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Do you foresee the SEC going to a 9-game conference schedule?

Posted on 8/31/11 at 11:25 am
Posted by Chicken
Jackassistan
Member since Aug 2003
26851 posts
Posted on 8/31/11 at 11:25 am
I don't see how it doesn't. Each team will have to play the other six teams in their division. Plus you need to preserve several high profile cross division rivalries like Auburn/Georgia and Alabama/Tennessee. Plus you want to make sure that there is at least one rotating out-of-division opponent, but two will ensure that you face each team from the other division at least every 5 years.

So, for a 12-game schedule:
1. 6 teams from your division
2. 1 permanent team from other division
3. 2 rotating teams from other division
4. 3 Out of conference games

Thoughts? Will the conference be ok with just 3 OOC games in a 12-game schedule?

This post was edited on 8/31/11 at 11:26 am
Posted by Ross
Member since Oct 2007
47827 posts
Posted on 8/31/11 at 11:26 am to
I'd say it's inevitable.
Posted by 225rumpshaker
Texas
Member since Sep 2006
12094 posts
Posted on 8/31/11 at 11:27 am to
quote:

Will the conference be ok with just 3 OOC games in a 12-game schedule
Yes.

From a SOS standpoint should be no problem. Having quality depth will be just that more important playing an extra SEC game each year though.
This post was edited on 8/31/11 at 11:29 am
Posted by crimson crazy
Member since Oct 2008
20804 posts
Posted on 8/31/11 at 11:27 am to
I think it will either be that, or the conference will somehow do away with one of the two rotating games.
Posted by molsusports
Member since Jul 2004
37067 posts
Posted on 8/31/11 at 11:34 am to
I'm afraid they might - which is a major reason I'm against the idea of expanding to 14 or 16 teams

9 games sucks because:

1) an odd number of games makes for uneven # of home and away games in conference - an unfair advantage or disadvantage from year to year
2a) you lose an ooc game you could use to make money - a good part of the rationale for expansion is making more money. When home games net you a few million dollars you now have to generate a lot more money (per school) to justify the expansion
2b) this loss of an ooc game probably also means fewer interesting ooc matchups because teams will have lost profit from the previously standard ooc cupcake, will have 9 conference games to get beat up playing, and will probably not see any return on playing a tough/storied opponent out of conference
3) you will still play many opponents very infrequently - LSU for example will rarely get to play UGA, UT, and the mystery 14th team from the opposite division. Having a megaconference is more like have two conferences that share a conference championship game than having a conference with two divisions
Posted by TIGERSandFROGS
Member since Jul 2007
3809 posts
Posted on 8/31/11 at 11:34 am to
One problem with a 9 game conference schedule is every other year you have 4 conference home games, necessitating 3 OOC home games to make 7 for the year. Even in your 5 home game years, you still can only have one away/neutral site game and reach 7. That means you can only have one home-home opponent on the books for every two seasons for the foreseeable future, which means SEC teams would be paying a bunch of contract penalties over the next several years.
Posted by baytiger
Boston
Member since Dec 2007
46978 posts
Posted on 8/31/11 at 11:37 am to
quote:

1) an odd number of games makes for uneven # of home and away games in conference - an unfair advantage or disadvantage from year to year
2a) you lose an ooc game you could use to make money - a good part of the rationale for expansion is making more money. When home games net you a few million dollars you now have to generate a lot more money (per school) to justify the expansion
2b) this loss of an ooc game probably also means fewer interesting ooc matchups because teams will have lost profit from the previously standard ooc cupcake, will have 9 conference games to get beat up playing, and will probably not see any return on playing a tough/storied opponent out of conference
3) you will still play many opponents very infrequently - LSU for example will rarely get to play UGA, UT, and the mystery 14th team from the opposite division. Having a megaconference is more like have two conferences that share a conference championship game than having a conference with two divisions



you're leaving out the big one...
A lower percentage of your conference will become bowl eligible every year, thereby decreasing that revenue stream.

