Did the SEC and Big Ten Just Save the ACC and Trap the Big 12?

Did the SEC and Big Ten just save the ACC and trap the Big 12?

The SEC and Big Ten have finally agreed to support the Protect College Sports Act after weeks of negotiations over revenue sharing, NIL enforcement, transfer rules and conference realignment.

But their support raises a major question: is this still a good bill for the Big 12 and ACC?

The proposed legislation would raise the athlete compensation cap to nearly $49 million, strengthen NIL enforcement, limit conference membership to 19 teams and force schools moving between power conferences to spend five years as an independent.

Those realignment restrictions could help stabilize the ACC and make it much harder for schools like Florida State, Clemson, Miami and North Carolina to leave. But that could also eliminate the Big 12’s best chance to add major brands and move ahead of the ACC in the college football hierarchy.

We break down:

• Why the SEC and Big Ten finally support the bill
• Who benefits from the new $48.8 million spending cap
• Whether the ACC is the biggest winner
• How the legislation could box in the Big 12
• Whether schools could race to realign before the bill passes
• What Brett Yormark and the Big 12 should do next
• Why Texas Tech and BYU could become even more important
• The latest Senate timeline and whether the bill will actually pass

Plus, Curt Cignetti continues to torment the SEC, Kyle Whittingham weighs in on hatred in college football rivalries and we discuss what it all means for the sport.

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#CollegeFootball #Big12 #ACC #SEC #BigTen #CollegeFootballRealignment #NIL #ProtectCollegeSportsAct

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

It's been a long week, but we finally have the SEC and Big Ten on board, my friends. They are on board the Protect College Sports Act in the Senate. Does that mean it's actually going to happen? Of course, that's still up in the air, but we have some winners and losers potentially sorting themselves out based on the bill in its current form, which is what is going to go to a vote in the Senate, hopefully this week. The ACC appears to be a winner. The Big 12, you can argue, is a loser. We will talk about it. The SEC and Big Ten continue to fight, by the way. And Kurt Signetti absolutely blowtorched the SEC, which is great for all of us in the content business, but I think he's also doing the SEC a favor. I'm going to tell you about that. Plus, Kyle Whittingham requests less hate and rivalries. Is there a bit of irony in the fact that it's Kyle Whittingham doing that? We'll discuss it all here on the show. It is open for business. I am John Kurtz, your host. Thank you for joining me tonight. Thank you for allowing me some time away. I've traveled a couple of times in the last week, so the content's been a bit lighter, but I hope you enjoyed the BYU player interviews that came out earlier this week. Please do like and subscribe as you come in. All of that really helps. I'm fired up to be back after some time off. So this is going to be a fun show. I'm rearing and ready to go. Keep the comments lively. Bracket Cat, thank you for being there. I appreciate you, my friend, one of the OGs here on this channel. Uh, thank you, sir. Pacific Northwest Ute, thank you for being here as well. Ha! You can subscribe to the Open for Business Big 12 newsletter, OFBnews.com as we get rolling here. And hit me up on Venmo at John-Kurtz-4. If you're not watching the show live, I do have a comment to get to on Venmo that uh will be coming up later on in the show. I'm gonna change it up a little bit and try and sprinkle those in when they are most appropriate throughout the show. So I've got one later on. Don't think you're being forgotten. Of course, those of you listening on the audio platforms, I appreciate you immensely as well. Keep growing the numbers, keep spreading, keep rating, reviewing, all of that is incredible. The SEC and Big Ten finally support the Senate. Finally, after missing two deadlines this week. Does that mean that it's a bad deal for everyone else, though? Because I know that can be an easy barometer. If it's good for the SEC and Big Ten, it has to be bad for everybody else. If it's something they support, it has to be bad for everybody else. And is all of this too little too late? Did they kill it anyway? We'll discuss here. I'm going to give you the nuts and bolts, the details that you need to know about this right now. Look, it was a frustrating week. If you were trying to follow along with this and you're somebody that wants to see this become a thing, the Protect College Sports Act become law, it was a frustrating week because the first deadline for the SEC in Big Ten was on Wednesday at like 9 a.m. Blew right past that. They still didn't like some of the language in the bill. There was another deadline on Thursday, blew right past that. They were still trying to get everybody on board and make sure the language was what they wanted and they got what they wanted. The president became involved at one point where he was threatening to blast the SEC and Big Ten on social media, according to Ross Dellinger. Just crazy how much the two worlds, politics and college sports, have been colliding lately. The real kicker here, the thing at the final hour, that was at least the selling point that was holding up the SEC and Big Ten was they wanted stronger language to prevent circumventing the cap. Now, this is very interesting. A part of this was raising the cap over doubling it, and I'll get to that. But the SEC and Big Ten did not want any loophole to exist for athletes to get paid outside of what is going to be in now a much bigger cap. Why would they not want to be paying the student athletes more outside of that? I mean, I they really battled with Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell, the two senators over this. I mean, to me, it sounds like, hey, it's like if they're looking at a Texas tech, like they can just spend, there's an unlimited oil slash money spigot there. If at least everyone is stuck to this same cap. Like we've got a limit, you can't blow by that, unless it's, you know, the whatever non-connected entity, the auto dealership, the restaurant says, hey, if you come sign autographs, we'll pay you market value to do that. They didn't want anything beyond that. I thought that was very interesting. And at the end of the day, they did get a little stronger language on it, though Ted Cruz was very adamant the whole time that this was going to take care of that. So that was the hangup. If you're curious what the hang up was. Now we're going to get to did that hang up cost them the bill? Because that's a legitimate question here. We're going to get to if they got what they wanted on that, does that mean this is bad for the uh Big 12 and ACC? Everybody outside the SEC and Big Ten. Here's what's going to be in the bill because I know that will be one of your questions. I'm sure many of you, if you're watching this, like John, I don't follow this BS every day like you do. What exactly is going to be in here? There will be antitrust protection that allows a one-time transfer rule to be enforced. So you can transfer one time penalty free. After that, you're going to have to sit out a year. It will allow the five to five, five by five to be enforced. You have five years to play, five years. It would allow a ban on professional athletes from playing college sports. So no more going to the G League and coming back. It would