Next season's conference scheduling

2,736 Views | 14 Replies | Last: 4 yr ago by Go!Bears
GrandpaBear
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Having attended the post Thanksgiving UCLA game and remberkng the schedules for our games with USC and UCLA over the last few years, I think it's time for CAL, UCLA , USC and Stanford to put an end to the PAC-12's plan to punish the California schools for insisting on tradition and playing each other every year. The schools should insist that these games not be scheduled on a weeknight or after Thanksgiving. This scheduling is designed to make these games difficult for visiting fans to attend. Enough is enough!
GoBears89
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I agree with you - but until the current TV contracts are renewed or re-negotiated, we do not have a choice... And to be honest, I don't see anything changing even then. Unfortunately, the networks pretty much control the scheduling....
auberge
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I completely agree. The networks may control game times but they don't control team scheduling. The school presidents and chancellors should insist on no weeknight games and no Thanksgiving weekend games with in-state rivals when the students are gone and the weather is dicey. Last Saturday's game was one of the worst attended ever at the Rose Bowl, according to the Sunday LA papers. Part of it was due to fair-weather UCLA fans winding up a dismal season but a lot was people like me not wanting to drive LA freeways home, after finding their car in the dark on the golf course, at 11:30 p.m. It is obvious that all the Pac-12 cares about is TV but the teams are supposed to represent the schools and the student bodies. We are not going to stop playing our in-state rivals every year, no matter what the Pac-12 wants.
CALiforniALUM
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Don't we only net about 2M from the Pac-12 network each year? I say **** it and pull out. Stand strong on scheduling who and when. Our away games will still be televised on the PAC-12 no matter what.
Cave Bear
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What needs to happen is dropping the 9 game conference schedule. We would probably have to abandon the All-California schedule to accommodate that, which would be a win-win competitive-wise.

That said, I prefer playing both UCLA and USC every year. I like things like rivalries and those are two of our rivals. All you have to do is look at the road attendance for all four teams in the quartet to verify that.
71Bear
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Cave Bear said:

What needs to happen is dropping the 9 game conference schedule. We would probably have to abandon the All-California schedule to accommodate that, which would be a win-win competitive-wise.

That said, I prefer playing both UCLA and USC every year. I like things like rivalries and those are two of our rivals. All you have to do is look at the road attendance for all four teams in the quartet to verify that.
Since we are trying to reverse the spin of the earth, let's go back and drop Utah, Colorado, Arizona and Arizona State and play seven conference games and schedule the other five (1 each) against the SEC, B10, B12, ACC and MWC. That would ideal - lots of variety, good games and traditional rivals every season.
Cave Bear
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71Bear said:

Cave Bear said:

What needs to happen is dropping the 9 game conference schedule. We would probably have to abandon the All-California schedule to accommodate that, which would be a win-win competitive-wise.

That said, I prefer playing both UCLA and USC every year. I like things like rivalries and those are two of our rivals. All you have to do is look at the road attendance for all four teams in the quartet to verify that.
Since we are trying to reverse the spin of the earth, let's go back and drop Utah, Colorado, Arizona and Arizona State and play seven conference games and schedule the other five (1 each) against the SEC, B10, B12, ACC and MWC. That would ideal - lots of variety, good games and traditional rivals every season.
No, let's not do any of the dumb things you suggest, especially reversing the spin of the Earth because I like the sun setting over the Pacific
ColoradoBear
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CALiforniALUM said:

Don't we only net about 2M from the Pac-12 network each year? I say **** it and pull out. Stand strong on scheduling who and when. Our away games will still be televised on the PAC-12 no matter what.


Uh, Fox and ESPN pay an average of $21 million/yr to each school... And are the ones whose contracts control p12 scheduling.

I'd bet that 9 games is written into the contract, but what those 9 are is not. Still would be silly to drop before the next TV contract is bid on.
CALiforniALUM
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ColoradoBear said:

CALiforniALUM said:

Don't we only net about 2M from the Pac-12 network each year? I say **** it and pull out. Stand strong on scheduling who and when. Our away games will still be televised on the PAC-12 no matter what.


Uh, Fox and ESPN pay an average of $21 million/yr to each school... And are the ones whose contracts control p12 scheduling.

I'd bet that 9 games is written into the contract, but what those 9 are is not. Still would be silly to drop before the next TV contract is bid on.


I remember reading an article a year or two ago that showed that the promised $21M per school was not being realized. That it was closer to single digit figures and was on the lower end of that after netting out all the costs to produce the network. We got taken by Larry while he went to the bank.

