Privatization of the FCS playoffs?

[THEsocalledfan]

Can't believe there is no thread. Let's get the discussion going:

https://herosports.com/fcs-playoffs-...ew-model-bzbz/

[TransAmBison]

Can't believe there is no thread. Let's get the discussion going:

https://herosports.com/fcs-playoffs-...ew-model-bzbz/

My gut tells me this isn't a good thing...if they are looking to make more money...where does that come from? The consumer. Somehow I see this costing more for fans. Championship tickets are already going for too much.

[Hammerhead]

Schools could already increase revenue by putting better teams on the field which should lead to higher ticket sales.

[THEsocalledfan]

My gut tells me this isn't a good thing...if they are looking to make more money...where does that come from? The consumer. Somehow I see this costing more for fans. Championship tickets are already going for too much.

Sam Herder does have an extended conversation about the plusses and minuses in his podcast this week. Couple things that struck me were pointing out recent premuim matchup playoff ratings have been higher than low tier bowl games. Also, the addition of the Ivy League, love them or hate them, adds real brand names to the mix. Also interesting discussion of what happens when their alumni see how far behind they are...... So, if you have a real cash infusion, what does that do? Does it make teams invest more? Some of that seemed pie in the sky, but enjoyed the discussion.

Funniest negative they discussed was if Florsports wanted to buy all the TV rights......I doubt they'd have the money needed, but made me laugh. But, why can't a semi-final game carry some branding like "The FCS semi-final game brought to you by Sprite." If the ratings are good, isn't that a better investment than garbage bowls? Very good discussion. I'm not sure what to think, other than they should hear out the proposal, then do due diligence and saying no is okay.

[Professor Chaos]

My gut tells me this isn't a good thing...if they are looking to make more money...where does that come from? The consumer. Somehow I see this costing more for fans. Championship tickets are already going for too much.

Media deals. Right now the FCS playoffs is part of a package of 20-something NCAA Championships for which ESPN is paying over $100M a year for. The NCAA makes hosts schools pay to host FCS playoff games (even if you're the higher seed you're required to submit a minimum bid to host) under the premise that the FCS playoffs lose money because they do if you don't include the money from the media deal.

What would that FCS playoffs media deal be worth? I don't know but I suspect it would allow for the minimum bid stuff to go away and perhaps even allow you to seed the entire field. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing but I could see it being advantageous to the subdivision under certain circumstances.

[TransAmBison]

Sam Herder does have an extended conversation about the plusses and minuses in his podcast this week. Couple things that struck me were pointing out recent premuim matchup playoff ratings have been higher than low tier bowl games. Also, the addition of the Ivy League, love them or hate them, adds real brand names to the mix. Also interesting discussion of what happens when their alumni see how far behind they are...... So, if you have a real cash infusion, what does that do? Does it make teams invest more? Some of that seemed pie in the sky, but enjoyed the discussion.

Funniest negative they discussed was if Florsports wanted to buy all the TV rights......I doubt they'd have the money needed, but made me laugh. But, why can't a semi-final game carry some branding like "The FCS semi-final game brought to you by Sprite." If the ratings are good, isn't that a better investment than garbage bowls? Very good discussion. I'm not sure what to think, other than they should hear out the proposal, then do due diligence and saying no is okay.

If Sprite buys it I'm out.

Flosports is awful...I agree that is a negative. Interesting idea on the branding...that may be something.

[ndsubison1]

People get upset about seeding/who gets in now, wait til they see it with a new entity.

[TAILG8R]

People get upset about seeding/who gets in now, wait til they see it with a new entity.

Privatization could easily mean whoever controls it gets to decide who plays who and where ...

[THEsocalledfan]

People get upset about seeding/who gets in now, wait til they see it with a new entity.

Agreed. 2 things hit my brain listening to it thinking if I'm the private entity:

1. I would want a smaller field; that unecessarily increases expenses. I think you'd have to take away some auto-bids and imagine the howling over that.
2. You'd want your games at revenue generating sites. Thus, how would that affect seeding/locations for games?

Just interesting thoughts.

[56BISON73]

No different than what the FBS is doing right now.