February 21, 2025 • 10 mins
Nebraska removes Tennessee from their schedule next year and the following. What do you think? Fair or foul?
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Sean. First of all, thanks so much for being on
the show today.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Yeah, great to be on. You know, kind of a
thing that we thought about for a long time and
came to fruition, like you said. But what was interesting
is it wasn't that long back where you know, they
this game. Toroyannen said that they had still planned to
play the game and twenty twenty six having the stadium
up full capacity for that game was, you know, a priority.
(00:25):
And I think now though the two things. We just
interviewed Troy Annen on the Huskar online channel about a
half hour forty five minutes ago, and you know, he
said they gave they did give Tennessee the option to
play this later because remember it was Tennessee that moved
this series first. Nebraska and Tennessee were scheduled to play
(00:47):
in twenty sixteen and twenty seventeen. That was set up
by former a D Steve Peterson back in six Tennessee
requested to move it back then because they wanted to
play a game in Bristol Motor Speedway and they had
one hundred and fifty thousand fans there against Virginia Tech. Well, here,
Nebraska had its own dilemma for twenty twenty seven, Memorial
(01:10):
Stadium is going to be at a twenty percent estimated
reduction in capacity, So the revenue that they're going to
lose with seven home games is basically equal to one
home game. And Nebraska's justification is we need to add
an eighth home game in order to even out our
books for the year that we are going to lose
(01:30):
twenty percent capacity. Like it or not, that that was
their reasoning. And I think they gave Tennessee the option
to play this later and it didn't even get off
the ground. I don't think. I think both parties were
done because it's been a frustrating deal. I mean, this
is a kind of been a twenty year thing to
get this series going and here we are now it's
not going to happen.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Yeah, So in that context, it really does kind of
make you wonder. And Danny White, who's the athletic director
for ten See, kind of made it pretty clear that
it was Nebraska who was the initiators on trying to
finish this thing off. Now, do you believe you're kind
of in a tough situation because you know, you got
(02:10):
to you got to be friendly with the people there,
But as a as a reporter and a guy who
knows the sport, is that really what's going on here?
Or is this more along the lines of it makes
a lot more sense for us to not play high profile,
top fifteen level, right, I mean teams in the non.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Con well, it makes a lot of sense, especially when
the SEC only plays eight conference games and you play nine,
and you know, there's just a lot of differences. I mean,
until there's equity with league scheduling across the board, Big
ten teams are at a disadvantage. They were able to
break through and still get four bids, which is very
hard to do with the disadvantage they're at. But until
(02:46):
the playoff goes to guaranteed auto bids, which I think
is sooner rather than later, you know that's that's going
to be something to watch. And if they do that,
you know that. The thought is instead of having a
conference championship game, you would have almost like a play
in game. So if you had four guaranteed playoff spots
in the Big ten, maybe teams four and five would
(03:11):
meet and kind of a play in game where the
winner got the playoff spot, or you could have two
games the four, five, and the three, six, and the
one and two make the playoffs and the next four
teams battle on what would have been championship weekend. Just
a way to make those games interesting because let's face it,
this year Oregon in Penn State wasn't all that interesting
because you knew both were in Georgia and Texas, you
(03:33):
knew both were in There wasn't a lot of interest
in those championship games like that. Maybe you had been before.
So we're seeing a lot of things change in the sport.
But the guaranteed playoff access and the scheduling equity and
some other things need to get on the same page
between these two leagues. And you, yeah, it's unfortany. I
would have loved to go on to Knoxville to play
(03:53):
that game. I mean, I've had been covering the series
for twenty years now. I mean I remember writing about
it in six swin it was scheduled yard today, twenty
twenty five.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
That's crazy, Sean Callahan joining us our Husker insiders. So
in response, Tennessee wanted to get this game or this
series in and Nebraska said no. According to you know,
athletic director Danny White. If you're looking at the teams
that will then take the place of these two games
that are happening, and how that's going to affect the
(04:26):
Nebraska schedule. Like you said, that will tack on an
additional home game in twenty twenty seven, which they say
they need for revenue, which okay, I mean, I guess
I don't look at the books, but that's kind of
interesting that it will take eight games to make that happen.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
It will because they have twenty percent less capacity, So
to make up that twenty percent less in ticket sales,
you'll get it back by having the eight home games,
and they balanced their budget annually on seven home games.
They won't have the traditional revenue of seven home games
when the stadium is cut down twenty percent capacity, so
the eighth game gets you that back. Okay.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
So with that being said, then what is the outlook
for the new teams and how did the process go
to trying to get those teams lined up? Was that
an easy thing just to find teams that were willing
to come to Lincoln and play?
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Oh yeah, I mean I think the mac teams are
always anxious because look scheduling opportunities to get paid over
a million dollars, two million dollars are not there always,
So for Northern Illinois and Ohio and Bowland Green, you
know that that was a no brainer in my opinion.
And then Dannon did tell us that, you know, he
(05:40):
used the phrase we had an FCS so but so
I think Nebraska wants to always have one FCS game
kind of a developmental roster game on their team schedule
every year. This year was Northern Iowa. They added Northern
Iowa back to the schedule. They already have North Dakota.
So yeah, you're going to see two games, like two
standard non conference games in the one FCS game every year.
(06:01):
That's the model. But look, if you want to be
real critical, Indiana did not play a Power for non
con game. Ohio State did not play a power for
non con game. They both played in the playoffs. A
year ago, Michigan won the national title without playing a
powerfour non con game. So what Nebraska is doing it
may not be popular, but the teams that have won,
(06:23):
I mean, to get to a three to zero start,
it's a really big deal to get the momentum role
in for your program. So there is an advantage to
doing this, But obviously it's not really you know, exciting
for the fans to see games like this.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Sean Callahan joining us, I guess the real question, you know,
I look at games like Colorado, I look at games
that you know, Tennessee obviously is a really really good program.
I look at this from a standpoint like you mentioned,
and the president was kind of set this year that,
you know, it's more important to win as many games
(06:57):
as possible than to have the best schedule possible. And
I don't know if I disagree with that. I just,
like you said, without the proper equity of like all
of the conferences kind of operating by the same scheduling rules,
it's difficult to know whom has the better you know,
twelve games, and how we should judge or rank those things.
(07:18):
I know the toothpas is out of the tube, but
this isn't better? Is it? Like? Is this better college football?
And is the playoff? What we're seeing with the playoff
is that really just kind of ruined a lot of
what we loved about, you know, the regular season in
college football on a Saturday. A Saturday basis.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Lessen No. I mean, look, Nebraska still has their other
non conference series schedule they have Oklahoma State, they have Arizona,
they have Cincinnati, they have some other I believe Oklahoma.
They have some other games though on the schedule for
the future. Oklahoma State exees me I know is on
there and those are those have gone away. I mean
they're only doing it because of I mean the one
(08:01):
year of the stadium. I mean they're going to have
a year where over twenty thousand seats are going to
be removed from the stadium and they're going to lose
that revenue, which is a significant amount of money. So
that that's why this is happening. And unfortunately the game
against Tennessee, you know, is the cost of it, and
it's something that we've been looking at, but Nebraska hasn't
(08:22):
like canceled other series. Moving forward the SEC two, I
do believe they will get to nine games. Could it
be twenty six, could it be twenty seven. A lot
of it will depend on the networks, and you know,
for for ABC, in ESPN and these networks, adding an
inventory lineup of sixteen additional SEC games is worth a
(08:44):
lot of money, and I think they're going to get
to that point. But what happens if the Big ten
and the SEC create another scheduling agreement down the road
as well, where they create sixteen more games a year
with the two leagues, with you know, eight on their
properties and eight on the SEC's properties. That would be
thirty two more pieces of television inventory that are highly valued,
(09:04):
more valuable than what the ACC or Big twelve could
produce in most weeks other than maybe Notre Dame than
an independent. So these two leagues are really putting themselves
in a position to continue to pull away from college
football as they create more inventory. But the SEC's got
to get to that. And there's also some other loops
with Kentucky plays Louisville and South Carolina plays Clemson. There's
(09:27):
some non conference games as well that mean a lot,
just like Iowa and Iowa State, that you can't really
get rid of, and you might have to if the
SEC were to go to that model.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
I don't know, Sean, that Boston College Texas Tech non
con game is going to be on the big screen
for me when it happens. Forget this SEC Big Tens.
I'm just kidding, all right, Sean. Good stuff. I'm glad
that they're keeping you sharp here in the middle of
February and that we are able to have some breaking
news to talk about. Can't let you get into comfortable
over the in your office. So we appreciate you being
(10:02):
a part of the show today. Thanks for the updates,
and I'm sure we'll talk to you again soon. I think, Yeah,
there he is Sean Callahan. I don't know, Boston College
and Texas Tech. Let's sign me up for some of that.
