The Pointless Realignment Outpost

[Saint Zephyr III]

Biloxi will never have a major sports team. Ever. But ditto with Fort Worth. Not a chance. North Texas is not a 2-team market.

Why have the Jazz moved to Las Vegas yet the A's and Rays remain when they're in markets or situations of uncertainty and the Jazz are just fine where they're at? Did you really put any thought into any of this? And an NBA team in St. Louis, if that were to even happen, would use "St. Louis", not "Missouri".

I just brought up Biloxi as a way, way, way, WAY in the future kind of city, one of those random upstart cities that pop up time to time like what Austin, Raleigh, or Provo are going through. The Southeast, even though it's not what one would call a flagbearer of economic growth, still has a huge population boom going on and, who knows, the next generation might change the dynamic of certain cities as potential expansion markets.

[sportstar1212]

I decided to try my hand at fixing the minor leagues in hockey. I decided to bring back the old IHL, who will have the affiliates of the NHL's Western Conference teams while the AHL will have the Eastern Conference's affiliates. This alleviates most of the long distances that teams have from their affiliates, especially for teams in the Western Conference. Note, this realignment includes a 32 team NHL with the Seattle Metros and Quebec Nordiques as expansion franchises.

AHL

Atlantic Division

St. John’s Ice Caps (Quebec Nordiques)

Fredericton Canadiens (Montreal Canadiens)

Providence Bruins (Boston Bruins)

Hartford Wolf Pack (New York Rangers)

Bridgeport Sound Tigers (New York Islanders)

Albany Devils (New Jersey Devils)

Syracuse Crunch (Ottawa Senators)

Rochester Americans (Buffalo Sabres)

Central Division

Wilkes Barre-Scranton Penguins (Pittsburgh Penguins)

Hershey Bears (Philadelphia Flyers)

Hamilton Dukes (Toronto Maple Leafs)

Cleveland Barons (Columbus Blue Jackets)

Norfolk Admirals (Washington Capitals)

Charlotte Checkers (Carolina Hurricanes)

Orlando Solar Bears (Tampa Bay Lightning)

Florida Everblades (Florida Panthers)

IHL

Midwest Division

Grand Rapids Griffins (Detroit Red Wings)

Fort Wayne Komets (Nashville Predators)

Chicago Wolves (Chicago Blackhawks)

Milwaukee Admirals (Winnipeg Jets)

Iowa Wild (Minnesota Wild)

Kansas City Blues (St. Louis Blues)

Tulsa Oilers (Edmonton Oilers)

Texas Stars (Dallas Stars)

West Division

Alaska Aces (Seattle Metros)

Abbotsford Canucks (Vancouver Canucks)

Saskatoon Blades (Calgary Flames)

Colorado Eagles (Colorado Avalanche)

Utah Grizzlies (Phoenix Coyotes)

Stockton Thunder (San Jose Sharks)

Ontario Reign (Los Angeles Kings)

San Diego Gulls (Anaheim Ducks)

It's not perfect, but it makes more sense than what they have now.

[jlog3000]

I actually kind of like this. There's nothing here that I'd be against seeing. The AAC would probably be better off splitting into an east and west conference on their own, though.

Thanks sir. Although it's for pointless reasons, in reality it might never happen as I predicted, since Rutgers & Maryland are in the Big TEN, while Mizzou still remains in the SEC. But about your thought of the AAC being split into 2 conferences, could you explain why? Sorry for the late response though.

[Critical Thinker]

AAC (16)

AAC East: UConn, East Carolina, South Florida, Temple, Central Florida, Army, Navy, UMass

AAC West: Houston, Memphis, SMU, Tulane, Tulsa, UAB, Southern Miss, Rice

The schools within the East and West are pretty close to each other, but the East and West are pretty far apart on their own. Houston, SMU, and Tulane compared to UMass, UCONN, and Army are half the country apart. Trips like that aren't something a school wants to make on a routine basis, especially the non-revenue sports.

[jlog3000]

AAC (16)

AAC East: UConn, East Carolina, South Florida, Temple, Central Florida, Army, Navy, UMass

AAC West: Houston, Memphis, SMU, Tulane, Tulsa, UAB, Southern Miss, Rice

The schools within the East and West are pretty close to each other, but the East and West are pretty far apart on their own. Houston, SMU, and Tulane compared to UMass, UCONN, and Army are half the country apart. Trips like that aren't something a school wants to make on a routine basis, especially the non-revenue sports.