create an agent registry and a 5% max fee that can be enforced. But then this will be a big one. The revenue sharing cap, which is right now about $21.3 million, will balloon up to $48.8 million. Which I know that seems like a crazy amount to jump. That's pretty in line with what the highest amounts that you're seeing being paid right now at the highest levels of college sports are. So it's gone from a $21.3 million rev sharing pool that you have to pay to adding a $22 million retention pool, which means players on your team, you can pay $22 million for players on your team to keep them. And then you have $21 million that you can spend on other players out of the portal or whatever. And then there's $5 million for women's sports, women's sports specific NIL money there. There is a strict verification process for any other NIL deals outside of that. They have to be, they can't be connected to the school in any way, can't circumvent the cap anymore. They say they will figure out how to do that, and that was a part of appeasing the SEC and Big Ten. Huge one here. Conference sizes would be limited to 19. So this is the one of the cruxes of the issue the entire time. It was first, hey, the SEC and Big Ten specifically cannot expand or merge. Then it was, well, all right, fine. You don't like that. All four power conferences, nobody can expand or merge. It kept changing, and what it came down to is they put a limit to conference size at 19 teams. And if anybody is going to jump from P4 conference to P4 conference, they would have to be five years as an independent before joining the next conference. It's basically shutting down any conference realignments outside of Notre Dame. Because if a school isn't independent right now, they can jump whenever. So what you really have here is a Notre Dame clause. The Big Ten's at 18. Notre Dame could join without any kind of penalty. They wouldn't have to be independent for five years. They already are. The Big Ten could add them. Also, there's a link if and cause coaches clause coaches can't leave before their team's season ends. So that's what you're going to get. Now, what kind of a compromise is this? Who are the winners and losers, and what does this mean if you're a Big 12 or an ACC fan? And for that matter, an SEC or a Big Ten fan. What does all this mean? Because I would tell you, I do think this is actually a compromise. People will say, like, what's a compromise? It's a deal that like both sides kind of hate. And there are reasons for both sides to hate this. Please do subscribe to the channel, by the way. It helps a lot. Many of you watch but don't subscribe. That click does help me quite a bit. The SEC and Big Ten won't really like this membership cap. It is better than what it initially was, which is hey, you guys can't expand. Everybody else can, but you can't expand or merge. It's better than what it was, but that's still, you know, if the SEC and Big Ten, especially the Big Ten here, I would think this is more impactful to the Big Ten, which seemed much more in the mode of let's go gobble up everything that we can, where the SEC is at least stuck to a more geographic kind of model. But clearly the SEC and Big Ten really like having what is more like a true cap here. So they are getting a win. And the ability to enforce a one-time transfer rule, I mean, that's I just think that helps everybody. It's going to cut way down on the amount of chaos that's in college sports right now. If you're the Big 12 in the ACC, this started as just an anti-SEC and Big Ten Super League bill, which was great. You don't get that anymore. And the cap that's been set, which you thought at first, like, hey, if they're really going to cap this and limit outside NIL spending, and it's like, well, we got to come up with is $21 million. Well, that sounded great. But that's not what it's going to be anymore. But at the same time, you do get the 19 team limit, which will help, particularly if you're the ACC. Huge winner here. Talk more on that in just a moment. But a five-year independent clause, also, that combination is going to really prevent much more conference realignment, and you keep your seat at the table. So the biggest winner in all this to me is the Atlantic Coast Conference, man. It's Jim Phillips embattled at times, was embroiled in four different lawsuits with schools in his conference as of a couple of years ago. He found a way to keep them there. He made a compromise with them at the time. Now there's a compromise with how this bill is written. And if it passes, the ACC is a huge winner. How's anybody leaving? I don't know. I don't know. I would also say I think fans from just an emotional attachment standpoint will win if this passes because a one-time transfer rule means it won't be nearly the amount of chaos every single year with the transfer portal. Okay, so that I would say is good. Losers here. It's all the usual suspects in the conference realignment discussion. And I'm going to do an entire segment on this bit. So if you're watching the live stream, pay attention to that. If you're watching the clip version of this on the channel, make sure you find that in the related videos. But Utah, Florida State, Miami, North Carolina, Virginia Clemson. Those would be the losers here if you thought you had a real shot to join the Big Ten or the SEC at some point. It just got a lot harder if this were to pass. And that is an if, and that is one of the big questions here. Is this thing too late to get to an actual vote in the Senate, which is what is going to have to happen? I have had to learn all this political stuff as much as I can, as well as I can. Here's what the deal is. They're going on a long recess as of the end of this week, this upcoming week. If you don't get it done by then, it's a month-long recess. Elections are coming up in November. You still have to get it through the House. It's not happening. They've got to vote on it and get it through this week. They are optimistic it's going to happen. Eric Schmidt is one of the uh senators who is involved in this bill. He's like a co-sponsor of the bill. He thinks that Thursday, Friday, or even Saturday is when it could get voted on. He's talking about them sticking around until Saturday to do it. Now, is that realistic? I don't know, but that's what Ross Dellinger reported. Eric Schmidt also thinks that it could get up to 80 votes and it needs 60. So he thinks with the SEC and Big Ten on board, there is a ton of support. But even if there is a ton of support, like you still have to make sure that it actually happens, and who knows what could happen in the world that could change that. Ross Dellinger story said next week's Senate agenda is busy. Even if Thune, who this is where I'm showing my bad political knowledge, he's he's running running the Senate. Uh is a Senate majority leader, I believe that would be the term. Even if Thune believes the bill has the votes to file cloture on Monday, a plethora of issues clog floor time, including a spending bill, budget resolution, Russia sanctions, and administrative nominations. So cloture is like a procedural thing that they have to do. I may not even be pronouncing that right. It's a procedural thing that they have to do in order to get it to a vote. Needs to do that early in the week to make sure it happens later in the week. But spending bill, budget resolution, Russia sanctions, administrative nominations, a lot of things that they have to take care of before going on a long vacay. So nothing's done yet. But if you are hoping that this was going to