Your Place or Mine?

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Happy Friday, folks.

Channeling my inner prof and kicking things off with some administrative stuff.

First, it’s been a while since I’ve done a “get to know ya” survey, so I’d really appreciate it if you took 30 seconds to fill this one out. I only want the biggest, fastest, and strongest here at Pigskin Economics, and this scouting report will ensure we take it to those punks at Hardwood U.

Also doing some grassroots recruiting and launching a trial referral program 🤠 

Do you have a friend who you think would love about the second downs AND sweet dollars of CFB? Share your individual link below, and if they subscribe, you get rewarded. Working on the rewards right now, but I promise, they’ll be worth it.

The competition will last one week, and to get you started, I’m even promising a reward for everyone who gets at least one referral. There will be something extra special for whoever manages to get the most. Aaaaaaaand go 👀 

So you remember John Ruiz from a few weeks ago?

The NCAA certainly does. The Miami … supporter(?) is now claiming to be preparing a lawsuit against the organization after the league sanctioned his beloved Hurricanes for a recruiting violation involving an impermissible dinner between the billionaire superfan and women’s basketball players Haley and Hanna Cavinder.

Apparently, “booster” is as hurtful to hear as are “idiot” or “you’re like a brother to me.” Ruiz argues that there is a preexisting, established relationship between himself and the school dating back to when his son played baseball for the Canes. He believes that this prior clarity is enough to shorten the probation period normally associated with booster-related infractions.

He wouldn’t be able to sue the league for defamation, no matter how hurtful the b-word might be. Tbh giving him such a distinction might drive him even more business in Coral Gables.

However, he is hoping to force the court to go to video review and make a clear call clarifying the legal relationship. Ruiz claims that he isn’t personally providing financial assistance to the school, but rather, the contracts that his company LifeWallet have signed with multiple athletes have been mutually beneficial business arrangements, not even reserved for Miami players.

It’s unclear whether he has actually sued yet, but based on everything I’ve hear about him, I’m taking “Yes” -140. Regardless of the outcome, I’ll make sure to reserve calling people “booster” for my gravest of enemies.

Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormack decided things were too french vanilla and decided to spice them up by publicly stating that the conference was far from finished when it comes to expansion. You pot stirrer, you.

The statement comes after recent reports of the conference engaging in discussions with Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and Arizona State. There has also been discussion with Gonzaga about joining to add to the conference’s strong basketball reputation, something he didn’t even deny.

The conference also decided that team pro days are so 2023. Starting next year, the conference will be taking an innovative approach to organizing the controlled post-combine workouts which schools generally host for their pro-ready athletes. Through a partnership with the NFL, pro scouts and coaches will fly to the Lone Star State for Whataburger and maybe to watch players from the entire conference rather than on individual teams on campuses.

NFL teams are happy to leave the neck cushions in the closet by condensing travel to a single trip. The schools, particularly the smaller ones, will enjoy the opportunity to get as much exposure as possible for their players.

The Big 12 lost quite a bit of firepower when UT and OU announced their departures. However, rather than go the way of the ACC and Pac-12, the league has been aggressive in ensuring it still has a place at the table, whether through expansion or being proactive in its media rights search.

With the media rights issues plaguing both of the ACC and Pac-12, the Big 12 is beginning to emerge as the clear number 3 in the super-conference era. This move just further signals to its own teams and potential future ones that it won’t go down without doing its gosh darn best.

Take a look at the calendar recently? If so, you’ve noticed that it’s March, the one month of the year that people suddenly care about college basketball. Pretty soon, we’ll be saying the same about December and college football. Thanks, expansion.

First, I took the liberty of making a bracket for subscribers. Join and tell your friends. Winner gets eternal glory and a shoutout in the newsletter. Loser has to go to an Iowa game.

Second, as part of the whole “only care during March” thing, this means that there are going to be a ton of eyes watching some collegiate hoops. There are bound to be some breakout players from small schools that pop out and onto the national radar like St. Peter’s guard Doug Edert last year or a little-known name in Steph Curry for Davidson in 2009.

In the age of NIL, the fresh exposure to these newborn stars will come with more teammates wrestling for the ball when there are 10 seconds left and plenty of Instagram followers and brand deals. I’ve got nothing for the first, but for the persona management, there’s a better way than ever to go about both things.

FanWord launched a directory for the tournament with profiles for every men’s and women’s participant, complete with social media profiles and personal information like past brand deals and courses of study for players who claim their profiles.

This resource will make it super simple for the auto insurance company to get in touch with the 13 seed Cinderella’s star point guard who dropped 35 in an upset over a hungover blue blood en route to losing by 40 in the Round of 32.

For fans, it will be a unique opportunity to learn more about these exciting new players and populate their feeds with the generic “chosen one” workout pics from the school’s athletic media department.

Had the chance to speak with a professional sports gambler. After hearing him explain about how he made millions after betting on a golf tournament because of the type of grass on the course and how it had impacted the favorite’s performance in the past, I made a vow to myself to never bet on sports again. Doesn’t mean I can’t learn from the experts as they write about it 🤷 

Check out Raising Stake to get your fix of all things sports gambling from industry experts Jason and Kyle.

