Its hard to mimic the less successful and find a model though.

The only hope I have in all of this, is that these schools are no longer allowed to take tax dollars.
Nick Saban is a de facto state employee (understand many schools separate their ADs from the university) who makes $8.3M+. I'm a strong believer in the free market but the institution he works for is supported by AL taxpayers. If the company he works for had to cover more of their overhead, then maybe he salary would decrease. Pretty sure most NFL coaches are in the $5.5-6.0M range. FWIW...Saban is on top of the college game so that comparison has an apples & oranges flavor to it.
 
But businesses - and struggling ones at that like ESPN - usually don't volunteer to pay more money for the product they already own (SEC + LHN).

I'm not a lawyer, much less a contracts lawyer, and every contract dispute starts with the actual language of the contract, which we don't have. But it seems improbable to me that one party can unilaterally terminate the agreement without paying damages. It seems more probable they can renegotiate the value of the deal given membership changes resulting from schools leaving (i.e., Big12 reportedly will go down to 9M per remaining school).
My guess is that a streaming only game of the week will be a part of all this and that will spearhead their transition off of the air and onto the web. That is why the big $'s.
 
Nick Saban is a de facto state employee (understand many schools separate their ADs from the university) who makes $8.3M+. I'm a strong believer in the free market but the institution he works for is supported by AL taxpayers. If the company he works for had to cover more of their overhead, then maybe he salary would decrease. Pretty sure most NFL coaches are in the $5.5-6.0M range. FWIW...Saban is on top of the college game so that comparison has an apples & oranges flavor to it.
it’s a virtual guarantee that Alabama is only paying a mid 6 figure portion of that salary snd boosters sponsors (Nike?) pay the rest
 

How in the hell do Michigan and Ohio State figure into the "Southeastern Conference", geographically speaking? Southeast of something somewhere in Canada???
 
All kinds of rumors flying -Michigan/OSU/FSU/Clemson to the SEC or OSU only to the SEC with a Big Ten/ACC/Notre Dame merger or a Big Ten/PAC 12 alignment. Regions and distance are irrelevant when millions or billions of dollars are on the table.
 
How in the hell do Michigan and Ohio State figure into the "Southeastern Conference", geographically speaking? Southeast of something somewhere in Canada???
“Southeastern” conference in name only…it’s more likely the ncaa replacement
 
“Southeastern” conference in name only…it’s more likely the ncaa replacement
My thoughts exactly. They are working to segregate themselves for more money and power. Thought segregation was bad...guess colleges don't think soo like I am lead to believe.
 
It’s time for the NCAA to die anyway.
Agreed, but do we want an inclusive system or not? That is the real question.
 
Inclusive system?
Ya NCAA is inclusive of 1,066 institutions in 2021. Will the new NCAA killer include all 1,066 institutions? NCAA has Div 1, 2 and 3 with 127 in FCS.
 
Ya NCAA is inclusive of 1,066 institutions in 2021. Will the new NCAA killer include all 1,066 institutions? NCAA has Div 1, 2 and 3 with 127 in FCS.
Yeah no... That’s not the aim here...
And frankly that’s not the way it is now...
 
Yeah no... That’s not the aim here...
And frankly that’s not the way it is now...
Ya I know I am just being devil's advocate tonight. I don't really care for college sports outside of the major contenders anyways. Professional football (soccer) is my jam.
 
Ya NCAA is inclusive of 1,066 institutions in 2021. Will the new NCAA killer include all 1,066 institutions? NCAA has Div 1, 2 and 3 with 127 in FCS.
Major college sports have been headed down this road for a quite a while, but they at least had to pretend that it wasn't what it actually was. Now they've finally jumped the shark with all the NIL stuff and this impending shakeup of the conferences. More than ever, it's all about the money and power. They've essentially become a professional sports league unto themselves, might as well put aside all the pretense about education and the things related to it.
 
Major college sports have been headed down this road for a quite a while, but they at least had to pretend that it wasn't what it actually was. Now they've finally jumped the shark with all the NIL stuff and this impending shakeup of the conferences. More than ever, it's all about the money and power. They've essentially become a professional sports league unto themselves, might as well put aside all the pretense about education and the things related to it.
This legit makes me sad.
 
I do not mean this as a slight in anyway, but I am a contracts lawyer and litigator, and every dispute of this size starts with analyzing (1) what the expected cost of litigation is, (2) the probability of winning, vs the maximum exposure to damages, and (3) whether you have more money than the other side to pursue the litigation, i.e. who will run out of money first. The actual terms of the contract are secondary to the economics of litigation.

The reality is that the decision gets made, and then the rest falls into place. There is always the prospect that one party won't perform. Most contracts like this (and like most coaching contracts) have liquidated damage provisions which state that if the contract is breached, a certain amount must be paid. In this case, the schools would be happy to pay the termination fee in order to move to the SEC.
But would those liquidated damages be inclusive of damages for lost revenue from the media rights, presuming they are reduced down to @9M per member from say 30m? That’s part of what I was getting at when I said you look to the language of the contract.
 
The only hiccup in this that I can see is this would suck big time for non-football sports, especially those that are mandated by Title 9 compliance. There will be some awfully long road trips to get in a weekend of lacrosse or swim meet or gymnastic competitions. I know, I know. Who gives a $%#$, they don't make any money. But that whole student athlete things comes more into play when it is sports that are not obviously becoming a semi-pro minor leagues, like football.
When I ran XC/T&F in college, we were only guaranteed to face off against the other conference teams once a season ... during the conference championships. That may differ from other sports that solely rely on a head to head (which swimming, gymnastics, and golf - amongst others - do not), but outside of football, almost every sport can handle their championships in a tournament like fashion which only requires teams to meet each other once a year, in the championship tourney. Does that make seeding difficult because there is no head to heads? Yes, but it's not impossible.
 
Major college sports have been headed down this road for a quite a while, but they at least had to pretend that it wasn't what it actually was. Now they've finally jumped the shark with all the NIL stuff and this impending shakeup of the conferences. More than ever, it's all about the money and power. They've essentially become a professional sports league unto themselves, might as well put aside all the pretense about education and the things related to it.

At least we wouldn’t have to keep hearing and acting like we believed in the euphemism “student athlete”
 
When I ran XC/T&F in college, we were only guaranteed to face off against the other conference teams once a season ... during the conference championships. That may differ from other sports that solely rely on a head to head (which swimming, gymnastics, and golf - amongst others - do not), but outside of football, almost every sport can handle their championships in a tournament like fashion which only requires teams to meet each other once a year, in the championship tourney. Does that make seeding difficult because there is no head to heads? Yes, but it's not impossible.
Yeah it’s the only sport I can think of that doesn’t have some type of true playoff or final tournament/meet. I can’t think of another sport where a team can go undefeated but not get a chance to play for a title because they aren’t chosen for the “playoff”.

It doesn’t matter now because the NIL and this will probably ruin college football as we know it. But I would love for them to blow up all of the conferences and recreate 8 16 team conferences that are fairly evenly matched. Split them up into two divisions and they play their division and championship game. You have a 24 team playoff and the conference champion gets a bye week. The 2nd place team of each conference would get in and then for the other 8 you could either do 3rd to keep it even between conferences or you could go with the next highest 8 ranked teams. Those 16 play and the winners then face the conference champions and play it out from there. It would keep a little more parody but also make conference championships important.
 
Heard they also want ohio state and michigan


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But would those liquidated damages be inclusive of damages for lost revenue from the media rights, presuming they are reduced down to @9M per member from say 30m? That’s part of what I was getting at when I said you look to the language of the contract.
They would. Liquidated damages are basically an amount that each side agrees on so that there is no expensive litigation over what the actual damages are. I have read reporting that the number is somewhere around $70 million.
 
I do not mean this as a slight in anyway, but I am a contracts lawyer and litigator, and every dispute of this size starts with analyzing (1) what the expected cost of litigation is, (2) the probability of winning, vs the maximum exposure to damages, and (3) whether you have more money than the other side to pursue the litigation, i.e. who will run out of money first. The actual terms of the contract are secondary to the economics of litigation.

The reality is that the decision gets made, and then the rest falls into place. There is always the prospect that one party won't perform. Most contracts like this (and like most coaching contracts) have liquidated damage provisions which state that if the contract is breached, a certain amount must be paid. In this case, the schools would be happy to pay the termination fee in order to move to the SEC.

I also have some familiarity with contracts and liquidated danages clauses.

I agree with your assessment. I foresee litigation or threat of followed by negotiation and settlement.
 
It looks like OU and Texas are looking to become SEC members in 2025. Apparently this process is slower than JB Holmes hitting his second shot on a par 5.

 
It looks like OU and Texas are looking to become SEC members in 2025. Apparently this process is slower than JB Holmes hitting his second shot on a par 5.

Economics.
 
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