pass, if you were hoping we did this instead of an SEC only governance model, a Big Ten only governance model, this was a good step. This was a very good step in the right direction, even if it came very late. So I don't think it's at like Hail Mary status anymore, but this is not a shoe-win. And the first step is get it through the Senate, then start worrying about the House later on. Now, will this bill cause another wave of conference realignment immediately? We got to talk about that. Click here to find out more. That's for everybody watching the clip version. Those of you that are here, just stick with me. We're gonna get right to it, okay? I promise. Uh, you can click the dollar sign below the chat box to submit a super chat if you want to guarantee that your question or comment makes it on the show tonight. But uh, I appreciate Kim, Pacific Northwest, you, Ron, uh, all of you guys who are hanging out here in the chat tonight. Like, subscribe if you're a Big 12 fan. If you want the open for business Big 12 newsletter, it's OFBnews.com. So the question needs to be asked again with the Senate bill making progress and the Big Ten and SEC behind it is another realignment wave coming. Will the leagues and schools try to beat the bill to the punch and create chaotic conference realignment very soon, immediately almost. Because we are taking a major step forward now toward locking down conference realignment, like locking down schools into the leagues that they are in, creating some real relative stability on that front. That's because the Big Ten and the SEC have finally thrown their support behind the Protect College Sports Act, which is hopefully going to be voted on by the Senate this week. The ACC is a huge winner here if this were to pass because of that, and if there isn't a crazy wave of conference realignment very quickly. And all of this leaves a very key objective for the Big 12 that we need to single out. So one of the key battles in the process over this bill has been what happens with what started as a Super League provision. I suppose you could still call it that. It was originally just targeting the Big Ten of the SEC and saying, hey, you guys cannot add more teams or merge together to create your own version of a super league. Maria Cantwell, who's from the state of Washington, saw what happened to Washington State, was clearly very motivated to not let that happen to anybody else. Then it went from, all right, fine, SEC and Big Ten, you guys hate that. Of course they were gonna hate that. We'll broaden that out to include the ACC and Big 12. Now that's just morphed into we're gonna cap conference membership at 19 teams. Big 10's at 18, the SEC's at 16. And if any team wants to move from a Power 4 league to a Power 4 league, so say the ACC to the SEC, you're gonna have to wait five years to do it because you'll need to be an independent for five years. Just crazy. Like that's a crazy clause. That's a poison pill in being able to actually go to a different league. And so, as you can imagine, that's got some fan bases in their feelings. That's got some fan bases in their feelings. Let's see. Uh, here's North Carolina. We're gonna get stuck in this godforsaken conference, aren't we? Shout out to Message Board Geniuses, by the way, for these screenshots. You should absolutely be following them on Twitter, one of the best Twitter accounts out there. Uh, this is Miami. This may mean Miami is stuck in the ACC forever. Why does anyone think this is a good bill? Uh stuck in the ACC equals dead program. Florida State fans. Florida State fans, not thrilled. Clemson, by the way, shout out to TigerNet, man. Looks so old school. Reminds me of uh Tiger Board, the old school Mizzou place. Uh, we're stuck being a small school in a small conference market. How will we stay competitive with expansion being a long shot for us? And then, you know, if we want to scroll back a little bit here, I'm gonna lose it. There were they also had profiled uh Utah fans. Utah fans not happy with this at all. You know that many of the fans, certainly the most online ones, are not keen on being in the Big 12 right now. And to them, it feels like they are now stuck. And even Ross Dellinger's reporting and story echoed that sentiment. He said the expansion provision may impact decisions from schools that are in position to move from the ACC to the SEC or Big Ten. Officials at Clemson, Miami, Florida State, North Carolina, Georgia Tech, and others have expressed their opposition to the concept. Now, I would love to know if the and others includes Utah. But I suppose we will never know unless I'm able to ask Ross at some point. I think there are two different reactions to have here. If you're a Utah fan, you need to react differently to this than if you are a fan of one of those ACC schools. Though I understand the frustration all the way around. Because here's the deal. Will there be some crazy wave of conference realignment? I've seen nothing to suggest that that is imminent or plausible or probable. And the wave there would be hey, this bill might actually pass. Let's do this this week, iron out this massive decision this week that will be expensive and complicated and all that. Just get it done before they can actually make that law. I I don't think that is realistic. I know Utah Twitter and I had a bit of a battle about that a month or so ago. Doesn't seem realistic, my friends. So what do you do now in this world where you feel like you're stuck? Big impact for the Big 12, big impact for the ACC, and a different impact for the ACC schools and Utah in terms of what they're feeling right now. I think the ACC fan reaction here is actually a bit too strong. Like all those ACC fan posts that I just read, now I know these are message board fans. I get it. They're the most dramatic of fans. But if you're in the ACC, man, nothing is stopping you from still winning a national championship. Nothing is stopping you from being very nationally relevant. And by the way, the same is true for a school in the Big 12. I'm just going to point to an exact example that we saw last year from the ACC. I mean, Miami was like a score away from winning the national championship last year. You know, they're pretty damn competitive with Indiana in the national title game. You can absolutely follow that blueprint, spend a ton of money, which Miami is doing. If this bill passes, you'll be able to. The cap is $48 million. You can go spend like Miami has, put together an incredible roster, and go to the national championship game. Nothing is stopping you from doing that in the ACC. So I don't quite understand why the thought is: hey, if we just went to the SEC or the Big Ten, it would change things that much. If I were them, I would certainly be campaigning for the Big Ten if you want the easier path. You could honestly look at that and say you might gain the prestige of the Big Ten and have virtually as easy a path if you went from the ACC to the Big Ten, depending on what your schedule is, year in, year out, and how many of the big boys you're missing. You'll also save, by the way, hundreds of millions of dollars because the cost to go from the ACC to the Big Ten is going to be nine figures. So you can take that money and redirect it to hitting your $48 million cap or build facilities, whatever it is, you'll save a ton of that money. This to me, if I'm in ACC school, I'm like, hey, you know, we still have better brands than the Big 12 or the group of six for sure. So, like, well, we're gonna be okay. We also have unequal revenue sharing. So