12 Million Reasons the SEC Should Expand

Texas A&M GMAIL INBOX
via http://www.athlonsports.com/

                                                   

I am a proponent of Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Florida State and Louisville joining the SEC and I will provide you with 12 million reasons.

If in fact, you always follow the money, then I think it important to follow the TV advertising.  If you understand Advertising, you understand that eyeballs on ads equals revenue and the more eyeballs, the more revenue.

As the SEC presently sits spread out over the South Eastern United States largely in smaller population Metropolitan areas, in smaller population states.

Here is a table I made listing present SEC cities and their population, and the growth to 16 Teams from 12 with the addition of Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Louisville, and Florida State.

SEC Cities	Population	Est. pop within 100 miles	Possible New School Cities	Population	Est. pop within 100 miles
Florida Gainsville, FL	125,000	200,000	Texas A&M Houston	2.4 Million	4 Million
Arkansas Little Rock, AR	193,000	250,000	DFW	2 Million	3 Million
South Carolina Columbia, SC	129,000	175,000	San Antonio	1.3 Million	1.5 Million
Vanderbilt Nashville, TN	601,000	750,000	Corpus Christi	300000	350000
Kentucky Lexington, KY	295,000	350,000	Florida St. Tallahassee Jacksonville	181,000 822,000	1.25 Million
LSU Baton Rouge/New Orleans	229,000 343,000	700,000	Oklahoma OK City Tulsa	550,000 591,000	1.25 Million
Mississippi State Starkville, MS	24,000	30,000	Louisville Louisville Cincinnati	740,000 331,000	1.25 Million
Auburn Auburn, AL Columbus, GA	53,400 190000	300,000	Total Population	9,100,000	MSA Area Population 12,600,000
Georgia Atlanta/ Gainsville, GA	40,000 420,000	600,000
Alabama Tuscaloosa, AL Montgomery, AL Birmingham, AL	179,000 225,000 21,200	750,000
Tennessee Knoxville, TN	185,000	250,000
Ole Miss Jackson, MS Memphis, TN	130,000 647,000	900,000
Total Population	2,750,000	MSA Area Population 5,000,000	Total League Population After Adding 4 Teams	11,800,000	Total MSA Service Areas After Growth 17,600,000

As you can see, this is a huge Revenue Boost from CBS and ESPN.  The Eyes on Ads just went up by 252% by adding these 4 Teams.... I would estimate TV Payout for Football alone to be upwards of $30 Million per Team.

In this market of reduced Donations from Alumni, this money cannot be ignored.  The SEC has won the last 5 National Championships in Football, the last 3 in Baseball, Texas A&M has won the last 3 National Titles in Track and Field with the last 11 Champions coming from the new SEC, and the Basketball Tournament Revenue from SEC with Louisville, OK, in the mix would be staggering.

SEC plus 4 makes HUGE Economic Sense.

I believe a 16 Team SEC is in the works, like all things this size and momentum, the ship doesn't turn on a dime.  I believe the SEC is getting all the pieces in place to make one large announcement.   Texas A&M is blazing the trail and laying down smoke screen for the other 3 teams to get things in place behind the scenes.  I look for an announcement around the labor day weekend and the start of College Football.

All the attention will shift to the SEC and College Football....  Cannot wait for The Football Season to get underway.

Kevin Overton
kevinoverton@gmail.com