It's her job to keep the greed of the Duck/Knight sports machine in check. Knight is not the governor, nor is he an elected official. This sports insanity has lost all perspective.
Even if Oregon got a SCREAMING media deal, it would amount to maybe 5-6% of annual revenues. That’s just not worth blowing up all sports. They could raise tuition like 1% to account for that, or the state could fill the gap. OR...an expanded PAC-12 could fill most of it.
Focus regionally, build a brand, build rivalries, make it organic. This money-based stuff is like visiting Las Vegas. Sure, it looks cool up front, but you know it’s a facade.
Let’s say you have a soccer player as a child. You wanna send her to play, say, soccer for UO/UW but have her travel to Newark to play Rutgers on the regular? That’s 3 time zones in either direction, plus a 5- to 6-hour flight. That’s just nuts. It’s not much better visiting State College, Madison, Minneapolis, Lincoln, Lansing, Columbus, Maryland, or Ann Arbor. In only one or two of those do you have a quick-ish direct flight (Maryland from DC, Minn from MSP) to PDX. EUG? Forget it. These require overnights (maybe) and connecting flights (for sure). These are *brutal* travel schedules for everyone involved in the West Coast.
We used to live in FL but had family in MSP and PDX. Those travel days were rough. Really rough. It’s one thing to take a short flight back to Eugene from SF or a quick connection if you’re leaving from LAX. It’s another thing altogether to have to connect through MSP, ORD, SLC, or DEN for basically every contest.
Do you want Oregon to end up in some sort of new Mountain West, with no shot ever at a national title, with every year a widening gulf in revenue and recruits between whatever new power conferences thing develops, and everyone else? With Oregon hanging out with the Utah States and Fresnos of the world?
These are the stakes. The PAC-12 was just shot in the back of the head, so to speak.
Not to mention that we are dealing with a climate crisis fueled by fossil fuel consumption. Talk about throwing fuel on the fire by making way more long distance trips out to the midwest.
At some point we have to come to terms with the damage being caused for our conveniences.
Tell that to Obama and his House in MV, Gore and his 20,000 sq foot house on the beach and John Kerry, Climate Czar, who travels the globe in his private jet. They're not too worried, why should I be?
I hear ya on those examples. Not sure what they are thinking.......but it is within our power collectively to curb fossil fuel consumption. Waiting for politicians and elites to set an example is a fools errand I am afraid.
You don’t even have to make that moral argument, though your point is taken. You can argue this on the basis of opportunity cost alone.
Assume that airplanes, trains, ferries, cars and buses are miraculously able to operate on 100% carbon-free energy. What a world, right? Even in that scenario, the logistics themselves don’t make sense and I don’t do it. It’s a matter of opportunity costs for the teams, players, and coaching staff (all for different reasons). Basically, in order to get X (some more $), they’re giving up Y...and I see Y being pretty significant in many areas - time being the biggest.
Time is 100% carbon-neutral but it’s being used up in this potential scenario at a hefty rate, and the consumers are the athletes and coaches. They can’t get that back and they pay for this travel in blood, sweat, tears, and fatigue...that will manifest itself in frustration (coaches, athletes), lower grades (athletes), decreased job satisfaction and higher coaching turnover (coaches), as well as less time socializing with anyone other than their teammates. For the team/school, the brands just don’t have the same punch in the new conferences. For example, UO made up a lot of its expected revenue shortfalls from 2009-2012 with Californians paying high tuition, and their market research showed that the Oregon brand was a big reason why. Are we sure that Oregon is gonna have that kind of pull when competing against Michigan, Ohio State, Nebraska, or Wisconsin? I’m incredibly skeptical, having grown up in MN. It needs to pan out to make up for the lost time and academic achievement.
For logistics...Imagine yourself in this alternate reality. You go to school while playing baseball or soccer at UO. There’d be a huge difference between an away game and one at Michigan State. One is a short bus ride and 1:45 flight from SFO-EUG. The other is a 1-hr hop to ORD/DTW or 1.5-hr hop to MSP, then a 2- to 4-hr flight to SLC, DEN, SEA, or PDX; then a hop down to EUG. That’s a world of difference, and that’s one of the better scenarios!
The *best* travel days in the Big Ten would be playing at Northwestern and Minnesota, as they’re very close to major airports with direct flights to PDX in under 4 hours. If you can’t go direct to PDX in that time, then your next-best option is to fly to DEN, SEA, or SLC to connect to EUG in a reasonable period. That *may* get you Madison, Lincoln, Columbus - need to look - and Ann Arbor (short ride to DTW). So, 2 *good* travel days and 4 *OK* travel days depending on available itineraries.
The remaining 8 of the current (14) Big Ten schools are in crap locations for weekend travel. You truly can’t get many - or any - direct flights to PDX, DEN, SEA, or SLC to connect to EUG in a reasonable timeframe from these location because none are located in or near large cities. Most are in places like Eugene:
Champagne, IL
Bloomington, IN
Iowa City, IA
Lafayette, IN
East Lansing, MI
State College, PA
On top of these 6, Maryland (College Park, near DC) and Rutgers (NJ) are on the East Coast. This means that most road games are all-day/all-night travel affairs. If I’m a student athlete, I think twice about this, especially if I have other offers, and especially if I play a non-football sport (many more games).
