CFP PAYOUTS (2014-18 total) per conference member:
$33,250,989 - Big 12
$28,019,334 - Notre Dame
$27,960,909 - PAC 12
$26,844,010 - SEC
$24,070,088 - ACC
$23,926,072 - Big Ten
$9,232,323 - AAC
$8,045,927 - MWC
$7,332,837 - Sun Belt
$7,013,956 - MAC
$5,423,623 - CUSA
Financially, the Big 12 has no reason to expand! Each team added will reduce the per team payout by $3 million. So in order for expansion to be even revenue neutral, any program added would have to bring not just enough media value to at least earn the conference the pro rata increase, but $3M more! Same argument also applies to expansion by Pac or ACC.
Help me out with the math here. B12 made $33,250,989 per school over a 5 year period. This comes out to $6.650MM per year. If it were split 11 ways instead of 10, each school would’ve received $6.046MM per year. That’s a difference of $604k per year, right?
So in order for expansion to be even revenue neutral, any program added would have to bring not just enough media value to at least earn the conference the pro rata increase, but $3M more!
I forgot we switched over to half decade increments when discussing conference payouts.
There is NO WAY anyone can convince me that Baylor, TCU (who was brought up 10 years ago), Kansas, Iowa State is worth as much as being perceived here.
Meanwhile, the American had 4 ranked teams in the final AP poll, trailing only SEC and B1G. But we’re 6 on the money list.
That’s how biased things have become. I know we don’t have 4 ranked teams at the end of every year, but my point is, the American does more with less every year, consistently.
The time frame is immaterial. My point was that it’s an uphill battle to bring sufficient financial value to be considered for expansion. No conference will expand unless there is immediate and ongoing financial gain for the current members.
Suppose UH and UX were added by the Big 12, and the networks agreed to increase the conference payout proportionally. But now the playoff money has to be split 2 extra ways… each of the 10 current programs would lose $1.2M a year in playoff money. It’s a deliberately rigged game designed to keep outsiders out!
Except when expansion was on the table a few years ago, the new teams would not be splitting the existing pie, the networks would be on the hook for paying for the new teams in addition to the money the paid the existing teams. That’s why ESPN/Fox told the B12 they’d pay them the $3million (I think, can’t remember exactly) they would get for expansion. Killed expansion at the time but UT and OU did not extend their GORs.
Who knows how that plays out in the future. Also, I brought up expansion, so, drink!