B1G Money takes little money (conf realignment)

[jterrell]

Seldom do we get quality article style posts here.
I'll try to do that without angering too many but fully accepting nothing I post regarding this topic is going to please most people.

Don't know if any of you played big takes little money as a kid or not.
Basically it was two people emptying their pockets. If one person had 2 bucks and the other had 3.45 the guy with 3.45 takes the 2 bucks as well. Seems pretty cutthroat but usually kids play for lunch money and the winner buys anyways.

But the ugly truth is, that is what capitalism kinda boils down too. You need to be semi-intelligent and semi-frugal but ultimately having more money is the key to gaming the system. So while conference realignment is almost universally hated; make no mistake, this is the American way. And it is basically a global reality. Just ask European 'Soccer' fans. Money is power.

The bully on the block is the SEC in NCAA football but the conference responsible for the seismic shifts is clearly the Big 10, B1G conf. They have loads of blue-blood money. Vast majorities of high-level TV execs are B1G grads as well. They are rich and looking to get richer. Adding Nebraska was about hurting the Big 12 and trying to lure Texas for its mighty TV markets. Adding Rutgers and Maryland were about TV sets and dollars. Expect the B1G to start getting boat loads of Under Armour perks.

As we sit here today ACC folks feel ok. They feel like they are still ahead in this game. Sadly, they never played big money takes little money. This really is a zero sum game. The B1G isn't done. The SEC isn't done either. By the time we get to the 8 team playoff you can darn sure expect there are really only 4 major conferences and it takes a virtual miracle to get in as anyone else.

The teams the B1G and SEC are going to target? Almost certainly the remaining ACC schools in big TV markets. Ga Tech, UNC, Va Tech, UVA for sure. When you look at what schools feel is important and what conferences really desire it is pretty easy to speculate. And the motivation never needs to go beyond money. Maryland has explained this. 100 million reasons to leave the current ACC.

But wait, the ACC just added ND and Louisville and is strong as ever? No, my friends it isn't. Even after adding ND it didn't gain financially on the 4 major players. And it still had the smallest pockets. the Big 12 has the 3rd smallest pockets and can not crush it. But the B1G and SEC can and will. The B1G especially NEEDS to. They simply don't win enough to get two spots in the BCS any other way. The SEC? You can bet they are already working on a logical sounding provision to add to the BCS playoffs that gets them a 3rd seed regularly. Something like if a conference doesn't have two top 12 seeds then the spot is filled but the highest ranked BCS team thus far left out. Sounds logical and fair until you realize that it is an SEC team every year. And if the SEC team loses they just get replaced by the next SEC team in line. They are good in football, but no one is as good as we pretend the SEC is. Ole Miss is a 3-5 SEC team. Decent team but they lost to a very mediocre UT team by over 30 at home. It was their worst blowout loss of the year.

But, but, but ... NOTRE DAME.

The problem for ND is they made a deal with NBC sports. NBC is not owned by Disney/ESPN/ABC nor is it owned by Viacom or Fox. It is essentially owned by GE. And GE is rich but not heavily leveraged in TV or sports programming. They have Sunday night football and ND football.

Fox and Disney/ESPN would like nothing more than to see NBC go away. Why keep bidding against them? Strip them of meaningful NCAA games? They'd love to! So you can bet the networks that own the SEC/ACC/BIG 12/B1G ALL agree reducing the current 5 plus conf scenario to a mere 4 is a GREAT idea. Yes, even the ACC's television providers.

So when you read that there will be four super-conferences and that the ACC gets dismantled; this isn't just bravado or hate or rampant homerism. All those things obviously exist in NCAA football but this is really just common sense and following the money.

I've seen lots of possible scenarios but the 16 teamers posited by thedudeofwv makes tons of sense.

And he says...

What I am fairly certain happens very soon is this:

UVA & GT to the Big 10
UNC & VPI to the SEC
FSU and Miami to the Big 12.

All that's then left is splitting up the remaining ACC to the big 3 sans PAC and the Pac 12 taking its pick of any 4 Western schools. BYU, Boise St, Nevada, UNLV???

But whatever happens will happen because of money. Of that you can be sure.

[DFWJC]

Unless you think each super conf will have 30 teams, there will not be only 4 large conferences feeding into an 8 team playoff. Otherwise, there will be legal hell to pay. You can't freeze our 1/2 of D-1 schools...again. The BCS is going away in part due it's exclusionary format.

I would bet you again on this, T. But we'll just check back in a few years.

Certainly plenty of change is still to come, but the theory that 4 (I assume you mean only 16 team) conferences will 100% take over college football is not valid, imo.

It's clear that, as you had said in the past, academics are taking an ever increasing back seat. This has always been the case in some conferences, but generally less so in the B1G and ACC. Now that is clearly slipping.
I'm a big Captialist, but it has it's dark side (see old days of being able to light a match to Lake Erie as an example). This is definitely Capitalism at is worst. The dollar is the bottom line, as you say, and common sense and integrity are taking a backseat.

[DFWJC]

Originally Posted by DFWJC

Unless you think each super conf will have 30 teams, there will not be only 4 large conferences feeding into an 8 team playoff. Otherwise, there will be legal hell to pay. You can't freeze our 1/2 of D-1 schools...again. The BCS is going away in part due it's exclusionary format.

I would bet you again on this, T. But we'll just check back in a few years.

Certainly plenty of change is still to come, but the theory that 4 (I assume you mean only 16 team) conferences will 100% take over college football is not valid, imo.

