Division 1 College Conference Realignment

[FiddySicks]

Yeah, most of that just wont work, Mac. Boise State in the ACC is absolutely insane in terms of travel. That and Nevada, Fresno State, Utah State, and San jose State don't have the population density or the academics required to join the Pac 10. In fact, about half of the teams in EVERY conference you listed don't even meet a small portion of the conference criteria necessary to join.

[rmackman]

Yeah, most of that just wont work, Mac. Boise State in the ACC is absolutely insane in terms of travel. That and Nevada, Fresno State, Utah State, and San jose State don't have the population density or the academics required to join the Pac 10. In fact, about half of the teams in EVERY conference you listed don't even meet a small portion of the conference criteria necessary to join.

Yeah I know. I was trying to make a few 20-team super conferences. It's not as easy as it looks.

[The_Admiral]

Turns out reading attempts to form college superconferences is a pretty reliable analogue to food poisoning.

[Ben5]

Do we have a source on these invitations?

[vmd9]

I just think you have too many smalls schools that would never last in those conferences. Looking through the smaller conferences, there are a good amount that could move up based of success, fanbase, and facilities. I like the idea of having only 6 conferences.

Looking at your list, these are the only schools with potential to move up:

Boise State

Fresno State

Hawaii

UNLV

Air Force

BYU

Colorado State

TCU

Utah

Akron

Memphis

Marshall

UCF

ECU

[Breakwood]

Ummmmmmmm there's a realignment thread stickied at the top of the board FFS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[rams80]

Do we have a source on these invitations?

I'm assuming its the since-denied-yesterday news report out of a Kansas City radio station.

BTW...there's a giant honking Big Ten expansion thread already on this board.

[rams80]

Bump.

Don't believe anything you hear until we have Commissioners standing behind podiums.

[pcgd]

Source:

http://www.810whb.com/article/3527

Denial:

http://my.journalstar.com/post/Husker_Extra_Group/Husker_Extra/blog/perlman_report_untrue.html

[TBGKon]

This is on Scout's main page this morning, which looks to be more like something I could see happening.

http://cfn.scout.com/2/968955.html

Q: It?s 2020. What are all the conferences going to look like? - MR

A: Sooner than later, I foresee a day when the little guys are squeezed out completely and moved to another division. Eastern Michigan just can?t compete with Michigan when it comes to attendance, funding, and in every other way a you want to compare football programs. The big boys are going to realize the money to be made by creating an uber-division of elite teams and conferences, and the Big Ten is getting the ball rolling now. After all the dust settles from expansion and realignment, here?s my best guess (with the new schools in each league in bold) for how the college football world will look ten years from now ?

ACC ? Boston College, Cincinnati, Duke, East Carolina, Florida State, Maryland, Memphis, Miami, North Carolina, NC State, Pitt, UCF, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, West Virginia

Big Ten ? Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Rutgers, Syracuse, Purdue, Wisconsin

Big 12 ? Baylor, BYU, Colorado State, Houston, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, SMU, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, TCU, Utah

Pac 10 ? Arizona, Arizona State, Boise State, California, Colorado, Fresno State, Nevada, Oregon, Oregon State, San Diego State, Stanford, UCLA, UNLV, USC, Washington, Washington State

SEC ? Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Clemson, Florida, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Louisville, LSU, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, South Carolina, South Florida, Tennessee, Vanderbilt

The Big East will dissipate with all its top teams being swallowed up, meaning there will be five mega-conferences with 16 teams each. That would make an upper-level division of 80 teams with Notre Dame staying independent and remaining in the BCS mix.

Army and Navy, all MAC and Sun Belt teams, six current WAC teams (Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana Tech, New Mexico State, San Jose State, and Utah State), two Mountain West teams (Air Force and Wyoming), and seven Conference USA teams (Marshall, Rice, Southern Miss, Tulane, Tulsa, UAB, and UTEP), will create a mid-level division between the current FBS and FCS. They'll have the ability to play the upper-division teams and with bowl tie-ins, but they won't have the legal ability to be eligible for the BCS.

[BaltimoreFan]

I'm pretty torn on this. On one hand, I'm kinda excited to see what kind of changes would happen if this expansion does happen. OTOH, I'm worried the new superconferences will "ruin" college sports.

