re: The 9th conference game

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The part about having one more conference home game is still true. Your point about it not mattering for schools that sell out every game is valid though. If Alabama was playing A&M at home or Idaho it wouldn't make a difference to them in terms of tickets sold.

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You can charge more for the tickets to that game, and you don't have to pay 750k to some double directional school to visit.

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You can charge more for the tickets to that game

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I doubt they would adjust season ticket prices much based on that schedule. They might use it as an excuse to raise the prices, but I doubt it will be adjusted for when we have 5 road games. Plus if we're playing UK, Vandy or Mizzou in that game the prices would not be much different. Mizzou tickets are basically the same on the secondary market right now as SC State or Sam tickets. When you consider how much of our tickets are student subsidized ones as well and that it would occur every other year, I think the difference would be peanuts.

The point about paying schools to come play you is a valid one though. The added conference home game could mean we cancel a series with Oregon or USC though and keep playing 3 directional schools.

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I would like the opportunity to play some of the East schools on a semi-regular basis just for selfish reasons. I want to be able to travel to Athens because I've heard amazing things. I have friends who went to Vandy and live in Nashville. I want to make the trips to Knoxville and Gainesville and just be able to see us play there on TV because I think it helps our profile as a program. Other schools, like UK, I could care less about.

The old guard definitely takes that more seriously than us though and it's probably good for conference unity that those games happen more frequently.

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The symmetry with 9 games would be awesome. It would be 2 games in the East rotated between:

Mizzou
Kentucky
Tennessee
Vanderbilt
Georgia
Florida



I'm assuming they will pair the Big 3(UF, UGA, UT) in the East with non Big 3 so you'd end up with:

Florida/Vandy
Georgia/Kentucky
Tennessee/Mizzou

on a rotating basis:

So every year you'd either get a home or away against one of the Big 3. Seems ideal.

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The symmetry with 9 games would be awesome. It would be 2 games in the East rotated between:

Mizzou
Kentucky
Tennessee
Vanderbilt
Georgia
Florida



I'm assuming they will pair the Big 3(UF, UGA, UT) in the East with non Big 3 so you'd end up with:

Florida/Vandy
Georgia/Kentucky
Tennessee/Mizzou

on a rotating basis:

So every year you'd either get a home or away against one of the Big 3. Seems ideal.

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This is exactly why I would prefer a 9th game

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The biggest driver of the 9th game would be the SEC Network deal that is being negotiated. If ESPN is willing to put enough cash in the kitty then it will happen because the TV revenue could be enough to overcome everything else. My guess is the deal will combo with the 2nd tier rights deal because as it stands there are only 14 games available for the SEC Network, they will want to double or triple that.

this is erroneous. ESPN owns all the games but the 14 you mention. ESPN will be a partner in SECtv. And ESPN does not currently air all the games it owns.

1 game/week is sold to a distribution network called SEC network (it's playing UK-UF this week and A&M-Ark next)
1 gamme/week is sold to FSN
1 game every other week is sold to CSS

All these contracts expire after 2013 and normally ESPN would put them back up for bid. They won't. They are being added to the inventory for SECtv. That means SECtv likely has 3 games every single week and 4 some weeks. That's with zero change to our current setup.

The single biggest driver to whether we go to 9 games is one you guys aren't even talking about. The old guard of the SEC doesn't want to never play each other. LSU-UK used to play every year. So did UA-UF. And AU-UT. At 8 conf games, these games would be every 6 years and it makes the conference feel distant, something that doesn't really matter to us because we are new here. The close-knit feel of the SEC is something many are fighting for.

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I think you miss the key point. Technically the SEC Network only will have rights to the 1 game per season that the school's own but since ESPN owns the 2nd Tier it doesn't matter. The key though is that having a 9th conference game essentially trades out a patsy game for a conference game which raises the value of the contract. Technically that affects the 2nd Tier contract in terms of who will "own" the game but since ESPN will own both 2nd and 3rd Tier rights effectively it just adds more quality games to the overall package. Essentially the line between the Tier 2 and Tier 3 rights will gray because ESPN will own both. Rather than re-opening the Tier 2 deal they can just add to the SEC Network deal.

There has to be a financial benefit to adding the 9th Conference game and gate revenue won't be it. Sure the "old guard" is a part of that but in the end they just want to make money. For that matter A&M voted against perm rivals so they could play more East teams.

The tv contracts are all in negotiation right now. ESPN's problem has generally been too much content that they are unable to air which is why they sell them. This was the case even before 2 extra teams were added. But ESPN would make more money broadcasting these games than selling them so they are doing so as part of a broader change to the contracts.

SECtv is not "Technically....rights to the 1 game". That's not the concept nor is it the BTN or Pac-N concept. T2/T3 is greatly misunderstood. It's only the order in which games are chosen. Tier 2 doesn't define anything by itself. SECtv will be T3 but not because it is limited to the 14 games held back by the schools but because 3 comes after 2. The Family is 2, SECtv and whatever is included will be 3. Items that don't make SECtv become Tier 4. SECtv is as much about redefining the tiers and better monetizing the bottom of the current Tier 2 as anything to do with the current Tier 3.

Anyway, this is tangential to a 9th conference game. It has to do with better content. A 9th game creates better content but getting better content doesn't require a 9th game. The two issues are separate.

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I'm sure it's already been mentioned, but the next time Florida comes to town, we'll have worked our way through 3 presidential elections (or at least gearing up for a 3rd). Think about how long ago Bush v. Gore in 2000 was. That's a long friggin time to wait around for a chance to make a road trip.

Can't make it to Athens for the UGA game? Oh well, make sure your calendar is clear for 2025.

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Don't worry. 2014 will will have big home or road game from the East every year. It is almost guaranteed to happen.