ALTOONA, Pa. -- Control. Everybody wants it. The ability to make your own decisions and do exactly what you want in every possible situation.
Let's face it, if you're the kind of person or group that is used to having complete control over everything, then you're probably extremely spoiled about having that rare privilege.
But here's the thing about control: When you decide to sell out -- in any aspect of life -- one thing you're going to lose is some of the control you've always cherished.
The Big Ten sold its soul for $7 billion. The league and its member universities are going to be raking in bookoos of bucks from the TV deal it signed in August, and up until yesterday, it universally was considered a grand slam deal.
Ahhh, but as it turns out, this particular deal comes with some strings attached, and now a lot of people are fired up about it.
From Penn State's perspective, the big news that came out of Monday's report from ESPN's Pete Thamel about concerns over the TV deal, boil down to a game coming up this fall.
The Nittany Lions' contest at Michigan State scheduled for Nov. 25 has been pushed up a day and now will be played on Black Friday, Nov. 24.
GAAAAASP!
While surely not a huge deal to all Penn State fans -- the ones who will simply adjust their viewing schedule to a day when they're off work anyway -- this has indeed caused frustration for many in the massive fan base.
This is Penn State, we're talking about. Part of college football royalty when it comes to branding and TV ratings. For some Nittany Lion faithful, this is a How dare they? situation.
As in, How dare some TV network force US to play in some oddball time slot on a Friday?
Don't they know who ... We Are?
Alright, alright, settle down.
I've heard personally from a half dozen fans about how this is either very offputting, or a major inconvenience, or some kind of slap in the face to the Penn State program and its fans.
OK, whatever. If you feel that way, then fine. But this just isn't something I can get all worked up about.
Because, in reality, it's sort of what I expected all along after that massive new TV deal was signed.
Again, this is about control. Oh, it's also about a guy in former Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren who didn't seem to know what the heck he was doing in a lot of this, and I'll expand on that more in a bit.
From the control aspect, once the Big Ten signed off on the $7 billion TV deal, the league opened itself up to an inevitable can of worms. The industry word for game broadcasts is called "inventory," and when TV networks are paying that kind of absurd money, you had better damn well bet that they will be taking control -- not asking, mind you -- over the premier inventory whenever they feel like it's in their best interests.
If they want a certain matchup to be played on a certain date or at a certain time, then the schools receiving upwards of $80-90 million per year from the TV rights probably shouldn't expect to have much recourse in objecting.
Even Penn State.
Especially Penn State, along with Ohio State and Michigan, which are the three financial behemoths in the Big Ten.
Very few people care about much of the inventory the Big Ten can offer, meaning Indiana vs. anybody, Purdue vs. anybody or Rutgers vs. anybody. Those games don't move the needle.
Penn State moves the needle. A ton. And if TV networks want to change things around and force Penn State -- or Ohio State and Michigan -- into doing things they and their fan bases aren't used to doing, then that's just how it's going to be.
Don't like it? Then leave the league and go find someplace else. But yeah, you'll have to slice that $90 million TV check in half, at least, because nobody's getting that kind of money anywhere else, besides perhaps the SEC.
Sell your soul, pay the price.
To Penn State's credit, it sounds like school officials have indeed been willing to do what it takes to help the situation. From the ESPN story:
"While this is being worked through, Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan State recently agreed to concessions to make short-term sacrifices to help the league make up for some lost revenue from the NBC deal.
"Penn State will play on the road in a short week on Black Friday against Michigan State, a game that was scheduled before Penn State agreed to it."
That last part is undoubtedly a concern -- a game that was scheduled before Penn State agreed to it -- and absolutely is something that university officials cannot be happy about with the league.
Or with Kevin Warren.
Goodness, in reading over the extensive ESPN piece, it sounds as if Warren went rogue trying to get the very best deal he could get before bolting to become president of the Chicago Bears. Warren allegedly was unilaterally making decisions he wasn't authorized to make, and now his successor, Tony Petitti, is having to clean up the mess.
From the ESPN story:
"Nearly three months before the season kicks off and those TV deals begin, the Big Ten does not have completed longform contracts, which include the fine print details. Instead, Petitti is engaged in significant 'horse trading,' according to multiple sources, to get the NBC primetime deal finished and figure out what the network calls "outstanding issues" in order to uphold as much value as possible."
Warren was praised for adding USC and UCLA from the Pac-12, and then again for orchestrating the tremendous $7 billion TV deal. But, as it turns out, he didn't dot all the I's or cross all the T's before agreeing to everything, and now officials across the Big Ten member schools are learning all about his mistakes. One huge one is that the Big Ten reportedly is on the hook for paying back FOX roughly $60 million to cover shortcomings of deals that had previously been in effect.
Both of these things can be true:
1. Warren did indeed get a marvelous deal for the Big Ten schools, and
2. Warren sold the league's soul without fully asking for permission, plus he didn't get a proper receipt to leave behind for accounting
Back to Penn State's scheduling ...
The Lions will never have to host a Thursday or Friday game at Beaver Stadium. That's just not at all feasible given that State College is such a small town, and getting 107,000 fans there on a weeknight is not logistically possible.
OK, so the Big Ten knows this. And in return for never having to host a Thursday or Friday game, it is very much likely that Penn State will be asked to go on the road more often than it would like in order to play on a different day, in a game against a lesser opponent that would still draw a big TV rating.
The Lions did that just last year, opening the season at Purdue on a Thursday. They also played at Illinois on a Friday night in 2018.
And now, they'll have to play Michigan State this year on Black Friday.
Will this sort of thing become more commonplace in the new TV deal? Might there be more Thursday or Friday games where TV networks fill their inventory with a massive draw such as Penn State?
Many fans may not like that, and it wouldn't be ideal for James Franklin. But as long as Penn State is cashing huge checks from the Big Ten TV deal, then losing some control over things like this is a necessary byproduct.