Ok. You have your points and I respect that. However, if you were the AAC commissioner, how would you realign the East and West sub-conferences within the AAC?

[Critical Thinker]

However, if you were the AAC commissioner, how would you realign the East and West sub-conferences within the AAC?

I would keep what you have, except I would put one of the Florida teams in the west and send Memphis to the east so each conference only has to travel to one outlier in their division. I would also make a clause that guaranteed the Florida teams would play each other in cross-divisional play.

[jlog3000]

However, if you were the AAC commissioner, how would you realign the East and West sub-conferences within the AAC?

I would keep what you have, except I would put one of the Florida teams in the west and send Memphis to the east so each conference only has to travel to one outlier in their division. I would also make a clause that guaranteed the Florida teams would play each other in cross-divisional play.

Sounds fair. But would that Florida school be either UCF or USF?

[Critical Thinker]

USF is farther West, so I'd send them.

[jlog3000]

USF is farther West, so I'd send them.

Sounds fair enough to me.

[Magnus]

I didn't think this question deserved its own thread, so I'll pose it here.

Why are the NHL and NBA seasons 82 games? It just seems like such a strange number choice. Is it based on the maximum number of available arena dates or something? Some teams own their own arenas, so you would think that might not be the case. 82 just seems like such a strange number to choose. They could knock one home and road game off the schedule and make it an even 80, which would be ideal for marketing flex-packs of tickets in my opinion. (2, 4, 8, 20, or 40 games, etc.)

[Seadragon76]

On the topic of this thread, I bring you... 2015 MLS Realignment.

With the incoming additions of New York City FC and Orlando City SC, the Eastern Conference would be at a bloated level with 12 teams while the West has 9. To combat this, the realignment plan would create 3 division of 7 teams each.

Eastern Division

-D.C. United

-Montreal Impact

-New England Revolution

-New York Red Bulls

-New York City FC

-Orlando City SC

-Philadelphia Union

Central Division

-Chicago Fire

-Colorado Rapids

-Columbus Crew

-FC Dallas

-Houston Dynamo

-Sporting Kansas City

-Toronto FC

Western Division

-Chivas USA

-Los Angeles Galaxy

-Portland Timbers

-Real Salt Lake

-San Jose Earthquakes

-Seattle Sounders

-Vancouver Whitecaps

Schedule: 40 games (home and home with the other 20 teams)

Playoff Format: 6 teams (Top 2 in each division). Top two overall earn byes while in the first round, #3 vs. #6 and #4 vs. #5 in home and home aggregate series. The winners move to the semifinals where they are re-seeded for the next round, which is the same format as last round. Winners meet in the MLS Cup with the higher seed having home field advantage.

[buzzcut]

Ladies and Gentlemen, I bring to you the United States Australian Football League:

Say what?

Yep, an Australian Rules Football league, fully professional no less, based here in the good olé US of A.

American Conference

Northern Division

Cincinnati Lancers

Cleveland Bulldogs

Indiana Daredevils

Kansas City Stampeders

Minneapolis Magpies

Southern Division

Houston Commanders

Memphis Largemouths

Miami Fuego

New Orleans Gators

Orlando Wizards

Eastern Division

Brooklyn Marauders

Buffalo Rapids

Charlotte Gold

Montréal Avalons

Pittsburgh Muscle

Western Division

Anaheim Hammerheads

Colorado Yeti

Portland Choppers

San Francisco Saints

Vancouver Chinook

National Conference

Northern Division

Chicago Grizzlies

Detroit Terriers

Milwaukee Parrotahs

St. Louis Griffins

St. Paul Blues

Southern Division

Atlanta Predators

Birningham Vulcans

Dallas Wranglers

Oklahoma City Slickers

Tampa Bay Xplorers

Eastern Division

Boston Independence

New York Beacons

Philadelphia Falcons

Toronto Thunder

Washington Bald Eagles

Western Division

Arizona Mustangs

Los Angeles Jets

San Diego Dons

San Jose Flash

Seattle Cyclones

[WinMINTwins]

I did some thinking about how Division I FBS should look. A lot of it is based on how conferences used to look, but I tried not to just go all-out on the old conferences. There are ten conferences (the same as it is now) and a group of seven independents (three more than there are now).

