More Conference Realignment

[Goose85]

Pitt and Syracuse's actions, along with the BCS conference football greed, continue to have an affect on the entire college landscape.

Big 10 / SEC / ACC / Pac 12 unaffected (other than SEC and ACC adding two teams each)

Big East
Loses Pit / Syracuse to ACC, West Virginia to SEC.
Adds Houston / Memphis / UCF / SMU from CUSA and Boise State / San Diego State from Mountain West

CUSA
Lost Houston / Memphis / UCF / SMU to the Big East.
Adding teams from the A-10 (Charlotte - new D1 football), CAA (ODU - moving up to D1 football), Sun Belt (FIU and North Texas) and the WAC (Louisiana Tech and Texas San Antonio).

Atlantic 10
Lost Temple to the Big East and Charlotte to CUSA.
Adding potentially Butler from the Horizon and VCU / George Mason from the CAA.

Big 12
Loses Missouri and Texas A&M to the SEC
Add West Virginia from Big East and TCU from Mountain West (was scheduled for Big East).

Mountain West
Lost TCU to Big 12, Boise State and San Diego State to Big East
Adding Nevada / Fresno State / Hawaii from WAC

WAC
Basically done. Lost Nevada / Fresno State / Hawaii / Louisianna Tech / Texas San Antonio.

Not done yet either. Crazy and actually very sad for most of all college athletics (unless you are SEC / Big 10 / Pac 12 / ACC).

[warriorfan4life]

Hate saying it, but the only league that got conference realignment correct was the B1G. They went from a weird 11 to normal 12, adding in a school that fit the current mold. Calling it now that many of these new superconferences do not make it because of so many forced together pairings that do not work logistically long-term.

[Goose85]

Agree - the Big 10 did it right by adding another midwest football power in Nebraska. Got them to 12, stayed relatively regional.

A school like West Virginia, while good for football, will be brutal for all other sports. That will be an interesting one to watch along with schools like Missouri and Pit. Missouri going deep south and Pit moving away from the east.

[IWB]

How can you say the Big 10 is the only one that did it right? They are a power conference Conferences like the Big East, Big XII got screwed, and had to do whatever they could to react. The Big 10 did nothing other than take one team from another conference. I would think that they are not even in the discussion of "conference realignment" because they didn't lose anyone, they didn't do any major expansion, they simply plucked one of the premier programs from the Big XII.

[Goose85]

I agree - they weren't in danger of losing teams, etc. My point was they didn't reach, this time anyway, for a team way out of their current footprint. They convinced a school that wasn't happy in their current conference to make a move and that team fit the current Big 10 regional footprint. They didn't go beyond 12 teams when they easily could have. I think the Big maximized their earning potential by going to 12 and no further.

WVU going to the Big 12 sounds fine for football, but the whole move to that conference makes no sense regionally. Big 12 had to do something, so I understand that, but I don't get WVU.

ACC grabs a team from upstate NY and western PA. Neither team will bring in as much added revenue to the conference as they will take out. Don't get that move by the ACC. Football is cash and these teams won't bring it.

Pac 12 stayed at 12. Smart for them too.

SEC - Texas A&M, ok move into football rich Texas. Missouri was a move just to make schedules work out, they will bring less money to the conference than they will take out.

[unclejohn]

Despite the fact that many people here hate the Big Ten, they did handle expansion better than anybody. First, they were in no hurry to do so, so they waited twenty years or so before getting a 12th team. During that time, they had a couple negotiations with Notre Dame, but did not agree to give away the store. They finally picked up a team with a strong athletic program, adjacent to their current territory, and meeting their academic standards. They resisted the temptation to go really big, expand their footprint, and take Missouri, Texas, Maryland, Rutgers, or anybody else who might potentially fit. Other conferences were not so rational, or did not have the option of acting that rationally.

[Goose85]

I get IWB's point. Big 10 was able to handle things well because (like the SEC / ACC / PAC 12) they were not raided, poached, or in any danger. They could control their own destiny. Big 12 and Big East were not and had to scramble and react.

[IWB]

A few things on the above posts - The Big XII and WVU - I think what happened there was the Big XII wanted to take 3 teams from the Big East and WVU was the first/only to jump. Made sense when trying to get a chunk of the Big East, but not as much when going solo. Will really hurt the non-revenue sports as it is not easy to fly to some of those places, but the massive Big XII football tv money will help ease that cost.

Missouri - Interesting add for the SEC - I am sure that you are right with the need for another team to balance out, but I think they are planning on bringing in both the St. Louis and Kansas City TV markets because Mizzou is 1/2 way between the two. Problem is, they are in the heart of Big XII country, so I don't think they will bring all from those two markets. Kansas City still has a huge Kansas & Kansas State presence, but Mizzou does have a pretty good share of St. Louis.

