Conference Realignment

[okiemon]

Long Term TV may evaluate

We been looking at travel to west schools.- cal and stanford. Both are long flight but near major airport and nesr giant market = LA and SF. But lots of pro sports and outdoor recreational opportunities.

Looking at WF, Duke, NCSt. In one hour driving u get to all three.

To me this very close proximity is a fatal flaw for at least one or 2 of these schools.
The nearest major airport is 2.5 hr drive to Charolette.

Yes, but when FSU or Clemson has to go to the left coast, they have to fly somewhere else first. Not a problem for the football and basketball teams, since they likely charter flights - but a killer for the low-and-non-revenue athletes.

 

[iceeater1969]

Yes, but when FSU or Clemson has to go to the left coast, they have to fly somewhere else first. Not a problem for the football and basketball teams, since they likely charter flights - but a killer for the low-and-non-revenue athletes.

A New Football only League is likely on the way .

Old conferences will remain for BB and other sports.

New Football will have winners ( the mega power 5 , strong $$, and great markets) and midlevel teams on bubble. A number of odd ball schools will be losers and not be considered. No milking of tv money by bottom dwellers.

Imo, only local drive up people will come to games at WF, Duke, Ncst that are 30 miles apart. No way that is a good plan.

Or we can pay lawyers and congress to adjudicate.

 

[cpf2001]

I’m having a REAL hard time taking this “FSU has out-strategied everyone else JUST WAIT AND SEE” stuff seriously. More and more every day with some of these claims.

The other schools making moves have mostly just made the damn moves, not tried to beg everyone to believe that they could.

 

[stinger 1957]

I've never watched another Maryland event since they left. Props for the crabcakes still though.

I've always watched the games of schools in the conference that my school played in. The only exception to that has been SEC over the years since GT got out of the SEC.

 

[tmhunter52]

Adding more schools with (currently, at least) demonstrably nowhere else to go would make a future blow-it-all-up vote harder for an FSU or Clemson, so that’s my guess for them. Even if that’s a five, ten year from now thing.

Add the new schools while changing the ACC by-laws to reduce the number of schools necessary to “blow it all up” and maintain the status quo.

 

[Techster]

I think anyone who is paying attention sees where this is all going. Better to be part of the "haves" than "have nots".

 

[GoJacketsInRaleigh]

I think anyone who is paying attention sees where this is all going. Better to be part of the "haves" than "have nots".

Trev better watch out because when conferences start dumping the dead weight, Nebraska will be in the discussion.

 

[Oldgoldandwhite]

Remind me again how successful Nebraska has been since the jump?
I had rather be a bigger fish in a little pond than a little fish in a big one. Now Nebraska has to climb over 4 more teams in addition to the usual BIG powers.

 

[Vespidae]

I think anyone who is paying attention sees where this is all going. Better to be part of the "haves" than "have nots".

Why not have one conference of 128 teams? With divisions?

Could you imagine the NFC West cutting its own TV deal? The NCAA should have negotiated media rights decades ago. It’s asinine for each conference and each team to try to outmuscle the other. As it is, the are going to force many schools into D2 or D3 that were D1 for no other reason than tv money.

 

[bobongo]

I think anyone who is paying attention sees where this is all going. Better to be part of the "haves" than "have nots".

Expand, expand, expand. Is bigger really always better? Why?
These conferences have already grown into leagues, and unless the overall quality of the league is improved, I can't see an upside. Just a bunch of teams that see each other now and then.

 

[bobongo]

Why not have one conference of 128 teams? With divisions?

Could you imagine the NFC West cutting its own TV deal? The NCAA should have negotiated media rights decades ago. It’s asinine for each conference and each team to try to outmuscle the other. As it is, the are going to force many schools into D2 or D3 that were D1 for no other reason than tv money.

That's a league, like the National Football League, not a conference. They could call the divisions "conferences", and we'd be back where we started.

 

[stech81]

there is a rule change now before you’re forced to later.

 

[Vespidae]

That's a league, like the National Football League, not a conference. They could call the divisions "conferences", and we'd be back where we started.

Exactly. What we have now is a patchwork collection of competing interests.

