Who has the most generous athletics boosters?
Total cumulative "Donations/Contributions" 2005-22; Per USAToday/Knight Commission
(In Millions $; Public schools only):
1-10
Oregon $969 Million
Texas A & M $849
Texas $766
Florida $763
Georgia $716
Oklahoma St
This is the fanbase that is most aggressively arguing that the Big12 Tournament shouldn't be in KC/should be moved-to/rotated-in Vegas.
This is how they showed out in Vegas for their bubble team with the season on the line...
Yes... that's their student section with a whopping
I'm thrilled the Big12 just got stronger by adding CU,UA,ASU,UU!
I was hoping the PAC survived in a mildly-weakened form by just losing CU/UA, but the B1G taking OR/WA killed it
While some Utah & BYU fans aren't happy that the Utes are now in the Big12, let me offer some silver
Interesting post-mortem on the Pac-12 media deal saga by Ourand of SBJ
Summary of media offers from this & other sources:
1) Amazon:
“Never submitted a bid”
2) NBC:
“Never submitted a bid.” This despite the Pac-12 approaching them 3 different times per Ross Dellenger. Hey!
SBJ Media:
* Detailing the Pac-12 bids from CBS, Fox, ESPN.
* Free Kevin Brown!
* Sam Flood will take over day-to-day oversight of Golf Channel production, per
@JoshACarpenter
.
Looking like UA, ASU & Utes will all be joining the Big12
Big12/BYU fans need to prepare to hear:
1) how superior the Utes are to everyone else in the Big12, how they'll be perennial Big12 champs
2) how funny it is that Utes will get a full Big12 payout 2 yrs before BYU does
Only reposting this because of Aikman's incessant criticism of Wilson. Maybe he forgot how bad he was to start his career.
And sure Aikman went on to some serious career heights, but was that because he was so amazing alone, or did having an incredible OL and among the most
High level heckling by this BYU coed at the
@BYUvolleyball
match
If my lip reading skills are correct:
“Let me take you home!
I want to take you and have my baby!”
He’s too tan to blush, but his smile gives it away
Well done!
Don’t tell me the
@byuROC
isn’t an advantage!
Utah killed the Pac-12 they loved so much by:
1) being good enough to regularly ruin the Pac's big dog programs chances from making the CFP (a reason USC/Ore wanted out, just like Texas for Big12), but never being good enough to sniff the CFP themselves
2) their Pres thinking
The Pac-12's fateful $50M counteroffer to ESPN was shaped by input from one university president, we've been told.
Is that accurate? If so, who? And how did he/she arrive at $50M per school?
The answers:
Best Home Court winning % this century (2000-22):
1) Kansas 94.89% 🏆
2) Gonzaga 93.83% 🔥
3) Duke 91.43% 🙌
4) BYU 88.50% 💪
5) MichSt 88.47%
6) Kentucky 88.39%
7) Wisconsin 86.27%
8) Xavier 85.67%
9) Arizona 85.03%
Not bad
@byuROC
, Cleveland/Rose/Pope,... not bad at all...
BYU @ Iowa State drew 564K viewers on ESPN2 on Wed night despite the rather late tip-off
That's, by far, the highest-viewed Big12 ESPN2 broadcast this year and out-drew a high-profile top-10 match-up competing game, UConn vs Marquette, which was on FS1 and tipped-off 30 min
I reworked all of the conference payout projections from Navigate's 3/22 report by moving USC/UCLA's projected $$ from the PAC12 to the B1G starting in '24.
-B1G would surpass SEC
-ACC/Big12 about 50% of "Big2"
-PAC12 would be $20M+ behind Big12 & ACC
A look into Big12 public schools financials per Sportico (private schools don't report; all figures in millions; more tables/screenshots in replies)
Some main take-aways:
-Kansas on strongest financial footings with strong revenues, lowest debt, & a huge recent boost to their
Yes…
ONE Pac school is moving to the Big12…
…& they ALWAYS were
It’s time for the Pac-12Anon trolls, the fake Pac-12 “sources,” the Pac-12 media cabal, nasty Utah fan liars, & the Pac-12 itself to apologize for misleading the world in a sad QAnon style
We ALL deserved better
Most viewed CFB games NOT involving a P5 team (last two years; excludes Bowls):
All games
1) Boise St @ BYU 2.244M
Non-Sat games
1) BYU @ Houston 1.160M
2) BYU @ Navy 1.150M
Games on ESPNU
1) BYU @ Coastal Car 1.210M (biggest ESPNU game in 6 yrs, including P5s)
See a trend?
