B1G Commissioner Kevin Warren named CEO of Chicago Bears

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PoockItInfor6 said:
I mean, pretty sure he was instrumental in the cancellation decision, and backtracked once the SEC had no issues.
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Can you spell out more plainly your accusations, here?

Am I correct in paraphrasing it as: "Kevin Warren is mainly, solely responsible for convincing the Big Ten presidents to make the initial decision to cancel the 2020 football season, and they did that mostly based on his opinions and not the opinions of any other medical experts or politicians in their states" ?

(Also, are we really going there?? I guess we'll be talking about this 40 years from now ....)
 


Gophers_4life said:
I've seen that one a lot.

Another interesting name, though no idea if he has interest in the spot: Ohio State AD Gene Smith.
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I think Smith would be great as Commissioner now that the media deals are signed. He has led one of the largest athletic departments in the country.
 

dpodoll68 said:
What are you even talking about? When Goodell became commissioner, he had 24 years of experience in the NFL, which is the only place he has ever worked. Warren right now has 22 years of experience in the NFL, not including his experience as an attorney and agent representing NFL players, nor his experience as a major conference commissioner in the NCAA. He has way more life and work experience than Goodell had when he became commissioner, and assuming it's at least 2 years from now, he would even have more NFL experience than Goodell did. Just a bizarre post from you.
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Personally, I guess I would put more weight on actually working in the NFL league office than just bouncing around a few NFL franchises, but that's just me. I would do that for two reasons; one is the experience and first-hand knowledge of how things work in the league office and two, working in the league office you're going to be a lot more of a known commodity to those in the league office than someone on staff with one of the franchises. For all we know, they've been grooming someone in the NFL league office to take over for ol' Roger for years now already.

Again, not sure why having an opinion on the issue is enough to get you and one or two others so bent. Good Lord, I merely stated that I don't think it's going to happen. Grab a Snickers, whatever it takes...
 

Therein lies the rub. Were you just saying you don't think it will happen, or were you saying he does not possess sufficient qualification to be considered for the job?

If you didn't intend the latter, well maybe it came across that way.
 


Ogee Ogilthorpe said:
Again, not sure why having an opinion on the issue is enough to get you and one or two others so bent. Good Lord, I merely stated that I don't think it's going to happen. Grab a Snickers, whatever it takes...
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Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but no one is entitled to their own facts. Your issue with it seems to be "lack of experience," which has been demonstrated to be factually wrong. Also, you didn't just "merely state" that you didn't think it was going to happen, you laughed it off as a near-impossibility and used (again, factually incorrect) information to buttress your vehement opposition to it.

Putting that falsehood aside, I would also argue for the fact that several different entities have hired Kevin Warren at multiple levels of football. Roger Goodell was hired once, in 1982, at 23 years old, and after he latched on to Paul Tagliabue, rode his coattails all the way to the top of the organization, ultimately being named his successor. There is something to be said for loyalty and knowing the inner workings of an organization, but I would argue that gaining a diversity of experience at multiple organizations in the same industry is just as important if not more so.
 

dpodoll68 said:
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but no one is entitled to their own facts. Your issue with it seems to be "lack of experience," which has been demonstrated to be factually wrong. Also, you didn't just "merely state" that you didn't think it was going to happen, you laughed it off as a near-impossibility and used (again, factually incorrect) information to buttress your vehement opposition to it.

Putting that falsehood aside, I would also argue for the fact that several different entities have hired Kevin Warren at multiple levels of football. Roger Goodell was hired once, in 1982, at 23 years old, and after he latched on to Paul Tagliabue, rode his coattails all the way to the top of the organization, ultimately being named his successor. There is something to be said for loyalty and knowing the inner workings of an organization, but I would argue that gaining a diversity of experience at multiple organizations in the same industry is just as important if not more so.
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good-talk-chevy-chase.gif
 

PMWinSTP said:
20+ years as an NFL executive. Helped Wilfs buy the Purple. As stated in other posts, navigated the new stadium to reality. Law degree from Notre Dame.
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Helped the Wilfs buy the Vikings, helped get the stadium built, helped get the practice facility built and in the process elevated the Wilfs from mega-rich to even more mega-rich.

College is a different animal than the pros and working with institutions of higher learning for which athletics are part but not the whole of the endeavor is a big-time challenge. I thought he was fine as B1G commissioner. No one is going to make a decision that everyone is going to love and the wide range of college programs made that challenge even harder to meet.
 

saw a tweet from some writer claiming that Warren did not get along with several of the AD's in the B1G. Not sure what that was based on.

but, the fact that he was willing to walk away from a very high profile job after just 3 years suggests that he might prefer the world of the NFL to the world of major college sports. which is fine.

I remain very interested in who the B1G will choose as the new Commish. with questions and speculation remaining about future expansion possibilities, this is going to be a very important hire.
 