 

[Techster]

Expand, expand, expand. Is bigger really always better? Why?
These conferences have already grown into leagues, and unless the overall quality of the league is improved, I can't see an upside. Just a bunch of teams that see each other now and then.

College football fans should to get rid of this notion that college sports needs to be a certain size, contained to a region, or that college sports tradition is sacred. Those days are gone. The B1G has national aspirations to become a pseudo professional league that dominates college sports content. They have the B1G Network, and they will leverage it similar to how Fox dominates national and regional news coverage, how ESPN use to dominate national and regional sports coverage.

If you want to know how B1G will make everything work, just think of how pro leagues operate. In the NFL, teams in each division play each other, and play other divisions on a rotating basis. I see the same thing happening with B1G football. There's already talk that once B1G is done "acquiring" college brands, they'll move to a 10 game conference schedule. Other sports, especially baseball and basketball, it's a little easier given the amount of games a year.

Let's not pretend teams are all playing each other right now. We use to play everyone in the Coastal, and rotate playing teams in the Atlantic. We didn't play everyone in the ACC every year in football. Same goes for SEC East and West.

It will be Regional rivalries within a national conference...which is essentially how the NFL/NBA/MLB works. This is why I always said Oregon and Washington would eventually end up in the B1G despite what some said that the B1G only wanted blue blood brands mega "brands". B1G was never going to lose the West Coast rivalries which is part of their overall goal of regional rivalries within a national product...and content for all 4 time zones. I would venture to say they are probably not done with the West Coast yet...the west coast is on pause for the B1G until after the ACC teams figure out the GOR.

We are watching the college sports landscape shift before our eyes. Not everyone is going to like it, but I think networks and mega conferences are counting on loyal fanbases to stay loyal to their schools...and by extension, loyal to whichever conference they end up in.

 

[cpf2001]

The more teams that get left behind the sooner it’s just a minor pro league and the money starts to dry up.

The Big 10 thinks they can be a second pro league for a sport in the US? Good luck to them. It’s failed for everyone else.

The college game had draw from uniqueness and depth, and they’re squeezing it dry. You can always extract more and more money from short term optimizations… until you can’t. “Lose half the fans from cutting off 66% of the schools” is a great way to speed towards that point of no return.

The conference infighting is doing too much lasting damage.

 

[bobongo]

College football fans should to get rid of this notion that college sports needs to be a certain size, contained to a region, or that college sports tradition is sacred. Those days are gone. The B1G has national aspirations to become a pseudo professional league that dominates college sports content. They have the B1G Network, and they will leverage it similar to how Fox dominates national and regional news coverage, how ESPN use to dominate national and regional sports coverage.

If you want to know how B1G will make everything work, just think of how pro leagues operate. In the NFL, teams in each division play each other, and play other divisions on a rotating basis. I see the same thing happening with B1G football. There's already talk that once B1G is done "acquiring" college brands, they'll move to a 10 game conference schedule. Other sports, especially baseball and basketball, it's a little easier given the amount of games a year.

Let's not pretend teams are all playing each other right now. We use to play everyone in the Coastal, and rotate playing teams in the Atlantic. We didn't play everyone in the ACC every year in football. Same goes for SEC East and West.

It will be Regional rivalries within a national conference...which is essentially how the NFL/NBA/MLB works. This is why I always said Oregon and Washington would eventually end up in the B1G despite what some said that the B1G only wanted blue blood brands mega "brands". B1G was never going to lose the West Coast rivalries which is part of their overall goal of regional rivalries within a national product...and content for all 4 time zones. I would venture to say they are probably not done with the West Coast yet...the west coast is on pause for the B1G until after the ACC teams figure out the GOR.

We are watching the college sports landscape shift before our eyes. Not everyone is going to like it, but I think networks and mega conferences are counting on loyal fanbases to stay loyal to their schools...and by extension, loyal to whichever conference they end up in.

I guess.
College isn't pro, and I believe after the dust settles, if it ever does, college sports will be something less than it is now. It's in a state of devolution.
While everybody's myopically focused on money, they've forgotten what stokes fan interest. Regional rivalries mean a lot in college, not so much in the pros.