It's clear that, as you had said in the past, academics are taking an ever increasing back seat. This has always been the case in some conferences, but generally less so in the B1G and ACC. Now that is clearly slipping.
[View Full Quote]I'm a big Captialist, but it has it's dark side (see old days of being able to light a match to Lake Erie as an example). This is definitely Capitalism at is worst. The dollar is the bottom line, as you say, and common sense and integrity are taking a backseat.

he's a suggestion that will never happen b/c he makes too much sense:

-----------------------
[FONT=Arial]...with 4 pods in each conference and 6 teams in each pod totaling
96 teams. Substitue "borderline teams" as you see fit. Just my
thoughts...

North
A - Boston College, UCONN, Syracuse, Penn St., Pitt and Cincy
B - Army, Rutgers, Maryland, Navy, Marshall and WVa.
C - Mich, Mich St., Indiana, Notre Dame, Purdue and Ohio St.
D - Minn, Wisc, Iowa, Iowa St., Illinois and Northwestern

East
A - Louisville, Kentucky, UVa, VaTech, UNC and NCSU
B - Tenn, Wake, Duke, Vandy, Memphis and UAB
C - ECU, So. Carolina, Clem, GaTech, Ga and Florida
D - Alabama, Auburn, FSU, UCF, USF and Miami

South
A - Nebraska, Kansas, K-State, Missouri, Ark and Tulsa
B - OK, OK St., Texas Tech, UTEP, TCU and SMU
C - Texas, Baylor, Tex A&M, Houston, Rice and LSU
D - Miss, Miss St., USM, Troy, LaTech and Tulane

West
A - Wash, Wash St., Oregon, Oregon St., Boise St. and Wyoming
B - Utah, Colorado, Colorado St., Air Force, BYU and Nevada
C - UNLV, Fesno St., Ariz, Ariz St., New Mex and New Mex St.
D - Cal, Stanford, USC, UCLA, San Diego St. and Hawaii

Play each team in your pod - 5 games
Three from next pod - 3 games (switch the next year)
One each from next two pods - 2 games (rotate through the next years)
Two OOC games of your choice - 2 games
Total 12 games.

Best record from each pod has a 4 team playoff within the conf. and
then winner from each conf has a 4 team playoff for national
championship.

These regional conferences keep travel costs down. Also no need for
any rankings to be involved with who plays in playoffs. Conference
playoffs can take place the first two weeks of December. Then over
the holidays you can have some "bowl games" for the other teams.
Then the first two weekends in January have the "Final Four". [/FONT]

[DFWJC]

The geography may be off but you get the point.

[burmafrd]

in the insanely litigious society in which we live, a 4 super conference system will get the living crap sued out of it.

That is why it will not happen. Just excludes too many and SOMEONE will take it to court.

BIG, SEC, PAC, ACC will survive. Big 12 maybe. Big East is just waiting for someone to put it out of its misery. And there will probably be another new conference cobbled out of something.

But it will never get to just 4.


As regards NBC they actually have it real sweet. They have a resurgent ND and ratings this year were hitting records

So they are still a player in College Football but have to pay less then anyone else.

[DFWJC]

Originally Posted by burmafrd

in the insanely litigious society in which we live, a 4 super conference system will get the living crap sued out of it.

That is why it will not happen. Just excludes too many and SOMEONE will take it to court.

BIG, SEC, PAC, ACC will survive. Big 12 maybe. Big East is just waiting for someone to put it out of its misery. And there will probably be another new conference cobbled out of something.

But it will never get to just 4.


As regards NBC they actually have it real sweet. They have a resurgent ND and ratings this year were hitting records

So they are still a player in College Football but have to pay less then anyone else.

I agree. It's a big reason the BCS fell aprt in the 1st place. If there are 120 schools then they will have to have at least some avenue to get in.
If they had maybe 6-8 large conferences and then had another 4 or 6 at large bids, they could probaly keep the legal dogs at bay.

[Cythim]

One thing you have to keep in mind is how this will affect the selection process. SI put together a mock selection committee based on this week's standings with the assumption that the higher ranked team will win all of the games this weekend. The four teams placed are Notre Dame, Alabama, Florida, and Oregon with the first four teams out being Georgia, LSU, Texas A&M and Stanford. Everyone came out of it saying four teams just isn't enough. How do you argue Oregon over Stanford when the latter won head to head? It is also odd that only two conferences and one independent are represented in that group. Everyone agreed that Kansas State getting blown out by Baylor was too ugly a loss to have them in consideration.
The article is here, it was interesting to read: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/201...ee/index.html?

The championship selection and the access bowls may be just as important as television contracts because of the money involved. ESPN is paying $610 million a year to host those games and everyone will want a piece. Based on the current standings the SEC would likely place two teams in the championship bracket, a team in the Sugar Bowl to play Kansas State, another team in the Orange Bowl to play Florida State, and could get a fifth at large selection because no other conference is strong enough. I haven't seen anything suggesting a limit on the number of teams a conference can place and the SEC has nearly guaranteed themselves three spots each year.

This is how the 6 game Championship/Access bowl pairing might look if it started this year:

Championship Bracket:
Cotton - Notre Dame vs Oregon
Chick-fil-A - Alabama vs Florida

Sugar (top SEC vs Big XII Champ)
Georgia vs Kansas State

Rose (B1G vs Pac-12 Champ)
Stanford vs Nebraska/Wisconsin

Orange (ACC Champ vs next best SEC/B1G/Notre Dame)
Florida State vs LSU

Fiesta (Best from Bottom Five vs At Large)
Kent State vs Texas A&M/Oklahoma/Clemson