According to Mike Ozanian of Forbes.com, Big Ten football has become obsolete and says that Joe Paterno returning to the Penn State sideline next season is a joke.
Ozanian believes that other conferences like the SEC, Pac-10 (soon to be Pac-12) and to some extent the ACC are all doing a better job of raking in the dollars that ultimately fund athletic departments.
The disparity in revenues isn’t the only issue Ozanian has with the Big Ten, saying that “Yes, I get the Big 10 has its own network, but the conference is in decline. But then again, maybe Nebraska, which lost to Washington in the Holiday Bowl this year and is often over-rated in the polls, is the perfect fit.”
Take that Cornhusker fans.
Ozanian failed to mention that only 14 Football Bowl Subdivision schools made money from athletics in the 2009 fiscal year and Ohio State was one of those schools.
Of the 120 FBS programs, a little more than half made money from football in 2009 while 52 schools reported median losses totaling $2.7 million.
The Big Ten’s TV deals are the most lucrative in college football too, outdistancing the mighty SEC’s television arrangements.
Big Ten football may be on the verge of becoming obsolete as Ozanian suggests, but it isn’t because of the conference’s inability to generate revenue.
Three of the Big Ten’s schools draw an average of well over 100,000 fans per game, including Joe Paterno’s Penn State program. In fact, Michigan, Penn State and Ohio State are the top three programs in the NCAA’s football attendance averages every season.
The problem with Big Ten football can be pinpointed by their style of play and the type of athletes that populate each of the conference’s football programs.
Big Ten football has been defined traditionally by strong rushing attacks and tough, physical defenses. That style works in the Big Ten but doesn’t translate well to the majority of today’s athletes.
The more wide open offenses found in the SEC, Pac-10 and Big 12 are better suited to the skills of most high school football prospects, and the fact that those teams all play in warmer weather climates is a drawing point too.
The SEC has dominated the college football world for more than a decade because their teams have better athletes who play in systems that suit their skills.
Big Ten football still has plenty of earning power to generate revenues that fund athletic and academic departments for their respective schools, but they might take a licking on the field for their efforts.
