The SEC Conference ponders a Division IV.

[lwjr]

You knew this was coming,


SEC Seeking Autonomy Considers 'Division IV'

Edward Aschoff discusses what SEC commissioner Mike Slive means when he says the conference is seeking more autonomy.
SEC Schools Each Get $20.9M From League
DESTIN, Fla. -- The Southeastern Conference sent a strong message to the NCAA on Friday: provide the Power Five some autonomy or they'll form their own division.

SEC Commissioner Mike Slive said if the Power Five conferences -- which also include the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Big 12, the Big Ten and the Pac-12 -- don't get the flexibility needed to create their own bylaws, the next step would be to move to "Division IV."

"It's not something we want to do," Slive said on the final day of the SEC meetings. "We want the ability to have autonomy in areas that has a nexus to the well-being of student athletes. I am somewhat optimistic it will pass, but if it doesn't, our league would certainly want to move to a Division IV. My colleagues, I can't speak for anybody else, but I'd be surprised if they didn't feel the same way."

“
We hope everyone realizes we are moving into a new era and (Division IV) is the way to retain your collegiate model. It would be a disappointment and in my view a mistake not to adapt the model. This is a historic moment. If we don't seize the moment, we'll make a mistake.
”
-- SEC commissioner Mike Slive
Moving to Division IV would keep the Power Five under the NCAA umbrella while granting college football's biggest money makers the kind of power to better take care of student-athletes. The SEC, for example, would like to pay full cost of college attendance, provide long-term medical coverage and offer incentives to kids who return to school and complete degrees.

Smaller Division I schools likely can't afford the changes the major conferences are seeking. And while Division II and Division III have their own rules, forming a Division IV would seemingly create a wider divide between the Power Five and other smaller schools.

Slive, however, said a potential move wouldn't disrupt championship formats, including the NCAA men's basketball tournament.

"I've been so optimistic that we're going to stay in Division I that we haven't sat down and tried to map it out," Slive said. "But we know that failure to create what we're trying to create would result in doing something different. How we would construct a Division IV? We haven't looked in that.

"We hope everyone realizes we are moving into a new era and this is the way to retain your collegiate model. It would be a disappointment, and in my view a mistake, not to adapt the model. This is a historic moment. If we don't seize the moment, we'll make a mistake."

University of Florida President Bernie Machen wasn't nearly as confident about staying in Division I.

"We're in a squeeze here," Machen said. "There are now six lawsuits that name our conference in them that specifically have to do with the whole cost of attendance and stuff like that. We would like to make changes, but we can't because the NCAA doesn't allow us to. We're really caught between a rock and a hard play. We desperately would like some flexibility."

Southern Mississippi athletic director Bill McGillis believes the major conferences will get that flexibility and that a Division IV won't be needed.

He said more autonomy for the high-resource leagues is just "the reality of the situation" and that schools like Southern Miss in Conference USA agree with many of the proposed changes. McGillis expects schools from all Division I conferences will have a say in the process and will adjust to whatever is decided.

"I think the system will work and that the schools outside the high-resource five conferences that are committed to competing at a high level will still be able to do that," McGillis said.

The SEC wants the NCAA steering committee to adopt its proposal for the voting threshold, which would allow the Big Five to pass legislation with more ease. The NCAA board of directors will vote on the steering committee's proposal in August.

Currently, the NCAA requires a two-thirds vote of the 65 schools and 15 student representatives as well as four out of five conferences.

"What we fear is that nothing will change because the threshold is so high," Machen said. "We're asking them to lower the threshold, which we propose is 60 percent and three conferences. With three conferences out of five and 60 percent of the 65 and 15, you can make those kinds of changes."

Still, Machen has his doubt it will pass.

"This is the NCAA we're dealing with," he said.

And Machen envisions rough waters ahead if things don't change.

"The whole thing could go up in smoke if the lawsuits come down or with the unionization rule," he said. "So the whole intercollegiate model is at risk if we don't do something. If they don't want to do this, it seems to me it's incumbent upon them to come up with something else that will help us get out us this box

[redpony]

It's beginning to look like the train has left the station and we are still wondering which car we should get on.

[couch 'em]

Which is what many of us have been saying for years while ponyboy and SMU clown around with years of lame duck Tikihead

[couch 'em]

Aloha brah Eo Na Toa

[East Coast Mustang]

Don't blame June Jones- blame the SMU administration which waited 20+ years after the Death Penalty to get serious about fielding a competitive football team again. If not for June getting us at least a blip on the national radar, it's likely we'd still be wallowing in C-USA with the likes of Middle Tennessee State and UTSA. I wonder if Larry Brown would have been as interested in SMU basketball if we were still in that conference with no exit strategy in sight?

You've got to walk before you can run- remember TCU went from the WAC to C-USA to the MWC to the Big East (never actually became a member, but accepted invite) and finally to the Big 12. June got here in 2008 and in the 2011 we accepted the Big East bid- yes, it's now basically C-USA 2.0, but it's a lot better than where we could be right now.

