The Pointless Realignment Outpost

[Lights Out]

Well, couldn't football be in Tier 1 and all the other sports be in Tier 2?

[rams80]

Well, couldn't football be in Tier 1 and all the other sports be in Tier 2?

I'm pretty sure NCAA Division exemption waivers (or whatever the term they use to explain such things as Johns Hopkins' Division I lacrosse teams) are not intended to encompass revenue sports.

[DPV713]

For all of this NCAA super-conference hoopla, make 4 major "super-conferences." A 24-team Northeast conference (12 teams in an Eastern division, 12 in a Western), a 24-Team Southwest conference (same as Northeast), 24-Team Northwest conference (same as Northeast), and a 12-team Southwest conference (all teams in one division). Then put the rest of the Division I schools in other, smaller conferences.

[Dilbert]

Im always against these pointless realignment posts but here is mine. I dont care about what school is a powerhouse. I dont care about independents, they shouldnt exist. I do not take BCS or a playoff into consideration. This alignment is meant to ease travel for the school, student athletes and the fans.

ACC

North South

Maryland Clemson

Navy Duke

NC State Fla State

Virginia GA Tech

VA Tech Miami

Wake Forest North Carolina

BIG EAST

Army

Boston College

Buffalo

Conn

Marshall

Pitt

Rutgers

Syracuse

Temple

West Virginia

SEC

East West

Auburn Alabama

Florida Arkansas

Georgia LSU

S. Carolina Memphis

Tennessee Ole Miss

Vanderbilt Miss State

CUSA

East West

East Carolina Houston

Fla Atlantic UL Lafayette

UAB TCU

UCF Tulane

USF Tulsa

SUN BELT

Arkansas State

Fla International

UL Monroe

Middle Tenn State

North Texas

Rice

SMU

Southern Miss

Troy

UTEP

WAC

Air Force

Arizona

Arizona State

Fresno State

Hawaii

Nevada

New Mexico

San Diego State

San Jose State

UNLV

MOUNTAIN WEST

Boise State

BYU

Colorado

Colorado State

Idaho

New Mexico State

Utah

Utah State

Wyoming

PAC 8(formerly PAC 10)

California

Oregon

Oregon State

USC

Stanford

UCLA

Washington

Washington State

BIG XIII (formerly Big XII)

North South

Iowa State Baylor

Kansas LA Tech

Kansas State Oklahoma

Minnesota Oklahoma State

Missouri Texas

Nebraska Texas A&M

Texas Tech

MAC

North South

Bowling Green Akron

Central Mich Ball State

Eastern Mich Kent State

NIU Miami

Toledo Ohio

Western Mich Western Kentucky

BIG 14 (formerly Big 10)

East West

Cincinnati Illinois

Kentucky Indiana

Louisville Iowa

Michigan Northwestern

Michigan State Notre Dame

Ohio State Purdue

Penn State Wisconsin

[rams80]

Playing around with the Big Ten. Schedule includes divisional Round Robin, and 1 protected out of division rival

East West

Penn State ---- Nebraska

Ohio State ---- Iowa

Michigan ---- Michigan State

Indiana ---- Wisconsin

Purdue ---- Minnesota

Illinois ---- Northwestern

Pretty much a geographic split, only Illinois and Michigan State trade places.

Rationales for some of the decisions: I could seriously see Indiana insisting that one "Red" team play at Bloomington annually (those who have ever followed IU football know what I'm talking about). Putting Penn State and Nebraska in a Division, especially in what would likely be the "West" Division, creates undue logistical stress for Penn State and also puts your two worst basketball programs in the same division. The imbalance only gets worse if you think of Northwestern.

The Illinois-Northwestern "rivalry" is probably the least intense major college in state rivalry and can be readily sacrificed. By the same token, Michigan-Michigan State is much less significant to the conference than Michigan-Ohio State, and honestly, anything that puts an end to the Land Grant Trophy's annual contesting is a good thing.

[dfwabel]

Well, couldn't football be in Tier 1 and all the other sports be in Tier 2?

I'm pretty sure NCAA Division exemption waivers (or whatever the term they use to explain such things as Johns Hopkins' Division I lacrosse teams) are not intended to encompass revenue sports.