if we keep winning and we keep getting eyeballs on TV, we will make more money even from our own conference. Like, it's you can still do it. You can still do it. Now, Utah fans, I understand why they would be uh more upset. Like Utah was probably the biggest conference realignment winner pre-2021. I anybody win the couple of rounds of realignment more than they did with the jump that they made from being, you know, group of five, group of six, to winning Pac-12 championships and going to Rose Bowls, they turned themselves into a very valuable brand, and now they are stuck in a league that they perceive to be a step below what that Pac-12 was because of the provision. They can't handle five years of being an independent to go somewhere else, and and they're just they were on the fringe of being valued enough to join one of those conferences anyway, and now there are a membership limit. Like they wanted to be in the Big Ten, right? Well, if it's a 19 team limit, that's they're waiting for Notre Dame. So you've got to stomach all that if you're a Utah fan. Plus, on top of that, I would say, I mean, the biggest realignment winner post 2021 has probably been BYU in terms of how its profile has risen, having an actual conference, and now you're in the same league as. Utah. I the Utah fan reaction I understand more. But the biggest winner here is the ACC. And that has some massive ramifications for the Big 12. So let's talk about that. Okay. Please do subscribe to the channel. If you have not, many of you watch, but don't subscribe. It really does help. If you give me one click, click subscribe, and you'll know when I'm dropping content. The ACC comes out a huge winner here if this were to pass. Again, still has to go through the Senate, then has to go through the House. None of this is guaranteed. But the ACC's weakness has been for years now that everybody looked at it and said, Well, okay, great. Yeah, you have some bigger brands, but they're all gonna leave. It's inevitable. They will leave. You went through this big legal battle because they were that desperate to leave. They're going to be gone. Well, now if this goes through, it certainly appears like if they're going to leave at that point, maybe they're gonna survive five years in the wilderness or they'd be like breaking federal law. So I I that sure seems to me like it would be pretty advantageous to the ACC. And this is where look, you guys know I'm a Big 12 guy, but it you you can't argue that as of right now, the ACC definitely has more brand power, and this appears to have locked it down. So, what that means is the Big 12 actually needs to really take a page from Cody Campbell's book here and listen to what Cody Campbell had to say about what this league should be doing. You need to create your Miami Florida State Clemson. What this would do, if we're following all this, assuming that it goes through, which is a huge assumption, but play along with me, assuming that the bill passes. The ACC is set. You're not going to be this best of the rest league when the ACC implodes, inevitably, this changes the calculus. Now you need to create your Miami-Florida State enclemps. You need to create them. And the way that you create them is by winning year after year. And right now, it obviously looks like Texas Tech and BYU are in position to be the front runners there, but let's not discount Oklahoma State, which has really upped its NIL game to back Eric Morris, a new coach, who seems to have very high upside. West Virginia is spending much more to provide Rich Rodriguez with what he thinks he needs to win. Kenny Dillingham has been pounding the pavement for Arizona State. They certainly appear to have the coach in there. Can they step up? Kansas got a $300 million donation from David Booth, right? We can go down the list. Utah, obviously, fits in here. Now that they unfortunately too many of the fans appear to be stuck here, go turn yourself in then to a Clemson or Miami within the Big 12. This has changed the hierarchy. The ACC getting these schools locked in if, if, if, if the Senate bill passes. To me, it does lie, it's hard to argue. Guys, I mean, if we just look at the facts, who has won more playoff games with those teams, who has competed for a national championship more recently, it's the ACC, and they undeniably have better historic brands. That doesn't mean it can't change. And that's where I come back to what Cody Campbell said. This was in the in the story kind of the post-mortem on Brendan Soresby by Ross Dellinger, where Cody Campbell said, Look, we don't have an issue with the Big 12, but like we want people to stop complaining. I'm paraphrasing here, but we want people to stop complaining about our money and get their money up and start competing at the same level. A rising tide lifts all boats. We want everybody to come with us. And now what you will have is an outline of all right, $48 million. That's what it takes if we want to get to the tippy top. Now, even if you can't get all the way there, you have something to shoot for and it's not murky, it's not in the dark. You know what it's going to take to compete at the highest of high levels. You're seeing what BYU and Texas Tech are already capable of doing. And hopefully that will continue to be more and more. Go join them and have some teams that do it year in, year out, and develop the reputation of a Miami Clemson Florida State. That's what you're going to have to do to move up the pecking order. It is no longer, hey, it's inevitable the ACC will implode and you'll just move up to third place by virtue of the natural order of things. You've got to go earn it now. You gotta go earn it now. That's probably the best way to say it. So I know not everybody loves Cody Campbell. I know that look, I haven't loved everything he has said or done, but that is one sentiment that I completely agreed with at the time, and I would agree with it even more if this Senate bill were to pass. You want to hear the full comments from Cody Campbell on that and why I vehemently agree, click here. That's for everybody watching the clip version. Those of you that are hanging out live, just stick with me. We've got some comments to get to. I see the super chats, and also uh I gotta say hello to my guy Joe, who hit me up on Venmo, which John Dash Kurtz-4 to do that. Joe says, hey John, Monday marks 25 days until Big 12 football kicks off. As they do for Christmas, I feel like 25 days until kickoff needs to be in place. Were you suggest a Big 12 game a day to rewatch leading up to week zero? Man, can be regular season bowl game any time period. Okay, any time all-time Big 12 games. I might have to I'll I'll think about that, Joe. I maybe I could give you a 10, 25, seems like a lot. I know that you're asking for like the 25-day countdown. There are some, if you're like an Iowa State fan, I feel like Jack Trice Mafia is always doing some countdowns like that. I see a lot of the uh fan accounts doing the burners are doing more work on that front, Joe. I'm gonna be a little lazy here on you and say I probably won't get you 25, but I can try and get you some. 2022 Big 12 championship game comes to mind. 2021 Big 12 championship game comes to mind. One went to overtime. Was Baylor Oklahoma State was that overtime also? With the stretch at the end? Those are two great Big 12 title games. I would put those at the top of the list of games to uh to go watch back. I'm sorry, I'm not more prepared for you on that front, Joe, but I hope that's a good starting point. I realize, Joe, you are a TCU fan because