Realignment bargaining at its finest
OK everyone, I've figured it out. I can see the pieces falling into place for the inevitable endgame for all this realignment. Bear with me here.
First, the era of 4 superconferences will dawn. As generally expected, those conferences will be based around the existing Pac 12, Big 12, Big 10, and SEC. Each conference will align itself around 4 smaller divisions instead of the current larger 2.
This will not put a stop to the arms race, however, as the Pac 12 and Big 12 will soon begin working on a collaborative scheduling agreement that will give the Pac 12 access to the lucrative Texas college football market, and give the Big 12 access to the West coast. This will prove to be a moneymaking success, and the Big 10 and SEC will start feeling the heat.
In response, the Big 10 and SEC will enter talks to form their own partnership. These talks begin with a simple scheduling agreement modeled after the Pac 12 and Big 12, but fearing to be one-uped again they decide to take things to another level and go full steam ahead with a conference merger, becoming the Big SEC. The Pac 12 and Big 12 feel their hand forced, and merge to form the Big Pac.
Meanwhile, in the mid-majors, trouble is brewing as outcasts from the Big East and ACC as well as programs from C-USA and the Mountain West struggle to find footing. They start adopting the superconference mentality as well, with C-USA absorbing much of the MAC and ACC castoffs, and the Mountain West taking on the WAC teams as well as Big East leftovers.
Back in the world of major-conference college football, the Big Pac is looking for its next opportunity to gain an advantage over their rival Big SEC. After watching the mid-major realignment shake out, they decide to drop one of the biggest bombs in all of realignment as they merge with the new Mountain West, creating the super-est of superconferences. The Big SEC sees no choice but to latch on to C-USA (as it is the only remaining college football conference at this point) and make a merger of their own.
In the end, we're left with 2 superconferences, each with 6 divisions made up of 8-12 teams. These divisions will be roughly apportioned to reflect geography, talent level, and history. For example, it's likely we'll see a division made up of the directional Michigans, as well as smaller schools from Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. The major Texas schools will probably band together with the Oklahoma and Kansas schools to form a division. Major programs in the Southeast will band together to form a division, as will those along the Pacific coast.
Lucky for us, Michigan will likely wind up in a division with 10-12 major programs throughout the Midwest and Great Lakes areas. Historical relationships will play a part, as that division will pull in teams like Ohio State, Michigan State, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Purdue, and others.
Each division will be a semi-autonomous unit within its conference, deciding for itself how its schedules will be made and how its champion will be selected, with division championship games a real possibility. The season will end with something resembling a 12-team playoff, as each conference selects its champion from among its 6 divisions, and the winners of each conference go on to play one another in a national championship game.
November 21st, 2012 at 12:27 PM ^
Let me check with THE_KNOWLEDGE and get back to you on this one.
EDIT: Confirmed
As of 10/21/12 at 12:30PM
November 21st, 2012 at 12:20 PM ^
i see what you did there.
November 21st, 2012 at 12:21 PM ^
Will there be a quiz on this later?
November 21st, 2012 at 12:27 PM ^
Conference Realignment, by George Orwell.
November 21st, 2012 at 12:38 PM ^
...I was thinking the same thing. Big Brother is watching!
November 21st, 2012 at 5:36 PM ^
Watch out for the Thought Police then
November 21st, 2012 at 7:47 PM ^
November 21st, 2012 at 12:28 PM ^
Fast forwarding to the year 2050, the PAC SEC realizes there is more money to be made breaking up into 10 team conferences and disbands, thus repeating the college football cycle
November 21st, 2012 at 5:21 PM ^
Note: Between now and 2050, Michigan goes an unprecedented 27-1 vs Ohio with the lone loss coming in a sewage-filled Ohio stadium with OSU, accustomed to playing in such conditions, managing to pull off a 9-6 win.
November 21st, 2012 at 12:31 PM ^
Winter is coming.
November 21st, 2012 at 12:32 PM ^
November 21st, 2012 at 12:34 PM ^
The Big Ten and and Mid-American Conference will merge into the MAC 10.
November 21st, 2012 at 12:43 PM ^
The guy to the left of Ice Cube and WC? Hail, Hail, to Michigan, the Champions of the West....side.
November 21st, 2012 at 12:55 PM ^
Bow Down!
November 21st, 2012 at 1:16 PM ^
That man has been know to drive through town in his very sporty automobile whilst listening to hip hop musician Too Short.
November 21st, 2012 at 12:33 PM ^
the Big SEC and Big PAC become the (drum roll) . . . TuPac.
Vintage old school remark, right?
November 21st, 2012 at 12:34 PM ^
Honestly my only goal with this was to get someone to read the "Meanwhile, in the mid-majors" sentance in the Batman scene-change voice.
November 21st, 2012 at 2:46 PM ^
Darn, I did it in the Super friends voice.
November 21st, 2012 at 12:41 PM ^
I fear super conferences...what if their super powers are used for evil rathjer than good?
BEAT OHIO!
November 21st, 2012 at 12:48 PM ^
I like to play Risk too.
November 21st, 2012 at 12:50 PM ^
Through all this, the MAC will continue to be the MAC and continue to have weeknight MACTION.
November 21st, 2012 at 12:55 PM ^
the fuck
November 21st, 2012 at 1:24 PM ^
I think this makes even less sense to me now than it did before, and that wasn't much.
November 21st, 2012 at 1:28 PM ^
It's like the conferences and the NCAA are trying to make themselves "too big to fail".
November 21st, 2012 at 1:18 PM ^
November 21st, 2012 at 1:18 PM ^
November 21st, 2012 at 1:57 PM ^
November 21st, 2012 at 1:25 PM ^
Brilliant. If you've downvoted the thread, you do see the joke contained therein, right?
November 21st, 2012 at 1:37 PM ^
November 21st, 2012 at 1:48 PM ^
When does Skynet become self aware?
November 21st, 2012 at 2:05 PM ^
with the same situation as traditional conferences but with media rights concentrated in two entities at the top, can't all the conferences just merge right now and save us the hassle? Oh yeah, conference leaders are idiotic and myopic, so we get to watch this train wreck for the next couple years.
November 21st, 2012 at 2:53 PM ^
And in the end, it will be the Big Mac vs. the Whopper. Who will win?