Currently, there is a moratorium on teams moving to FBS football. It was set in 2007 and will last until August 9, 2011. The NCAA has guidelines set for 2011 that if a team decides to move to FBS football, the school must move all other sports up to the Division I-A level. It also prohibits teams from moving from Division III up to Division II in a single sport. All of those processes had to have been filed with the NCAA prior to August 9, 2007.

Case in point, UTSA will start FCS football in late August 2011, weeks after the moratorium is listed. This was the earliest that they could begin to play.

NCAA Division 1 Moratorium

[Sport]

If baseball switched to a more practical Eastern-Western conference alignment

Eastern Conference

Atlantic

Boston Red Sox

New York Yankees

New York Mets

Philadelphia Phillies

Toronto Blue Jays

Central

Cincinnati Reds

Cleveland Indians

Detroit Tigers

Milwaukee Brewers

Pittsburgh Pirates

Southeast

Atlanta Braves

Baltimore Orioles

Florida Marlins

Tampa Bay Rays

Washington Nationals

Western Conference

North

Colorado Rockies

Minnesota Twins

Oakland Athletics

San Francisco Giants

Seattle Mariners

Central

Chicago Cubs

Chicago White Sox

Houston Astros

Kansas City Royals

St. Louis Cardinals

Southwest

Arizona Diamondbacks

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

Los Angeles Dodgers

San Diego Padres

Texas Rangers

[BBTV]

MLB could never do a true East West format without full revenue sharing and a salary cap. You're taking away big pay days from teams that now have less games in NY, Bos, and Chi, and giving them more games against teams nobody cares about. Also, that East division has four of the top 5 or 6 revenue teams. While only one of those teams could win the division, the increase in revenue they'd all gain by having more games against each other would set off an arms race even worse than the current NYY/BOS feud, and those teams would become unstoppable.

[Magnus]

This is how I would realign baseball:

NL East: Atlanta, Philadelphia, Florida, Washington, Mets

AL East: Toronto, Boston, Tampa, Baltimore, Yankees

NL Central: St. Louis, Milwaukee, Cubs, Cincinatti, Detroit

AL Central: KC, Minny, White Sox, Cleveland, Pittsburgh

NL West: Oakland, Houston, Dodgers, San Fran, Colorado

AL West: Seattle, Texas, Angels, San Diego, Arizona

Of course, this setup entails a massive change to the way the schedule would be played. I am tempted to suggest that each AL team plays each other AL team 10 times, as well as the closest interleague rival ten times (when not playing a divisional rival). Toronto/Atlanta would be the only matchup that doesn't have a particular reason for it, but there's not much I can do about that since the Expos are long gone. This would cut the season down to 150 games. More games could be added against other interleague teams if the Majors so desire, but I would rather see four rounds of post season like the other 3 top leagues.

For the post-season, take the best 8 teams in each League, by record. Optional pennant playoff game if necessary to determine seeding. With a shorter season, there is room for the 4th round of post season play, without stretching into November.

[UnclearInitial]

Breaking news: April called up Nissan 16 ( 2nd day of Passover) from it's hebrew league affiliate to replace the injured April 11th

[Viper]

Breaking news: April called up Nissan 16 ( 2nd day of Passover) from it's hebrew league affiliate to replace the injured April 11th

And in related news, the umpires did not allow Nissan 16 to take the field for its major-league debut; something about corporate names not being allowed on uniforms.

[UnclearInitial]

Breaking news: April called up Nissan 16 ( 2nd day of Passover) from it's hebrew league affiliate to replace the injured April 11th

And in related news, the umpires did not allow Nissan 16 to take the field for its major-league debut; something about corporate names not being allowed on uniforms.

In other related news Nissan 16 changes name to Nisan 16 and then sues the gregorian league for being anti- semitic

[Punch]

Here is a possible realignment that would benefit all 30 MLB teams, and improve traveling for many teams.

MLB East

Boston Red Sox

New York Yankees

MLB West

Atlanta Braves

Arizona Diamondbacks

Baltimore Orioles

Chicago Cubs

Chicago White Sox

Cincinnati Reds

Cleveland Indians

Colorado Rockies

Detroit Tigers

Florida Marlins

Houston Astros

Kansas City Royals

Los Angeles Angels

Los Angeles Dodgers

Milwaukee Brewers

Minnesota Twins

New York Mets

Oakland Athletics

Philadelphia Phillies

Pittsburgh Pirates

St. Louis Cardinals

San Diego Padres

San Francisco Giants

Seattle Mariners

Tampa Bay Rays

Texas Rangers

Toronto Blue Jays

Washington Nationals

IMO, it would be fair to all 30 teams, and eliminate the need for a wild card, because the top two from each division make the playoffs each year. Either the Red Sox or Yankees win the Wild Card every year anyway.

[rams80]

Except for the years the Rays finish in the top 2 in the AL East. And the years that 2 of Minnesota, Chicago, and Detroit are super good. And having 2 spots for 28 teams doesn't strike me as fair.

[Sport]

Okay, how about we go back to the old two division system in each league? 8 teams a division for the NL, 7 for the AL. Top 2 teams in each division make the postseason. Division winners get home field advantage. The first round moves to a best of 7 (this is personal preference). The teams all play a balanced schedule, the same number of teams make the playoffs as before, but unlike the wildcard, two teams aren't competing for one spot with two drastically different schedules.

AL East: Yankees - Orioles - Blue Jays - Red Sox - Indians - Rays - Tigers

AL West: A's - Mariners - Angels - Rangers - White Sox - Twins - Royals

NL East: Mets - Brewers - Nationals - Marlins - Phillies - Pirates - Reds - Braves

NL West: Padres - Giants - Dodgers - Astros - Diamondbacks - Rockies - Cardinals - Cubs

In the old setup the Reds and Braves were in the NL West while the Cards and Cubs were in the NL East. I didn't like it then and I still don't so I reversed them.

The postseason could be handled two ways. Either you have a division championship series where the top team in the division plays the number two team in the division, or you play division winner #1 against the number 2 team from the opposite division and vice versa.

[Punch]

Okay, how about we go back to the old two division system in each league? 8 teams a division for the NL, 7 for the AL. Top 2 teams in each division make the postseason. Division winners get home field advantage. The first round moves to a best of 7 (this is personal preference). The teams all play a balanced schedule, the same number of teams make the playoffs as before, but unlike the wildcard, two teams aren't competing for one spot with two drastically different schedules.

AL East: Yankees - Orioles - Blue Jays - Red Sox - Indians - Rays - Tigers

AL West: A's - Mariners - Angels - Rangers - White Sox - Twins - Royals

NL East: Mets - Brewers - Nationals - Marlins - Phillies - Pirates - Reds - Braves

NL West: Padres - Giants - Dodgers - Astros - Diamondbacks - Rockies - Cardinals - Cubs

In the old setup the Reds and Braves were in the NL West while the Cards and Cubs were in the NL East. It was dumb then, it's dumb now, so I reversed the two.

The postseason could be handled two ways. Either you have a division championship series where the top team in the division plays the number two team in the division, or you play division winner #1 against the number 2 team from the opposite division and vice versa.

This is one of the changes that would actually benefit the league. It would balance the schedule, eliminating the AL West/Central team's complaints that they dont play Boston or New York enough times. It also allows for more equality within the standings, so teams like the Angels or Twins (as examples) don't make the playoffs because they are in weak division.

I'd sign onto this if I were Bud Selig. Unfortunately, I don't think there will be any drastic changes within the MLB any time soon.

Punch9

[UnclearInitial]

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=watson/100802_august_worst_month Interesting take from ESPN for this year's season, but I disagree on December beig so low

[Sport]

Okay, how about we go back to the old two division system in each league? 8 teams a division for the NL, 7 for the AL. Top 2 teams in each division make the postseason. Division winners get home field advantage. The first round moves to a best of 7 (this is personal preference). The teams all play a balanced schedule, the same number of teams make the playoffs as before, but unlike the wildcard, two teams aren't competing for one spot with two drastically different schedules.