Gophers_4life said:
Can you spell out more plainly your accusations, here?

Am I correct in paraphrasing it as: "Kevin Warren is mainly, solely responsible for convincing the Big Ten presidents to make the initial decision to cancel the 2020 football season, and they did that mostly based on his opinions and not the opinions of any other medical experts or politicians in their states" ?

(Also, are we really going there?? I guess we'll be talking about this 40 years from now ....)
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By the time they cancelled the season it was pretty obvious it was not the 5-6% kill rate that was originally announced. This is why the SEC played (with fans if I recall)… it was an unnecessary decision, and he certainly was not solely responsible for making it… but he certainly had his finger prints all over it. Again, I cut the guy some slack… he just started the job and ran into a tough situation. Doesn’t take away the fact he ultimately made the wrong choice.
 






Some guy said:
That’s pretty funny. I assume Sankey talked to the big 12 before poaching Oklahoma and Texas lol
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Glass houses. He was there as the assistant commissioner when A&M and Zou came over as well.
 


Ogee Ogilthorpe said:
Holy shit. Shots fired! Shots fired!!

SEC Commish Sankey Takes Parting Shots at Departing B1G Commish Warren

SEC's Sankey Takes Vicious Parting Shot at Kevin Warren

Among other things, Sankey criticized Warren for not having any discussion with PAC-12 Commish before the B1G poached a few PAC-12 schools
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The SEC was famously ticked-off that the Big Ten not only got a much bigger TV deal, but wouldn't go along with the ABC/SEC plan to put all the playoff games on ABC properties.

Cry us a river Gregie Boy.:blah:
 

WAGopher said:
He didn’t even tell SEC school Texas A&M before the Texas addition was announced.
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A&M is who leaked it and got it out there, they were so pissed off and shocked when they found out that UT and OU were very quietly, and completely behind closed doors, planning the move to the SEC.
 

Yeah, this is coming from a guy who got out done. Sour grapes.
 

Iceland12 said:
The SEC was famously ticked-off that the Big Ten not only got a much bigger TV deal, but wouldn't go along with the ABC/SEC plan to put all the playoff games on ABC properties.

Cry us a river Gregie Boy.:blah:
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At the risk of defending Sankey, the discrepancy between the two TV deals was almost entirely due to timing, if we're being really honest. It would have been difficult for Warren to fuck things up after the groundwork was already laid ahead of time by his predecessor.
 

Ogee Ogilthorpe said:
At the risk of defending Sankey, the discrepancy between the two TV deals was almost entirely due to timing, if we're being really honest. It would have been difficult for Warren to fuck things up after the groundwork was already laid ahead of time by his predecessor.
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Yeah, you're defending Stankey and to be honest your hate for Warren is showing, though oddly haven't seen this kind of love for ABC/ESPN coming from you before.;)

Unless you mean by the groundwork being set by Delaney adding Penn State, Nebraska, Maryland and Rutgers was instrumental in getting the deal. Seems a bit of a reach since the last part of that took place 8/9 years ago.

The extra money for Big Ten was because of the botched deal that ABC/ESPN and Stankey were trying to foist on College Football. The ACC, Pac12, Big 12 and the rest of the country didn't like it. FOX and NBC certainly hated it, but only Warren and the Big Ten were able to tell both the SEC and ABC/ESPN to shove it.

Though the Pac12 didn't like the Big Ten taking USC and UCLA which seemed to be another part of getting that kind of money.

Here's a couple of articles talking about the coming season(s) that wouldn't exist if Sankey and ESPN had their way.

www.cbssports.com

Big Ten reaches seven-year media rights deal with CBS, Fox and NBC for football, basketball through 2029-30

Marquee Big Ten football games will be showcased across three broadcast windows on Saturdays
www.cbssports.com www.cbssports.com

footballscoop.com

NBC lands broadcast crew for network's upcoming Big Ten package

Big Ten football will be televised like a junior version of the NFL starting next season.
footballscoop.com footballscoop.com
 
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was listening to Greg Flugaur's podcast. he covered some of the same ground - pointing out that Sankey kept the Big 12 in the dark while Sankey was recruiting TX and OK.

Flugaur did say that Warren did not get along with some of the AD's and administrators in the B1G. talked about communications issues. also said that Warren ruffled some feathers by talking about things without first building a consensus among the B1G officials - for instance, Warren was talking about future expansion of the B1G before the AD's and administrators had a chance to give their input.

so it sounds like some elements in the B1G will not be too sad about Warren leaving. and that in turn suggests that the next Commissioner will likely be someone who is better at communication and consensus-building on key moves.
 