Big 10 - UJ, you mention they resisted the temptations of a few schools. True, but not true with Texas - if Texas would have wanted the Big 10, they would have taken them. Texas is a huge tv cash school. Probably one of three that could survive in the world of independents. The others - yes, I agree.

Again, this has nothing to do with hating the Big 10, it is more about the fact that the Big 10 has been a stable power conference since the turn of the century (the last one, not the recent one) and have not had to face any of the adversities the other conferences have had to face. They are all big state schools and have never had to deal with someone up and leaving. They are an untouchable conference, they knew who they wanted to expand with, and weren't going to do it until they got one of those 3-4 select schools.

One thing about this that I have agreed with Goo on since the beginning, is that expanding too much is dumb. There is no way the cash will warrant further expansion. Big XII would be a bad move to expand back to 12. There is no way two additional teams will bring in enough cash to match what the teams are getting currently unless they get Notre Dame AND USC, and that won't happen.

[ge1974]

I disagree with some of the above statements. Although the Big Ten only took in one additional school, to quote Brett McMurphy at CBS Sportsline, "It was Jim Delany's cow in a Chicago barn that kicked over the lantern that started the country's conference realignment inferno.". I agree.

The machiavellian Big Ten commissioner mislead several schools as to the Big Tens real interest hinting that they may take up to 5 additional schools. There were rumors of Notre Dame, Texas, Missouri, Rutgers, Pitt and others joing the Big Ten. In other words, for the sake of the Big Ten gaining even more power and money he intentionally kicked off mass hysteria which ignited other conferenecs into reacting.

If there is a four team NCAA football playoff between only conference winners what do Notre Dame, BYU, and schools from lesser conefrences do next? Then, what happens to the basketball-only schools, like Marquette? Sure, we could be in a basketball schools only conference but it would have little or no clout and eventually may not even be a part of the possible 64 team super conference association many have mentioned.

Yes, the Big East and other leagues are guilty of poaching as well but this was all started by Delany and the Big Ten. And that league supposedly cares about the student-athlete. Haha. What a crock of crap. They are a bully and only care about the almighty dollar at the expense of other institutions.

[Goose85]

I also thing the NCAA mandating that you must have 12 teams for a football playoff has not helped this scenario.

If you could have a championship game with 10, would the Big 12 even consider going back to 12 - probably not. Would it still be the Pac 10?

[IWB]

GE - Great post, didn't see the CBS piece, but makes sense.

Now hold on to your hats, I got this e-mail forwarded from one of my Iowa State sources....

This is the rumor that has been going on for a couple months on the West Virginia Website now it is becoming a hotter and hotter topic on FSU, Clemson boards. If this does happen (which from what I have read seems very likely) it is suppose to be in June or July because the ACC exit date requirement is August for entry in the 2013 season.

ESPN isn't willing to pay the ACC for all 3 tiers of games as the Big 12 is getting for just tier 1 and 2. Right now the projection are the big 12 will make about 5 million more for just tier 1 and 2 than the ACC will make with all 3 tiers. Plus the Big 12 has the right to make their own tier 3 programing, such as Cyclones.tv and the Long Horn Network. So the ACC is due to make about 18 mil and the big 12's lowest team is to make close to 30 mil when you factor in the 3rd tier. Texas will make 39 million with the LHN.

Also the terms for the 4 team playoff money makes the decision even easier for the ACC teams to jump ship. The money for the Playoff is going to be divided out like the NCAA tournament the further you go the more you make and over the last 10 years the ACC would have only had 1 team participate in the 4 team playoff. Compared to the big 12 we would have had 7 teams which is only behind the SEC with 9. So if you run the numbers FSU and Clemson would be stupid not to jump ship.

This has all been rumors, but recently some of the information that has come out from conference commissioners about the playoffs has supported these rumors.

So I wouldn't be surprised if a ton of stuff goes down in the next couple months. Of course this could all be a bunch of hogwash also but it is interesting to read about.

http://www.cemetery-hill.com/2012-articles/april/the-new-bcs-looms-a-a-new-road-ahead.html


So - if FSU and Clemson go to the Big XII, what does the ACC do? Take more from the Big East? The Big East should be preparing for this now as opposed to getting their A handed to them when it does happen. So, if this does happen, can Syracuse pull a reversal of fortune?

[ge1974]

More on Jim Delany from Outkick the Coverage web site:

http://outkickthecoverage.com/jim-delanys-playoff-plan-makes-no-sense.php