I oppose a 9 game conference schedule unless the season is expanded in the future.
Posted by Chicken
Jackassistan
Member since Aug 2003
26851 posts
Posted on 8/31/11 at 11:41 am to
quote:


1) an odd number of games makes for uneven # of home and away games in conference - an unfair advantage or disadvantage from year to year
good point. I wonder if this would lead to higher ticket sales in years in which a team only had 7 home games versus 8.

If you kept it eight SEC games, you will then just have one rotating team from the other division...no big deal if you think it is ok to play a team once every 11 years (assuming you don't face them in the SEC title game).

Posted by ffhouston
The Woodlands
Member since Sep 2007
4022 posts
Posted on 8/31/11 at 12:28 pm to
All I know is this having Florida as a permanent opponent is for the fricking birds.
Posted by BayouBengals03
lsu14always
Member since Nov 2007
99999 posts
Posted on 8/31/11 at 12:59 pm to
It's inevitable.

Hopefully the permanent rivalries stay in place.

I absolutely love playing Florida every year. Maybe my favorite game.

The out-of-division rotation would just move to "every 6 years" instead of "every 5 years."

For example, LSU played Tennessee at home in 2000, 2005, and 2010. Every 5 years.

New Format: (Let's pretend Florida State joins from the East.)

2012 - South Carolina (Home), Kentucky (Away)
2013 - Georgia (Home), South Carolina (Away)
2014 - Vanderbilt (Home), Georgia (Away)
2015 - Tennessee (Home), Vanderbilt (Away)
2016 - Florida State (Home), Tennessee (Away)
2017 - Kentucky (Home), Florida State (Away)
2018 - South Carolina (Home), Kentucky (Away)
2019 - Georgia (Home), South Carolina (Away)
2020 - Vanderbilt (Home), Georgia (Away)
2021 - Tennessee (Home), Vanderbilt (Away)
2022 - Florida State (Home), Tennessee (Away)
2023 - Kentucky (Home), Florida State (Away)
2024 - South Carolina (Home), Kentucky (Away)

So, the rotation would now be "every 6 years," as you would play the same two opponents from the opposite division every 6 years. However, you would still play every opponent every 5 years (as opposed to every 4 years like it is currently).
Posted by BayouBengals03
lsu14always
Member since Nov 2007
99999 posts
Posted on 8/31/11 at 1:02 pm to
For basketball, I would assume the SEC would just go to a 19-game schedule, starting the conference games in late December, similar to the Big East.

You would play each team in your own division twice (home and away), and then each team from the opposite division once, resulting in 19 games.
Posted by BayouBengals03
lsu14always
Member since Nov 2007
99999 posts
Posted on 8/31/11 at 1:03 pm to
For baseball, I think the schedule would remain at 30 games.

You play 18 games against your divisional foes, and then 4 series a year against teams in the opposite division. A rotation would have to be set up similar to football.
Posted by Indiana Tiger
Member since Feb 2005
4119 posts
Posted on 8/31/11 at 1:05 pm to
I think you need to go to 9 games if you want to keep any semblance of overall conference identity. I also think you need to eliminate the permanent cross rival, but that's unlikely to fly. When you get to 16, the solution would be to split into 4 div, so that the overall # of permanent games is reduced.

The 5/4 conf home game deal is not a reason not to expand. TV revenue is driving this and it will overwhelm any costs associated with the loss of an OOC game. Home and home with quality OOC opponents would fit nicely into this arrangement.
Posted by BayouBengals03
lsu14always
Member since Nov 2007
99999 posts
Posted on 8/31/11 at 1:08 pm to
If the SEC does go to a 9-game conference schedule, it will probably reduce the amount of neutral site/away games out-of-conference. The possibility of playing only 6 home games every other year probably won't sit well with most schools.
This post was edited on 8/31/11 at 1:09 pm
Posted by hashtag
Comfy, AF
Member since Aug 2005
32685 posts
Posted on 8/31/11 at 1:19 pm to
quote:

A lower percentage of your conference will become bowl eligible every year, thereby decreasing that revenue stream.

