Texas A&M also experienced a huge upgrade to their facilities around the same time which could account for the improved recruiting as well.
They raised a ton of money for the football program, that could be tied to the move to the SEC but I think there were other factors at play, like the money made in the oil and energy markets at the same time.
https://www.businessinsider.com/new-...-photos-2014-8
You're missing my point. If the football schools secede from the NCAA and form their own association, they will likely take all their sports to the new association (as opposed to just football and letting the spurned NCAA oversee their other sports). If that happens, then they'll need enough schools to support an association in all sports, the difference between having 32 schools for football only and 48-to-64 schools to be viable in all sports. At that point, the 33rd through 48th/64th schools, in terms of moneymaking for the association, become desirable.
All that said, I don't expect Duke to be among the 33rd to 48th/64th most-desirable for this purpose, and thus we will probably be left out in the cold.
Given the Major Brand Football = $$ driver, I see the conferences, or some other named association of schools, continuing to coalesce around football, while other sports may or may not play in the same association. I think that we are going to see a smorgasbord of sports-specific associations.
And the NCAA will become even more of a relic than it is now.
“I love it. Coach, when we came here, we had a three-hour meeting about the core values. If you really represent the core values, it means diving on the floor, sacrificing your body for your teammates, no matter how much you’re up by or how much you’re down by, always playing hard.” -- Zion
I agree that if the football schools secede, it will be the end of the NCAA. But a bunch of unrelated sports-specific associations doesn't make that much sense to me from a financial standpoint. Without football, I'm not sure the remaining sports make enough money to support the bureaucracy of one association, much less several. Since "football" is not really separate from the institutions, it would seem to make more sense to pull all the sports into the new association, along with football, so there's enough money to support the intercollegiate association. The difference would be that the big, moneymaking schools would be running the show (for all sports) and wouldn't have to be beholden to the hundreds of non-moneymaking schools, like they are in the NCAA.
If the big schools just walk away from the NCAA, how do things play out for the NCAA basketball tournament? I just checked and CBS' contract for $770 million a year with the NCAA goes through 2032.
As a Duke fan/alum I am obviously biased here, but it is really sad that football is completely driving the bus on this and I don't think anyone cares at all about any other sports, whether it is basketball, baseball, tennis, or anything else. I understand that money talks but this is just unfortunate.
If there is no NCAA, the TV contract would presumably be voided. I expect the new super-association would attempt to put on a postseason basketball tournament with some subset of its 48 to 64 teams (maybe a 32 team tournament), but i wouldn't expect them to invite teams from schools that are not part of their association. Whether and how much CBS would be willing to pony up for the new tournament is unclear at this time. The remaining schools would probably try to put on a tournament as well, but without the big schools (and without legitimate ability to declare a "national champion") it would probably end up like a bigger NIT or, eventually, the Division II or Division III championships.
Obviously all of the above is conjecture on my part, but to me it seems the logical conclusion.
Money rules all...
I would not be at all surprised to see these big football schools pull away to form a NFL minor league and yet still try to remain part of the NCAA in all other sports so they could preserve the golden goose that is the NCAA basketball tournament. I don't see why they would want to do away with a $770 mil per year contract and I don't think they could get CBS or anyone else to pay anything close to that for an unproven rival basketball tournament that did not include traditional basketball powers like Gonzaga, all the Big East schools, and many others (perhaps including Duke and Kansas) who would not be a part of a football super league.
Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?
We're all kinda just spitballing on this right now, but if you're correct and that's the way it plays out, I wonder how legitimate the basketball champion of the super-association would be viewed by the public if the tournament did not include non-football powers such as Duke, Kansas, Gonzaga, Villanova, and others similar to that group.
You may be right, Kedsy. My view is conjecture, no question. You make two important points: [1] the various "lesser" sports not being able to support their own respective bureaucracies; and [2] the big, moneymaking schools would be running the show for all sports. Taking those two points as true, do you see the major schools caring enough about the non-money making sports to support them? And what do you see happening to the schools without money-making football programs?
“I love it. Coach, when we came here, we had a three-hour meeting about the core values. If you really represent the core values, it means diving on the floor, sacrificing your body for your teammates, no matter how much you’re up by or how much you’re down by, always playing hard.” -- Zion
I'm not sure a lot of people "see" them now. I imagine live attendance at these competitions to be measured in the 100s, maybe often in the dozens.
I've come to believe collegiate sports don't serve a purpose anymore, other than for big donors (I guess) and a very small number of athletes (in comparison to the student population). In fact, they've become antithetical to the university mission. Sending the Miami tennis team to Syracuse for a conference matchup certainly doesn't serve an academic purpose, or financial one.
It's a money pit for many institutions, though the relationship between sports and donations is cloudy. The scholarship money could be better used elsewhere.
I suspect that an NCAA tournament without any real Cinderella's would end up with a smaller media contract than the alternative. I suspect more interest in generated watching to see if Ohio State and Florida get upset by Oral Roberts than seeing if they may be upset by Nebraska.
That being said, dividing a smaller pie among 4 conferences may be a better financial deal for these conferences than dividing a larger pie among 32 conferences.
Another important thing to keep in mind is that the NCAA currently keeps 40% of the basketball tourney revenue for themselves. I suspect that the power conferences would be OK with seeing this change.
Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?