clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

B1G 2016, The Future: Cord Cutting, Player Compensation, Stadium Wi-Fi

Pay 'em? Cut the Cords? Regional TV?

Mike Carter-USA TODAY Sports

InsertName

This is likely the last big TV contract so the B1G needs to squeeze every penny out of it.   I would love to see a fuck you to ESPN and split between fox and NBC.  We would have games on two different broadcast networks, BTN, FSN, CSN, NBCSN, FS1, and the rest of their networks.  There's no backing away from Fox since they bankroll a good portion of BTN.  Unfortunately, ESPN is still the biggest player in sports so this likely won't happen.

...

WhiteSpeedReceiver

WE'RE ALL DOOMED ONCE THE TV MONEY BUBBLE POPS! DAMN YOU CORD CUTTERS!  DOOOOOOOMED! EVERYBODY STASH YOUR BARBASOL BUCKS WHILE YOU CAN!  DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMED!

...

LincolnParkWildcat

TV Rights:

Let's get the deal done before the sports media rights bubble pops. Cord-cutting is increasing, and Disney is cutting ESPN's budget.

Cord cutting means that ESPN doesn't get the $5 or so each month from every cable subscriber regardless of the cable package they have. The Big Ten network is a joint venture between Fox and the Big Ten, and I'm not sure how much BTN gets, but it's surely not the amount that ESPN pulls in.

If offered separately, I'd get a BTN subscription. One key thing I'd want is a BTN AppleTV app.

Player Compensation:

This is all related to the amount of money that's coming in from TV Rights. The players see the billions of dollars coming in, and they're wondering "where's mine?". Cover the full cost of education, school supplies, rent, food, living expenses, with a limited amount of spending money, and money to cover the taxes incurred.

Not only are these kids going to school, but they're working a de-facto full time job. Time to reward them for it.

However, would this be a rule to only cover football at P5 schools? Or would everyone have to do this? I'm glad I don't have to make these decisions or count the beans.

Not every Athletic Director (looking at you Morgan Burke) would love to raise spending, but sometimes you have to spend money to make money.

Odds and Ends:

Last but not least, every damn football stadium needs to have flawless cell phone and wifi service, no matter if there's 47000 or 150,000 people in a concentrated area. Just spend the damn money and get it done. There's no excuse in 2016 for that. If Amazon.com can have an infrastructure that can handle shitloads of people ordering Christmas gifts late every year, then it's technically possible to wire football stadiums for better cell phone reception and wifi. Schools should have detailed information about this problem online.

Also, I'd like to see Ryan Field get heavily renovated. I'm not a fan of the cramped concourses and bathrooms when teams that sell out our stadium come to town.

If this were up to Speth, he'd burn the place to the ground. Every game between Northwestern and Wisconsin should be played in Evanston!