Saturday marks arguably the biggest game of the year in the Big Ten when No. 2 Ohio State takes on No. 5 Indiana in Columbus -- and if you were predicting this back in August, please go get me some lottery tickets.
Plenty of vitriol has centered on my Hoosiers and their thin resume. That’s certainly a fair critique, though we’ll learn more this weekend. That said, this discussion and the weekly re-ranking of teams is a bigger issue: these efforts needlessly undermine the credibility of the CFP selection committee.
I get it. The weekly rankings show draws viewers, ESPN gains visibility, etc. Still, by rejiggering the polls every week, forcing the chair of the selection committee to answer questions about seed lines that won’t matter in seven days and comparing resumes that will sort themselves out over the course of the coming weeks, we’ve unfairly cast doubt on the selection committee’s capability to vet teams.
Then again, college football is chaotic by nature. This is all really just par for the course.
Seton Hall inks extension with Learfield through 2036
Seton Hall and Learfield have agreed to a 10-year extension, sources told SBJ. The original contract was slated to expire in 2026 and will now run through 2036. An official announcement is expected on Wednesday morning. Financial details were not immediately available.
As part of the extension, Learfield will continue as the school's multimedia rights holder through Seton Hall Sports Properties, along with supporting the school with its licensed merchandise agency CLC, digital sports solutions provider Sidearm Sports and Learfield Amplify
Seton Hall has seen a nearly 50% increase in incremental revenue and 119% growth in average deal size in recent years, per Learfield, including a 10-year agreement with RWJ Barnabas Health, the school's most significant partner.
Pac-12 commish reiterates patience on school adds as Octagon comes in to help media deal
The Pac-12's move to formally bring aboard Octagon to advise on its next media rights deal -- reported earlier today by my colleague Mollie Cahillane -- is the latest step in the conference's continued rebuild, which still necessitates one more football member.
But as Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould reiterated to SBJ, the league will be patient in adding any more schools.
“I consistently share with people that this new Pac-12 is not the old Pac-12, and it's not the Mountain West,” Gould said. “It's going to be a completely new conference with different DNA and a bright, new vision. However, I would say this group of leaders are fully committed to continuing to support and provide highly competitive opportunities for elite level athletics across all sports.”
The Pac-12 looks like the old Conference of Champions in logo only, so what it actually commands on the media rights market is up for debate.
The AAC has the most lucrative Group of Five deal right now at around $10 million annually per school. That said, the AAC netted that deal with a vastly different membership, which included Big 12 departees Houston, Cincinnati and UCF, as well as recent ACC pickup SMU. UConn, too, was part of the conference at that time, though its real value came in men’s basketball.
The Mountain West, for its efforts, has a deal with CBS and Fox that runs through 2026. Multiple sources have told SBJ the MWC was hoping to see a jump from around $5 million per school annually to roughly $7.5 million, but that was before the bigger brands in the MWC left for the Pac-12.
If the Pac-12 nets a deal that pays its schools an average annual distribution somewhere between the MWC and AAC, it's likely a win given the league’s current construct is functionally the best of the MWC plus Gonzaga.
“The pitch is that you've got some of the best football and basketball brands in the country coming together and playing together under one roof,” said Dan Cohen, EVP/global media rights consulting at Octagon. “But beyond that, we are open to all ideas.”
Speed reads
- The 2pm ET edition of "SportsCenter" with Matt Barrie and Dan Mullen has been going on the road for the past six weeks, and it has become something of a minor boon for ESPN as it continues to further invest in college football coverage, while highlighting programs that coincide with Barrie’s weekly play-by-play schedule.
- SBJ in this week's magazine unveiled its Best Places to Work for 2024, and one of the honorees is Learfield, which received high marks for clear roles, support from leadership and a culture of work/life balance.
- The Maui Invitational is celebrating its 40th anniversary, building on the must-see moments it’s provided in the early stages of the college basketball season, notes SBJ's Jesse Gordon.
- With the New Ryan Field construction project underway, the Ryan Family and the university are sharing for the first time details about the $850 million on-campus football stadium that will be the most expensive college football stadium ever built when it opens ahead of the 2026 season, reports SBJ's Bret McCormick.
- The Packers are donating $250,000 to the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay to create the endowed Mark Murphy Director of Athletics position to honor Murphy as he retires as the team's president and CEO, writes SBJ's Ben Fischer.
- In the most recent SBJ Tech newsletter, Ethan Joyce details how Alabama, Florida and Tennessee are using commemorative tickets from Eventshop this season.
- Florida will use facial authentication platform Wicket for its last two home football games to speed up entry during big games against LSU and Ole Miss, notes Joyce.
- ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips gave the keynote speech at the Sports Entertainment Venues of Tomorrow speaker series and luncheon last week in Columbia, S.C., where he received its 2024 Lifetime Achievement in Sport & Entertainment Management honor for his career.
- Connor Sports, Sport Court and Taraflex and the NCAA extended their deal as the flooring providers for the men's and women's NCAA basketball tournaments and Final Fours, the men's and women's volleyball championship for D-I, D-II and D-III.