Atlantic Coast Conference - 13

North: Boston College, Maryland, Pittsburgh, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest

South: Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Miami, North Carolina, North Carolina State

Big East - 11

Central Florida, Connecticut, Cincinnati, Louisville, Massachusetts, Memphis, Old Dominion, South Florida, Syracuse, West Virginia

Big Ten - 10

Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Purdue, Wisconsin

Big 12 - 12

South: Baylor, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech

North: Colorado, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Nebraska

Gulf States Conference - 14

West: Alabama-Birmingham, Alabama State, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, Louisiana Tech, South Alabama, Troy

East: Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Middle Tennessee State, Southern Mississippi, Western Kentucky

Independents - 7

Army, Air Force, Brigham Young (BYU), Navy, Notre Dame, Pennsylvania State, Rutgers

Mid-American Conference - 14

West: Ball State, Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Northern Illinois, Toledo, Western Michigan

East: Akron, Buffalo, Kent State, Marshall, Miami University, Ohio, Temple

Mountain West - 10

Colorado State, Fresno State, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Nevada-Las Vegas, San Diego State, San Jose State, Utah State, Wyoming

Pacific-12 - 12

North: Boise State, Oregon, Oregon State, Utah, Washington, Washington State

South: Arizona, Arizona State, California, California-Los Angeles (UCLA), Southern California (USC), Stanford

Southeastern Conference - 12

West: Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Louisiana State (LSU), Mississippi, Mississippi State

East: Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vanderbilt

Southwest Conference - 12

West: New Mexico, New Mexico State, Texas-El Paso (UTEP), Texas-San Antonio (UTSA), Texas State, Tulsa

East: Arkansas State, Houston, North Texas, Rice, Southern Methodist (SMU), Texas Christian (TCU)

[Sanic]

Everything is pointless.

POWAH FIEV REASSEMBEL!

BIGPAC16

North/West

Washington

Washington St

Boise St

Oregon

Oregon St

Hawaii

Cal

Stanford

South/East

UCLA

USC

Arizona

Arizona St

Texas

Texas Tech

Oklahoma

Oklahoma St

Mountain West

Mountain

Wyoming

Colorado

Colorado St

Air Force

Utah

Utah St

BYU

West

Nevada

UNLV

Fresno St

SDSt

SJSt

TCU

New Mexico

B1G

West

Nebraska

Minnesota

Wisconsin

Kansas

Kansas St

Iowa

Iowa St

Mizzou

East

Purdue

Indiana

Notre Dame

Northwestern

Illinois

Michigan

Michigan St

Ohio St

ACC

Atlantic

West Virginia

Virginia Tech

Virginia

North Carolina

Duke

Florida St

Pitt

Penn St

Syracuse

Coastal

NCSt

Wake Forest

Georgia Tech

Miami

Clemson

UConn

Boston College

Rutgers

Maryland

SEC

West

Baylor

A&M

Arkansas

LSU

Ole Miss

Miss State

Alabama

Auburn

East

Carolina

Georgia

Florida

Tennessee

Vanderbilt

Kentucky

Louisville

Cincinatti

[buzzcut]

Just finished a fantasy realignment for the NFL where CBS and Fox drafted teams for their 16-team conferences. Fox won the toss and picked first. Here are the results:

American Football Conference(CBS):

Eastern Division

Dallas

New England

New York Jets

Washington

Northern Division

Chicago

Detroit

Kansas City

Minnesota

Southern Division

Cincinnati

New Orleans

Tampa Bay

Tennessee

Western Division

Arizona

Denver

San Diego

San Francisco

National Football Conference(Fox):

Eastern Division

Baltimore

Miami

New York Giants

Philadelphia

Northern Division

Buffalo

Cleveland

Green Bay

Pittsburgh

Southern Division

Atlanta

Carolina

Indianapolis

Jacksonville

Western Division

Houston

Oakland

St. Louis

Seattle

Flame away.

