Division 1 College Conference Realignment

[BBTV]

44 minutes ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

With all of these kinds of issues, I'm on the side of labor and the best deal for the players. If a multi-billion dollar contract for college athletics provides 50% of revenue for the players, count me in.

 

That's part of them "making their own rules".  NFL D-League just isn't going to happen, so having the players be paid employees of the schools is the next best option, which simply isn't going to happen under NCAA governance. I don't trust the "super league" administrators to be fair about how they pay players, but at least they'd be allowed to.

 

As for the fairness aspect, players would have more leverage than ever, and be able to unionize and bargain for whatever they deem is a fair piece of the pie.

 

I'm basically saying to make it a fully-professional (or at least semi-professional) league where everyone involved is an employee or contractor.  There'd be more than enough money to go around.

 

The notion that any coach is allowed to make millions off the backs of free labor is not only nauseating - it should be illegal.

 

 

[McCall]

I think it's already been decided that they won't split from the NCAA (trying to find an article referencing this). But I could see them creating a new division with the Power 5, err, 4 (I think the ACC will survive in some form better than the Pac will, possibly by even some merger/alliance with the Big XII).  This would leave the Group of 5 Conferences in the FBS with some top FCS schools moving up. Maybe the new "Power Division" would be granted more autonomy by the NCAA, like more of a partnership than ruling body, and maybe even be considered more of a semi-pro level. Basically Division I (FBS & FCS) on down would remain fully amateur. There could be some financial requirements of the Power Level that schools would have to meet. You might actually see some current Power Conference schools stay in FBS if they don't won't to have to adhere to those requirements, schools who otherwise might just currently be considered "filler" schools to reach certain markets or conference membership numbers, but really have no business competing in these conferences.

[jlog3000]

But how would this affect the other sports that those same superconferences sponsor? Like basketball or baseball or soccer or volleyball or other Olympic sport? Would those be tossed out the window or will they also benefit from the split with football being the primary and main concern or focus in a profit and economic revenue standpoint?

[Guest]

5 hours ago, BBTV said:

I know this isn't a novel idea, but maybe the major conferences (I guess that's the "Big"s, SEC, ACC?) should merge into a single entity and sell a TV package as a whole - kinda like how the NFL has networks bidding for the AFC, NFC, and special nights.  They could keep their rivalries and stay as "conferences" if they want, but there's the potential to make more $ as a combined entity than as separate ones.

 

They'd say F-off to the NCAA* and just have their own rules, their own playoff, and declare their own championship.

 

*I guess the risk here is that the NCAA could impose penalties for small schools that still want to do jobs to the major teams that are no longer in the NCAA.  They'd have to work that out, since the Super Conference would still probably want some of those tune-up games.

 

Or maybe not, since they have their own separate playoff and make their own rules, the teams don't need to worry about a computer or imperfect ranking, so they could play full conference schedules and maybe the playoff teams have 7-5 or 8-4 records... but it's fine, whereas that's not fine in the current NCAA system.

 

EDIT:

They could also merge their respective networks together and basically charge whatever the hell they want - both as streaming services and to cable subscribers, since it'd be a monopoly.  

 

I think you're really close and this is likely the end game scenario instead of this "4 Super Conferences" thing. Of course, there will be a period of time where that's the case but ultimately it's going to be a single entity composed of the top 64-72 teams that break away from the NCAA under a common banner (likely the CFP with a czar and brand new structure) that negotiates one mega deal every decade with the top networks and the teams will be split up into regional pods (hmmm, how original). I think it's inevitable and all this conference shuffling will probably amount to nothing once it's all said and done in about 10-15 years. However, the biggest sticking point won't be the schools, presidents, or conferences but the Federal Government.

[BBTV]

8 hours ago, jlog3000 said:

But how would this affect the other sports that those same superconferences sponsor? Like basketball or baseball or soccer or volleyball or other Olympic sport? Would those be tossed out the window or will they also benefit from the split with football being the primary and main concern or focus in a profit and economic revenue standpoint?