So, now we have 12 teams and usually get 8 teams in a bowl game. If we add 4 teams to get to 16, we would likely get at least 10 teams in. The difference is 66% to 62%. That is not a big difference. Especially when you consider that all of the tv contracts and bowl contracts will have to be re-done anyway to account for the difference in conferences. The 4% can easily be made up in re-negotiating.

And, jumping into the Houston and Dallas markets is going to give negotiating power that will more than make up for adding 4 teams, even if the other 3 teams are crappy and do not expand the market (which will not happen).

So, you expand into two of the top ten tv markets just with A&M, maybe expand to D.C. with VTech, and we are going to lose money? Get real. 16 team conferences are going to make a ton of money, for a ton of people.

And, when the Pac16 finally gets Texas, the revenue stream they get will only drive up the price even further (much like the new Pac14 contracts are doing now).
Posted by thatsbaseball
Member since Jul 2010
39 posts
Posted on 8/31/11 at 1:34 pm to
9 conf games & 3 out of conference games vs 8 conf games & 4 out of conference games will please people until that 9th conf game and subsequent loss(which wouldn`t have happened with a lesser opponent) starts costing the conference BC$ appearances. With scholarship limitations etc. every schools winning %...OVER THE LONG HAUL...will suffer if a ninth conference game is added to their schedule.
Posted by baytiger
Boston
Member since Dec 2007
46978 posts
Posted on 8/31/11 at 1:41 pm to
quote:

So, now we have 12 teams and usually get 8 teams in a bowl game.


The SEC has had 10 eligible for the past two years.

80% would be impossible with a 14 team, 9 game schedule
Posted by TheFolker
Member since Aug 2011
5439 posts
Posted on 8/31/11 at 1:57 pm to
Basketball has done away with the divisional setup starting this season. This years schedule will still use the divisions as a guide but the standings will not be split into divisions. I would imagine after expansion the divisions could be gone altogether in basketball.
Posted by NATidefan
Two hours North of Birmingham
Member since Dec 2008
36776 posts
Posted on 8/31/11 at 2:15 pm to
quote:

I don't see how it doesn't. Each team will have to play the other six teams in their division. Plus you need to preserve several high profile cross division rivalries like Auburn/Georgia and Alabama/Tennessee. Plus you want to make sure that there is at least one rotating out-of-division opponent, but two will ensure that you face each team from the other division at least every 5 years.

So, for a 12-game schedule:
1. 6 teams from your division
2. 1 permanent team from other division
3. 2 rotating teams from other division
4. 3 Out of conference games

Thoughts? Will the conference be ok with just 3 OOC games in a 12-game schedule?



I think we stay with 8. 6 in division, and 2 rotating. We lose the yearly UA/UT and AU/UGA games. And 4 non conference.

We need 3 non-conference games for some easy wins, a chance to play younger guys, and a break for our starters. And we need one tough non-conference game for national exposure and credibility.

I hate losing the rivalry games in the other division, but this is the only way it makes sense to me, the other way would be too tough, unless we play all powederpuff OOC games
This post was edited on 8/31/11 at 2:17 pm
Posted by TIGERSandFROGS
Member since Jul 2007
3809 posts
Posted on 8/31/11 at 2:20 pm to
quote:

80% would be impossible with a 14 team, 9 game schedule


Not really. Even 100% is still possible.

Assume everyone wins their home games and all of their OOC games. 7 teams would go 4-5 in conference and 3-0 OOC for a 7-5 record, and 7 teams would go 5-4 and 3-0 for an 8-4 record. Is that likely to happen? No, but having the vast majority of the conference bowl-eligible would be likely, especially with the cakewalk OOC schedule that everyone would likely line-up.
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