingly, the massive sum Fox Sports paid for "First Tier" rights to the Big 10 has been a massive boon for them.

https://www.foxsports.com/presspass/latest-news/2019/12/01/fox-college-football-draws-top-rating



FOX College Football Draws Top Rating
BIG NOON KICKOFF Records Best-Ever Rating

FOX College Football’s coverage of top-ranked Ohio State’s win over Michigan checks in as the highest-rated event of the day, the network’s top-rated college football game this season and pulls in BIG NOON KICKOFF’s best rating ever.


FOX Sports PR

✔@FOXSportsPR

FOX College Football’s coverage of top-ranked Ohio State’s win over Michigan checks in as the highest-rated event of the day, the network’s top-rated college football game this season and pulls in BIG NOON KICKOFF’s best rating ever
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I don't think I'm spelling out anything most people don't really understand here. When you see Reece Davis, David Pollack, and Desmond Howard openly rooting for Clemson on the ESPN set during Half Time, and downright giddy after the game, you understand they're championing their employers cause, and certainly their paychecks. The ACC and SEC are now fully owned by ESPN. They're all a happy family. ESPN, SEC Network, ACC Network....all under 1 umbrella.

Meanwhile ESPN is fighting for "Second Tier" Big 10 rights, and executives from both companies are quoted as saying "they hope they can play nice in the sandbox". Well the sandbox has gotten a little messy. And it's culminated with Ryan Day saying "that was a strange game". Gene Smith is openly texting reporters his displeasure with the review booth (rumored to be Gerald Hodges of the SEC Conference) and telling reporters to quote him "he's pissed". That's not common from AD's as an FYI.

Again, and I don't know how to keep stating it.....but in what world does this appear appropriate?? The Big 10 Champion (with billions of dollars tied up with Fox Sports) is playing against the ACC Champion (who is 100% owned by ESPN), in a game that is being officiated by an SEC Crew and an SEC replay booth (and the SEC is now 100% owned by ESPN) in a game being televised by ESPN. Fox Sports is a direct competitor of ESPN. While the Fiesta Bowl featured Ohio State vs Clemson, it was quite literally, billions of dollars of investments for Fox vs. Billions of dollars in investments for ESPN. And the referee in the fight??? Oh, ESPN's 1st wife, the SEC. The ACC is more of their side-piece action.

I'd like someone to point me to another system in sports that is this ripe for corruption? Where (4) teams nationally get picked to play in a tournament owned by ESPN, who also owns the SEC and ACC, and paid the NCAA $5.7B to basically control it. It's unbelievable.

I'm going to stop now.....it appears I'm being buzzed by the SEC booth for a review.
 
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billmac91 said:
I'm going to stop now.....it appears I'm being buzzed for a review.
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Don't stop. You're posting great information. If you have more, please share it.

Honestly, I remember you making these points a few years ago and at the time I thought it was BS.

But as time has passed, its grown impossible to ignore. Anyone who flips on ESPN for 5 minutes can see their agenda.

I think the actions of Gene Smith the last couple years speaks volumes. For him to quit the CFP committee, for the reasons he did, that is a big deal. And now he's hitting up reporters after games? Yeah, this is definitely not normal.

Something is going on here.

I hope the midwest boycotts the NCG, but I fear people will watch simply because of Joe Burrow.
 
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I know Zach Smith is not real popular around here, and I have been critical in the past as well, but his podcast is pretty good. It at least gives you insight into what the OSU coaches feel about some stuff. He HATES ESPIN and has been talking about the Disney ESPN SEC bullshit all year long. That is how the OSU coaches have felt in the past.

One of my buddies, a huge UK fan and SEC fan boy today agreed that OSU got jobbed worse than any game he has ever seen in any sport according to him and he said if he were an OSU fan he would be livid.

I wish we would start scheduling on SEC team as one of OOC games each year and handing them their ass. Of course it will be hard to find one that will play us.
 
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BayBuck said:
They already hired Kevin Warren, and he fully takes over on Thursday, so we'll see.
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Yep, originally Delany was going to continue through June 2020, but when Warren was hired in June they changed it, since 6 months should be long enough to transition, and Delany just wants to see one more B1G-PAC 12 Rose Bowl and act like that's still special.

Gene needs to have a heart-to-heart with Warren ASAP in order to make sure he understands about the espn-SEC/ACC conflict of interest, and ensure that the next commissioner makes it a top priority to weaken the power that espn wields over college football, and tries to level the playing field for teams competing for Playoff spots and titles in the future. Even if that can't be done until after 2025.

And don't fall for the 8-team playoff scenario, espn will just try to get 5 SEC/ACC teams into those spots. Support a 6-team playoff with 1 spot for the non-power 5 and the other spots filled by all of the Power-5 CCG winners. Convince the PAC-12 and Big XII commissioners that they should also only support that type of playoff expansion.

NEW IDEA : For the 6-team playoff, give the first round byes (spots 1 and 2) to the teams that had the most impressive non-conference wins. That fixes the 8-vs-9 conference game conflict, and promotes meaningful non-conference games for everybody that won't knock you out if you lose, but reward you if you win them. That's a concept I can get behind.
 
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