[dwc13]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/MHver3/status/1543970964060471298?cxt=HHwWhIC8havapO0qAAAA[/tweet]

IF Stanford has at all reached out to the Big Ten as this tweet suggests, Stanford intends to keep its place in D1. If it is true Stanford said it would accept whatever it is worth (less than a full share of revenue), to me that is just. Stanford (and of course Cal) have really done nothing to increase the value of their football and hoops programs of late, and deserve to get less money for their media rights.

It seems like Stanford is more interested in the prestige of being in the Big Leagues than the money per se. That makes sense based on what I have perceived from Stanford my entire life.

Even if Stanford is willing to make an outright concession, I'm somewhat skeptical the B1G Ten membership would go along. Such a move would set a potentially dangerous precedent; it could open the door for a member that brings far more to the table (in terms of media rights contribution) to ask for a greater share. The B1G Ten members -- including the newest ones (Nebraska, Maryland, Rutgers) once fully vested -- have always enjoyed equal shares of media rights monies. This is true even though the heavy lifting is done by Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State and Nebraska. Let's be honest, Fox & ESPN are not paying the conference big dollars for media rights because the networks covet the Rutgers-Minnesota or Illinois-Maryland matchups in football. Perhaps the B1G Ten could get really creative and structure a unique vesting period/ramp up/payout criteria for media rights for Stanford that would effectively amount to a partial share without explicitly being identified as such. At the end of the day, the football heavyweights in the conference understand without the other members, there isn't a conference. In the end, cooperation has worked very well for the B1G Ten membership w/r/t media rights.

FWIW, a key reason the B1G Ten broke off discussions with the University of Texas a few years ago is because that institution wanted to be a first among equals and keep its Longhorn Network (and associated revenues) even if it joined the conference. That was a non-starter for B1G Ten members despite other overwhelmingly positive things about UTA.   

As I mentioned in an earlier post on this forum, I think Stanford gets into the B1G Ten (assuming it is interested). From my perspective, it's not just about media rights value added when evaluating Stanford as a potential member. I hope I'm right about that.

[dwc13]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/MHver3/status/1543970964060471298?cxt=HHwWhIC8havapO0qAAAA[/tweet]

IF Stanford has at all reached out to the Big Ten as this tweet suggests, Stanford intends to keep its place in D1. If it is true Stanford said it would accept whatever it is worth (less than a full share of revenue), to me that is just. Stanford (and of course Cal) have really done nothing to increase the value of their football and hoops programs of late, and deserve to get less money for their media rights.

It seems like Stanford is more interested in the prestige of being in the Big Leagues than the money per se. That makes sense based on what I have perceived from Stanford my entire life.

Even if Stanford is willing to make an outright concession, I'm somewhat skeptical the B1G Ten membership would go along. Such a move would set a potentially dangerous precedent; it could open the door for a member that brings far more to the table (in terms of media rights contribution) to ask for a greater share. The B1G Ten members -- including the newest ones (Nebraska, Maryland, Rutgers) once fully vested -- have always enjoyed equal shares of media rights monies. This is true even though the heavy lifting is done by Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State and Nebraska. Let's be honest, Fox & ESPN are not paying the conference big dollars for media rights because the networks covet the Rutgers-Minnesota or Illinois-Maryland matchups in football. Perhaps the B1G Ten could get really creative and structure a unique vesting period/ramp up/payout criteria for media rights for Stanford that would effectively amount to a partial share without explicitly being identified as such. At the end of the day, the football heavyweights in the conference understand without the other members, there isn't a conference. In the end, cooperation has worked very well for the B1G Ten membership w/r/t media rights.

FWIW, a key reason the B1G Ten broke off discussions with the University of Texas a few years ago is because that institution wanted to be a first among equals and keep its Longhorn Network (and associated revenues) even if it joined the conference. That was a non-starter for B1G Ten members despite other overwhelmingly positive things about UTA.   

As I mentioned in an earlier post on this forum, I think Stanford gets into the B1G Ten (assuming it is interested). From my perspective, it's not just about media rights value added when evaluating Stanford as a potential member. I hope I'm right about that.