Since joining the PAC12 in 2011, Colorado has received $56M less in conf distributions than if they stayed in Big12 (entered as full members)
Maybe that's small in comparison to full school budgets, but that's not insignificant to an AD trying to keep a dept in the black
Greg Mcelroy asked Finebaum yesterday:
"Who's in a better spot, the ACC or Big12?"
Finebaum: "I believe it’s the Big 12 because the Big 12 is ascending. The Big 12 looks like it made a very good move with the four schools that they got."
(at 9:30)
1/4
Glad someone did all the calculations here
Like some suspected, the travel difference for the 4 corner schools will not be notably different in the Big12 compared to the PAC
I don't think most people east of the Mississippi realize how far apart places are out west, especially
Wyoming @ BYU drew 609K viewers for the 10:20PM ET kickoff on ESPN2
That's ESPN2's 2nd highest-viewed game in the late game window (after 10PM ET) in the last 3 years.
@PowellAnalytics
@NFLRookieWatxh
Umm... except for Puka Nacua, right? The guy leading the entire NFL in catches (2nd in yards), despite being drafted 2-3 rounds later than Mims.
Many were surprised when the Big12 announced a new media deal paying $31.7M/team/yr, eclipsing previous payouts despite losing mega-brands OU/UT
How much does your Big12 team bring to this new deal?
Multiple media sources say BYU boosted the per team payout by at least $2M &…
"Avid College Sports fans" per Big 12 school (national rank):
Texas Tech 794K (28th)
BYU 781K (29th)
Kansas 764K (32nd)
Colorado 746K (34th)
Arizona State 734K (35th)
Arizona 734K (36th)
Iowa State 707K (38th)
Oklahoma State 686K (40th)
West Virginia 683K (41st)
BYU listed as “the team to beat” for
#1
2025 CBB recruit AJ Dybansta by Parrish/Norlander Podcast
Some amazing things going on in PROvo!
AJ segment starts around 40 min and the BYU comment is 50 min in…
BYU vs Arkansas drew 1.08M viewers on ESPN2 Saturday, that ranks as the 2nd highest rating in that window over the last 5 seasons, and the highest of any game not involving any teams ranked in the AP poll
ESPN2 Saturday Prime Time game slot viewership 2019-Present (* = games
College BB talking heads like Seth Greenberg and Jay Bilas have recently said that the Marriott Center is the toughest road environment in the Big12
That’s massive praise as Phog-Allen & Hilton are two of the best home-court advantages in the nation
I think those places might
Well, if we're just talking about "openers," SHSU vs BYU at 444K was the highest viewed FS1 late Sat opener since 2016 when ... (wait for it...) .... BYU played Arizona at 728K viewers
Notice a common theme?
Here are those FS1 late openers for the last 7 years:
2022
The ACC is fully entitled to do whatever they think they need to do, but everyone should be concerned with the precedent of SMU (who reportedly will forego ANY media payout for 7 yrs) essentially buying their way into the "Power" ranks.
If the Mustangs are worthy of the "Power"
Sources: After a weekend of conversations, there’s continued momentum toward the ACC adding Stanford, Cal and SMU. ACC officials are working on gathering the presidents/chancellors on a call, which is expected to take place at some point early this week.
Great article about the slow bleeding-out of the Pac-12
Blames Pac-12 school presidents (current and former) more than Kliavkoff
Here's the upshot: "They have been elitist. They have thumbed their noses at..."
Last two paragraphs (in screenshot) are a fitting summation
How did we get to a Pac-9? So many played roles. Larry Scott. USC. George Kliavkoff. But the Pac-12 presidents should take the brunt of the blame.
They're the reason the West Coast is on the verge of not having its own major conference. Column
@latimes
:
This recent "Big12 value ranking" article by Jeremy Cluff deceptively quotes revenue figures from two different sources without disclosing it
Personally, I'm not a big fan of "revenue smack"... would rather it be earned on the field/court, however...
Turns out the Arizona
These 16 schools won't constitute the Big 12 until 2024, but we decided to rank each
#Big12
athletic program based on its value, counting down from No. 16 to No. 1.