That's a good matchup right there.
Sean. First of all, thanks so much for being on
the show today.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Yeah, great to be on. You know, kind of a
thing that we thought about for a long time and
came to fruition, like you said. But what was interesting
is it wasn't that long back where you know, they
this game. Toroyannen said that they had still planned to
play the game and twenty twenty six having the stadium
up full capacity for that game was, you know, a priority.
(00:25):
And I think now though the two things. We just
interviewed Troy Annen on the Huskar online channel about a
half hour forty five minutes ago, and you know, he
said they gave they did give Tennessee the option to
play this later because remember it was Tennessee that moved
this series first. Nebraska and Tennessee were scheduled to play
(00:47):
in twenty sixteen and twenty seventeen. That was set up
by former a D Steve Peterson back in six Tennessee
requested to move it back then because they wanted to
play a game in Bristol Motor Speedway and they had
one hundred and fifty thousand fans there against Virginia Tech. Well, here,
Nebraska had its own dilemma for twenty twenty seven, Memorial
(01:10):
Stadium is going to be at a twenty percent estimated
reduction in capacity, So the revenue that they're going to
lose with seven home games is basically equal to one
home game. And Nebraska's justification is we need to add
an eighth home game in order to even out our
books for the year that we are going to lose
(01:30):
twenty percent capacity. Like it or not, that that was
their reasoning. And I think they gave Tennessee the option
to play this later and it didn't even get off
the ground. I don't think. I think both parties were
done because it's been a frustrating deal. I mean, this
is a kind of been a twenty year thing to
get this series going and here we are now it's
not going to happen.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Yeah, So in that context, it really does kind of
make you wonder. And Danny White, who's the athletic director
for ten See, kind of made it pretty clear that
it was Nebraska who was the initiators on trying to
finish this thing off. Now, do you believe you're kind
of in a tough situation because you know, you got
(02:10):
to you got to be friendly with the people there,
But as a as a reporter and a guy who
knows the sport, is that really what's going on here?
Or is this more along the lines of it makes
a lot more sense for us to not play high profile,
top fifteen level, right, I mean teams in the non.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Con well, it makes a lot of sense, especially when
the SEC only plays eight conference games and you play nine,
and you know, there's just a lot of differences. I mean,
until there's equity with league scheduling across the board, Big
ten teams are at a disadvantage. They were able to
break through and still get four bids, which is very
hard to do with the disadvantage they're at. But until
(02:46):
the playoff goes to guaranteed auto bids, which I think
is sooner rather than later, you know that's that's going
to be something to watch. And if they do that,
you know that. The thought is instead of having a
conference championship game, you would have almost like a play
in game. So if you had four guaranteed playoff spots
in the Big ten, maybe teams four and five would
(03:11):
meet and kind of a play in game where the
winner got the playoff spot, or you could have two
games the four, five, and the three, six, and the
one and two make the playoffs and the next four
teams battle on what would have been championship weekend. Just
a way to make those games interesting because let's face it,
this year Oregon in Penn State wasn't all that interesting
because you knew both were in Georgia and Texas, you
(03:33):
knew both were in There wasn't a lot of interest
in those championship games like that. Maybe you had been before.
So we're seeing a lot of things change in the sport.
But the guaranteed playoff access and the scheduling equity and
some other things need to get on the same page
between these two leagues. And you, yeah, it's unfortany. I
would have loved to go on to Knoxville to play
(03:53):
that game. I mean, I've had been covering the series
for twenty years now. I mean I remember writing about
it in six swin it was scheduled yard today, twenty
twenty five.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
That's crazy, Sean Callahan joining us our Husker insiders. So
in response, Tennessee wanted to get this game or this
series in and Nebraska said no. According to you know,
athletic director Danny White. If you're looking at the teams
that will then take the place of these two games
that are happening, and how that's going to affect the
(04:26):
Nebraska schedule. Like you said, that will tack on an
additional home game in twenty twenty seven, which they say
they need for revenue, which okay, I mean, I guess
I don't look at the books, but that's kind of
interesting that it will take eight games to make that happen.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
It will because they have twenty percent less capacity, So
to make up that twenty percent less in ticket sales,
you'll get it back by having the eight home games,
and they balanced their budget annually on seven home games.
They won't have the traditional revenue of seven home games
when the stadium is cut down twenty percent capacity, so
the eighth game gets you that back. Okay.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
So with that being said, then what is the outlook
for the new teams and how did the process go
to trying to get those teams lined up? Was that
an easy thing just to find teams that were willing
to come to Lincoln and play?