I used to be a huge ACC fan when I was younger. I was really excited when they expanded. However I hated it very quickly. Football didn't improve enough, in fact I would argue it stayed about the same. The conference tournament game has been pretty craptastic IMO. This in turn lead to basketball becoming watered down. It really ruined the two sports for me and now I'm not really a fan (thats not the only reason, but it was a big one). Hopefully this expansion doesn't have the same effect.

[The_Admiral]

Superconferences will ruin college sports like a banana peel ruins a landfill.

[BrySmalls]

Despite the unusual outreach, adding Rutgers does make sense and here's why: its close proximity to New York City (#1 Ratings Market!) and further encroaching on and possible puncturing of the Big East Conference.

The invitation to Notre Dame does not make any sense, at least from an academic standpoint, since they are not a part of the Association of American Universities.

[FiddySicks]

This is on Scout's main page this morning, which looks to be more like something I could see happening.

http://cfn.scout.com/2/968955.html

Q: It’s 2020. What are all the conferences going to look like? - MR

A: Sooner than later, I foresee a day when the little guys are squeezed out completely and moved to another division. Eastern Michigan just can’t compete with Michigan when it comes to attendance, funding, and in every other way a you want to compare football programs. The big boys are going to realize the money to be made by creating an uber-division of elite teams and conferences, and the Big Ten is getting the ball rolling now. After all the dust settles from expansion and realignment, here’s my best guess (with the new schools in each league in bold) for how the college football world will look ten years from now …

ACC – Boston College, Cincinnati, Duke, East Carolina, Florida State, Maryland, Memphis, Miami, North Carolina, NC State, Pitt, UCF, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, West Virginia

Big Ten – Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Rutgers, Syracuse, Purdue, Wisconsin

Big 12 – Baylor, BYU, Colorado State, Houston, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, SMU, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, TCU, Utah

Pac 10 – Arizona, Arizona State, Boise State, California, Colorado, Fresno State, Nevada, Oregon, Oregon State, San Diego State, Stanford, UCLA, UNLV, USC, Washington, Washington State

SEC – Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Clemson, Florida, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Louisville, LSU, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, South Carolina, South Florida, Tennessee, Vanderbilt

The Big East will dissipate with all its top teams being swallowed up, meaning there will be five mega-conferences with 16 teams each. That would make an upper-level division of 80 teams with Notre Dame staying independent and remaining in the BCS mix.

Army and Navy, all MAC and Sun Belt teams, six current WAC teams (Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana Tech, New Mexico State, San Jose State, and Utah State), two Mountain West teams (Air Force and Wyoming), and seven Conference USA teams (Marshall, Rice, Southern Miss, Tulane, Tulsa, UAB, and UTEP), will create a mid-level division between the current FBS and FCS. They'll have the ability to play the upper-division teams and with bowl tie-ins, but they won't have the legal ability to be eligible for the BCS.

This plan still has many of the same problems as the one posted before it. Fresno State, Nevada, San Diego State, and I'm sure a handfull of others don't meet the academic requirements necessary to be in whichever conference.

[rams80]

Despite the unusual outreach, adding Rutgers does make sense and here's why: its close proximity to New York City (#1 Ratings Market!) and further encroaching on and possible puncturing of the Big East Conference.

The invitation to Notre Dame does not make any sense, at least from an academic standpoint, since they are not a part of the Association of American Universities.

And membership in said association is invitation-based. I'm pretty sure such an invitation would be forthcoming were Notre Dame to join the Big Ten.

[dfwabel]

Source:

http://www.810whb.com/article/3527

Denial:

http://my.journalstar.com/post/Husker_Extra_Group/Husker_Extra/blog/perlman_report_untrue.html

15 months ago, that "source" issued a similar "news" report, confirming Mike Shanahan as the new Chiefs head coach. Todd Haley was actually hired.

This is on Scout's main page this morning, which looks to be more like something I could see happening.

http://cfn.scout.com/2/968955.html

Q: It?s 2020. What are all the conferences going to look like? - MR

A: Sooner than later, I foresee a day when the little guys are squeezed out completely and moved to another division. Eastern Michigan just can?t compete with Michigan when it comes to attendance, funding, and in every other way a you want to compare football programs. The big boys are going to realize the money to be made by creating an uber-division of elite teams and conferences, and the Big Ten is getting the ball rolling now. After all the dust settles from expansion and realignment, here?s my best guess (with the new schools in each league in bold) for how the college football world will look ten years from now ?

