OT: Conference Realignment

[Pablo]

https://ftw.usatoday.com/lists/conference-realignment-pac-12-big-12-big-10-everything-we-know-explainer

"The Big Ten has apparently backed off of pursuing Cal and Stanford, but regardless, these schools seem to be in danger of getting left behind.

There isn’t a clear-cut answer for how they would move forward, unfortunately. A possible merger with the Mountain West or even football independence for the more academic-focused California schools seems like a real possibility.

I wish I could offer a more inspiring message here to fans of these four teams, but right now, they seem to be the biggest causality of the growing influence of television money in college football.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot about the ACC.

The league has been notoriously spared from the latest round of realignment havoc to this point, and there’s a reason for that. Unlike the rest of the Power Five conferences, which have all had to renegotiate media rights deals in recent years, the ACC’s contract is locked in for quite a while.

The current grant of rights runs until 2036, and breaking that contract early would come at a high price, likely at least nine figures.

That price tag has proven to be a major obstacle for teams like Florida State and Clemson, which may have ambitions to leave the ACC behind.

The former seems to be getting particularly antsy. At a Board of Trustees meeting, one trustee likened remaining in the ACC to a 'death by 1,000 cuts' if the league refused to adopt an unequal revenue-sharing model for the top-performing programs. The day before, board chairman Peter Collins said the grant of rights wouldn’t prevent Florida State from leaving the conference if it wanted to.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot about the ACC.

The league has been notoriously spared from the latest round of realignment havoc to this point, and there’s a reason for that. Unlike the rest of the Power Five conferences, which have all had to renegotiate media rights deals in recent years, the ACC’s contract is locked in for quite a while.

The current grant of rights runs until 2036, and breaking that contract early would come at a high price, likely at least nine figures.

That price tag has proven to be a major obstacle for teams like Florida State and Clemson, which may have ambitions to leave the ACC behind.

The former seems to be getting particularly antsy. At a Board of Trustees meeting, one trustee likened remaining in the ACC to a 'death by 1,000 cuts' if the league refused to adopt an unequal revenue-sharing model for the top-performing programs. The day before, board chairman Peter Collins said the grant of rights wouldn’t prevent Florida State from leaving the conference if it wanted to.

The school may take some creative steps to speed up its departure, and on Friday, a report from Sportico indicated that the Florida State had tabbed private equity firm J.P. Morgan to help raise money, potentially for its reported $120 million exit fee from the ACC.

Regardless, the grant of rights deal presents a significant impediment for any ACC program looking to get in on the realignment game."

 

[Pablo]

Field Yates
@FieldYates

A look at the future Big 10…




1:34 PM · Aug 4, 2023
·

Conference realignment winners, losers: Oregon comes up short in Big Ten move, Arizona fits in Big 12

The latest round of realignment has turned college sports on its head, but not everyone is coming out a winner here

www.cbssports.com

Winner: Colorado​

Losers: Oregon and Washington​

Winner: Arizona​

Loser: Utah​

Winner: The Big 12​

Loser: West Coast athletics​

TBD: Arizona State​

Loser: George Kliavkoff​

"Now, a 108-year-old athletic association is essentially gone. Only four out of 12 members remain, meaning that any future league would hold almost zero DNA with the historic conference. Scott deserves the lion's share of the blame, but Kliavkoff failed to remotely stop the bleeding when it became time to save the league. His tenure as a college sports administrator will be defined by overseeing the collapse of the Pac-12."

 

[phoenix-arizona]

Why have an Apple Cup when you can have Washington-Rutgers?

 

[DRK331]

With the Big 10 and Big 12 turning into mega-conferences, it's now even harder for mid major teams (like George Mason) to make it into the NCAA Tournament

 

[Pablo]

Ubben: The latest round of conference realignment’s winners and (many) losers

Friday produced one of college athletics’ wildest and most historic days. This is still sports — there are always winners and losers.

theathletic.com

"Winners: Boise State and most Mountain West schools​

It seemed like teams like Boise State, Nevada and Colorado State could never get real consideration from the Pac-12 for membership, despite Boise State’s many on-field successes.