We have not seen the last cycle of conference realignment, I don't think. The Big Ten will not stay at 14, and the SEC likely won't either. We still have time to position ourselves well for the future. A new IPF on the horizon signals to me that SMU isn't about to wave the white flag

[LHS81]

Doesn't matter to me. Don't watch SEC football. . . And with the separation from "P5" to "G5," neither will SEC fans. Unless, they plan on paying $$$$ for the SEC, Pac-12, Big 10, Big 12 premium channels. Cause these teams won't be seen on ABC, ESPN, NBC, Fox or any other free sports channel.

[mrydel]

You are probably looking at $7.00 a month max for the SEC network although Dish is offering it for free right now as long as you have the ESPN package.

[sbsmith]

Don't blame June Jones- blame the SMU administration which waited 20+ years after the Death Penalty to get serious about fielding a competitive football team again. If not for June getting us at least a blip on the national radar, it's likely we'd still be wallowing in C-USA with the likes of Middle Tennessee State and UTSA. I wonder if Larry Brown would have been as interested in SMU basketball if we were still in that conference with no exit strategy in sight?

June didn't get us into the Big East, the Dallas TV market did. We would have gotten in even if the program hadn't been turned around (see Tulane).

[malonish]

SEC Conference

South Eastern Conference Conference.

ATM Machine

Automatic Teller Machine Machine

[Mexmustang]

There are plenty of people both inside and outside SMU, including Steve Orsini and President Turner that do credit June with getting us into the Big East, your problems with June doesn't make it untrue. Politics is "people" business not geographic . In athletic circles SMU is poorly regarded despite our overblown opinions of ourselves

[Paladin]

Adding further insult:

Posted on Fri, May. 30, 2014

Big money headed to Big 12, SEC schools thanks to giant revenue distribution

By BLAIR KERKHOFF
The Kansas City Star

The Big 12 and Southeastern Conference announced revenue distribution figures Friday that will top $20 million at most schools for 2013-14.

And more is on the way in both leagues.

Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby said he expects each of his 10 members to receive $3 million more next year mainly because of the College Football Playoff, and by the time current TV deals with Fox and ESPN run their course in 2025, the per-school distribution will double.

“Our distribution revenue in the coming years will climb to $40 million per school,” Bowlsby said at the conclusion of Big 12 meetings Friday in Irving, Texas.

The Big 12 will distribute about $213 million to its 10 schools. Eight will receive $23 million each. West Virginia and TCU, which just completed their second year in the league, will get about $14 million as part of a phase-in plan.

The SEC will distribute a record $309.6 million in revenue to its 14 member institutions.

The average amount received by each school, excluding $16.8 million of bowl revenue, was $20.9 million.

Missouri received its largest Big 12 payout in 2011, when it earned $12.8 million. In 2009, Kansas topped the Big 12 in conference-generated revenue at $12.1 million.

The realignment era of college sports, which started in 2010 and has concluded — at least at the highest level for the moment — produced whopping media deals that financially separated the Big 12, SEC, Pac-12, Big Ten and ACC from others in college sports.

Among the reasons those power five conferences are seeking autonomy in governance is more freedom in spending the income that has grown so quickly in a few years.

The revenue is generated largely by television contracts, bowl games and NCAA Tournament income, and the total amount in each conference is setting records.

The SEC’s revenue figures to grow at a rapid rate. The SEC Network launches in August and, according to Sports Business Journal, carriers in the conference’s 11-state footprint will be expected to pay $1.30 per month per subscription.

If that happens, with some 30 million subscribers in the footprint, the network could generate about $450 million with much of that returned to the schools.

But the SEC isn’t there yet. The network, run by ESPN, has reached deals with satellite TV company Dish Network along with cable providers AT&T U-verse, Google Fiber and NRTC, but Time Warner Cable, Comcast, Cox Cable, DirectTV and others haven’t signed on.

“We remain optimistic that, at some point in time, we’ll have full distribution,” SEC commissioner Mike Slive said at the league meetings this week in Destin, Fla. “It’s my hope that the programming will be so significant that everybody will want to carry it.”

Comparable programming — a football game, some basketball games and plenty of nonrevenue sports — is offered in the Big 12 through the schools’ third-tier networks.

At Kansas, it’s the Jayhawk Network and it’s worth about $6 million annually to KU. At Kansas State, it’s KStateHD.TV and brings the Wildcats about $3 million. The Longhorn Network at Texas is worth about $15 million annually.

[sbsmith]

There are plenty of people both inside and outside SMU, including Steve Orsini and President Turner that do credit June with getting us into the Big East, your problems with June doesn't make it untrue. Politics is "people" business not geographic . In athletic circles SMU is poorly regarded despite our overblown opinions of ourselves

Meh, people can give him as much credit as they want. Doesn't change the fact that we wouldn't have gotten an invite without the Dallas market.