I see the horn frog in your picture. I did not intentionally mean to throw the 2022 Big 12 championship game right out there on you. But I will say that is one of the more heroic performances I've ever seen from your guy, Max Duggan. Uh, let's check in with Lewis. Lewis, thank you, my friend, for the support. Thank you for being here. Uh, same to LA Hornfrog. Appreciate your work. I I appreciate your work, LA Hornfrog. Thank you for your comment. Uh, Darius says, Texas Tech and BYUs. Um, okay, Darius, my guy, my guy, I love you. You're here all the time. You're great. I appreciate your support of the channel. At least 50% of the time you leave a comment. It's like shorthand, and I I it takes me like five minutes to figure out what exactly you're talking about. So if we could, could we could we include a little more contextful words in the future? I would, I would appreciate that because I see Texas Tech and BYUs merge with FSU Miami's before. I don't know what that means. So you're gonna need to clarify for me in the chat, and I will try to get back around to that. I don't want to leave you hanging. This is just my request to make that a little cleaner in the future when we comment. Uh Kim. Kim says, with I can already see where this is going. Kim says, without exception, the best thing to come out of this bill is the fact that Utah is left behind with the rest of us. Too funny. Too funny. Well, uh, Kim, I'm gonna merge right into Pacific Northwest Ute, who is here. Pacific Northwest Ute says, I don't know how serious the Big Ten was in taking the Utes, but if you're not with the big you love, love the big you're with, hashtag go big12. That might be your Mona Lisa, Pacific Northwest Ute. You've had some good ones, always clever. I love that one. If you're not with the big you love, love the big you're with. You could go throw that out to uh all the Utah message boards, Pacific Northwest Ute. I would appreciate that because it's a great sentiment. It's a great sentiment. Kim followed up with uh question, John. How do you view Cody Campbell's role in this legislation? Is he a villain or a good guy? Yeah, it's a great question. I want to gather my thoughts for a moment on this. I think it's I think it's complicated because I I do think that we've seen enough from Cody just throughout the last like two years since he became a prominent figure to know that he has competing there are competing motivations at play here. And I'm sure he would say, Protect College Sports Act, it's not about, I mean, I know he said it's not about Texas Tech or my school specifically, it's about the you know protecting women's sports and Olympic sports and all of that. You gotta judge somebody on their actions. The whole Brendan Sorsby situation, what happened there, his tweeting at Brett Urma, like I just he's very involved in Texas Tech and can be very emotional and let his emotions show through in reacting to things like that. I'm going to say it's fair to make the statement that there are competing motivations at play here. Having said that, I think in general his push here has been helpful for most of college sports. I won't even frame it as just the Big 12. I think for most of college sports, because I think if you're not going to collectively bargain, this is the next best thing. What's going to happen here to keep it from getting too crazy and out of control to be some unsustainable product? So for that, I think he has helped. I think he has made an impact. Like, so you're asking the question: is he a good guy or a bad guy? I think unquestionably he's made an impact. He has the president's ear. He has rallied the troops on a lot of different issues here. The pooling of broadcast rights being one of his pet projects that sparked a ton of discussion. You know, he bought the TV ads. He's he's clearly moved the needle and pushed the ball forward on this to some extent. I don't think he's full villain, and I don't think he's full-on good guy, but I think it's more good guy than not, as far as the Protect College Sports Act and where this has gotten to. That's that's what I would say. I think with everything, it's like everyone wants somebody, whoever, to be a villain or a total goat, black or white. I don't think it's any of that. I think the answer is somewhere in between. People are complicated, and when you throw around money and power and politics, it gets even more messy and more complicated. So that's where I'm at on that. Lewis. Lewis says amendment one at conferences can trade members. No penalties for geography benefits. Ooh, okay. That's that's fun. I like trading conference members. That's pretty good. Lewis, I can get on board with that. You can sell me on that. What's who you trading for? Uh, how are you getting Nebraska back? Who do you trade Nebraska for? Because if it's beneficial geography, who are you gonna give the Big Ten that that makes sense there, right? Or who do you want to get back anyway? That's a that's a fun game, a fun hypothetical to play. Brady, what's up, Brady? Brady says, Cotchie Live joining late. What's the latest with the bill? Uh, not an inevitable super league, as you asked there. The latest with the bill. SEC and Big Ten support it. Their support came after missing two deadlines. Up in the air as to whether or not it will actually get voted on next week. If it doesn't happen by the end of next week, it is most likely not going to happen. So they've still put this in peril, but they are supporting it. They wanted stronger language closing NIL loopholes, which they got. So we would essentially be working with a $48 million cap instead of a $21 million cap if this bill were to become law. So they got a way higher cap, but everything out in the open and no more NIL loopholes. That's what they were waiting on. I it it the biggest thing to me that comes from this as far as it relates to the Big 12 is the fact that conferences will be limited to 19 teams, and if you're gonna change one P4 to another P4, you gotta wait five years. Being independent for five years. That's gonna shut down basically any conference realignment. And that means the ACC gets a lot stronger, and the Big 12 now needs to go develop their own brands like Miami, Clemson, Florida State. That's that's my basic take on it right there. David, team leaves and has to go independent, whatever conference they go to will load them up schedule-wise and assist in landing a five-year TV deal. Okay, it sounds great in theory. How's it gonna work in practice? We'll see. The Big Ten is gonna like Fox seems to be calling a lot of the shots with what's happened in the Big Ten. The Big Ten's gonna have the power to like force Fox to go out and sign an advantageous TV deal with Florida State. Sounds great on paper. Uh I'd love to see how it actually works in practice. That would be my response to that, David. But it's an interesting theory that is certainly made for a show like this, speculative kind of theory. I just have doubts to how that would actually work in practice. That would be my thought there. Alright. Lots of thoughts. Lots of thoughts. As many of you have filed in here to react to this, which I definitely understand. We'll have more time to talk about the Protect College Sports Act specifically next week because this will continue to be a story. We're gonna have to see if this actually happens if this goes through. This this is funny. Uh, old dad, Cody Campbell's definitely had a lot of influence, a good bit of it bad. As a Florida State fan, I'm sure you do feel that way. As a Florida State fan, I'm sure you do