Ohio State's $500 Million Budget and College Super League
Ohio State targets a $500M athletic budget to create a college football Super League, reshaping the sport's competition. Bobby and Bill discuss their spending.
Video Transcript
He said Ohio State would be the f- first school with a budget of $500 million.
Half a billion dollar athletic budget, and they're, they're halfway there.
They're at 250, Texas is around there.
You've got Georgia, you know, Michigan, like some of these other big schools are in that, in that vicinity.
Did you ever think you would see a day that that would happen, and do you think that that's actually good for college football?
Well, I, I think it, you know, and it's kind of been the theme of the show today.
It, it reminds me of soccer, I suppose.
You hear about these, like, champions league and, and these huge soccer clubs, and that's where we're going in college football.
So at what point Then you start to wonder, okay, if these are the, you know, the fi- did you say 500 million, five- Yes if these are the 500 million club schools, you know, that's, that's gonna be really tough for other places to keep b- keep up with that.
So would you just shove them all in the same league?
That's why that super league talk is so real.
I mean, maybe they haven't, you know, thought about it or talked about it i- in person, but that's why we keep making up theories about it because, you know, Texas, Ohio State, you know, a handful of SEC schools, a handful of Big 10 schools, Notre Dame, USC maybe.
I mean, y- you look at that, that combination of factors of who would be able to keep up in that environment, I think Oregon would, obviously.
So, and would, would it be better to put all those teams in one league?
The short answer is no, but if we get to a point where some of these schools do have a $500 million budget, you wonder who could actually keep up with them.
Is a super league an actual conversation to have down the road if maybe in the next three to four years, you've seen these teams actually get to $500, million dollars, and the gap between them and these smaller schools becomes wider and wider, and it's just impossible to compete?
Is that, is that the only answer that we have, just creating a super league where all the big money-making schools are able to play against one another- Well- and these small schools just kind of get put to the wayside?
Well, you know, that's, that's the debate within the sport, right?
Mm-hmm.
That i- if we're going to make, pass legislation to kind of even the playing field and create salary caps and, and things, a salary cap isn't necessarily advantageous to a place like Ohio State or Texas, or teams that have built those advantages.
Ha- they have the built-in advantages.
B- and, and I, and I struggle with that one, Steel, because on one hand, you want the Big 10 to have what it's kind of has on the top half now.
I, I would say you take the top nine programs in the Big 10 right now, it'd be fun to watch them.
Now, when you watch Ohio State play a couple teams in that bottom third and it's 28 nothing in the second quarter, and I know this has been going on since the days of Woody Hayes, it's not a, ex- it's not really a, a fun watch.
You know what I mean?
And some of these schools have dropped off.
But I mean, that's football.
You wanna compete, you wanna build your program.
But I would, I would argue that it would be more entertaining to me to watch Ohio State play that maybe top nine programs in the conference and skip, I'm gonna pick on Who, who should I pick on?
Like a, a Maryland or Rutgers, teams that they haven't lost to since they've been in the Big 10.
I think that's fair.
Yeah.
I, I don't disagree with you in that.
it, it's, it's a unique situation to be in.
It, d- and this go- all plays into now that, you know, the co- Protect College Sports Act bill.
Do you see that 'Cause that's one of the things that they've kind of pushed back against.
Do you see that actually getting pushed through?
Or do you see This is the first year where I feel like we haven't talked big about conference realignment and a lot of people moving around, at least at the highest level.
you know, we, we talked, talked a little bit off air about that PAC, the PAC-12 movement and who's in that, but it, it seems like this is kind of what it is, maybe.
Or do you see, like, one more big, huge realignment happening?
I had a It's funny, I was talking to an insider last, year, I think it was around award season, right?
And, and we were kind of discussing all that, and the sentiment was, you know, in 10 years that they're just gonna go back to playing the teams that they were playing.
And, and I was, "What do you mean?"
Because, you know, they'll, they'll do all this realignment again, and they'll create a s- you know, a quote unquote super league or super conference, and then their region will basically be those teams that they're, were playing 40 years ago in 1984.
Right.
And I found that interesting.
I was like, now you cut, you take off some schools and you maybe add some schools.
But like, in the And, and when Rich Rod made those comments last week about West Virginia needing to play, oh, who did he say?
Maryland, Penn State, basically the old Big East.
And I was thinking, yeah, that would be better fan service.
I mean, you wonder with Ohio State fans, for example, do you wanna play I, I think there's some excitement about the Org.
personally, I think it's fun to watch Ohio State play Oregon, and, and it's gonna be fun to watch them play USC this year.
But, you know, you kind of miss the, the annual Iowa game.
So the annual I, I'm trying to think when the last time they went up to Michigan State was.
And, and off the top of my head, it's probab- no, they were there a couple years ago.
But point being, they don't do that as much.
And, you know, you wanna see them play those games in the region because you wanna take care of your backyard first.
That's how we were raised at least, right?
Like, you win your backyard, then you go to try to win everywhere else.
And, and that's certainly been lost