AL East: Yankees - Orioles - Blue Jays - Red Sox - Indians - Rays - Tigers

AL West: A's - Mariners - Angels - Rangers - White Sox - Twins - Royals

NL East: Mets - Brewers - Nationals - Marlins - Phillies - Pirates - Reds - Braves

NL West: Padres - Giants - Dodgers - Astros - Diamondbacks - Rockies - Cardinals - Cubs

In the old setup the Reds and Braves were in the NL West while the Cards and Cubs were in the NL East. I didn't like it then and I still don't so I reversed them.

The postseason could be handled two ways. Either you have a division championship series where the top team in the division plays the number two team in the division, or you play division winner #1 against the number 2 team from the opposite division and vice versa.

I realize the schedules aren't balanced so this really isn't fair, but just as an example here is how the NL East division standings would shake out if they used this system

NL East

1. Braves

2. Reds

----------------

3. Phillies

4. Mets

5. Marlins

6. Brewers

7. Nationals

8. Pirates

I've been thinking about it and I really like the idea of the first round becoming the division championship series.

[JH42XCC]

Thought I might want to put this up since the Little League World Series has just begun.

Here's how I would realign the U.S. regions represented in the LLWS.

NEW ENGLAND REGION

• Connecticut
  
• Maine
  
• Massachusetts
  
• New Hampshire
  
• Rhode Island
  
• Vermont
  

MID-ATLANTIC REGION

• Delaware
  
• Maryland
  
• New Jersey
  
• New York
  
• Pennsylvania
  
• Virginia (moved from Southeast Region)
  
• Washington, DC
  
• West Virginia (moved from Southeast Region)
  

MIDWEST REGION

• Colorado (moved from Southwest Region)
  
• Iowa
  
• Kansas
  
• Missouri
  
• Nebraska
  
• North/South Dakota
  

GREAT LAKES REGION

• Illinois
  
• Indiana
  
• Michigan
  
• Minnesota (moved from Midwest Region)
  
• Ohio
  
• Wisconsin
  

SOUTHEAST REGION

• Alabama
  
• Florida
  
• Georgia
  
• Kentucky (moved from Great Lakes Region)
  
• Mississippi (moved from Southwest Region)
  
• North Carolina
  
• South Carolina
  
• Tennessee
  

SOUTHWEST REGION

• Arkansas
  
• Louisiana
  
• New Mexico
  
• Oklahoma
  
• Texas East
  
• Texas West
  

NORTHWEST REGION

• Alaska
  
• Idaho
  
• Montana
  
• Oregon
  
• Washington
  
• Wyoming
  

WEST REGION

• Arizona
  
• Northern California
  
• Southern California
  
• Hawaii
  
• Nevada
  
• Utah
  

[The_Admiral]

Did we do this one already? Did I? Feels familiar.

One of the stipulations of the NFL-AFL merger was that no teams could leave their cities, which was obviously ignored. Had it not been, we could've had a perfectly preserved pre-merger NFL. To wit:

NFL Central: Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, Detroit Lions

NFL Capitol: Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Redskins

NFL Coastal: Los Angeles Rams, San Francisco 49ers, New Orleans Saints, St. Louis Football Cardinals

NFL Century: Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Colts, Atlanta Falcons

AFL East: Boston Patriots, Buffalo Bills, New York Jets, Miami Dolphins

AFL West: Oakland Raiders, San Diego Chargers, Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs

AFL South: Nashville Titans, Houston Oilers, Charlotte Panthers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

AFL North: Cincinnati Bengals, Indianapolis Jaguars, Seattle Seahawks, Phoenix Firebirds

Let's say:

- Phoenix and Nashville enter the league in 1986 as expansion teams, awarded as concessions for failed Cardinals and Oilers relocations, respectively. I guess they'd be alternate-universe NeoBrowns and Texans eventually. What happened before '99 and '02, who knows.

- With the new Lucas Stadium, Indy finally has an NFL-calibre stadium. Citing the fact that Rozelle only promised the 26 per-merger teams would never depart, the Jags successfully land there in 2008 after failing in Jacksonville as part of the 1995 expansion, making them the first NFL team to relocate after the merger. Mayflower arrival optional.