But now? Whatever happens in a seemingly inevitable merger is better for those schools. Welcoming Oregon State and Washington State (we’ll see about the brainiacs in the Bay) to the Mountain West would be a win, but so would rebuilding some kind of slimmed-down Pac-12."

"Losers: SMU and San Diego State​

There’s an alternate universe where a few things break a bit differently and the Mustangs and Aztecs are in a bigger, more lucrative conference. SMU has long eyed a move back to the big time and is aggrieved the Big 12 passed on it through multiple rounds of expansion."

 

[Pablo]

Conference realignment fallout: What's next move for ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC? | Sporting News

College football has undergone an abrupt change this week with the gutting of the Pac-12. Here's what's next for the other four Power Five conferences.

www.sportingnews.com

Ross Dellenger

@RossDellenger
·
Follow
Presidents & ADs from the remaining four Pac-12 schools have held multiple meetings today to discuss next steps. Options are limited, but one of the most practical is a merger or partnership with the Mountain West, which the MWC is receptive to, sources tell @YahooSports.
9:41 PM · Aug 4, 2023

"It is a less-than-ideal setup, but adding some combination of the remaining schools to the Mountain West would give that conference between 14-16 teams and position it as the fifth-best FBS conference behind the SEC, Big Ten, ACC and Big 12. That's not a bad spot, and it still gives some semblance of West Coast football that remains tied to the region."

 

[Pablo]

Could Mountain West and Pac-12 merge into a single, 16-team conference?

In a historic and unprecedented flurry of conference realignment theater Friday, the once-mighty Pac-12 went from a Pac-10 to a Pac-9 to a Pac-8 to a Pac-6 to a Pac-4 in a matter of days, even hour…

www.sandiegouniontribune.com

"The other option, which multiple Mountain West sources said is gaining traction, is more merger than acquisition. You dissolve the Mountain West in name only to eliminate exit fees, then move most or all members (and their NCAA Tournament units) into the Pac-12 shell so you can retain its name and power conference status. Then entice Gonzaga to join as a non-football affiliate to further enhance an already solid collection of men’s basketball programs.

Sources said several athletic directors and presidents from both conferences discussed the idea on a preliminary level Saturday. More substantive talks are expected Monday."

 

[Patriot8]

At this point I think the Big 12 should go all in with the 4 remaining PAC schools. Create a 20 team conference, East Division & West Division. Pretty decent football conference, great basketball conference, great baseball conference etc.

 

[Pikapppatri8]

At this point I think the Big 12 should go all in with the 4 remaining PAC schools. Create a 20 team conference, East Division & West Division. Pretty decent football conference, great basketball conference, great baseball conference etc.

Heck it can become its own NCAA!

 

[bravesfan]

Heck it can become its own NCAA!

My assumption is the Big 12 actually wants to be effective and efficient and not worry about banning cream cheese on bagels.

 

[GMUSSTN]

How long until schools start acquiring other schools' athletic departments? Can't wait to become a UVA fan when our basketball team and likeness is purchased as part of a leveraged buyout propped up by private equity for UVA Athletics, LLC.

 

[phoenix-arizona]

The Western Division and Eastern Division teams can just play within their division during the regular season and then the championship game between the 2 division winners can be settled in the Rose Bowl.

 

[bravesfan]

How long until schools start acquiring other schools' athletic departments? Can't wait to become a UVA fan when our basketball team and likeness is purchased as part of a leveraged buyout propped up by private equity for UVA Athletics, LLC.

Florida State twitter has been joking about having to change their name to the "Saudinoles" to get out of the ACC.

 

[GMUSSTN]

Florida State twitter has been joking about having to change their name to the "Saudinoles" to get out of the ACC.

I mean it's a joke but once the SEC buys out the B1G (or the other way around) where else can it go? That line has to go up forever. Why allow smaller schools a seat at the table? When fans are fully downgraded to customers why allow someone to root for Central Michigan whenb they SHOULD be rooting for Michigan or MState?