#ASU
#ArizonaWildcats
I know there’s not a lot of disagreement that the Big12 is the best MBB conference, but, just in case there are any naysayers out there, ALL 54 different computer ranking systems at the Massey Composite site have the
Big12 ranked
#1
EVERY…. SINGLE….. ONE
Utah HC Kyle Whittingham, when asked by
@spencechecketts
about a permanent renewal of the Holy War, responded:
“Well first of all, you use the word permanently, and I can say it’s far from that. I think in 2-3, maybe 5 years at the outside, everything is gonna change again. And
BYU was voted
#1
in both polls by people that covered CFB at the time
It was not a super controversial championship at the time by many CFB historical standards of shared/split NC so many years.
BYU was on a 23 game winning streak starting early in 1983 (lost their opener @
1984 BYU really won a “National Title” by going undefeated with this schedule.
(
#3
Pitt ended up going 3-7-1 that year & that Michigan team went 6-6)
82nd Strength of Schedule in the country.
“There are 5 Billionaires that live within 20 min of LaVell Edwards Stadium, and they’re all fans and supporters of BYU”
-Mark Comer,
@mark_comer_
, head of BYU’s main NIL Collective, Royal Blue Collective,
@RoyalBlueNIL
said on
@espn960sports
@CriddleBenjamin
show to
Yet more evidence why
@TJAltimore
can't be trusted in the data he shares:
He's seriously giving the B1G full credit for Johns Hopkins' massive $3.2 BILLION research budget because they play one sport, Lacrosse, in the B1G.
That's the big blue bar to the right of Cal in his
Agree with Drake that this is an awesome tradition, but can you imagine the drama added if LES had LED lighting on installed and the lights could be brought down for the fire/smoke show?
Maybe get some massive flame towers like they had during Arkansas entrance too.
if you watch nothing else today, please block out 46 seconds for this.
it’s the single most underrated tradition, albeit new, in college football. this is how BYU opens the fourth quarter.
keep in mind, the opposing team is huddled on the field just yards away.
You don’t say…
Why did you and select others call people saying this same thing the “12Anon” crowd for months?
The info was out there for anyone with even the littlest bit of curiosity.
The Pac-12 had an offer from ESPN of $30 million per school in the fall of 2022. The network wanted it all. But the presidents and chancellors wanted more.
“We said we want $50 million per school.”
ESPN's response?
“Goodbye.”
Read:
Confirms suspicions of many that BYU players are consistently under-valued on Draft day
This guy's system of ranking college programs by NFL production has BYU at
#8
Appears he's releasing one team per day, but so far the rankings are:
1) Bama
2) Ohio St
3) UGA
4) Clemson
5)
#8
BYU COUGARS
BYU’s NFL Production in 2023:
🔵 7th in Rushing
🔵 18th in Receiving
🔵 21st in Passing
🔵 T-36th in Sacks
🔵 T-21st in Interceptions
Impressive production from BYU!
#GoCougs
New Big12 vs PAC10
Even including 4 new adds, Big12 leads ALL attendance, social media/online, & sports metrics except:
-Director's cup 3 yr avg rank
-"Google Trends" cumulative interest 2004-present, though
#Big12
won last 12 mo
PAC12 trending down
Ouch
Rough times at SDSU
Season Ticket sales down nearly 35% and only got 16.8K turnstile attendance at Snap Dragon Stadium for their home opener last night.
They did at least the win over their MAC foe, but looks like they're going to be the Iowa of the west coast yet again
So SDSU wants:
-1 extra month grace period to get out of increased $17M fee
-"openness" to negotiate exit fee amount (given that they just brought MWC lots of NCAA units)
-Pay their exit fee over 4 yrs vs by 2024 as per contract
Does that sound a tad entitled, or is it just me?
I know there’s not a lot of disagreement that the Big12 is the best MBB conference, but, just in case there are any naysayers out there, ALL 54 different computer ranking systems at the Massey Composite site have the
Big12 ranked
#1
EVERY…. SINGLE….. ONE
PAC-La La Land is a real phenomenon. Wow!
Per Massey Composite Avg Team rank per conference the Big12 has been the 1st or 2nd best football conference for the last FOUR years while the Pac-12 has been 4th or 5th each year
Into the state of S.C.. Not the epic truck journey, but
#GoCougs
!
Any last minute ticket leads? About to bite on 2 tix at about $375 each 🙀
Well worth it, but always looking for something better...
Love the details and timeline on this Dellenger ACC realignment article.
