Also, it's annoying for the fans (and I can imagine for the players, coaches, and staff) to be traveling so much. Part of the fun of college sports is that the students are insane in the stands. Some kids have wealthy parents, and boosters/corporate holders can get people to the game...but is it really going to be the same intensity when schools with no history are playing really far away? Let's say you're a solidly middle-class student at UT. Most students don't have class on Friday, and for the sake of this example let's say you and four of your buddies can leave Thursday afternoon. Are you really going to drive halfway across the country, get a hotel or AirBnb, then drive all the way back hungover on Sunday to watch a football game live? And that's assuming you and your friends don't have a late class Thursday or work. If it's not a Bowl game during winter break...are you going through all that effort to watch your team play in Gainesville, Florida? Or Kentucky? Why do that when you can watch at a bar or frat house? My friend who went to Ohio State is an OSU fanatic and a massive partier, even moreso when we were younger. He came from a family that probably had more money than most students there, and was in a fraternity. I can probably count on my hand as to how many away games he attended, and I'm talking about traveling to neighboring Michigan or Wisconsin or maybe Indiana. Nowhere near the drive it would take to traverse the length of these mega conferences. Aside from Notre Dame students/fans (who seem to travel any and everywhere) I think it's unrealistic to except fans to get pumped and more importantly, bring the financial revenue, that makes these games work. If we're going to keep divisions, they should at least make geographic sense. If not, have rotating home and homes with a few traditional rivalries every year that gives teams more flexibility to make their schedule easier or harder as they see fit.
While true from a resume standpoint, #4 seeds have won 2 out of the 8 national championships during the playoff era. Meanwhile, #1 seeds have also won just 2 of the 8. (#2 seeds have won 3; a #3 seed has won once).
Agreed but the PAC also seems ripe for poaching given the same reasons. The SEC's deal is beyond massive and the B1G is in store for one as well. The Big 12 and PAC are next up to the table but think it's safe to say there will be a very very significant disparity in the deals. So think it's a matter of time before someone calls Oregon, USC, Stanford, etc...And with the increasing price in running athletics programs, turning down an additional $10-$20M per year might be too hard to turn down. Yes there is the "alliance" but I don't think that is going to stop a poach should it make sense. That being said, timing is on the PAC's side. The new deals will probably be finalized before any other realignment so they'll probably be safe for the time being. But if I'm a PAC school, the last thing I'd want is locking into an ACC type deal.
Right, Switzerland. They do what they want, nobody cares, nobody watches, they pitch in a little money here and there, the world moves on around them...4/5 of the NCAA sports universe forgets they exist.
ACC is officially going no divisions starying in 2023. Each team gets 3 annual games then a home/away game with the rest over a 4 year span.
Feels like the scene in Spaceballs when everyone tries to get an escape pod. This attempt to consolidate is making college sports, particularly football, so unrecognizable and unappealing. I’d rather just have a minor league system for NFL teams at this point. Cut out the middle man.
I think we are headed towards athletes becoming employees. As a student, to be expected to travel three time zones to represent your school during the week is not in the best interest of welfare and academics. However if you’re job requires you to travel you can be compensated for your time. The biggest loser is the Pac 12 who refused to discuss a merger with the Big 12. Now the Big 12 should pick off anyone the Big Ten doesn’t want. I still believe the Big Ten isn’t done and this got leaked. It makes sense to have a Big Ten West with USC, UCLA, Oregon, and Washington especially for non revenue sports. The Big 12 should be on the phone with Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah.
I’d take Kansas, even Arizona over Washington because of basketball. But Washington brings you Seattle. Oregon is weird. If not for Nike, not sure why anyone would be interested.
Not sure what to believe but I don’t think the B1G is done. Geography is all out the window so they might as well keep adding from the PAC. KU makes a ton of sense too. Wonder if the new Big 12 commissioner is having second thoughts. They either have to immediately poach the PAC or wait and watch their schools leave. It’s inevitable at this point.
Yeah, it's going to be a mess. Although a lot of the bigger schools do that anyway with some of these crazy cross-country home-home series. I wouldn't be surprised if we move to 3 conferences with tiers instead of division and a relegation system. Playoffs would only be Tier 1 teams
Furthering this idea, there'd still be inter-tier games for the purposes of TV rights, strength of schedule etc. and it could help build weaker teams up. I'll use Vanderbilt and Rutgers for example. Both teams know they're not winning against top talent. But they want to keep the TV money. But now they can recruit (and sell season tickets) on "hey we'll be competitive most games this season against equal talent and we'll also play the big boys once or twice per year". For a recruit especially that's a win-win.
