The Big Ten's Big Mess, J.J. Watt to NBC & a $250 Million Penthouse

1) The Big Ten’s Big Mess

New Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti found a nice little Easter egg upon assuming his new post: The conference’s record $7+ billion media deal, which starts THIS FALL, was never actually finalized! It’s almost inconceivable, yet totally on-brand for a sport with nobody actually in charge. Pete Thamel’s bombshell report detailed the state of the landmark agreement:

The “outstanding issues” bit in the quote is doing some heavy lifting, as major portions of the deal were apparently not communicated to member institutions, ranging in scope from playing November night games to nearly $70 million in lost revenue. The cake-topper is this fun fact:

Do yourself a favor and read Pete’s entire breakdown. You can’t make this stuff up. In the meantime, what’s it all mean? Well…

1) Petitti’s opening stanza as conference commissioner sounds a little like ESPN’s Y2K test. Thankfully, his deep experience in the media world will serve the conference well in sorting out this mess. The news that Penn State and Michigan State are moving their final game to Black Friday in Ford Field is a good example of how.

2) Kevin Warren’s tenure sounds a little too much like the time Kramer accidentally got a job with Brandt-Leland. The timing of his departure makes a lot more sense given this reporting. Also, there’s some dark humor in him leaving to stabilize the front office situation for… the Chicago Bears!

3) The Dumb Money Era of college football is likely dumber than advertised!

2) Ugh…

USC will be looking for a new athletic director after Mike Bohn abruptly resigned last Friday. The details in this LA Times report… aren’t great:

It’s a stunning turn for a school that hired Bohn in a search for stability. Just a year ago, Bohn was named athletic director of the year by his peers.

Suffice to say, USC will need better leadership ASAP, with its pending move to the Big Ten.

3) J.J. Watt to NBC?

Here’s a fun nugget: NBC is targeting J.J. Watt for its Big Ten studio road show.

Watt is recently retired from the NFL, a new investor in Premier League-bound Burnley, a potential podcaster, and reportedly being courted by multiple outfits to do studio work this fall. Given his deep ties to the Big Ten, it’d make a ton of sense for Watt to team up with NBC as the network bulks up its programming in advance of the 2023 season. We’ll see if it happens. For what it’s worth, I think Watt would be an awesome addition.

4) Sabanspotting in Italy

Yes, Nick Saban does apparently find time for European vacations. News surfaced this week that the legendary coach was spotted walking around Italy, first by an Alabama alum and then by notable sportswriter Rick Reilly. The details in this article are fantastic, including the money quote: “I blacked out the whole time.”

Ever the salesman, Saban used the reports to champion the power of the Alabama brand:

There’s a reason this guy’s the best of all-time.

5) Your requisite “The Pac-12 is Dying” update

Look, the question is not IF the Pac-12 is dying, it’s WHEN. Even the most optimistic reporting suggests that the conference could disintegrate within the next four years. But the latest from Andrew Marchand paints a pretty bleak picture for the state of the conference’s media rights negotiations. If ESPN is, indeed, out of the running… yikes.

This comes amid other curious news for Pac-12 members, as previous overpayments from media partners will mean a decrease in revenue.

As always, more to come.

Others Receiving Votes

• I'll be honest, I’ve never met a Mission: Impossible movie I didn’t love. I’d also like to understand how Tom Cruise hasn’t aged in 20 years.

• Cousin Greg is my favorite character in Succession and it’s not even close. I enjoyed this scene swap immensely, especially the term “Gregweiler.”

• Here’s a tour of the Penthouse at Central Park Tower, the most expensive home for sale in the world. The asking price is only $250 million, but it seems like it’d be a pain to order DoorDash.

WHAT'S GOOD IN THE VERBALLERHOOD?

Yes, we’ve been joking about the college football content doldrums of mid-May. The good news is that it’s about to be June! We got the party started by taking a look at the schedules in both the SEC and Big Ten, pointing out the easiest, hardest, trappiest, and Gumpiest slates for the coming season. I even talked a tad about obvious win totals that I’m going to be betting.

Listen to the podcast by clicking here or check out our individual episodes below. You can also view full episode videos and smaller clips on our YouTube channel. If you've read this far, this is the part where I ask you to refer your friends to our show.

THIS WEEK'S PODCAST EPISODES: