![BIg12]()
The mass commercialization of college football apparently knows no bounds, as Allstate is reportedly in negotiations with the Big 12 conference on a naming rights deal that would net the kid brother of the SEC and Big Ten as much as $50 million per year.
https://twitter.com/Brett_McMurphy/status/1801295636672774327
There's definitely a need for the Big 12 to do
something to keep up with the true big boys on the NCAA gridiron, and this deal would go a long way on that front. At what cost, though? I mean that in a figurative sense. Because while there may be a revenue boom for the potentially-eventually-newly christened Big Allstate Conference, endless mockery is certain to ensue.
That is, if Thursday's widespread consensus on the Twittersphere is any harbinger of the general public's long-term consensus.
https://twitter.com/SickosCommittee/status/1801299221162725720
https://twitter.com/NicoleAuerbach/status/1801309073297785052
https://twitter.com/msouthern17/status/1801296963083567404
https://twitter.com/BrettKollmann/status/1801298514649223448
https://twitter.com/LateKickJosh/status/1801297188389327305
https://twitter.com/DraftKings/status/1801305912734318726
https://twitter.com/OKSTProbs/status/1801366363753033804
https://twitter.com/PackChat1887/status/1801361238774935573
https://twitter.com/ArifHasanNFL/status/1801342327274791300
https://twitter.com/timmccaughan/status/1801305506373636187
https://twitter.com/andruwgreen/status/1801350602552971402
Who knows? Maybe the shock value will wear off after a while, but like several X folks have alluded to, all I'll be able to think about watching a Big 12 game is the Allstate Mayhem guy and those commercials. Hey, at least Mayhem guy Dean Winters could be a massive winner in all this. Imagine the promotional tie-ins he'd be able to score. We'd be seeing Dean Winters everywhere. Like to the point where he'd go from "character actor who landed that commercial series of a lifetime" to "legitimate household name." Zero offense intended re: Dean Winters. I'm actually rooting for him above anyone else involved in this saga.
Interestingly, too, Conference USA is exploring a similar name/sponsorship deal.
https://twitter.com/FOS/status/1801317998537371872
News has also surfaced that the Big 12 could receive a $1 billion private equity investment.
https://twitter.com/WinterSportsLaw/status/1801267324760072499
To quote Vince Lombardi, "What the hell's going on out here!?"
These splashy endeavors are certainly an avenue for the Big 12 to hang tough with the SEC and Big Ten amid their epic recruiting battles, seven-figure NIL offers,
rolling out of Lamborghini lineups, and rival
coaches trading public barbs on the absurdity of it all.
How far we've come in college football in such a short period of time. It wasn't long ago that
Jim Harbaugh came under fire for buying hamburgers for recruits. Now a lot of college athletes are millionaires, and big brands are liable to engage in whizzing contests, vying for the naming rights to major conferences. What a world! Not saying it's good or bad. Just saying it's all the more bizarre with each passing day.