[East Coast Mustang]

There are plenty of people both inside and outside SMU, including Steve Orsini and President Turner that do credit June with getting us into the Big East, your problems with June doesn't make it untrue. Politics is "people" business not geographic . In athletic circles SMU is poorly regarded despite our overblown opinions of ourselves

Meh, people can give him as much credit as they want. Doesn't change the fact that we wouldn't have gotten an invite without the Dallas market.

We had one of the worst 1-A athletic programs in the nation before June got here. Our football team hadn't been to a bowl since the mid-80s and our basketball program had been irrelevant for almost nearly as long.

You can sing all the praises you want about the Dallas TV market, but we were a completely abysmal athletic program. To assume we would've gotten into the AAC along with Tulane without our run of relative football success from 2009-2011 may or may not be accurate. AAC might have just chosen to not take either school instead of adding two duds.

I think it's time for June to go unless we win 7+ games this season, but let's not forget where we were in 2007. It wasn't pretty.

[sbsmith]

We had one of the worst 1-A athletic programs in the nation before June got here. Our football team hadn't been to a bowl since the mid-80s and our basketball program had been irrelevant for almost nearly as long.

You can sing all the praises you want about the Dallas TV market, but we were a completely abysmal athletic program. To assume we would've gotten into the AAC along with Tulane without our run of relative football success from 2009-2011 may or may not be accurate. AAC might have just chosen to not take either school instead of adding two duds.

I think it's time for June to go unless we win 7+ games this season, but let's not forget where we were in 2007. It wasn't pretty.

The Big East/AAC wanted to get to at least 12 to hold a title game so we were both getting invites for no other reason than our TV markets. Again you can give June all the credit you want but the Dallas TV market got us the invite not him. Ask Southern Miss how much football success means (and they had a lot more of it than us) with no TV market. I haven't forgotten where we were in 2007 but I'm a lot more focused on the future these days. That future is going to be pretty damn bleak as long as June is here.

[Big12Mustang]

Adding further insult:

Posted on Fri, May. 30, 2014

Big money headed to Big 12, SEC schools thanks to giant revenue distribution

By BLAIR KERKHOFF
The Kansas City Star

The Big 12 and Southeastern Conference announced revenue distribution figures Friday that will top $20 million at most schools for 2013-14.

And more is on the way in both leagues.

Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby said he expects each of his 10 members to receive $3 million more next year mainly because of the College Football Playoff, and by the time current TV deals with Fox and ESPN run their course in 2025, the per-school distribution will double.

“Our distribution revenue in the coming years will climb to $40 million per school,” Bowlsby said at the conclusion of Big 12 meetings Friday in Irving, Texas.

The Big 12 will distribute about $213 million to its 10 schools. Eight will receive $23 million each. West Virginia and TCU, which just completed their second year in the league, will get about $14 million as part of a phase-in plan.

The SEC will distribute a record $309.6 million in revenue to its 14 member institutions.

The average amount received by each school, excluding $16.8 million of bowl revenue, was $20.9 million.

Missouri received its largest Big 12 payout in 2011, when it earned $12.8 million. In 2009, Kansas topped the Big 12 in conference-generated revenue at $12.1 million.

The realignment era of college sports, which started in 2010 and has concluded — at least at the highest level for the moment — produced whopping media deals that financially separated the Big 12, SEC, Pac-12, Big Ten and ACC from others in college sports.

Among the reasons those power five conferences are seeking autonomy in governance is more freedom in spending the income that has grown so quickly in a few years.

The revenue is generated largely by television contracts, bowl games and NCAA Tournament income, and the total amount in each conference is setting records.

The SEC’s revenue figures to grow at a rapid rate. The SEC Network launches in August and, according to Sports Business Journal, carriers in the conference’s 11-state footprint will be expected to pay $1.30 per month per subscription.

If that happens, with some 30 million subscribers in the footprint, the network could generate about $450 million with much of that returned to the schools.

But the SEC isn’t there yet. The network, run by ESPN, has reached deals with satellite TV company Dish Network along with cable providers AT&T U-verse, Google Fiber and NRTC, but Time Warner Cable, Comcast, Cox Cable, DirectTV and others haven’t signed on.

“We remain optimistic that, at some point in time, we’ll have full distribution,” SEC commissioner Mike Slive said at the league meetings this week in Destin, Fla. “It’s my hope that the programming will be so significant that everybody will want to carry it.”

Comparable programming — a football game, some basketball games and plenty of nonrevenue sports — is offered in the Big 12 through the schools’ third-tier networks.

At Kansas, it’s the Jayhawk Network and it’s worth about $6 million annually to KU. At Kansas State, it’s KStateHD.TV and brings the Wildcats about $3 million. The Longhorn Network at Texas is worth about $15 million annually.

It's already hard to compete...if this is true it will be impossible. No way we can generate that kind of revenue...not even with more revenue from our ticket sales, donations, naming rights are sold, beer, and other sources of income pitch in...$40M will make us and every G5 non competitive. These are obscene amounts of money.