Some of the interesting quotes relative to the Big 12 or expansion in general are here:
In courting the 4 Corner schools..."the ACC found itself behind a rival Power Five conference: the Big 12, which had
Now that the Final Four is set, we know roughly how much each conference will make from this
#MarchMadness
.
And for the first time in 20+ years, the
@SEC
is the big
@NCAA
tournament unit winner.
@Sportico
story w/
@LevAkabas
:
ACC thinks they'll beat Big12 in head-to-head comparisons?
Here's the Massey Composite Rankings for the last 2 years (CFB/MBB):
Big12
#2
in CFB &
#1
in MBB both years
ACC
#5
&
#4
in CFB & 7th & 5th in MBB
ACC's got quite a hill to climb based on that
My followup with
@theACC
on the B12 -"I have been impressed with the
@Big12Conference
and how they fought back after OU & UT left. I still feel that we remain the
#3
conference college sports. I am sure they will disagree but the fun part about college sports is we can settle
Excited to hear the backstory of Travis Kelce wearing a BYU jersey on his podcast that’s about to air.
Gotta be a bet between him and Matt Bushman over the Cincy vs BYU game last Friday, eh?
Better bet would have been for him to get Taylor to wear it and have all the Swifties
Hmm…
$23M you say?!?! 🤣
I recall Mandel himself, as well as Wilner, Canzano & Altimore calling me out (two of them blocked me) when I recalculated Navigate’s projections accounting for USC/UCLA exit because they were “way too low”
Disclaimers:
1)
NEWS: The new media rights Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavloff hoped would ensure the league's members stick together past 2024 underwhelmed Oregon and Washington.
Apple offered the members a five-year deal worth $23M per school, according to sources.
More from
@slmandel
.
This blather is tiresome
Since joining the PAC12, Utah has shown no significant increase in it’s rank in research $ compared to other schools
50th in 2012; 47th now
Also stable or ⬇️’d in PhDs awarded, total grad students, and research space ranks too
Big12 fans don't understand the economics of university research vs athletics media funding. Being in a conference with Stanford+Cal
+UW+Oregon makes us millions more than any media deal could ever generate. We've been in a conference with BYU, it gave us no research $ benefit.
SHSU vs BYU drew 444K viewers on FS1's late night slot. Pretty darn good given the history of that window.
Of the 22 games in that late window in the last 2 years, that's
#7
highest viewed game, with all six games above it being two P5 teams playing each other.
Last year's FS1
This is very encouraging news for BYU sports going forward. Especially the last line about Ryan Smith contributing "millions towards Young's hire AND BYU's basketball INFRASTRUCTURE in the years to come"
Hope this is some serious commitment to NIL and asst coaches/recruiters.
After talking to sources, here's much more on BYU hiring Kevin Young, including details on:
»Danny Ainge + a billionaire playing big roles here
»Young remaining w/ PHX until its playoff run ends
»How (quickly) he'll build a staff
»Why BYU>NBA won out now
@jk_rowling
Wow this is misinformed
There were over 11 others who saw them, 8 of which held them and fingered through them
3 had similar angelic witnesses of them as Smith had
Smith’s wife Emma had some close knowledge of them too
Not a single one of all these ever denied their witness
Very excited about this! Would love to see my son suit up at LES some day! He’s worked his tail off and loves the game. Well deserved
@SethFuller77
!!
#GoCougs
Chris Brooks represents yet another BYU Undrafted Free agent to make a NFL final 53-man roster
Since 2010, BYU has had 31 players make it in the NFL, but only 11 of them were draft picks
BYU’s ratio of drafted players vs total players making it to the NFL (36%) is the lowest
Re-calculated Massey's Composite Computer ranks after moving OU/UT to the SEC & BYU/Cinci/UCF/UH to the Big12 after Week 5:
SEC 34.3
B1G 41.0
Big12 45.9
ACC 52.2
PAC12 62.6
MWC 75.5
AAC 86.0
New SEC amazingly strong
New Big12 still strong among P5
PAC12 still struggling
It's still just the P3 (not P5) this year after Week 5: SEC, B1G, Big12 all grouped at top
ACC is one tier down from the P3
PAC12 is two tiers down & much closer to AAC/MWC than the P3
SEC 37.6
B1G 41.0
Big12 41.8
ACC 52.2
PAC12 62.6
AAC 74.8
MWC 75.5
PAC was dying, PACtantic was sinking.
What other options did Utah have? Please enlighten us all.
