Pac-12 was in the middle of TV negotiations... this should help lol
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Dominoes are falling, where things end up is anyone's guess. These conference moves are interesting, however adding NIL into the equation and you must consider who the haves will be and who the have nots will be in these new conferences.
Well, the 'Alliance' just bit the dust. Nice knowing ya! Could future CFP structure be driving this realignment? This is ruthless capitalism at its finest, further loss of tradition at its worst.
In five years college football will be remembered like boxing in the 70's and 80's. Glad we experienced the Napier era of Cajun Football.
The tradition of college football is dead. Sad days ahead.
With rumors swirling that the B1G could take Washington and Oregon as well and move them to 16 teams, meaning that SEC and B1G would have 16 teams each:
SEC would be UGA, Kentucky, Tenn, Mizzou, Florida, Vandy, South Carolina, Alabama, Ole Miss, Arkansas, Moo State, aTm, Auburn, LSU, Texas and OU.
B1G would be Michigan, Ohio State, Mich State, Penn State, Rutgers, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Purdue, Illinois, Nebraska, Northwestern, USC, UCLA, Washington and Oregon
ACC could go 16 by adding ND and WV giving them Pitt, Miami, Clemson, Louisville, FSU, BC, Syracuse, UVA, VT, UNC, GT, Duke, WF, NC State, ND and WVU. (if ND does not want to go they could add someone else to get to 16, but I assume they want ND.
That leaves 18 teams (not counting BYU) that are considered P5 between the Big 12 and PAC 12. Washington State, Oregon State, Cal, Stanford, Utah, Arizona State, Colorado, Arizona, Oklahoma State, Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas State, Texas Tech, TCU, Kansas, Cincy, Houston and UCF.
Could the PAC 12/Big 12 form a 16 or even an 18 team conference based on these 18 teams and either have 2 teams left out in the cold or go with 18 and create the P4 conferences. I think you will see something between the remaining Big 12/PAC 12 schools happen, they already have the alliance so they will need to do something.
This never stops!!!!
I'm looking for any silver lining to inspire optimism.
All we've wanted was to be relevant and in the Napier era, we at least got to the point where we were getting exposure, having a consistent presence in the polls with a lot of the "haves," playing meaningful games and winning Championships on the national stage.
All this looks like is the most aggressive version of the rich get richer and those who are not in the club will be the new version of the FCS. Meaning "no one cares."
Pair all that with the portal, NIL and you'll just have a NBA-D league for the NFL, but with "student" athletes making much more money and universities getting even richer.
I hope the sky is not falling and this conflagration of concerning changes to the landscape of college athletics will be contained, but it doesn't look good.
This used to be fun. Saturday afternoon in the fall was for watching a football game and relaxing and a little escape from the pressure of everyday living. Now it's just business and more of the haves and have nots.
Maybe I will just go out and piddle in my garden and yard. The luster is gone and to tell you the truth I really don't care anymore.
ND won’t go to the ACC, their TV deal is till like 2035 and it just won’t compare to the sec or big. Teams like Clemson, Fl St and Miami will likely look to leave the ACC also for more money. Unless the ACC renegotiates their tv deal it will lose its best teams.
I think we are headed to two mega conferences, each with 20-24 teams. NFL lite. No playoff expansion, no place for the G5, no place for those underperforming schools like Vandy or Purdue.
The best thing is for the remaining teams to align with the NCAA to form their own league and have their own championship. That would depend on the ncaa not allowing any schools from the “super league” to compete in any championships in any sport. Sell it as a return to amateurism and old school college Athletics.
The parallels with the whole PGA vs. LIV golf tour thing are pretty interesting. Not exact circumstances, but the PGA is about integrity of the game and now the defectors can't play with us. LIV is about nothing but than money from morally corrupt backers and the figurehead Greg Norman sticking it to the other tours.
I don't think it ends there, it's very possible that the SEC and Big 10 go to 18 members. Right now with the addition of the Los Angeles Market, the Big 10 is look at a new television rights deal after 2025 of around $100M per school.
There is a possibility that the Big 10 extends another invitation to Notre Dame and Stanford. I don't see the SEC sitting back and not try to grow their television rights after the additions of Texas and Oklahoma. There are rumors of interest in Clemson, Florida State and Miami.
Those two conferences could make the ACC, Big 12 and PAC 12 irrelevant in the big picture. If they succeed, it will basically mean another separate classification moving forward for college sports.
I think the biggest losers are programs like Oregon State, Arizona State, Baylor and the new invites to the Big 12. They have hit the proverbial glass ceiling and in reality will be relegated to the same status as the Top of the G5, where they once were members.
For UL, it doesn't change our goals to eventually play with the likes of Houston, Cincinnati, TCU, or even Baylor. It just won't be the Big 12 that many have dreamed about over the years. But there will be a trickle down effect and realignment underneath again. UL has to remain relevant within our own cofference, the academic side is taking care of itself.
All this and we will still have the same 4-6 teams competing for a title.
The perfect scenario for college football is so obvious and we are very close to it, but the greedy bastards are mucking it up.
The solution is to maintain the regional conferences and develop a promotion/relegation system for football only, let's say 40 teams. The champions of 10 regional conferences move up every year and the bottom 10 of the super league gets sent down to the regional conferences for the following year. It would make every game in college football incredibly important, including Sunbelt conference games.
I agree. College sports are regional. No one will travel from LA to East Lansing to watch a football or basketball game.
Attendance and fandom will suffer. The greed of guaranteed TV money has killed the sport.
In 10 years, I could see smaller venues, 50% of stadiums will be suites and premium seating. Everyone else will have to pay to watch.
Buckle up fellas.
The key years to reshape college football will be 2024-2025 when the negotiations for the playoff will be ongoing for the format…. That will determine how super these conferences become.
I will continue to support the Cajuns to the best of my ability regardless of what happens, as it will be hard to break a decades old habit. But, the one positive thing coming out of all this for me, is the fact that I will have more time for golf on the Saturday’s during the college football season since I am rapidly losing my overall interest in college sports.