Not to mention you completely lose any intangibles like tradition, enjoying contests against old friends and foes from HS at conference rivals, as well as alumni connections among schools.
I just hate this money focus and not for “just let them be kids!” reasons. It just doesn’t make sense. I literally don’t think it’ll be a huge boon for schools, either, which leaves the conference and its games less fun to watch. It think that, on net, the money will be less lucrative than the initial reports of gross revenue, and it’ll come with reduced merchandise revenue and lower interest among fans, and the payment will be overworked students and staff that lose more of their weeks due to travel.
Don’t get me started on joining the ACC or SEC, either. Those would be far worse across the board, logistically. That’s literally all-day travel to *PDX*, let alone EUG. Trust me. Did it ALL. THE. TIME. It sucked. Know what DELTA stands for? Directs Every Leg Through Atlanta. Think Clemson/Auburn/Tallahassee-Atlanta-PDX-EUG. Ugh.
Plus, as I’ve said many times this past week, if I want to watch a bunch of businesses scramble for cash while playing sports, why wouldn’t I just watch the pros? They’re far better at the game than collegiate athletes, the athletes actually get paid, the leagues have much more parity (few dynasties), the marketing is better, most leagues literally share revenue, TV schedules are more predictable, the pre- and post-game shows are often less jingoistic but comparable in quality, and the ticket prices aren’t *that* different. Oh, and it’s much easier to get all NFL and NBA games with a single-season TV pass than NCAA games. NFL RedZone o the NFL Sunday Ticket are great here.
PAC-12 seems to be taking the right path so far - consider expanding regionally, renegotiate a better media deal, consider some kind of bi-coastal championship (this is kinda innovative - not gonna lie). I hope UO mostly ignores Phil Knight if he’s bellyaching about the Big Ten. It’s not his call, as much as he’d like it to be. He gets a seat at the table as a large donor and alumnus, but he doesn’t - and shouldn’t - make the call. This is up to the universities, conference and - in the case of state universities - the state governments. Period.
Hard pass on the Big Ten; even harder pass on the ACC or SEC. Sorry.
Kate Brown needs to stay in her lane. 💯
It's her job to keep the greed of the Duck/Knight sports machine in check. Knight is not the governor, nor is he an elected official. This sports insanity has lost all perspective.
Even if Oregon got a SCREAMING media deal, it would amount to maybe 5-6% of annual revenues. That’s just not worth blowing up all sports. They could raise tuition like 1% to account for that, or the state could fill the gap. OR...an expanded PAC-12 could fill most of it.
Focus regionally, build a brand, build rivalries, make it organic. This money-based stuff is like visiting Las Vegas. Sure, it looks cool up front, but you know it’s a facade.
Let’s say you have a soccer player as a child. You wanna send her to play, say, soccer for UO/UW but have her travel to Newark to play Rutgers on the regular? That’s 3 time zones in either direction, plus a 5- to 6-hour flight. That’s just nuts. It’s not much better visiting State College, Madison, Minneapolis, Lincoln, Lansing, Columbus, Maryland, or Ann Arbor. In only one or two of those do you have a quick-ish direct flight (Maryland from DC, Minn from MSP) to PDX. EUG? Forget it. These require overnights (maybe) and connecting flights (for sure). These are *brutal* travel schedules for everyone involved in the West Coast.
We used to live in FL but had family in MSP and PDX. Those travel days were rough. Really rough. It’s one thing to take a short flight back to Eugene from SF or a quick connection if you’re leaving from LAX. It’s another thing altogether to have to connect through MSP, ORD, SLC, or DEN for basically every contest.
Nope.
Raise tuition to pay for sports? You're kidding.
Do you want Oregon to end up in some sort of new Mountain West, with no shot ever at a national title, with every year a widening gulf in revenue and recruits between whatever new power conferences thing develops, and everyone else? With Oregon hanging out with the Utah States and Fresnos of the world?
These are the stakes. The PAC-12 was just shot in the back of the head, so to speak.
Not to mention that we are dealing with a climate crisis fueled by fossil fuel consumption. Talk about throwing fuel on the fire by making way more long distance trips out to the midwest.
At some point we have to come to terms with the damage being caused for our conveniences.
Tell that to Obama and his House in MV, Gore and his 20,000 sq foot house on the beach and John Kerry, Climate Czar, who travels the globe in his private jet. They're not too worried, why should I be?
I hear ya on those examples. Not sure what they are thinking.......but it is within our power collectively to curb fossil fuel consumption. Waiting for politicians and elites to set an example is a fools errand I am afraid.
Dear God, just stop with the nitpicking.
You don’t even have to make that moral argument, though your point is taken. You can argue this on the basis of opportunity cost alone.