 

[GMUgemini]

I mean it's a joke but once the SEC buys out the B1G (or the other way around) where else can it go? That line has to go up forever. Why allow smaller schools a seat at the table? When fans are fully downgraded to customers why allow someone to root for Central Michigan whenb they SHOULD be rooting for Michigan or MState?

So Basically all the public universities in a state will have one team to root for? That’s definitely one way to consolidate. It’s also a great way to stop students from becoming attached to their school and to shrink the overall audience for college athletics real fast (like I’d ever care about UVA).

 

[Five Two]

I can't take credit as I saw this elsewhere and laughed:
The Big 10 should add Cal and Stanford
That brings them to 20 schools
Split them into two ten team divisions
Have the winner of the ten team east division play the winner of the 10 team west division in Pasadena

 

[GMUSSTN]

So Basically all the public universities in a state will have one team to root for? That’s definitely one way to consolidate. It’s also a great way to stop students from becoming attached to their school and to shrink the overall audience for college athletics real fast (like I’d ever care about UVA).

If you get into the private equity game (like FSU is looking at) then I don't see any other end point. The school teams for revenue generating sports are essentially "brands" (franchises) that with private money don't make any sense. Why spread your money around 300 different teams? Consolidate it and go from there...the strong will absorb the weak and we'll be left with 30-40 school affiliated professional teams that will basically be the NFL minor leagues.

 

[jessej]

If you get into the private equity game (like FSU is looking at) then I don't see any other end point. The school teams for revenue generating sports are essentially "brands" (franchises) that with private money don't make any sense. Why spread your money around 300 different teams? Consolidate it and go from there...the strong will absorb the weak and we'll be left with 30-40 school affiliated professional teams that will basically be the NFL minor leagues.

130 Div 1 Football teams
only about 30 turn a profit

Private equity buys out the Tu-op 40 teams in 2037 when the ACC GoR is up
set up 4 10 team conferences - North, South, East and West
9 game schedule within the conference
3 games intra conference
Divvy up the CFP and the rest of the major Bowl games
need some form of relegation for the bottom 5 or 10 or bottom 1 or 2 per conference.

all other non-revenue sports played on a regional basis to cut costs.
BUT allow the top 15-30 in each non-revenue sports to form a super conference if those universities want to incur the additional costs - travel, recruiting, coaches, etc.
that super conference could likely get a media deal - Baseball, Lacrosse, Soccer, Volleyball, Swimming, Track and Field, gymnastics, wrestling, hockey, softball, etc. etc.

 

[GMUSSTN]

130 Div 1 Football teams
only about 30 turn a profit

Private equity buys out the Tu-op 40 teams in 2037 when the ACC GoR is up
set up 4 10 team conferences - North, South, East and West
9 game schedule within the conference
3 games intra conference
Divvy up the CFP and the rest of the major Bowl games
need some form of relegation for the bottom 5 or 10 or bottom 1 or 2 per conference.

all other non-revenue sports played on a regional basis to cut costs.
BUT allow the top 15-30 in each non-revenue sports to form a super conference if those universities want to incur the additional costs - travel, recruiting, coaches, etc.
that super conference could likely get a media deal - Baseball, Lacrosse, Soccer, Volleyball, Swimming, Track and Field, gymnastics, wrestling, hockey, softball, etc. etc.

If this gets us back to basketball conferences that make sense, I'm all for it. This is said as someone who has no interest in college football.

 

[GMUgemini]

If you get into the private equity game (like FSU is looking at) then I don't see any other end point. The school teams for revenue generating sports are essentially "brands" (franchises) that with private money don't make any sense. Why spread your money around 300 different teams? Consolidate it and go from there...the strong will absorb the weak and we'll be left with 30-40 school affiliated professional teams that will basically be the NFL minor leagues.

And also the end of amateurism by way of court order. If I’m a football athlete at a PAC school I’m talking with my fellow athletes and getting a team of lawyers to draft up a class action lawsuit right now.

Like no way is this anything but a massive money grab and those athletes should be demanding their cut.