Chapter 32 The world is in turmoil
The expansion of the Big Ten Conference and the Southeastern Conference is getting stronger and stronger, and the income gap is rapidly widening. Not only the number of subscribers of their own TV channels is rising steadily; but also with the expansion of influence , the proportion of games from the two leagues included in national live broadcasts has also increased visibly.
There is no doubt that the right to speak will be tilted.
On the other hand, the University of Texas once again played a key role in changing the situation. They were dissatisfied with their younger brother, Texas A&M University, who had been suppressed by them for many years. After joining the Southeastern Conference, Texas A&M University made a lot of money. With sufficient funds, its enrollment is getting stronger and stronger every year. , forming a virtuous cycle.
In 2021, the University of Texas joins Oklahoma in joining the Southeastern Conference.
The Big 12 Conference is in dire straits.
Immediately afterwards, the traditional strong teams on the West Coast could no longer sit still. The University of Southern California was dissatisfied with the weakness of the Pac-12 Conference. A year later, in 2022, it joined forces with the University of California, Los Angeles to join the Big Ten Conference. Now the Big Ten Conference is even more powerful. It has huge markets on both the east and west coasts.
The price is that both the Big 12 and the Pac-12 are facing disintegration.
The Big 12 Alliance took the lead in launching a self-rescue, frantically grabbing people, and after wooing universities such as Arizona and Colorado, it barely managed to gain a foothold.
The Pac-12 League is in turmoil. After the University of Washington and the University of Oregon joined the Big Ten Conference, the once glorious Pac-12 League existed in name only.
In 2023, there are only four schools left in the Pac-12: Stanford, University of California, Berkeley, Oregon State, and Washington State. They asked for help everywhere, but they hit the wall one after another. Finally, Stanford and University of California, Berkeley found a foothold in the Atlantic Coast Conference— —
Oregon State and Washington State remain homeless and their futures uncertain.
The NCAA, because of interests, is moving into a new era.
A century-old tradition has been wiped out.
For example, in the same district derby, UCLA and UC Berkeley are both under the name of the University of California system. The competition between the two teams has lasted for more than a century, but now they are in different leagues, and there are no fixed meetings every year. Will happen again.
For example, for home and away games, the divisions used to be regional, and even traveling to away games was not far away, but now the divisions break the geographical restrictions, which means that away games may require flying from the west coast to the east coast, which not only affects students' daily routine , and alumni fans may not be able to go to away games.
Another example is the bowl game. The Rose Bowl (Rose-Bowl) held on New Year's Day every year was once the signature of the NCAA. Even the University of Alabama team's cheering song mentioned the Rose Bowl. Since World War II, the Rose Bowl has been a major attraction of the NCAA. Ten Conference champions vs. Pac-12 champions.
Every year during the Rose Bowl, the champions of the Big Ten Conference will go to sunny California to watch the game and take a vacation. Away fans bring a red rose and follow the team to Los Angeles for the game.
But now that the Pac-12 has essentially collapsed, the tradition of the Rose Bowl will be history.
The wheel of history continues to move forward amidst the roar.
Let’s go back to 2016 for now.
At present, the development of the NCAA has not yet entered a new stage, but the success of the Big Ten Conference and the Southeastern Conference is obvious to all, and they have a unique voice.
As a traditional strong team in the Southeastern Conference, the University of Alabama is the undoubted absolute king of the rapid development of television broadcasts in the past nine years. It has become a beneficiary of the progress of the times. It is no wonder that the president attaches great importance to the number of broadcasts of the team.
If a warm-up match can be held against the Crimson Tide Storm, the TV broadcast revenue will also be very considerable - this game will not only be broadcast live on the Southeastern Conference TV network, but will also be broadcast live on ESPN across the United States.
Everyone is eager to be Alabama's warm-up opponent.
Shaban has his own considerations.
Every year when selecting opponents for the warm-up match, careful consideration is given; this year is no exception. In the end, Shaban chose Clemson University.
Hot discussion, one piece——
The Clemson Tigers, affiliated with the Atlantic Coast League, are also a team with a long history. They were founded in 1896, more than a hundred years ago.
However, Clemson University in South Carolina is a public university and not a traditional elite school. Their football did not fully rise until after the millennium, and reached its peak at the same time as the University of Alabama where Shaban took over, becoming a thing of the past. The strongest team of the decade.
Since head coach Dabo Swinney took over in 2008, the Clemson Tigers have dominated the Atlantic Coast Conference four times.
Clemson and Alabama are famous rivals. The two schools are also located in the South. Their historical feud can be traced back to the distant 1900, and they have met again and again in the subsequent century of history.
Logically speaking, the two teams belong to two leagues respectively, and there is a gap of several years between each meeting. But the wonderful thing is that every time they play against each other, there are sparks. They are either at the same peak or at the same low. So much so that every duel is fought with bayonets and history is constantly being written.
The collision between the Crimson Tide and the Tigers always witnessed the biggest scores in NCAA history. The Tigers once swept the victory "35:0", and the Crimson Tide once humiliated their opponents "74:7". Such dramatic scores led to quarrels among fans. The scolding war became more and more intense, and it seemed to be an endless state.
In 1975, the Crimson Tide Storm crushed the Tigers to win 56:0. The Tigers kept trying to get revenge, but never expected that fate would play a trick on them. It was already 2008 when the two teams met again, when Shaban and Sweeney took over. The team has also entered the beginning of a new peak period for the players.
The last confrontation between the two teams came from last season——
National Championship Game.
The Crimson Tide Storm and the Tigers met in the finals for a peak showdown at Huashan. The final score was "45:40." In a roller coaster-like game, the Crimson Tide Storm had the last laugh, defeating the Tigers and becoming the U.S. champion.
As of this season, the Crimson Tide Storm is far ahead in the head-to-head record with 12 wins and 3 losses. For the Tigers, this old enemy is not a good memory. Their last victory against the Crimson Tide Storm needs to be traced back to 1905. , a century ago, and even longer.
However, history is history, and the present is completely different.
It was precisely because of the excitement of last year's National Championship final that when Shaban announced that Clemson would be his opponent in the final warm-up game of this spring training camp, all the media were excited.
As soon as it comes up, it’s a strong drug?
Before the start of the season, the two teams with the best performance last season will compete to set the tone for the new season that is about to kick off?
If you think about it with your knees, you will know that the ratings of this game will definitely be hot.
So, what on earth was Shaban thinking?
Looking at it from another perspective, what is Sweeney thinking about? Shaban can make a suggestion, but Sweeney still needs to agree. What are the two coaches doing?
It’s still spring training camp, it’s so exciting, is it really good?
Sahuahuahuahua, finally squeezed into the top 100 of the new book list, thank you for your support! Don't stop voting, keep voting, boy, thank you all again! Thanks!
(End of this chapter)