B1G Conference Scheduling Update (2022)

Submitted by umbig11 on
2022 it is! Unfortunately, the B1G is sticking with the conference games they have scheduled through 2021.
 
*No changes will be made until 2022.*
 
Michigan will not have Wisky or NW on the schedule very much after 2021. Fans can also expect more Minnesota games along with a rotation of Nebraska, Purdue, Illinois, and Iowa.
 
MSU lobbied hard for NW. MSU believes they need the Chicago market, but they will get stuck with Wisky. We'll have to see how this shapes up over the next year or two at the AD and conference meetings.
 
Major crossover opponents: 
 
UM/Minnesota
MSU/Wisky
OSU/Iowa
PSU/Nebraska
IU/Purdue
MD/NW
RU/Illinois

SkyPanther

May 26th, 2018 at 8:10 AM ^

After last years game at Iowa, I'm not sure Ohio St is looking forward to more of Iowa.

 

I also see Ohio St now has Buffalo in their 2020 non-conference schedule. They already had Bowling Green in their non-conference schedule that year. And they added Akron to their 2021 non-conference. They already had Tulsa. So now they have 2 pushover non-conference games in those 2 seasons, not just 1.

Link: https://www.landof10.com/ohio-state/ohio-state-texas-football-scheudle-games-2025-2026

Alabama and Ohio St add these pushover games, while Jim Harbaugh makes the schudule tougher, as in this year, Michigan has the 3rd toughest schedule in college. Maybe there's something to be said about scheduling 2 pushover non-conference games. It's easier on the players bodies--so they are in better condition at the end of the season for their big rivalry games (Alabama vs Auburn, Ohio St vs Michigan). And the 3rd string gets more playing time.

 

I respect a tougher schedule. And I think strength of schedule should be the first factor taken into account when determining the Final 4. But maybe Jim Harbaugh should take a lesson, to a degree, from Nick Saban and Urban Meyer.

 

AT THE SAME TIME, though, if strength of schedule was a far more signifcant criteria in choosing the final 4, big name teams would move away from scheduling pushover games.

In reply to by SkyPanther

Ziff72

May 26th, 2018 at 8:28 AM ^

Body bag games are a waste and stupid. I assume these decisions are being influenced by the lesser teams that need the extra home game revenue.

From a fans perspective any decision made to create more games that have 30pt spreads sucks. I'll never understand how people enjoy watching Michigan play Delaware St.

StephenRKass

May 26th, 2018 at 10:43 AM ^

It is all about money.

Home games bring not only the gate, but also the resulting economics for the community, along with the crowds on campus. I guarantee every team with a passionate home base (OSU, PSU, Michigan, Nebraska, etc., along with big SEC teams, Pac10 teams, etc.,) economically would much, much prefer playing any two of Akron, Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Miami of Ohio, Western Michigan, Northern Illinois, Florida International, Air Force, Cincinnati, Buffalo, Coastal Carolina, etc., etc., etc. rather than playing a top 20 team in a home and home series. The exception is made for mayble one non-conference non-body-bag game. For us, it is Notre Dame.

Someone here in economics or close to an AD should be able to provide the numbers. But right now, Michigan makes about $46,000,000 annually, In football ticket sales alone. That is around 6 mil a game. Add to that all the meals, lodging, apparel, etc., and you probably see an economic impact of about $10 - $15 million per home game. Note that this doesn't account for media rights split among the Big 10 more or less equally, regardless of where games are played.

From MLIVE:

Michigan's biggest ticket revenue season came because of the number of home games, not the quality. In 2011, the Wolverines hosted eight games for just the second time in school history. Home games at Michigan were worth an average of $5.8 million in ticket sales during the five years studied.

Michigan again had 8 home games in 2017, compared to 6 home games in 2018. That's a financial loss of approximately $20,000,000, half to UM, half to community? Easy for us sitting in arm chairs to crab about "body bag" games. But for anyone responsible for revenue streams, that is a huge income shift.

There's another reality here that we're not really talking about. The fact is, there is a huge pool of people who really barely give a rip about the team. I mean, obviously everyone who is a so-called Michigan fan "wants" Michigan to win. But cumong. There is a huge subset of students, family members, and others, who go for the party, go to get drunk, go to hang out with friends or family, go to tailgate, go for the atmosphere of being where the action is at. And honestly, that group spends just as much, maybe more, but they are not avidly following the game. (Comment:  I seem to recall Brian writing about his irritation in watching games with people who really aren't that into the game.)

And even with those who really, truly, are football fans, who know the team well, they STILL will go to games that are body bags. They may grumble about it, but they go. We may have been in danger of losing that with RichRod and Hoke and Dave Brandon. Smh. But as long as Jim Harbaugh fields a competitive team, that is winning 9 - 11 games every year, fans are going to go.

The way to fix this, of course, is for the pricing model to change more. When we can sell out games that are first rate (FSU, Florida, Auburn, USC, Texas, Stanford, ND) AND charge TWICE what it costs to go to a body bag game, then it starts to become more economically feasible to quit on body bag games. And even though more feasible, it still has a negative economic impact on the community.

tlo2485

May 26th, 2018 at 8:27 AM ^

I'm a little confused. Is Minnesota permanent after that or for how long? Beyond Minnesota, why more Neb/Purdue/Illinois/Iowa and not Nebraska or Wisconsin?

1VaBlue1

May 26th, 2018 at 8:41 AM ^

Schedule rotation because there are only so many teams to go around.  The big crossover game means a 6-yr stretch of playing that team, while everyone else rotates at two years.  Its a function of having 14 teams in the Big Ten - you can't play a round robin, so you do what you think is best.  And this is the best the B1G office could come up with.

Ty Butterfield

May 26th, 2018 at 8:43 AM ^

Obviously OSU snd Staee games won’t get switched. Thanks Dave Brandon and Jim Delany.

twotrueblue

May 26th, 2018 at 7:39 PM ^

Virginia football and Rutgers football ain't much of a difference at least at the moment. Virginia Tech or West Virginia though...

Even just adding West Virginia and Pitt would be great! Backyard brawl restored and we have two solid east teams. Push Indiana into the west and it's perfect!

Bo Nederlander

May 26th, 2018 at 10:47 PM ^

I could get behind West Virginia for the natural rival for Pitt. That would give ND Michigan, MSU, Pitt as rival attractions, Pitt would have WV, PSU, and ND. Rutgers would be gone. The reason I like Virginia as much as I do is because I value the academic integrity of the conference and Virginia is a fantastic addition in that capacity which is why the Maryland addition never really bothered me much. VT would be my third choice.

EconClassof14

May 26th, 2018 at 1:05 PM ^

This is huge news thanks for posting. Glad we’ll keep the brown jug going. I hope they keep 9 conference games going forward. Glad to see osu will be challenged every other year by going to Iowa, it’ll be interesting where that program goes after Ferentz

Harbaugh's Lef…

June 3rd, 2018 at 12:08 PM ^

So, it looks like the 8 game conference schedule is not happening, as per Steven Sipples tweet mentioned at the end of Brian's post from Friday: 

But apparently, something is happening and whatever it is will be announced soon-ish... Are the divisions going to be realigned? New divisional crossovers set on records? Getting rid of the two divisions? Expansion or Contraction? Anyone have any ideas what the Big Ten is thinking or set to announce?