Big Ten Learns Lesson from SEC, Turns Media Days into Must-See Event

Two years ago, one of the most talked about events of the college football calendar didn't occur inside of a stadium or even on the recruiting trail, but rather inside of a Hyatt Regency hotel in Hoover, Alabama.

It was there that reporters flocked, TV cameras gathered and the nonstop sports cycle came to a screeching halt more than a month prior to the start of the college football season. Yet neither time, location nor even venue seemed to matter as then-embattled Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel took the podium at the annual SEC media days.

It was surreal, spectacular, embarrassing and most importantly, attention-grabbing, all at once. And while Manziel was the main event, Nick Saban's appearance a day later and the combination of Will Muschamp and Steve Spurrier the day prior didn't make for a bad undercard either.

This was the SEC at its best—and arguably its worst—commanding national headlines and bringing the calm before the storm of the college football season to an abrupt end.

Meanwhile in the Midwest a mere few weeks later, the Big Ten held a comparatively quiet media day affair, as Urban Meyer struggled to find a supporting cast capable of commanding similar attention.

Dave Martin/Associated Press

But with Ohio State's capturing of the first-ever College Football Playoff championship jump-starting a renaissance in the conference, the Big Ten appears to be closing the gap on the SEC. And it's not just on the field either that the league is proving to have modernized, as the conference's upcoming media days schedule shows a forward-thinking similar to the SEC's slate.

As opposed to past years, where all 12—and then 14— conference teams would meet with reporters multiple times over the course of the Big Ten's two days of interviews, the league's latest plan will divide its schedule into half of the teams meeting on the first day and the other half being showcased on the second.

And while it may initially seem counterproductive to cut a team's interview slate in half, the Big Ten's strategy is simple: Less is more.

Because while it may have been nice to have two days' worth of interviews with coaches and players in the past, the reality is that the sessions almost always became repetitive by the event's end.

Take Meyer, for example, who has been the de facto face of the Big Ten for its past three media days. Between his initial 15-minute press conference, 30-minute follow-up breakout interview and second-day 90-minute table media session, the Ohio State head coach was spending nearly two-and-a-half hours meeting with reporters in a two day span.

Even for a coach as prominent as Meyer, there's only so much worth talking about during that time.

M. Spencer Green/Associated Press

Now, not only will Meyer's—and the other Big Ten coaches'—time at the podium be more condensed, but it will become a bigger event. It's simple supply and demand—create an itch and make sure you don't oversaturate the market.

The conference's split over the course of the two days suggests as much, as both days appear aimed to capture national headlines. On July 30, you'll have Meyer discussing his defending national champions, a day before Jim Harbaugh steps to the podium for his first Big Ten media day as Michigan's head coach.

Don't think for a second that's a coincidence.

For the first time since Meyer arrived in Columbus more than three years ago, he finally has an equal in the league when it comes to commanding attention. The Big Ten could have made a natural split—East Division one day, West Division the other—but instead made the decision to use its two most famous head coaches as anchors on the eve of the start of fall camp.

Just as they should have.

After all, that's the whole point of media days in the first place, garnering attention for your league as the upcoming season prepares to set sail. You can't account for firestorms like Manziel's controversial offseason two years ago to occur, but by allowing more individual attention to a team on a given day, you give your media day a better chance of becoming a must-see event.

Whether this year's Big Ten media days prove to be just that remains to be seen. But it's clear that the conference's annual summer event will no longer be a mere formality.

Ben Axelrod is Bleacher Report's Big Ten lead writer. You can follow him on Twitter @BenAxelrod. Unless noted otherwise, all quotes were obtained firsthand. All statistics courtesy of cfbstats.com. Recruiting rankings courtesy of 247Sports.