feel that way. People with their different perspectives are gonna feel differently about that. Let's talk about something more fun to I think most of the audience here. Okay? Most of the audience. Kurt Signetti took an absolute blowtorch to the SEC. And this time he did it behind a mic. He's done it on the field, 38-3 in the Rose Bowl, Alabama. Uh, I'll tell you what Signetti exposed about the SEC and why he's actually the best thing that's ever happened to the SEC right now. Okay? And all of college football for that matter. In general terms, let me just start with this. Kurt Signetti is pretty untouchable right now. Let me remind you, before we get into this discussion and SEC folks being upset with him and what he said, I'll play the audio. Let me remind you that Kurt Signetti just won the national championship at Indiana by going 16-0, by beating Alabama by five touchdowns in the Rose Bowl. He's untouchable. No matter what happens the rest of his career, this man did an unthinkable act in college football, unprecedented in college football history. Kurt Signetti is untouchable. He also absolutely rules. If, unless you are like a Purdue fan, or I suppose right now an SEC fan, I don't know how you think the guy doesn't rule. He gives you money quotes all the time. He is not afraid at all to say what is on his mind, what he wants to say, to be cocky. He totally blows right past the hey, you need to be coach speak and don't say anything that fires up the other team or gives them Bolton Door material. He does not care at all. And he hasn't cared since day one at Indiana. Go back to the Google E comment, right? Like this guy gives zero you know what's. And that's good for all of us. It's entertaining, it creates more content if you're a content creator. And we we talk all the time. It's so boring. Like watching press conferences is boring. Kurt Signetti makes it not boring. It's great. Even his comments for your Big 12 fan, his comments thrown back to Sonny Dykes when Sonny Dykes had said, you know, Josh Hoover threw all those interceptions. Right? The clap back at Sonny Dykes, very entertaining. He's a content machine. Here's what he had to say about the SEC, with of course the context that the SEC has now flipped its narrative from iron sharpens iron. And when we play each other, that's why we're so good in the postseason, why we're winning national championships, because we have played the best throughout the regular season. Now that they're not winning, that narrative has been flipped completely, not just among fans, but we even saw Laura Rutledge of ESPN pushing this crap last week. It's now been flipped to well, we we're getting too beat up because we play all of the iron teams this year. Like iron doesn't sharpen iron now, iron's beating up iron. And so Kurt Signetti had uh he had some thoughts about that.

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We will be able to get it.

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Woof! You can even see the smirk that he has on his face as he delivers that line. Just excellent, man. Just excellent. Now, I am not playing this to dunk on the SEC. Remember, I think this is the best thing that could have ever happened to the SEC. And I think the SEC is a good enough league that it should have the self-respect to not react the way that at least many of the fans have reacted to this. Because this is really like this is what it exposed, man. It exposed the insecurity of SEC fans right now. Right? Like the the tweet that has been drawing all the attention from this was from a massive SEC account called SEC Unfiltered. It just posted that clip and said the humbling of Kurt Signetti can't come soon enough. Okay, can we please refer back to the first thing I said in this video, which was Kurt Signetti's untouchable. He beat Bama by five touchdowns and won the national championship and went 16-0 at Indiana in his second year. He's untouchable. There's no humbling this man. He is in a class of his own. You cannot humble him. And that's where I want to be like, hey, SEC, have some self-respect. Brother, pull yourself together, man. You know, it's the end of the night, you're stumbling around at the bar like, homie, drink a water. You you have a job, you have a family, you have a 401k, eat some bread, drink some water, and straighten yourself up and walk home instead of stumbling around hitting your head on the bar. You're better than this, SEC. You gotta know. You know good football. There's you weak schedule, whatever you want to throw out there about Indiana destroyed Alabama in the playoffs. There is nothing you can say. Kurt Signetti won as many playoff games last year as the entire SEC did. Full stop. You can't come after the man. So it's exposing how vulnerable this league is right now, judging by at least the fan reaction to this. Now, again, I will present the caveat that like I have not seen coaches, admins, players really commenting publicly about this. Okay. This exposes where the fans are at, where they just have no concept. Many, I've pointed this out before. The SEC was the best conference bar none in college football, no argument for like two decades. And so you have young people, you got like Gen Z fans out there. They don't know a world where the SEC is not definitively the best league. They do not they don't understand how to comprehend this. And coming after Kurt Signetti that way, to me confirms exactly where the psyche of that league is. Okay. But I'm talking mostly about the fans here. When we talk about coaches, players, admins, this is where I think this could be the best thing that ever happened to the SEC. Okay, please do subscribe, by the way, to the channel. You want college football from a different perspective, make sure to click subscribe. The SEC needs a wake-up call, and this can be a huge wake up call. Like, it's one thing to not win a national title for three years or even play in the title game for three years. But the first two years of this, it was watching Michigan and Ohio State win the national championship. That's one thing. If you're an SEC fan, you can say, well, I mean, those are two of the proudest programs ever. Ohio State is gonna win their national championship. Like they will get one every decade or so at the very least. Michigan is a big enough program that that shouldn't be shocking, that they won a national championship. Little down cycle, we're beating each other up. Whatever excuse you want to throw out there, you can kind of write it off. When Indiana comes in and does it, and they do what they did to Alabama on the way there, that's a wake-up call. Kurt Signetti absolutely issued a wake-up call to this conference, and now he's doubling and tripling down on it because he doesn't know how to shut his mouth, which is great for all of us. Could potentially be very good for the SEC. Lots of reasons that people have given for the downfall of the SEC. If you want to go with the very basic, oh, everybody can pay players now, I'm sure there's a little bit of truth to that. I think it's more you can't just hoard a three deep of players that are better than everybody else because you're closer to the talent and they can't leave. That to me is the biggest reason here, but I've also seen the theory pitched by people that I really trust and like in the college. Football space that the SEC got a bit lazy with coaching staffs and just coaching in general because they had such a talent advantage for a while. I'm sure it's a little bit of all of these. Typically, once again, life lives in the gray. This