Becoming a Professional MVP: Preparing for Draft Day

The first round of the NFL draft will be taking place on primetime television this coming Thursday, May 8^th. As the NFL teams will be jockeying for position, power and presence to make selections based on their own needs and wants, the college football players vying for a spot on the roster will simply have to wait anxiously for their name to be called.

Under Further Review: Michael Sam Steals the Show

"I'm not afraid to tell the world who I am. I'm Michael Sam: I'm a college graduate. I'm African American, and I'm gay." - Michael Sam

While the media was still trying to wrap their minds around the situation with Marcus Smart and those who were tired of the near-24 hours of coverage were taking in some action from Sochi, something happened. Changed happened. Former University of Missouri All-American defensive lineman and National Football League hopeful Michael Sam did something that no NFL prospect had ever done. He announced he is gay.

Innovation Is Key: Under Armour and Notre Dame Join Forces

    

Under Armour is taking over the world of college sports. Although this statement may not be completely accurate, the company sure is making major deals to compete with fellow competitors Nike and Adidas. The company endorses top athletes such as Michael Phelps, Tom Brady, Lindsey Vonn, and Cam Newton, as well as becoming the official apparel provider to the up and coming National Lacrosse League. However, most recently Under Armour has shown much interest in college football by providing Auburn's uniforms in the national championship game and most recently signing a $100 million dollar equipment deal with Notre Dame.

Playoff Potential: The End of the BCS era, and the Potential of an Extended NFL Playoff.

The BCS’s Last Hurrah.

With a sad salute farewell we say goodbye to the Bowl Championship Series (BCS). R.I.P. BCS, 1998-2014. You and your shenanigans will be missed. The death of the BCS is paving the way for something, that if you know how television contracts work, that will glue more eyeballs to more television screens across the country. More viewers mean more money for all parties involved with the newly named College Football Playoffs (the NCAA is very creative). 

The 114th Army Navy Football Game

PHILADELPHIA - Football and the military. There really is not a pair of things in this world more American than that. Army versus Navy, part 114. America's game is what they call it. Navy took the game 34-7, making quick work of Army. Army has now dropped the last dozen match-ups.

Double Feature: SEC’s Dominance and Passing of Adrian Peterson’s Son

SEC Makes History With Eight Top 25 Teams

The Southeastern Conference set a record when the AP poll was released for week eight of the college football season. For the first time in history one conference has eight teams in the Top 25. The SEC is known to be a powerhouse conference, but never before has one conference had this many teams included.

The Closer: Recap of "Schooled: The Price of College Sports"

As a Drexel student, it is hard to imagine Beaver Stadium on a Saturday, or the Carrier Dome when Notre Dame comes to play Syacuse. Yesterday, myself, along with anyone else that attends or works at a modest university with moderate athletic facilities, were reminded how "the other half" lives; boy were our eyes opened.

The Closer: Preview of Schooled: The Price of College Sports

 

Tonight, Tuesday, October 8th, 2013, a specialty, one-of-a-kind documentary is premiering in New York City. Schooled: The Price of College Sports, an EPIX Original Documentary, is a "comprehensive look at the business, history and culture of big-time college football and basketball in America."

Under Further Review: College Football, All Players United, and the Media

Over the weekend, if you were watching Georgia Tech or Georgia or Northwestern play football on national television, then you saw the beginnings of current college athletes pushing back against the fraudulent NCAA. Players on each team - 28 to be exact - donned "#APU" on their wristbands and towels. APU stands for All Players United, a way for players to show solidarity in the face of injustice.

Head Injuries: Risks That Athletes Should Be Aware Of

One of the biggest issues facing sports, if not the biggest, is the multitude of concussions and brain damage that has been caused for many athletes who play football, rugby, and hockey. For years now, former players have sued leagues and now they instill fines to players who make helmet-to-helmet contact.  However, there is no real way to instill such rules, because these players already make millions of dollars and they would rather make a nice hit, because that is the way the game is supposed to be played in their minds. And they are right. 

