OT - UGA President's View - 4 Major Conferences

haha hence the qualification "as of now"

but yes, the second list is far more logical.  but on the flipside, this is still conference realignment and the ncaa, so logic is something we are in short supply of.

Yay, a post of nothing but personal opinions!

Is that a fact or a personal opinion?

Yeah, but as Boise State and a bunch of the other Big East teams have shown, you can back out pretty easily.

ACC might be in bad shape if FSU, Miami, Clemson and Georgia Tech leave. If this happens and there are 4 major conferences, then ND will probably join the PAC 12/16.

For those who have the time, here are a couple interesting takes:

The largest unknown, however, still remains the most important - Maryland versus its former conference for the rights to $50 million. The result of those negotiations will determine whether this massive conference realignment will occur this offseason or somewhere down the road.

http://outkickthecoverage.com/the-sec-and-big-ten-will-have-16-members.php

http://www.jwtns.com/2012/11/louisville-to-acc-realignment-drama.html

 “Could”, maybe, but doubtful; you may wish to rethink your statement. You have to use a perspective other than “fan’s view”. This is a university president speaking, someone appreciative of income, endowments, grants and other fiscal concerns to keep an institution operating. He’s not looking at athletic competition or quality, and I am sure he sees the profits B1G is generating. So I doubt he really thinks the B1G deteriorated much by strengthening their presence in the east coast TV market.

Should the Big 12 collapse, It will be a battle amongst the B1G, Pac 12, and SEC for Texas and Oklahoma with the other conferences picking up the scraps i.e. K-St, Ok St, etc.  Imagine if Texas and OU decide to go to either the Pac 12 or SEC and the B1G is stuck adding Iowa St and TCU. If you thought adding Maryland and Rutgers got a negative reaction...

Who exactly does anyone care about in the ACC?  Half of ACC is the old Big East.  FSU and Clemson basically, and Clemson is a far cry from Texas or Ok.

Who exactly does anyone care about in the ACC?  Half of ACC is the old Big East.  FSU and Clemson basically, and Clemson is a far cry from Texas or Ok.

"Texas and Oklahoma are the only teams left in the Big 12 that anyone cares about."

Big 12 attendance runs about 12,000/game ahead of the ACC and the difference isn't just in the top two schools, it runs from top to bottom of the conferences. Average attendance at a few Big 12 schools:

• Iowa St. 53,647
• Kansas St. 49,030
• Oklahoma St. 57,229
• West Virginia 56,532
• Texas Tech 55,347

Someone must care about those teams, because they're coming to their games. Nobody in the Big 12 has, or ever has had as far as I know, anything like the empty-stadium syndrome Miami is going through.

1.      Doubt if Texas goes anywhere, at least within next 10 years+.  It will take that long to realize the fruits of Longhorn Network, etc. They have developed an almost demigod-like mentality, similar to ND. They have virtually complete autonomy over what they do and are in a conference that will support it.

2.      If there is ever a “falling-out” between TX and Oklahoma that could be significant and may cause the Sooners to reevaluate and leave, other wise I can foresee Pac12 picking off maybe Texas Tech in a next round, strengthening their access to the fertile recruiting ground, and divvy up the football crazed state again, (maybe lessen UT influence for a future union).   It is really the Pac12’s only real play.

I posted the link from the wrong tab. The one in your reply is the one I found and meant to post. My apologies to the board. I own that fail. 

I  read it again and it is interesting that Adams points out that the SEC is not "seeking out schools", but it doesn't really have to do so, and as we have seen in the last couple weeks, neither does the Big Ten really. It does seem like  we are at a point where there are four or five conferences that can, for the most part, afford to sit and observe and take opportunities as they arise. That might very well be indicative of the future, especially with television revenue as part of the deal. I wonder if the major conferences will largely opt for the "pick of the remains" approach, if it comes to that. It is intertesting that, of all things, college football would eventually develop a business model which would favor some form of quasi-corporate amalgamation. 

Notre dames hand will be forced into a conference, right?



Oh that's gonna piss them off!

Utah is a flagship school, not bad academically, has decent sports, is located in a fast growing and economically well-off state, and fits the geography. I don't think it's correct to say that no one say Utah going to the Pac-12. 

nm double post

However it shakes out, some schools are going to be just below the cut line and they're going to be pissed. A few of them will probably be schools that have recently dropped a lot of money into upgrading their programs. They're going to do what they can to bring legal pressure to bear--we've seen that already with the BCS and it's going to be much worse now. And the pressure will only build over time, with the usual and natural fluctuations in strength. Eventually somebody will do what Utah did a few years ago, mow through an undefeated season in a lesser conference, manhandle a major conference school in a bowl game, and the whole system will be threatened unless a pressure valve is built in.

It may take a restraint-of-trade class action to get it done, but I think it's eventually coming.

Again: creating harmony and perfection out of a system where there is none.  Against the mountain of evidence that the only thing that matters is money, money, money, where is the evidence that conferences and university presidents care about things like "divisions of eight teams are easy to deal with"?

My guess is that if you went to 18 and played 9 conference games (which is going to be a necessity) you would only have one cross over game which means you couldn't have protected cross divisional games.  As to why they don't stop at 14 my only guess right no is that no one believes Rutgers and Maryland are the Big10's end game or that the SEC is going to stay where they are.

I'm not sure if I'd call it a magicl force, but I suspect that the sheer challenge facing whatever committee members tasked with choosing the 4 teams to participate in the playoff may compel many of the big wigs to find some stability. 

I just read this little experiment on si.com where they formed a selection committee to hypothetically seed a 4 team playoff this year.  The immediate take away is that it's a hell of a lot more difficult than they imagined with a lot of politics involved...and that was without even really considering the fact that a number of the participants were involved in realignment issues behind the scenes.

It won't be long before the appeal of 4 major conferences, each sending their champion to the playoff will become to appealingly simple to avoid.  I'm willing to bet that within a few years we will have 4 major conferences.  Whether they settle on 16, 18 or 20 teams, I have no idea but once they get it settled they will have a very powerful & stable cartel of major college football that should last forever.