Anyone who is offended by the “lifeboat” analogy has an odd false superiority complex
Florida got 3.2M viewers vs a ranked Utah team on main ESPN with no competing games on that night.
Florida got 5.3M viewers vs a ranked Tennessee team on main ESPN despite 8 different competing nationally televized games at the same time this past Saturday night.
Utah vs Baylor
@pedrodon
@jjfuller72
Utah did 3.2 million against their SEC competition and 1.31 m against Baylor at noon 👍 but being able to pull more than 1m viewers frequently is exactly why the Big 12 wanted both Utah and BYU - not all of the B12 can do that
Weirdest stat about the upcoming BYU @ Kansas game?
While both teams are 3-0, BYU has more punts per game than any team in the nation at 7.0, while Kansas has the lowest punts per game in the nation at 1.3
I'd rather have Kansas' number than BYU's, but Rehkow has been a weapon
BYU up to
#9
in KenPom rankings.
I think some of us thought the Cougs could improve, but this has been an amazing run exceeding anyone’s expectations.
However, will BYU MBB take a page out of the Football team’s playbook and go undefeated in OOC games but lose over 75% of
Guy who's been to all 133 FBS stadiums within the last 5 years states LES is top 5 overall experience and "is definitely the most photogenic setting in the country."
@BYUpros
@FCSNationRadio1
Top 5’s are always tough but I usually say the Sun Bowl, Tiger Stadium, Kidd Brewer, Husky Stadium & LES. Went to the game vs USU & shot some great photos. LES is definitely the most photogenic setting in the country.
Times have been tough for CU since moving to Pac-12:
-FB program has cratered
-Academic ranks/research $$ growth rates have dropped
-Relative athletic financial loss ~$100M compared to Big12 (in addition to conf payout data, add Comcast payback & Tier 3 media rights)
1/4🧵
Why would Colorado wait longer for the Pac 12 to present a deal? They lost nearly 70M vs what Big 12 schools made since leaving in 2010. They left less than a week before FOX & ESPN presented a good deal to the Big 12.
Yeah, it's forward facing ASL "Y"
Still, the shaka originated from a Hawaiian Latter-Day Saint, from Laie, home of BYU-Hawaii & PCC
Our Poly HC, Kalani, who grew up in Laie, encouraged it
Still want to stick with that "Appropriation" accusation... Ute?
Way to appropriate the shaka..which is about a Hawaiian sugar plantation security guard who lost his three fingers. It's a universal sign to spread the Aloha spirit, not to signify BYU Athletics. Leave it to obtuse haoles to steal it, just like the sovereign Hawaiian Islands.
P5 programs that have never been ranked
#1
in EITHER the Football or Men's Basketball AP poll (all polls: pre-, mid-, & final, all-time since 1939 in football and since 1943 in BB):
ASU
Iowa St
Rutgers
Texas Tech
UCF
Utah
Vanderbilt
VaTech
Wash St
Big time!
BYU retains the 11th best player in the Transfer portal in keeping Saunders in Provo
He was my favorite player on last years team that was full of likable players… with future status upgraded to “legendary” in my book
KSL has tended to be much more pro-Ute than pro-Cougar over the last decade plus… so seeing this in print on their site took me by surprise.
“For all of Utah's recent success, BYU football still draws the most interest in its home state.”
BYU 5-0 vs SMU all-time now with 4 of those wins by 3 points or less.
D balled out tonight and they all deserve game balls.
QB SNEAK PLAY NEEDS TO BE IMPLEMENTED BY A-ROD! Shotgun on 4th & inches?!?!?!
BYU should always fair catch on Kickoffs
SMU fan base showed how
A group of Big Ten presidents have started exploratory discussions on expansion in light of Pac 12 uncertainty,
@DanWetzel
reports. Last August,
@ActionNetworkHQ
reported B1G “vetted & cleared” Oregon & Washington to join league if it made financial sense. Those discussions
Silly season…
Big12 5th and Pac 2nd? 🤔
Has the Pac ever finished any recent season in even the top
3 of best conferences?
Here’s the Massey Composite avg team rank by conference for the last 4 yrs. Big12 always in top 3. PAC always 4th or 5th.
Mark Pope appreciation post:
BYU Men's Basketball has finished ranked in the AP poll only 12 times all-time while garnering even fewer pre-season AP rankings at 6 (only once, 1973, have the Cougs finished ranked lower than their pre-season ranking)
While not gauranteed, it's