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Sound Off: How Big is the New SEC/Big XII Bowl Game?

12:50 PM - May 18, 2012 by RaychelSnr

The SEC and Big 12 announced that their conference champions would be tied together in a bowl game if both conferences champions didn't make the National Semifinals starting in 2014 -- a similar agreement to what the Pac 12 and Big Ten have in place for the Rose Bowl.

Interim Big XII Commisioner Chuck Neinas just announced that if the champ(s) are unavailable the next best teams would play in the Bowl.

So now it's your turn: just how big of a deal is this agreement especially with the rumored realignment of ACC football powers jumping to the Big XII hanging over this offseason summer?

Member Comments

# 21 Chrisksaint @ 05/20/12 12:43 PM

Just curious what this means for the current bowls, is this going to be a new BCS bowl with a new site. Is it going to take the place of Fiesta or Sugar Bowl or what.

# 22 CM Hooe @ 05/20/12 12:58 PM

Talked with my brother about this last night, specifically with regard to the ACC. It's his opinion that the ACC won't go anywhere / be locked out of access to a college football playoff for a few reasons:

ESPN is widely believed to be pulling all the strings for conference expansion; who is everyone signing television deals with? Assuming they are, why would they want to immediately devalue an entity they just signed a $17M-per-team-per-year contract with?
Per Nielson, in the 2011-12 season, the ACC had the third-highest average viewership of football television programming, higher than both the Big XII and Pac12, and second-highest basketball viewership, behind only the Big Ten.
If the SEC, Big Ten, Big XII, and Pac12 actually wanted to freeze out the ACC, Big East, and Notre Dame, they'd likely have to break away from the NCAA to do so.

Basically, the ACC isn't going anywhere unless there's a major landscape change. That's not to say a landscape-changing event isn't out of the question, however.

# 23 lonewolf371 @ 05/20/12 01:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CHooe


	Talked with my brother about this last night, specifically with regard to the ACC. It's his opinion that the ACC won't go anywhere / be locked out of access to a college football playoff for a few reasons: ESPN is widely believed to be pulling all the strings for conference expansion; who is everyone signing television deals with? Assuming they are, why would they want to immediately devalue an entity they just signed a $17M-per-team-per-year contract with? Per Nielson, in the 2011-12 season, the ACC had the third-highest average viewership of football television programming, higher than both the Big XII and Pac12, and second-highest basketball viewership, behind only the Big Ten. If the SEC, Big Ten, Big XII, and Pac12 actually wanted to freeze out the ACC, Big East, and Notre Dame, they'd likely have to break away from the NCAA to do so. Basically, the ACC isn't going anywhere unless there's a major landscape change. That's not to say a landscape-changing event isn't out of the question, however.

Why couldn't they be frozen out? BCS conferences have been freezing out non-BCS conferences for years. All that has to happen is to create enough revenue disparity for the football schools to jump. Then everything else will fall in place.

# 24 CM Hooe @ 05/20/12 01:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lonewolf371


	Why couldn't they be frozen out? BCS conferences have been freezing out non-BCS conferences for years. All that has to happen is to create enough revenue disparity for the football schools to jump. Then everything else will fall in place.

Yes, they could be frozen out. The point being that the ACC makes too much money as-is, and I doubt that money can be easily made up, so it's not worth it to freeze them out. You'd also alienate a ton of college football fans if one day the four other conferences decided "oh, your favorite team isn't eligible to play for the national championship anymore". Why in the world would they do something so damaging to the product? The BCS is already in enough hot water as it is.

I also think that you'd likely see all sorts of lawsuits fly as soon as any move was made towards making the process of determining a football champion even more exclusive than it already is. Whether they'd have merit, I don't know, but I'm sure there'd be a day in court over it.

# 25 lonewolf371 @ 05/20/12 01:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CHooe


	Yes, they could be frozen out. The point being that the ACC makes too much money as-is, and I doubt that money can be easily made up, so it's not worth it to freeze them out. You'd also alienate a ton of college football fans if one day the four other conferences decided "oh, your favorite team isn't eligible to play for the national championship anymore". Why in the world would they do something so damaging to the product? The BCS is already in enough hot water as it is. I also think that you'd likely see all sorts of lawsuits fly as soon as any move was made towards making the process of determining a football champion even more exclusive than it already is. Whether they'd have merit, I don't know, but I'm sure there'd be a day in court over it.

I agree with the lawsuits point. I wouldn't be surprised if the government ends up telling us what kind of playoff is fair once a bunch of schools start gettiing left out.

As for money, I'm not sure if money would be lost by keeping football more exclusive among the other four conferences. By making things more exclusive, you're virtually guaranteeing big ticket matchups in the title game. The ACC doesn't really have any big ticket teams.

# 26 Perfect Zero @ 05/20/12 03:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SafetyGreen


	I think this game stays in New Orleans and becomes the Sugar Bowl. I don't see the SEC letting it's biggest non-National Title bowl leaving SEC country.

They might feel this way, but the big thing about Arlington is that Jerry Jones is upset about not having a big name college game at the end of the year. Yeah, they have the Cowboys Classic and the Arkansas/Texas A&M game (for a while, I think they are moving it back to a home and home in the near future), but the last thing he wanted was to lose the Big XII Championship game.