Ogee Ogilthorpe said:
At the risk of defending Sankey, the discrepancy between the two TV deals was almost entirely due to timing, if we're being really honest. It would have been difficult for Warren to fuck things up after the groundwork was already laid ahead of time by his predecessor.
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No, it's not.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
Flugaur did say that Warren did not get along with some of the AD's and administrators in the B1G. talked about communications issues. also said that Warren ruffled some feathers by talking about things without first building a consensus among the B1G officials - for instance, Warren was talking about future expansion of the B1G before the AD's and administrators had a chance to give their input.
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Being the B1G commissioner sounds like a nightmare. You lead a group of 14 university presidents who only care about sports part time and you kind of work for them. And they don’t fully lead their universities because they have a BOR (or similar). And you really work through the 14 ADs who don’t really work for you but they give you a lot of input and you give them a lot of output. It just sounds like a nightmare from a consensus building and communication standpoint.

At least in the NFL, the league owners all have the same goal of making money. In college, making money is certainly part of the equation but there are many other factors that go into conference decisions.
 

matt said:
Being the B1G commissioner sounds like a nightmare. You lead a group of 14 university presidents who only care about sports part time and you kind of work for them. And they don’t fully lead their universities because they have a BOR (or similar). And you really work through the 14 ADs who don’t really work for you but they give you a lot of input and you give them a lot of output. It just sounds like a nightmare from a consensus building and communication standpoint.

At least in the NFL, the league owners all have the same goal of making money. In college, making money is certainly part of the equation but there are many other factors that go into conference decisions.
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It's probably a bit easier in the SEC, where the goals are much more aligned: football, football, football!

In the Big Ten, though it's mainly a bunch of giant, public universities in states that all touch each other from Neb to New Jersey .... I think you have a pretty big difference in state cultures, priorities, politics, etc. to deal with in this group.
 

I have also read that there has been some turnover among the B1G Presidents, so you have several people who are new to their positions. that could add to some of the communication issues.

but the bottom line still seems to be that Warren apparently is just more comfortable in the NFL environment than he is in the world of college sports.

he tried it. it didn't work out. time to move on.

working by the theory of the opposite, I expect the next B1G commissioner to be 100% from the college sports world.
 

Athletic:

Fortuna: Why Kevin Warren’s Big Ten-to-Bears move worked out best for everyone involved​

...

Warren knocked it out of the park in his first public appearance as the face of the Bears. This is not surprising. The man is a gifted public speaker. He is principled. He is, save for his recent run as Big Ten commissioner, an NFL lifer. He has already accomplished damn near exactly what the Bears are hoping to accomplish, having overseen a new stadium project in Minneapolis that helped net the city a Super Bowl, and he said all of the right things in his news conference about how he will go about doing the same for the Bears in Arlington Heights.

...

The Big Ten went outside its comfort zone in hiring Warren, and although there was no tangible effort to keep him once word of his Bears flirtation went public, what’s the difference? The conference is set up to thrive with or without him in the fold the next few years. Warren made all parties rich beyond their wildest dreams, with the Big Ten set to lap the SEC in media rights revenue (by roughly $15 million a year per school, per insiders) and exposure (three TV partners to one) — and still go back to the negotiating table four years before the SEC. He responded to the SEC’s flex of adding Oklahoma and Texas by snatching UCLA and USC from the Pac-12, breaking the ill-fated “Alliance” and, much more significantly, throwing a wrench in the much deeper relationships those two conferences had via the Rose Bowl.

Warren saw where college sports was going, whether his constituents liked it or not. And in the years since he was hired by the Big Ten, three of the other four Power 5 conferences have hired new commissioners, with two going the nontraditional route by hiring collegiate outsiders as well.

Folks can rightfully criticize Warren’s handling of the 2020 season, and some will never get past that sour first impression, but he was introspective when asked Tuesday what he would have done differently, particularly in regards to the infamous parent protest outside his office.

“One thing I did learn about that and probably if I had to do it all over again, and I ended up doing it a little bit later, but if I had to do it all over again, I would have done what I’m doing right here,” he told a small group of reporters after his news conference. “I would’ve said, You know what, 3 o’clock tomorrow, I’m gonna come downstairs, I’m gonna open up the Big Ten office and if you’re a parent outdoors, you’re gonna come in a joint group, I’m gonna bring in some food and we’re gonna sit down and talk, and we’re gonna talk about it. I’m gonna tell you why I feel the way I do. I’m gonna bring in our medical staff and doctor. I would have done that.

“I’m a fast learner, and I learned after this — even my wife (Greta) was the one, she was like, ‘Why are you communicating on medical issues and you’re not a doctor?’ I said, ‘We don’t have anyone.’ She said, ‘Go hire a chief medical officer.’ That’s how Dr. (James) Borchers got the job. Because some things are pretty simple.”
 

Warren was a disaster for the B10. If they hire a hamster, it will be an upgrade
 


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