 

I don't know if those other sports would benefit, but I don't think they'd be hurt by it.  They may only be able to compete against each other rather than non-Super teams, but I'm not sure that matters.

 

[jlog3000]

Then it seems to me that it sounds like as if football should not be a sponsored sport for athletic conferences, as it wants to be its own thing, and make profits their way; forcing every conference to be non-football.

[Gary]

https://thespun.com/college-football/rumor-swirling-that-big-ten-will-be-adding-4-new-schools-this-week?fbclid=IwAR3PDzf5ApUEaJSGVQPLxL5h7tXG39KFOOKbMKXQxroBnymbMxpEMdlip2g

 

Oregon, Washington, Clemson and Florida State are the rumored schools. But since its the spun and Barstool. I would take a grain of salt to this

[heavybass]

A lot of salt

[buckeye]

That's a believe it when you see it type of report

[kolob]

2 hours ago, buckeye said:

That's a believe it when you see it type of report

 

At this point I kinda believe everything ...

[Dilbert]

2 hours ago, kimball said:

 

At this point I kinda believe everything ...

In that case I hear a school on Mars is joining Conference USA

[Red Wolf]

1 hour ago, Dilbert said:

In that case I hear a school on Mars is joining Conference USA

 

It's good that they're getting some teams closer to El Paso and Las Cruces.

[buckeye]

It's nothing, but could be something...

 

[Burmy]

 

So still much ado about nothing...I imagine Oregon & Washington are starting to get tired of the waiting game and are ready to go to whoever will admit them right now.

[Gary]

4 minutes ago, Burmy said:

 

So still much ado about nothing...I imagine Oregon & Washington are starting to get tired of the waiting game and are ready to go to whoever will admit them right now.

Also heard that if Arizona goes they want to take ASU and Utah with them so they can keep the 4 corners. As an ASU alumni, I wouldn't be sad for the Devils to leave. Looking at the joke of a media rights and the details of the majority being streaming rights. Its time to bolt

Edited August 1, 2023 by Gary

[Geoff]

Yeah, none of Utah, Zona, or ASU want to be the one to break up the Pac-12. It's either they all go or none of them go.

[tyst13]

On 6/10/2010 at 10:10 AM, TrueYankee26 said:

Colorado Joins the Pac-10!

http://www.cubuffs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=600&ATCLID=204958456

Gotta love that this thread has outlasted the entire lifetime of CU in the Pac-12 

[crashcarson15]

On 7/28/2023 at 1:44 PM, jlog3000 said:

Is being a full independent considered an option for any of the remaining Pac schools, should they don't get a different conference home? Also, would the ACC consider do a Big TEN by grabbing a few Pac schools for expansion?

Stanford has the money to go independent if they want to and just eat the costs, but they also probably have the money to ask into the Big Ten and take like,  no TV share and just be there for vibes and to park their hyper-successful Olympic sports.

 

Cal is broke because it turns out building a football stadium right on top of a fault line isn't a great idea. They're the school with the most uncertain outlook in all of this, IMO.

[McCall]

As expected...

https://sports.yahoo.com/sources-big-ten-has-begun-preliminary-talks-to-potentially-add-oregon-washington-cal-and-stanford-173934989.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAKWtS5W0UfD7F7mwt4wY9fgAKngHIJUqnVq-Lq9p6lKNOUVye7WtsFKKg-jkx_Tvkv1KC4MoEmaRDB_McXkOKog-d1tgTbNp2kkYk0ARIqp5-cdDBSNDlMek8Dn6MUVIuRoIK0o80-ZYASMT8HDEeRH4ooW1JygD6rE1-NhqsRkA

[DCarp1231]

Florida State is looking into likely leaving the ACC due to revenue sharing

 

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/38122958/florida-state-consider-leaving-acc-due-revenue-distribution?platform=amp