can be a wake-up call for the SEC to be like, all right, dude, screw this. Like, we're not about to sit here and take this from Indiana's head coach with him doubling and tripling down on calling us out. We got to get better at all this. Now, I'm sure a lot of this was happening. You can debate me on the actual importance of Bolton board material and how much that matters, but I I think all of that helps. And this creates one motivation for the SEC, but two, a fun storyline for all of us to follow. Three, just a bigger spotlight on the sport when the biggest names and faces in the sport are talking like this. And that is good for everybody. That's where I'll broaden out even from the SEC and say, this is great for everybody. This brings more attention to college football. It is fun. It is fun. I'm about to talk about this with Kyle Whittingham and his thoughts on rivalries, too. It's fun when you have a figure that people grow to hate or grow to love because they're magnetic and keep saying things like this and are very high profile and continue to win. And then it's going to drive more competition. Everybody will be coming for him. Everybody's trying to knock them off. That's going to drive competition throughout the rest of college football. If you're a Big 12 or an ACC school, think about it this way. Again, it's one thing if you see Ohio State and Michigan winning back-to-back national titles. Or, you know, before that, it's Georgia winning back-to-back. You're like, oh, Georgia, Ohio State, Michigan. Yeah, of course they're going to win the national championship. Well, you just saw Indiana do it and then do it with a cocky SOB of a coach who's just going to keep telling you about it. That's going to be like, hey, if they can do that, why can't we? Indiana had plenty of NIL, but it was not over-the-top NIL, right? They got the right coach. They got great players. They have a formula. It works. He should be inspiring the rest of the entire sport right now. So I just, I love this. I love this. I don't know what everybody else's opinion has been on this. This has enhanced the fun of the college football environment and season to me a lot. I thank Kurt Signetti for that. Not just what he did last year and winning, but now continuing to just be him and keep that mouth running and talk. And it's not about just hating on the SEC. Everybody needs a wake-up call right now. It's just the SEC has had the bigger ego and been more vocal about all of it. So you're not going to humble Kurt Signetti, but you could still come beat him because he lit a fire under your rear end when the league slumped a bit. That would be my message to the SEC. Kurt Signetti, the best and most interesting thing to happen to college football in decades. Decades. Now, not all coaches are giving me this type of inspiration with their quotes. Click here to find out why I was not so enamored with what Dabo Sweeney had to say recently. That's for everybody watching the uh the clipped version of this. Everybody that's here live, just continue hanging out. I've got one more story for you. And we've got a couple more super chats. Uh let's talk to Zach. Zach says, let's be real. When we say SEC, we're mostly referring to the whining by Steve Sarkeesian. I had almost forgotten about Steve Sarkeesian by this point. Zach, uh, there's just been so much of it. I mean, everybody was doing it at SEC Media Days. Eli Drinkwitz got in on that action. Uh Nick Saban got in on that action. Like I said, Laura Rutledge, uh, ESPN, like sideline reporter and analyst, was getting in on that. It was everywhere. It was once again, it felt like the talking points are out there. Greg Sankey, right? Like it was just a part of the discourse at SEC meetings. How tough it is that we're playing each other and we're now going to a nine-game schedule and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So I wouldn't even single out Sark. I wouldn't even single out Sark on that. Brady, what's up, Brady? Brady says, Does the bill have anything to do with the college football playoffs? Specifically, how many and who gets in? What's going on with FSU Miami? No, it does not have anything to do with the college football playoff. Uh, what's going on with Florida State, Miami? I I mean, if you're just asking, like, in general, are they going to a different conference? It certainly appears not. It certainly appears not. Uh, they're they're gonna be stuck just like everybody else with the 19 team limits, and I guess unless the SEC really were to want them, and then they would have to survive five years as an independent. So it seems highly unlikely that they're going to be moving anywhere. That would be uh my answer to you there. But Brady, I would also say just go back, watch the beginning of the uh the show. I talked all about it, all about it, the first half hour of the show. One final thing for you here. Click the dollar sign below the chat box if you want to uh submit a super chat. Hit me up, John Dash Kurt-4 on Venmo if you're not watching live and you want to do that. Kyle Whittingham gave us a scorching hot take this week. And it's not just that it's a hot take, it's it's one that on the surface can look pretty hypocritical. Especially to fans that have followed him for a while. Now, I want to answer the question: is it fair to say that it was a hypocritical comment from Kyle Whittingham, as well as dive into the merits of it on its own? Because I I do disagree, frankly, with what he had to say. So, Whittingham, now the coach at Michigan, used to be a Utah, Utah fans, you know him well. Uh, he's no stranger to heated rivalries. He went from the Holy War to Ohio State, Michigan. I mean, you're talking about two of the most heated rivalries in the country. Maybe the most in Ohio State, Michigan, but the Holy War is in that conversation, the EYU in Utah. So I'm gonna listen to something that Whittingham has to say about rivalries. He's earned that, he's got a leg to stand on when delivering takes on rivalries in college football, no doubt. But this is this is one that is going to raise some eyebrows, especially, I would imagine, among Michigan fans. Like I am curious how this will play among his own fan base. And Michigan fans, if you're here, definitely let me know in the comments what you think about this. But Whittingham said at Big Ten Media Days this week quote, I just think a rivalry can be intense and emotional without the hatred factor. I don't think there's any place for that personally. I think Ryan Day is a good person to sit here and say, I hate Ryan Day, I'd be making crap up because that's not true. All right, the last part, like, I don't want him to sit there and lie and say, like, hey, I hate Ryan Day just because he's the head coach at Ohio State. If you don't hate him and you think he's a good day, like that's that you think he's a good guy. That's fine. That's totally fine. But when you say, like, hey, I think a rivalry can be intense and emotional without the hatred factor, I don't think there's any place for that. I mean, my brother, your your fan base hates Ohio State. A large portion of your fan base hates Ohio State. I'm sure there are some that would say, hey, I don't actually hate. That's a strong word, whatever. A bunch of them are gonna sign right on the dotted line for I hate those guys. And I think hatred and rivalries is like a huge part of what that's what makes college football, college football. That's what makes college football different from the NFL. There is so much passion which can express itself as hatred in college