Found it: https://www.google.com/amp/amp.awfulannouncing.com/ncaa/pac-12-teams-are-seeing-drastically-lower-payouts-than-expected-from-pac-12-networks.html
71Bear
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CALiforniALUM said:

ColoradoBear said:

CALiforniALUM said:

Don't we only net about 2M from the Pac-12 network each year? I say **** it and pull out. Stand strong on scheduling who and when. Our away games will still be televised on the PAC-12 no matter what.


Uh, Fox and ESPN pay an average of $21 million/yr to each school... And are the ones whose contracts control p12 scheduling.

I'd bet that 9 games is written into the contract, but what those 9 are is not. Still would be silly to drop before the next TV contract is bid on.


I remember reading an article a year or two ago that showed that the promised $21M per school was not being realized. That it was closer to single digit figures and was on the lower end of that after netting out all the costs to produce the network. We got taken by Larry while he went to the bank.

Found it: https://www.google.com/amp/amp.awfulannouncing.com/ncaa/pac-12-teams-are-seeing-drastically-lower-payouts-than-expected-from-pac-12-networks.html

You are mixing apples and oranges.

Fox and ESPN pay $21 million per year to each school. The P12 network pays a couple million per year to each school.

The article you cited covers only the P12 Network. It does not reference ESPN or Fox.

As noted by Colorado Bear, scheduling is controlled ESPN and Fox.


GrandpaBear
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Does Fox or ESPN really care if CAL plays UCLA on the last Saturday in November or some Saturday in October? They just care what time the game starts. The schools need to make sure the conference understands what this scheduling is doing to these rivalries. Cal can play OSU on the last Saturday in November!
golden sloth
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I got an easy solution. Allow all teams to play a Week Zero game at their discretion (aka the last weekend in August) therefore creating another bye week. Give teams or conferences the option of playing Week Zero or Thanksgiving weekend. In the case of the Pac-12, the regular conference season could end the weekend before Thanksgiving, meaning the rivalry games could be both not on Thanksgiving AND the last game of the year (not including conference championship game, playoff, or bowl game).

I think the networks would go for it, as the sports content on the last weekend of August is generally terrible, and two weekends allows them to air more games overall.
Cal84
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>No, let's not do any of the dumb things you suggest, especially reversing the spin of the Earth because I like the sun setting over the Pacific

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that if the Earth stopped spinning, I'd go flying off into the air and land in Missouri. Ugh, that would hurt. I'm mean the Missouri part.
Oski87
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The last two weekends of the season should be rivalry games, and the other games should be out of conference games - like the SEC does. Have the Pac 12 season start earlier.

The way the conference schedule is today, you have 12 games each of the first three weekends of the year, and crap games that no one sees. Then you have 5-6 games per week and because of the need to schedule these games on late nights, etc for the TV idiots, we get crap schedules all the time.

If we spread the games evenly over the course of the year, we would have about 7-8 games per weekend and have a better product for the Pac 12 Network and have a bit more control over the schedule.

The last two weekends if Stanfurd or USC want to play ND, fine. They can play their rivals the other week. If Cal plays stanfurd the 3rd weekend in November, then we can play Davis on Thanksgiving weekend. I am sure they would be fine with that, and there would probably be more people at the game than us playing Arizona or Utah or even UCLA.

The other thing I would do is play the non-division games first and the division games second. It would be better if Oregon did not wrap up the season with three weeks left to go so that there was some discussion about them in the playoffs and the games in the Pac 12 were more meaningful later in the year. There is no excitement now.

Playing at patsy at the end of the year gives teams the opportunity to not lose when it is critical that they have a big win and look good, and also so that they have another week for a loss to fade into the background - like the SEC does.

Pigskin Pete
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golden sloth said:

I got an easy solution. Allow all teams to play a Week Zero game at their discretion (aka the last weekend in August) therefore creating another bye week. Give teams or conferences the option of playing Week Zero or Thanksgiving weekend. In the case of the Pac-12, the regular conference season could end the weekend before Thanksgiving, meaning the rivalry games could be both not on Thanksgiving AND the last game of the year (not including conference championship game, playoff, or bowl game).

I think the networks would go for it, as the sports content on the last weekend of August is generally terrible, and two weekends allows them to air more games overall.
That makes too much sense to ever be adopted.
Go!Bears
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We could dump the nine game schedule and solve the always LA schools problem by simply realigning the divisions, North and South. California and Arizona in the south, the rest in the North. The way it should be. The tail wagged the dog on that in the expansion. Time to fix it.
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