 

[CEB]

College football fans should to get rid of this notion that college sports needs to be a certain size, contained to a region, or that college sports tradition is sacred. Those days are gone. The B1G has national aspirations to become a pseudo professional league that dominates college sports content. They have the B1G Network, and they will leverage it similar to how Fox dominates national and regional news coverage, how ESPN use to dominate national and regional sports coverage.

If you want to know how B1G will make everything work, just think of how pro leagues operate. In the NFL, teams in each division play each other, and play other divisions on a rotating basis. I see the same thing happening with B1G football. There's already talk that once B1G is done "acquiring" college brands, they'll move to a 10 game conference schedule. Other sports, especially baseball and basketball, it's a little easier given the amount of games a year.

Let's not pretend teams are all playing each other right now. We use to play everyone in the Coastal, and rotate playing teams in the Atlantic. We didn't play everyone in the ACC every year in football. Same goes for SEC East and West.

It will be Regional rivalries within a national conference...which is essentially how the NFL/NBA/MLB works. This is why I always said Oregon and Washington would eventually end up in the B1G despite what some said that the B1G only wanted blue blood brands mega "brands". B1G was never going to lose the West Coast rivalries which is part of their overall goal of regional rivalries within a national product...and content for all 4 time zones. I would venture to say they are probably not done with the West Coast yet...the west coast is on pause for the B1G until after the ACC teams figure out the GOR.

We are watching the college sports landscape shift before our eyes. Not everyone is going to like it, but I think networks and mega conferences are counting on loyal fanbases to stay loyal to their schools...and by extension, loyal to whichever conference they end up in.

I could almost argue the opposite, saying that college conferences should give up the notion that they can be like pro sports...

Regardless, even if what we are seeing right now is good for college football (that still remains to be seen, imho), there is no denying that it is BAD (potentially VERY BAD) for everyone and everything else. If this is the way forward for college football, then college football needs to separate itself entirely from the rest of college athletics and conferences. Only basketball, on a much smaller scale, has a fighting chance of positive outcome in all of this otherwise.

 

[Techster]

I guess.
College isn't pro, and I believe after the dust settles, if it ever does, college sports will be something less than it is now. It's in a state of devolution.
While everybody's myopically focused on money, they've forgotten what stokes fan interest. Regional rivalries mean a lot in college, not so much in the pros.

You can still have regional rivalries within a national conference. Some rivalries will develop over time, and some will go away.

GT use to be one of Alabama's biggest rivals. I wasn't around for it, so I don't understand the magnitude, but reading historical reports the Dodd - Bear Bryant rivalry was one of the biggest in the SEC at the time. How many 'Bama fans or GT fans know that today?

I think that's what the B1G, and to an extent the SEC, tries to preserve rivalries when they "acquire" teams.

 

[Techster]

I could almost argue the opposite, saying that college conferences should give up the notion that they can be like pro sports...

Regardless, even if what we are seeing right now is good for college football (that still remains to be seen, imho), there is no denying that it is BAD (potentially VERY BAD) for everyone and everything else. If this is the way forward for college football, then college football needs to separate itself entirely from the rest of college athletics and conferences. Only basketball, on a much smaller scale, has a fighting chance of positive outcome in all of this otherwise.

We'll see. IMO, there will be 3 big conference...new rivalries will form, and some will go away.

If anything, my fear is that networks will invest heavily into these big conferences and the smaller conferences who just started seeing an influx of cash will not have their deals renewed similar to what happened with the PAC12. Not sure what will happen then, but it's dire for the smaller college sports programs when that happens.

 

[LawTalkin Jacket]

Can't we just get ND in ACC and maybe SMU too and get a new TV deal because of the additions and make the new deal guarantee that ND gets something close to what it gets now, and the new deal is like a Nick Saban Contract in that whenever B1G or SEC deals increase, our deal increases so that ACC revenue per school is within 5-10% of average of B1G and SEC revenue per school? ND is guaranteed not to lose its sweetheart deal and it gets to be in a conf which makes road to playoff easier than any other.