"WE ARE...UNRAVELING": Penn State scandal as seen by the Paterno Family, Phil Knight, and Kevin Murray

This past week, the family of Joe Paterno released a 238-page report, defending Paterno and refuting the Freeh Report. Within the report, high profile experts, such as Dick Thornburgh, former Attorney General of the United States and Governor of Pennsylvania, and Jim Clemente, former FBI profiler, prosecutor, and child sex crimes expert, analyzed the full Freeh Report and the treatment of Joe Paterno by his University and Penn State by the NCAA. This report, a long with a lot of commentary from experts across the country, claims that the Freeh Report was not only bias, but "incomplete and full of inaccuracies."

BCS Championship Game: Did People Really Watch It?

The BCS National Championship game had been hyped up for over a month.  People were excited to see a great game and to finally see Notre Dame return to glory.  Two of the best defenses in the league were going up against each other in what everyone thought would be a low scoring hard fought game.  Instead we saw a complete domination by Alabama who made the Notre Dame’s defense look like a Pop Warner team.  Even though this was a complete blowout ESPN still won when it came to viewership.

TMA: The SEC: Financial and Football Dominance

Monday night, Notre Dame and Alabama faced off for the 2012 BCS National Championship. While the game was a clear rout from the start between the #1 and #2 ranked teams in the nation, it was also a matchup between the top two programs in terms of merchandise sales this season.

Limitless Financial Power, Unless You’re A Freshman: Can Anyone Stop the Big Ten Network?

If you didn’t catch on from my recent blog posts, I’m kind of partial to the Big Ten. Also, unless you’re living under a rock, you caught some recent news about the Big Ten. 

Let’s catch up any readers who began a hermitage in the last month: Maryland and Rutgers were approved to become the 13^th and 14^th members of the illustrious Big Ten Conference. So yes, the numbers still don’t make sense, but the dollar signs have athletic directors, conference officials, and university presidents not asking questions.

The Big Ten Network was already a powerful force in college athletics (I remember reading someone’s brilliant musings on that exact subject a few months ago.) Add in the New York and Baltimore/D.C. media markets (two of the largest on the East Coast) and we have the makings of an unstoppable media behemoth. Add in the recent news that each of the five “power leagues” would get an average of $75 million more per year than other FBS leagues under the college football playoff, and the money’s looking very, very good.

Furthermore, with Michigan State, Michigan, Ohio State, and Indiana all looking to be elite programs, and programs like Illinois, Wisconsin, Purdue, and newcomer Maryland who are far from slouches in their own right (ignore the early struggles of Wisconsin and Purdue. Combined, they have 255 total wins and five Sweet Sixteen appearances in the last five years), the Big Ten is arguably poised to be the premier college basketball conference in the nation (although the new look ACC has some great programs.) It’s a good time to be a part of the Big Ten.

That is, unless you’re a newcomer. John Ourand of SportsBusinessJournal reported this week that Maryland and Rutgers will likely not have their games broadcast on the Big Ten Network until local distributors give into the Big Ten Network’s demand to place the channel on an expanded basic tier, a strategy identical to the one used when Nebraska joined the conference. First impressions show a potential battle with Cablevision in the New Jersey markets. The Big Ten Network wants to offer its programming to the largest possible group of people, and likely won’t budge on their demands. This will hurt fans in these new markets who want to see their teams. This strategy worked at the outset of the Big Ten Network, where many markets (including Time Warner Cable in central Ohio) refused to come to a deal with the BTN to carry the network until days before the opening of the season.

Rutgers fans, Maryland faithful: start pressuring your cable providers now, or you might miss out on the new era of college athletics.

The Man Advantage: Big Ten Network, Big Plans, Big Payoff

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL?

I know I am—it’s one of the best times of the year, as college football starts anew. After an offseason marred with scandal (and I have zero interest in rehashing what I mean), I’m excited to see the pursuit for the 2012 BCS title begin. Amid the controversy is all the money that comes with it: bowl money, realignment issues, sponsorship dollars, etc. Above all others, one source of revenue looks to continue as the biggest ticket item: television.