The news not to long ago that Texas and Oklahoma were going to play another decade in Dallas was a shocker to me. The Cotton Bowl is historic but it doesn't have the same modern seating and amenities as Cowboys Stadium does. Even with that, I had heard that the consideration was made to move the game to Houston for a while, or to make it home and home. I'm sure Jerry wanted that game in Arlington for that weekend.

But this is a long way of saying that Jones wants another big event in the stadium that we built, and with his connections in Arkansas and with the Big XII, I wouldn't doubt that this game would be played in Arlington.

# 27 Perfect Zero @ 05/20/12 04:19 PM

I meant to make this part of my last post...

Quote:

Originally Posted by lonewolf371


	I agree with the lawsuits point. I wouldn't be surprised if the government ends up telling us what kind of playoff is fair once a bunch of schools start gettiing left out.

It will never happen. I've seen blowhards like Senator Orrin Hatch and Representative Joe Barton take up docket space and morning business on the issue, and nobody cares enough to bring it before committee. Congress critters care about sports when it comes to safety or recognizing a championship team; not when it comes about the actual championship.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lonewolf371


	As for money, I'm not sure if money would be lost by keeping football more exclusive among the other four conferences. By making things more exclusive, you're virtually guaranteeing big ticket matchups in the title game. The ACC doesn't really have any big ticket teams.

I really foresee the coming of a split in college athletics due to football monies. The talk of super-conferences was a prelude to the actual exclusivity of top flight football. The Big Ten vs. PAC-12 and Big XII vs. SEC championships along with the four team playoff are going to spell the end of any chance a mid-major had at the big game.

# 28 AUChase @ 05/20/12 06:56 PM

Honestly, I hate watching college games in "Jerry World"... just doesn't feel like I'm watching college football.

# 29 Chrisksaint @ 05/20/12 07:07 PM

Rather it still be in NO, good place for big game atmosphere and has the history.

# 30 Perfect Zero @ 05/20/12 07:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AUChase89


	Honestly, I hate watching college games in "Jerry World"... just doesn't feel like I'm watching college football.

Besides the fans, the bands, the teams, the players? Yeah, doesn't feel like it at all.

I'll tell you what; go to the stadium when the High Schools are playing. I've been, and it feels like a High School game to me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chrisksaint


	Rather it still be in NO, good place for big game atmosphere and has the history.

I don't doubt that New Orleans has atmosphere, but for a game that is brand new, history isn't a good argument.

# 31 lonewolf371 @ 05/21/12 12:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Perfect Zero


	It will never happen. I've seen blowhards like Senator Orrin Hatch and Representative Joe Barton take up docket space and morning business on the issue, and nobody cares enough to bring it before committee. Congress critters care about sports when it comes to safety or recognizing a championship team; not when it comes about the actual championship.

I am a complete skeptic of this opinion. As soon as you start locking out teams, senators from those states will get involved. I'm quite certain it will happen. The BCS wasn't half as exclusive as a hard 64-team championship would be.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Perfect Zero


	Besides the fans, the bands, the teams, the players? Yeah, doesn't feel like it at all. I'll tell you what; go to the stadium when the High Schools are playing. I've been, and it feels like a High School game to me. I don't doubt that New Orleans has atmosphere, but for a game that is brand new, history isn't a good argument.

Really? Part of the atmosphere is just the stadium that the game is being played in. There are numerous people that contend that the new Cowboys' stadium doesn't even feel like a place where football should be played, let alone college football. I wouldn't be so dismissive. Big TVs aren't the pinnacle of stadium design.

# 32 Perfect Zero @ 05/21/12 11:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lonewolf371


	I am a complete skeptic of this opinion. As soon as you start locking out teams, senators from those states will get involved. I'm quite certain it will happen. The BCS wasn't half as exclusive as a hard 64-team championship would be.

Well let's take the two people I mentioned. Representative Barton was squelched when Texas Christian was able to beat Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl, and Senator Hatch now has the Utes in the PAC-12. It seems that these teams find a way to make it with the big boys when push comes to shove.

It's not like the other conferences would be locked out either, because a sub-division FBS division could start its own playoff too. You can't complain about not playing with the big teams if you have your own tournament to declare a champion. The problem now is that you have 120+ schools in the FBS; you can't make a fair post-season system if you have that many teams, and there are still more making the jump. There has to be some sort of exclusive door if you want some sort of fairness.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lonewolf371


	Really? Part of the atmosphere is just the stadium that the game is being played in. There are numerous people that contend that the new Cowboys' stadium doesn't even feel like a place where football should be played, let alone college football. I wouldn't be so dismissive. Big TVs aren't the pinnacle of stadium design.

I'll be the first to admit that the design of Cowboys Stadium was lacking in the aesthetics department. However, the game itself is the center of attention. When my semi-hometown Cisco Loboes took on Refugio in the 2A State Championship, it was as loud and exciting game as it was at any of the other neutral sites or at Chesley Field. The dome, the upper deck, the plain blue and silver, none of that took away from the excitement of the State Championship, and it was miles better than Waco ISD Stadium or the Alamodome with its modern amenities. And when you take away the scoreboards (or "Big TVs" as you put them), and the dome, and the other things that make the stadium, you have the two teams, the two bands, and the two cities staring each other down. I'm sure that if the two champions of the respective college conferences play each other, it will still have the same passion and pride as the high school teams.

# 33 Maxattax3 @ 05/21/12 02:41 PM

The most important thing about this is that the conferences will own this bowl. This changes everything.

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Sound Off: How Big is the New SEC/Big XII Bowl Game?