sports rivalries. Now, I don't like a bunch of hate in the world in in general. I actively try to avoid that, but I do think in the sports realm, one, theoretically, it's different. It is it is a little less consequential than real life. But also, it's whether you like it or not, it's baked into what makes college football what it is and why we all love it, it's why we all care so much. It is a big part of the life blood coursing through the veins of the sport of college football. If you think of that as like one live body, that is the blood coursing through the veins, is hatred for your rivals. And it's why I hate so much of what realignment has done because it's taken more of those rivalries away from us. Now, there's some room for nuance here. You guys know if you watch this channel, I love nuance. It's typically not going to be black or white for me. So we'll dive into the nuance. But a part of this is can Kyle Whittingham be the guy delivering this message? Because I heard from a couple of BYU fans about this, and I understand where their head's at being like, no, Kyle Whittingham cannot be the guy to deliver that message. Please do subscribe to the channel, by the way. It helps a ton. You want college football from a different perspective than what you're typically getting nationally, subscribe here to Open for Business. Kyle Whittingham's got a history with BYU. And even I, somebody who is very new to the Holy War, just the last three or four years, really. I am able to pick out why you would look at that and say, wait, Kyle Whittingham is saying to get rid of the hatred in rivalries, but that's the guy that's going to do it. BYU fans bristled. I heard from some of them, and I understand why. Whittingham famously would not say BYU's name publicly. Honestly, this is where like he seems to fit in well with the Michigan vibe here. It's always the team up north if you're Ohio State, right? You're not saying Michigan. Now he's going to Michigan, and he was the guy that would say the team down south instead of BYU. The team down south wouldn't say BYU. And then last year, the reason that this really came onto my radar is because, again, just within the last year, Whittingham would not say Bear Bachmeyer's name. He was asked a question directly about Bear Bachmeyer in the week leading up to the game and wouldn't address it. Said you need to ask them what they think of Bear. After already talking in previous weeks about other teams' quarterbacks. So he was clearly making it a point to not say anything about BYU and B, you know, it's it's a little, it's a little disrespectful. You can you can call it what you want. You can say gamesmanship. Or you could go all the way to disrespect. I understand how you would take it as disrespect. Now, I love this, in fairness. I love that he does that because again, I'm pro hatred and rivalries. I am pro-hatred and rivalries because I do think it's what makes college football unique. You need some of it, right? I don't want people beating each other up in the stands, but you need some level of it. You need a healthy level of it. So I love Kyle Whittingham doing that because it adds to it all. And I think we're actually about to see less of it in the Holy War because Morgan Scalley and Kalani Sataki are very, very nice dudes who seem to like each other quite a bit. But I get why BYU fans would be like, you can't be the one saying that. Kyle, you wouldn't even say our name. You wouldn't talk about our quarterback last year. And that runs deep for Whittingham, right? He played at BYU, and there are all sorts of theories out there about why he treats BYU the way he does, whether it's that his dad, who was also a BYU grad and an assistant coach there, felt mistreated by BYU. Some people will tell you it's about like a fan incident with his wife and daughter with BYU fans in 2009, I believe it was, that game. So clearly there are some personal reasons why it runs deeper for Whittingham, and he might tell you, well, yeah, that's a part of why I treated it the way that I did. But to me, that's the point. That's why you have hatred in college football rivalries. Because there are personal connections. Your neighbor down the street who's got the big gaudy annoying flag that you hate every time their team wins. And then if you lose every time you go down to pick up your mail at the mailbox down the cul-de-sac, neighbor Jim's out there mowing his lawn in his Ohio State shirt, and he comes over to talk smack to you. Like that, the personal stuff runs deep. That runs deep, and that's what makes these rivalries great. I don't think it's fair to say it's totally hypocritical of Kyle Wittingham. He I wouldn't call any of what he did like adding hatred to the rivalry. He definitely was not making anything personal with Kalani Sataki and his comments initially seemed uh were somewhat centered around Ryan Day. Like, hey, I don't hate the guy. But I do disagree with him that like being totally against hatred and a rivalry. You need some of that. So Kyle's not a perfect messenger, but he's also not a hypocrite. And we need some hate. We need some level of it. Don't let it boil over, but get some of it into our college football. Well, Kyle Woodingham actually succeed at Michigan. That's a question I asked and answer. Click here to find out. Alright, those of you that are here, we've got one more super chat to get to before I exit, but thank you so much. Please like the video, subscribe to the channel. Alan. Alan says, John, details coming to you on September 11th of the Wheel Mizzou game. Alright. Okay, great. Let me know. Uh heard that Duke and KU will play at Allen Fieldhouse on October 25th. Alright. And all right, Alan, this trade. Big 12 fans, what do you think? Would you trade Utah for Nebraska? Would you trade Utah for Nebraska to the Big Ten? That feels like uh almost just make everybody happy scenario. Nebraska fans, I think deep down, like they haven't been winning in the Big Ten. They don't play their old regional rivals anymore. They think life is more difficult in the Big Ten, and I'm sure they would imagine they would perform better in the Big 12. They'd have better road trips to go to. I think deep down they would say, yeah, we'd actually kind of like that. If the money were the same, I understand the piece of it. And then Utah clearly wants in the Big Ten. There you go. Big 12 fans in Utah that that relationship's been prickly from the beginning. Win-win-win. Everybody wins. Except for the fact that Nebraska wouldn't have the money. And frankly, the Big 12 loses a better football program than what they'd be bringing in in Nebraska. Now, Nebraska has a lot of sentimental value to me. I would like to play them. I would like to see them in the Big 12. But that's a that's a pretty hard bargain that you're driving there, Alan. That's very interesting. Very interesting. Uh OFBnews at gmail.com, Alan, if you if you get those details on uh on the wheel. You just let me know. We're just over a month out. That's like five and a half, six weeks away. I think it would be like a day under six weeks away, right? From that game. Two days under six weeks away. Alan, thank you. Everybody who's been here, thank you. Uh it's been a fun show. Glad to be back. A lot of energy tonight. Let me know in the comments what you think. Uh what you're looking for. Got some cool stuff cooking for you coming up this fall, so I can't wait to uh to divulge some of that. For now, all I have to say is enjoy the rest of your Sunday. I hope you have a great week, and I will talk to you all very soon.