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Oh yeah, I mean I think the mac teams are
always anxious because look scheduling opportunities to get paid over
a million dollars, two million dollars are not there always,
So for Northern Illinois and Ohio and Bowland Green, you
know that that was a no brainer in my opinion.
And then Dannon did tell us that, you know, he
(05:40):
used the phrase we had an FCS so but so
I think Nebraska wants to always have one FCS game
kind of a developmental roster game on their team schedule
every year. This year was Northern Iowa. They added Northern
Iowa back to the schedule. They already have North Dakota.
So yeah, you're going to see two games, like two
standard non conference games in the one FCS game every year.
(06:01):
That's the model. But look, if you want to be
real critical, Indiana did not play a Power for non
con game. Ohio State did not play a power for
non con game. They both played in the playoffs. A
year ago, Michigan won the national title without playing a
powerfour non con game. So what Nebraska is doing it
may not be popular, but the teams that have won,
(06:23):
I mean, to get to a three to zero start,
it's a really big deal to get the momentum role
in for your program. So there is an advantage to
doing this, But obviously it's not really you know, exciting
for the fans to see games like this.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Sean Callahan joining us, I guess the real question, you know,
I look at games like Colorado, I look at games
that you know, Tennessee obviously is a really really good program.
I look at this from a standpoint like you mentioned,
and the president was kind of set this year that,
you know, it's more important to win as many games
(06:57):
as possible than to have the best schedule possible. And
I don't know if I disagree with that. I just,
like you said, without the proper equity of like all
of the conferences kind of operating by the same scheduling rules,
it's difficult to know whom has the better you know,
twelve games, and how we should judge or rank those things.
(07:18):
I know the toothpas is out of the tube, but
this isn't better? Is it? Like? Is this better college football?
And is the playoff? What we're seeing with the playoff
is that really just kind of ruined a lot of
what we loved about, you know, the regular season in
college football on a Saturday. A Saturday basis.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Lessen No. I mean, look, Nebraska still has their other
non conference series schedule they have Oklahoma State, they have Arizona,
they have Cincinnati, they have some other I believe Oklahoma.
They have some other games though on the schedule for
the future. Oklahoma State exees me I know is on
there and those are those have gone away. I mean
they're only doing it because of I mean the one
(08:01):
year of the stadium. I mean they're going to have
a year where over twenty thousand seats are going to
be removed from the stadium and they're going to lose
that revenue, which is a significant amount of money. So
that that's why this is happening. And unfortunately the game
against Tennessee, you know, is the cost of it, and
it's something that we've been looking at, but Nebraska hasn't
(08:22):
like canceled other series. Moving forward the SEC two, I
do believe they will get to nine games. Could it
be twenty six, could it be twenty seven. A lot
of it will depend on the networks, and you know,
for for ABC, in ESPN and these networks, adding an
inventory lineup of sixteen additional SEC games is worth a
(08:44):
lot of money, and I think they're going to get
to that point. But what happens if the Big ten
and the SEC create another scheduling agreement down the road
as well, where they create sixteen more games a year
with the two leagues, with you know, eight on their
properties and eight on the SEC's properties. That would be
thirty two more pieces of television inventory that are highly valued,
(09:04):
more valuable than what the ACC or Big twelve could
produce in most weeks other than maybe Notre Dame than
an independent. So these two leagues are really putting themselves
in a position to continue to pull away from college
football as they create more inventory. But the SEC's got
to get to that. And there's also some other loops
with Kentucky plays Louisville and South Carolina plays Clemson. There's
(09:27):
some non conference games as well that mean a lot,
just like Iowa and Iowa State, that you can't really
get rid of, and you might have to if the
SEC were to go to that model.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
I don't know, Sean, that Boston College Texas Tech non
con game is going to be on the big screen
for me when it happens. Forget this SEC Big Tens.
I'm just kidding, all right, Sean. Good stuff. I'm glad
that they're keeping you sharp here in the middle of
February and that we are able to have some breaking
news to talk about. Can't let you get into comfortable
over the in your office. So we appreciate you being
(10:02):
a part of the show today. Thanks for the updates,
and I'm sure we'll talk to you again soon. I think, Yeah,
there he is Sean Callahan. I don't know, Boston College
and Texas Tech. Let's sign me up for some of that.
That's a good matchup right there.
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