[buzzcut]

Eastern Division

Dallas

New England

New York Jets

Washington

Oh god, you would never hear a story from ESPN about any other divisionsport

Fixed for truth.

[JH42XCC]

I did some thinking about how Division I FBS should look. A lot of it is based on how conferences used to look, but I tried not to just go all-out on the old conferences. There are ten conferences (the same as it is now) and a group of seven independents (three more than there are now).

Atlantic Coast Conference - 13

North: Boston College, Maryland, Pittsburgh, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest

South: Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Miami, North Carolina, North Carolina State

Big East - 11

Central Florida, Connecticut, Cincinnati, Louisville, Massachusetts, Memphis, Old Dominion, South Florida, Syracuse, West Virginia

Big Ten - 10

Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Purdue, Wisconsin

Big 12 - 12

South: Baylor, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech

North: Colorado, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Nebraska

Gulf States Conference - 14

West: Alabama-Birmingham, Alabama State, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, Louisiana Tech, South Alabama, Troy

East: Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Middle Tennessee State, Southern Mississippi, Western Kentucky

Independents - 7

Army, Air Force, Brigham Young (BYU), Navy, Notre Dame, Pennsylvania State, Rutgers

Mid-American Conference - 14

West: Ball State, Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Northern Illinois, Toledo, Western Michigan

East: Akron, Buffalo, Kent State, Marshall, Miami University, Ohio, Temple

Mountain West - 10

Colorado State, Fresno State, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Nevada-Las Vegas, San Diego State, San Jose State, Utah State, Wyoming

Pacific-12 - 12

North: Boise State, Oregon, Oregon State, Utah, Washington, Washington State

South: Arizona, Arizona State, California, California-Los Angeles (UCLA), Southern California (USC), Stanford

Southeastern Conference - 12

West: Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Louisiana State (LSU), Mississippi, Mississippi State

East: Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vanderbilt

Southwest Conference - 12

West: New Mexico, New Mexico State, Texas-El Paso (UTEP), Texas-San Antonio (UTSA), Texas State, Tulsa

East: Arkansas State, Houston, North Texas, Rice, Southern Methodist (SMU), Texas Christian (TCU)

Nice. Though, I would keep Syracuse in the ACC, so both that and the Big East would have an even number of teams.

[ESTONES6]

Rewinding a bit when the whole Conference Realignment started, let me lay out a scenario:

• Nebraska joins the Big Ten, bringing the Big Ten to 12 teams and the Big XII to 11 teams.
• The PAC-10 extends invites to Colorado and Utah.
• Utah accepts, bringing the PAC-10 to 11 teams.
• Colorado remains loyal to the Big XII, remaining at 11 teams.
• The Big XII does NOT invite West Virginia, in favor of regional expansion/loyalty.

What would be the most likely scenario concerning Utah State, Colorado State, and Brigham Young?

• Would Utah push the PAC-10 (11) to add Utah State?
• Would Colorado push the Big XII (11) to add Colorado State?
• Would the PAC-10 be more interested in adding a "national" brand like Brigham Young?
• Would Brigham Young entertain the PAC-10 if the Big XII doesn't come calling?
• Would the Big XII prefer to expand into a different state/territory and add Utah State or Brigham Young?
• Would the PAC-10 prefer to expand into different state/terriroty and add Colorado State?

Are there 2 other Universities that would be more likely to bring the PAC-10 (11) to 12 teams and the Big XII (11) back to 12 teams?

[rams80]

None of that happens, because the Pac 10 won't expand unless they can get Colorado, and Colorado's a better cultural fit in the Pac 10/12 anyway. The added money for their broke-arse athletic department just makes the decision even easier.

[CLEstones]

None of that happens, because the Pac 10 won't expand unless they can get Colorado, and Colorado's a better cultural fit in the Pac 10/12 anyway. The added money for their broke-arse athletic department just makes the decision even easier.

Which isn't what I was asking. So thank you for ignoring the post completely.

I was specifically asking if Colorado stayed loyal to the Big XII, how would the PAC-10 (11) and Big XII (11) react. Out of Utah State, Colorado State and Brigham Young, what 2 colleges would be the most likely to move up to a major conference, what conference would it be, or would there be other schools who would be a more likely and better fit for each conference.