Assume that airplanes, trains, ferries, cars and buses are miraculously able to operate on 100% carbon-free energy. What a world, right? Even in that scenario, the logistics themselves don’t make sense and I don’t do it. It’s a matter of opportunity costs for the teams, players, and coaching staff (all for different reasons). Basically, in order to get X (some more $), they’re giving up Y...and I see Y being pretty significant in many areas - time being the biggest.
Time is 100% carbon-neutral but it’s being used up in this potential scenario at a hefty rate, and the consumers are the athletes and coaches. They can’t get that back and they pay for this travel in blood, sweat, tears, and fatigue...that will manifest itself in frustration (coaches, athletes), lower grades (athletes), decreased job satisfaction and higher coaching turnover (coaches), as well as less time socializing with anyone other than their teammates. For the team/school, the brands just don’t have the same punch in the new conferences. For example, UO made up a lot of its expected revenue shortfalls from 2009-2012 with Californians paying high tuition, and their market research showed that the Oregon brand was a big reason why. Are we sure that Oregon is gonna have that kind of pull when competing against Michigan, Ohio State, Nebraska, or Wisconsin? I’m incredibly skeptical, having grown up in MN. It needs to pan out to make up for the lost time and academic achievement.
For logistics...Imagine yourself in this alternate reality. You go to school while playing baseball or soccer at UO. There’d be a huge difference between an away game and one at Michigan State. One is a short bus ride and 1:45 flight from SFO-EUG. The other is a 1-hr hop to ORD/DTW or 1.5-hr hop to MSP, then a 2- to 4-hr flight to SLC, DEN, SEA, or PDX; then a hop down to EUG. That’s a world of difference, and that’s one of the better scenarios!
The *best* travel days in the Big Ten would be playing at Northwestern and Minnesota, as they’re very close to major airports with direct flights to PDX in under 4 hours. If you can’t go direct to PDX in that time, then your next-best option is to fly to DEN, SEA, or SLC to connect to EUG in a reasonable period. That *may* get you Madison, Lincoln, Columbus - need to look - and Ann Arbor (short ride to DTW). So, 2 *good* travel days and 4 *OK* travel days depending on available itineraries.
The remaining 8 of the current (14) Big Ten schools are in crap locations for weekend travel. You truly can’t get many - or any - direct flights to PDX, DEN, SEA, or SLC to connect to EUG in a reasonable timeframe from these location because none are located in or near large cities. Most are in places like Eugene:
Champagne, IL
Bloomington, IN
Iowa City, IA
Lafayette, IN
East Lansing, MI
State College, PA
On top of these 6, Maryland (College Park, near DC) and Rutgers (NJ) are on the East Coast. This means that most road games are all-day/all-night travel affairs. If I’m a student athlete, I think twice about this, especially if I have other offers, and especially if I play a non-football sport (many more games).
Not to mention you completely lose any intangibles like tradition, enjoying contests against old friends and foes from HS at conference rivals, as well as alumni connections among schools.
I just hate this money focus and not for “just let them be kids!” reasons. It just doesn’t make sense. I literally don’t think it’ll be a huge boon for schools, either, which leaves the conference and its games less fun to watch. It think that, on net, the money will be less lucrative than the initial reports of gross revenue, and it’ll come with reduced merchandise revenue and lower interest among fans, and the payment will be overworked students and staff that lose more of their weeks due to travel.
Don’t get me started on joining the ACC or SEC, either. Those would be far worse across the board, logistically. That’s literally all-day travel to *PDX*, let alone EUG. Trust me. Did it ALL. THE. TIME. It sucked. Know what DELTA stands for? Directs Every Leg Through Atlanta. Think Clemson/Auburn/Tallahassee-Atlanta-PDX-EUG. Ugh.
Plus, as I’ve said many times this past week, if I want to watch a bunch of businesses scramble for cash while playing sports, why wouldn’t I just watch the pros? They’re far better at the game than collegiate athletes, the athletes actually get paid, the leagues have much more parity (few dynasties), the marketing is better, most leagues literally share revenue, TV schedules are more predictable, the pre- and post-game shows are often less jingoistic but comparable in quality, and the ticket prices aren’t *that* different. Oh, and it’s much easier to get all NFL and NBA games with a single-season TV pass than NCAA games. NFL RedZone o the NFL Sunday Ticket are great here.
PAC-12 seems to be taking the right path so far - consider expanding regionally, renegotiate a better media deal, consider some kind of bi-coastal championship (this is kinda innovative - not gonna lie). I hope UO mostly ignores Phil Knight if he’s bellyaching about the Big Ten. It’s not his call, as much as he’d like it to be. He gets a seat at the table as a large donor and alumnus, but he doesn’t - and shouldn’t - make the call. This is up to the universities, conference and - in the case of state universities - the state governments. Period.
Hard pass on the Big Ten; even harder pass on the ACC or SEC. Sorry.
Fine, but you’d also be pissed if she tried nothing.
I honestly would not be pissed off, I would be happy.