When NFL fans got to watch the beautiful spectacle that is Joe Burrow playing football in the Playoffs as he and the Cincinnati Bengals took down the Buffalo Bills in a surprise upset, they were saved from a rare postseason occurrence: neutral site games.

The measure had been planned (and anticipated with the Bills entering as a strong favorite) in response to what would have been a tie scenario resulting from the cancelled game between the Bills and Bengals during Week 17 when Bills safety Damar Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest.

Most importantly, Hamlin is healthy and recovered, but the cancelled game did have important playoff implications because of the order of standings which would have impacted playoff homefield advantage. Had the Bills won the week 17 game, they would have tied the Chiefs and potentially altered the top overall seed.

The tiebreaker conference championship game would have been played in Atlanta because the league threw a dart at a map and when it landed in South Dakota, they decided that fans of both teams would enjoy those Louwill lemon pepper wings more anyways.

The league had even opened up ticket sales for the neutral site matchup to season ticket holders from both teams prior to the Bengals-Bills playoff matchup. While these early sales are the norm and really not the slap of disrespect that many Cinci fans and players thought it to be, the NFL probably wanted the neutral site game. From a business POV, it makes cents.

First, it allows the league to be in charge of ticket sales. Rather than letting the individual teams sell their own stadium (and suites) out, moving the conference championships away from the two teams actually playing in it would have given the NFL full control over ticket sales, meaning they'd make more money.

Another appeal of these split-the-difference… ish games is that they open up the bidding war for hosting duties. In most sports, whenever a big event has its telescope out, searching for destination land, cities enter expensive (or lucrative, if you’re the league) bidding wars, paying millions to send up “sos” flares of “Select Our Stadium.”

In theory, there’s a belief that hosting such games could be an economic boon that brings tourism and exposure to cities, creating jobs and spurring growth. While the validity of this is debatable (most economists actually say it’s a load of horse…), the NFL couldn’t care less if it means making a ton of money and seeing its product displayed in high-scale amenities across the country.

The league could even further embrace its colonial aspirations and move some of these games abroad, such as to Mexico City, London, or even Beijing. The NFL has already exported a few games a year for a few years to try to expand to international audiences. Even the college game is out and about, searching for a new following with games in Dublin and Sydney.

Even if it is to the detriment of fans back home who see fewer games which can reasonably travel to, officials’ hope is that these adventures could bring the audience growth they’re so desperately searching for.

Finally, arguably the bigge$t rea$on for neutral site NFL games is that it opens up the potential for big money $pon$orship$. Brands like Mercedes and Bank of America already sponsor individual teams through stadium name rights. The potential to further embrace big companies like Apple or Microsoft will make Ol’ Rog’s eyes light up like the Xmas lights scene in Christmas Vacation.

Maybe don't bring on FTX, though.

The Hamlin situation had provided the league an excuse to almost make neutral site games the regular occurrence that it had already wanted them to be, and the lessons learned extend to the college game, too.

Just look at how many major college football games take place now in neutral sites already. While Conference Championships, Bowl games, and the Playoffs have always been on neutral sites, we've seen a trend to include more neutral locations for regular season games, too.

Last year, we saw Oregon-Georgia, LSU-Florida State, and even BYU-Notre Dame all move off of college campuses, adding even more matchups to a slate already regularly featuring Texas-OU, Florida-Georgia, and Army-Navy. More of these matchups, particularly those in the first few weeks, are no longer the traditional home and home blue-blood matchups that so many have come to enjoy.

Most fans aren’t exactly thrilled by having fewer big games on college campuses. Not only are they difficult to travel to, a quantifiable downside which anyone can point out, but anybody who is there can feel the lack of energy resulting from not having the local diehards, both students and alumni alike, there to make the rowdy college football environment we all know and love manifest in some alien stadium four states over from either team.

Another factor suggesting further exploration of the concept is the rise of conference games between foes from further and further away. Just look at the proposals by the Big Ten, and you’ll see pages worth of discussion about venue options for the games between teams from Cali and the Midwest. There is even discussion around not limiting these matchups to teams from so far away.

I hate this. I understand that in some of these situations, it is beneficial to the player, but if we’re having to explore these anti-collegiate game formats in the first place, maybe it’s a sign that we shouldn’t be putting teams from across the country in the same conference.

I admit that I don’t care all that much about the NFL. I’ll watch, but my interests lie more in my fantasy WR getting enough touches than they do in my hometown Texans winning. However, given the college game’s recent quest to become more like the pros, any further pushes in this direction leave me a bit wary of what neutral sites in the NFL might spell for our local college squads.

Our game is changing. I’ll always watch, but we’re watching much of the unique foundation separating the sport from the pros crumble before our very eyes.

Before you go, I’m looking always looking at ways to improve the newsletter. Do me (and yourself tbh) a favor and fill out this quick poll to let me know what type of content you’re hoping I send you more of. (ps, “other” can refer to more coverage of which coaches make the best bbq. it’s not lincoln.)

Cheers to another day,

Trey