USC called Big Ten.
The call happened awhile ago, we don’t know the date.
I received a phone call at around 6:30pm on March 31st. The Source said USC called Big Ten to start the process of ensuring themselves that they get above the stratification line which is developing in P5 Athletics…most importantly P5 College Football due to the gaping differences SEC and Big Ten are now receiving in media revenue, and the huge growth both conferences will receive in next 24 months. SEC’s new Tier 1 deal with ESPN in 2024 and Big Ten’s new media contract beginning in 2023 will blow the gap even further wide open in comparison to the other three Power 5 conferences. The University’s athletic departments above this stratification line are the 30 schools in Big Ten & SEC conference plus Notre Dame which is expected to receive a massive increase in media money for 7 home football games on NBC starting in 2025. All other schools, when it comes to media money and overall revenue, will begin to truly fall behind the 31 schools and it will have long lasting negative consequences. USC is in the process of making sure they are above this so-called stratification line.
Does this mean USC is Big Ten bound?
No, we don’t think so…not yet.
We have reasons to believe USC called the Big Ten alone. This was not a case of USC’s President Folt and AD Bohn calling Big Ten along with UCLA for example. When Oklahoma & Texas Presidents called SEC to start the ball rolling on asking for an invite to the SEC conference both Big 12 schools did the phone call together…both schools at the same time.
This is not what happened. USC called alone. We don’t know the motivations but those in USC “sphere” are speculating it has to do with USC wanting the possibility of going Independent in Football as leverage in talks with Big Ten and also leverage with PAC during their new media negotiations that will start soon after 2022 Football season is over. Current PAC media contract and Grants of Rights end August 1st 2024.
For those who are rolling their eyes at reading this post the next part will make your eyes roll all the way in the back of your heads.
So brace for impact! LOL!
As I stated in the beginning of this post I received a call at 6:30pm, March 31st and was told USC called Big Ten. 2 hours later I made a tweet simply explaining USC called Big Ten. 1 hour later I made another tweet on same subject. I received another phone call at 1:13am on April 1st (no, this is not April fools joke) from The Source BTM and he told me Big Ten has “bookmarked” my tweets.
This sounds absurd. I’m a nobody. You all know I’m a nobody. Why would Big Ten care what I’m tweeting? They don’t. However it was explained to me Big Ten doesn’t want a “Houston Chronicle” breaking any story of talks between USC and Big Ten in the same manner when Houston Chronicle columnist broke the news on Oklahoma and Texas having talks with SEC for months. SEC, Oklahoma and Texas was not ready for story to be released. It has been said Texas A&M fed the columnist the story in attempt to kill the SEC expansion. I have no idea if this is true or not. So this was Big Ten making sure I was a nobody and assuring themselves they have no serious leaks.
“Bookmarked”?
What the **** does that mean?
For now I’m not going to get into specifics.
But we did successfully capture the evidence of Big Ten taking notice of the tweets. I sent the evidence to Gopher Illustrated powers-that-be. I also sent evidence to few close personal friends of whom some of them know Source BTM and what type of perch he sits on.
I know this sounds ridiculous.
But Big Ten is being proactive in making sure all is quiet.
So next question is what is the motivation of this nobody releasing the info of USC making a phone call to Big Ten and starting the possibility of USC becoming a full member of Big Ten conference or at least in part?
It’s not to sabotage the idea of USC to Big Ten.
It’s the opposite.
I can say this…most Big Ten boosters would advocate for Los Angeles-USC to be added to Big Ten along with +1…limited targeted add-ons on West Coast.
They want Kevin Warren to act.
They want Big Ten Presidents to act.
They want Ohio St, Penn St and Michigan to give room to limited, targeted West Coast add-one if it presents itself.
I will let you fill in the blanks on all other motivations.
This is the start of the story. Big Ten is in negotiations right now with multiple media companies. The demand for Big Ten content is overflowing. Big National Brands want to advertise their goods and services during live sport content in big metropolitan Big Ten cities with spending power. Big Ten might find the inertia to expand inventory to be too great to turn down. USC might find the massive hurdle of distance in miles fade in comparison to the distance of PAC media revenue payouts vs Big Ten media revenue payouts as far as the eyes can see. We are talking Rutgers making 120+ million more than USC every 3 years by end end of decade. Unsustainable for USC when they goal is to stay above stratification line.
More to come.
As always…
Stay tuned.
Stay close to Gopher Illustrated.
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