ACC ? Boston College, Cincinnati, Duke, East Carolina, Florida State, Maryland, Memphis, Miami, North Carolina, NC State, Pitt, UCF, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, West Virginia

Big Ten ? Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Rutgers, Syracuse, Purdue, Wisconsin

Big 12 ? Baylor, BYU, Colorado State, Houston, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, SMU, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, TCU, Utah

Pac 10 ? Arizona, Arizona State, Boise State, California, Colorado, Fresno State, Nevada, Oregon, Oregon State, San Diego State, Stanford, UCLA, UNLV, USC, Washington, Washington State

SEC ? Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Clemson, Florida, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Louisville, LSU, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, South Carolina, South Florida, Tennessee, Vanderbilt

The Big East will dissipate with all its top teams being swallowed up, meaning there will be five mega-conferences with 16 teams each. That would make an upper-level division of 80 teams with Notre Dame staying independent and remaining in the BCS mix.

Army and Navy, all MAC and Sun Belt teams, six current WAC teams (Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana Tech, New Mexico State, San Jose State, and Utah State), two Mountain West teams (Air Force and Wyoming), and seven Conference USA teams (Marshall, Rice, Southern Miss, Tulane, Tulsa, UAB, and UTEP), will create a mid-level division between the current FBS and FCS. They'll have the ability to play the upper-division teams and with bowl tie-ins, but they won't have the legal ability to be eligible for the BCS.

This plan still has many of the same problems as the one posted before it. Fresno State, Nevada, San Diego State, and I'm sure a handfull of others don't meet the academic requirements necessary to be in whichever conference.

+1. The creator of that list (and others like it) just threw schools in where they want too and never though about academic fit and number of related sports which may need to be added/subtracted due to Title XI.

[dfwabel]

Bump.

Don't believe anything you hear until we have Commissioners standing behind podiums.

Agreed.

And I answered that "newer" thread just because it was at the top of the page. Doh!

[BrySmalls]

Despite the unusual outreach, adding Rutgers does make sense and here's why: its close proximity to New York City (#1 Ratings Market!) and further encroaching on and possible puncturing of the Big East Conference.

The invitation to Notre Dame does not make any sense, at least from an academic standpoint, since they are not a part of the Association of American Universities.

And membership in said association is invitation-based. I'm pretty sure such an invitation would be forthcoming were Notre Dame to join the Big Ten.

Well that has rendered half of my opinion moot.

[STL FANATIC]

None of this has happened, and I don't think it is likely to (in this manner).

The Big Ten will be operating on some fairly simple formulas (although geography and especially academics will continue to play key roles).

Total Conference Revenue / 11 Schools = X

Revenue of Potential New Member School + Revenue Generated from New Market Exposure = Y

Y must be ≥ X

Of course a 12th team allows for a conference football championship game, but that revenue is peanuts compared to what we're talking about here.

If that condition isn't satisfied, don't expect a school to get invited. This is the case for schools like Mizzou, Nebraska, Rutgers, and even Pitt.

Now, there are some big fish out there that definitely meet this criteria. They are Texas and Notre Dame. They bring in enough revenue to make that formula work a couple of times over, and that being the case, you might see the Big Ten willing to bring in a couple of the afforementioned schools to create a "Super Conference". For one thing, I can see where building such a conference would project to bring in many extra dollars down the line even if the return isn't immediate. But the bigger reasons are about Texas and Notre Dame themselves. In the case of Texas, it's long been rumored that they and TAMU might be a packaged deal (and Tech might be part of that, too.) In the case of Notre Dame, they may only be willing to relinquish their status as an independent if their hand is forced by the creation of a few really large conferences--their AD has even said as much.

Another point to be made about Notre Dame is that they would actually make more money in the Big Ten and have fairly similar exposure compared to where they are now. What they would lose is their status as a prestigious independent (instead becoming a member of a prestigious conference). To this point, they've valued that prestige over a few extra millions, and that's totally fine. Some people however seem to have the impression that they're actually making more money as an independent than they would in the Big Ten, and that's not the case.

[NJTank]

This would be a disaster I think, and could create complete havoc in the NCAA, some one needs to bring the Stop Reel Line Mint signs and stand outside the NCAA offices. Not that the current system is perfect but this could create a giant mess that will get bloated and eventually implode.