On August 14, the Big East’s hired CBS executive VP Mike Aresco as commissioner of the new-look conference, making it clear the conference was going all in on creating its own television network. The conference turned down a deal from ESPN in May 2011 rumored to be worth $11 million per school, in order to hold out for more money… then saw Pitt, Syracuse, and West Virginia (arguably three of it's most attractive schools) all bolt for greener pastures.

The gold standard in the world of college sports and television deals is now and will continue to be the Big Ten. The Big Ten Network, going into its fifth season, is pushing the pinnacle of what conference networks can achieve year in and year out. The August 20 issue of SportsBusiness Journal named Big Ten commissioner (and mastermind behind the Big Ten Network) Jim Delaney the #2 most influential figure in college football. Few things seem to stand in the way of the BTN—it’s first half-decade has been marked by constant negotiations with local cable companies to carry the network to their viewers. Just recently, the Big Ten Network came to a temporary agreement with DISH Network, allowing it’s 14 million subscribers to catch the opening weekend games mere hours before kickoff.

SBJ recently satdown with BTN President, Mark Silverman, to discuss the future of the burgeoning network power. Silverman’s focus seems squarely focused on digital/mobile, believing “we need to make sure our programming is available no matter how our viewers want to watch it.” The introduction of BTN2Go streaming media is the heart of their strategy, as more people are watching on their smartphones, tablets, and computers; anywhere but in front of a television. The network is also looking to grow the international presence of the network, working with all 12 member schools’ alumni associations to spread BTN2Go.com to their target audience.

With what many of us have learned (either in classes or on the job), digital media is a huge portion of the present and future of sports business. The Big Ten is, as my favorite school says, “the leaders and best” in the NCAA with their digital media presence. Time will tell whether the Pac-12, SEC, ACC, or Big “12” (let alone Notre Dame and Texas) can find the same success the Big Ten Network has had in its brief existence.

Do you see anyone catching up with the BTN? Post in the comments below!

Death To The BCS

Death To The BCS: A Definitive Case Against The Bowl Championship Series is written by Dan Wetzel, Josh Peter, and Jeff Passan.  The book offers incredible insight into what really makes college football and the BCS tick.  Many of us know about the injustices of the BCS, but Death To The BCS takes it to a whole new level.

The writers take an extensive look into the reasons that the BCS people give for not having a playoff.  “It would take away class time.”  “It wouldn’t be good for the band members or cheerleaders.”  “It would take away the importance of the regular season.”  All three are ridiculous arguments that “the Cartel”, as they call the BCS throughout, uses to leave people dumbfounded.  Those are just the beginning. 

The Cartel’s biggest argument against a playoff is that there has not been a reasonable alternative suggested.  The book was written before this past season so obviously there was no knowing that the plus-one would be suggested and gain steam.  Wetzel, Peter, and Passan take the time to not only craft their own plan that could very well work, they crafted a plan that would be exponentially more profitable than the current system. 

Many people love sports for its simplicity and sense of purity.  The BCS not only complicates the system beyond belief, it takes the purity of competition and fairness almost completely out of college football.  We know that money drives everything, but in sports the integrity of the game and competition should never be sacrificed.  The BCS throws integrity completely out the window. 

My favorite part of the book is the final chapter titled “Death to the BCS”.  The chapter starts off talking about how the BCS is so corrupt that it even brings Republicans and Democrats together.  Anybody with the slightest sense of 2012 politics knows that that is damn near impossible.  The writers call the BCS un-American.  At first I thought it was funny; how could college football, one of the most ‘merican sports on the planet, not be ‘merican anymore?  Well, the BCS has found a way to do it.

Many of us here at Drexel are either on co-op or preparing for summer vacation, and some of us may be looking build a little reading list for free time.  Yes a reading list, don’t tell me I’m the only nerd here.  If you want a good college football read, or a good sports business read in general, I highly recommend Death to the BCS.  Wetzel, Peter, and Passan are all award winning writers, Wetzel being one of the best investigative journalists in the business right now.  Their research really shines through, which you can appreciate even if you are for some reason on the BCS’s side in this matter.  Death to the BCS is a must for college football fans and highly recommended for sports business fanatics.