Big Ten, ACC, Pac-12 Alliance

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#126      
ChiefGritty
IntolerantFuzzyFlameMiser said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1436142470925111297

I could see the Sunbelt grabbing 2 of the east division teams from c-usa. They clearly are working to become more compact geographically so this is a great opportunity.
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It's funny, because in the hierarchy created by the last round of this nonsense the CUSA was above the Sun Belt in the pecking order. But then two Sun Belt schools have one good season and in this moment of brain-dead blind panic the balance of power shifts their way.

Anyway, for funsies let's do three flavors of how this could play out. I'm going to assume you're correct that the MWC (and MAC) will realize the value of what they have and not be in play for any of this.

Option 1 - "Conference commissioners going full steam ahead in an insanely short-term thinking clout chase" aka dumb cynical option (most likely)

The AAC adds Louisiana Lafayette, Coastal Carolina, and Georgia State. Sam Houston State, Kennesaw State, and Jacksonville State move up from FCS to fill out the Sun Belt.

Option 2 - "The biggest schools wake up to the fact that this whole circus is just resume building for the conference commissioners, and is occurring for the benefit of everyone but them" aka the smart cynical option (less likely)

SMU, Memphis, Tulane, South Florida, East Carolina, Rice, UAB, UTSA, Georgia State, and Southern Miss leave their respective leagues and form their own new 10-team league of real football programs plus a couple of big growing market prospects in UTSA and GSU. Good programs, good stadia, big cities, in a defined geographic area, no useless mouths to feed, and collectively within the metro area of the lion's share of the country's best recruiting talent. All of them better off together than stringing together permutations of arriviste directional nowhere schools.

Check it out:
Big conference.jpg



Then the Sun Belt picks one of FAU and FIU from the rump CUSA to replace GSU and add a Florida presence.

The now-shattered remnants (Tulsa, Temple, UTEP, North Texas, Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee, Western Kentucky, Old Dominion, Charlotte, Marshall, the other one of FIU/FAU) have no choice but to band together, and add UConn as a football only member to really complete the Ship Of Lost Souls Conference.

Option 3 - "The whole non-Power Five comes to the collective realization that they have far more to gain from cooperation than from competing against each other in this endless rat race" aka the fun, good for the sport outcome (never in a million years)

The AAC, CUSA, Sun Belt, and remaining non-ND independents (37 schools total) join forces to create four new 9-team leagues, playing a full round-robin schedule to crown a regular season champion in each league. Then during the usual doldrums of the week before the big rivalry Saturday, they pair off and play 1v1, 2v2, 3v3 etc matchups, with the two winners of the 1v1 matchups meeting in an overall championship game in the Superdome in New Orleans on conference championship weekend.

And each league gets one of Monday-Thursday for its own game of the week. All of this to create maximum value for a TV package, and something sustainable to grow.

The leagues as follows

Atlantic League - Army*, Navy, UConn, Temple, Old Dominion, Liberty, East Carolina, Coastal Carolina, Charlotte
(*UMass only gets a spot if Army wants to remain independent. The scheduling structure is important, no more than 9, sorry UMass)

Red River League - New Mexico State, UTEP, UTSA, Texas State, SMU, North Texas, Tulsa, Louisiana Tech, Louisiana-Monroe

Smoky Mountain League - Memphis, Arkansas State, Middle Tennessee, UAB, App State, Georgia State, Georgia Southern, Western Kentucky, Marshall

Gulf Coast League - Rice, Louisiana-Lafayette, Tulane, Southern Miss, South Alabama, Troy, South Florida, FAU, FIU

Look at this absolute beauty:
Conferences.jpg
 
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#127      
KnoxIllini2
ChiefGritty said:
It's funny, because in the hierarchy created by the last round of this nonsense the CUSA was above the Sun Belt in the pecking order. But then two Sun Belt schools have one good season and in this moment of brain-dead blind panic the balance of power shifts their way.

Anyway, for funsies let's do three flavors of how this could play out. I'm going to assume you're correct that the MWC (and MAC) will realize the value of what they have and not be in play for any of this.

Option 1 - "Conference commissioners going full steam ahead in an insanely short-term thinking clout chase" aka dumb cynical option (most likely)

The AAC adds Louisiana Lafayette, Coastal Carolina, and Georgia State. Sam Houston State, Kennesaw State, and Jacksonville State move up from FCS to fill out the Sun Belt.

Option 2 - "The biggest schools wake up to the fact that this whole circus is just resume building for the conference commissioners, and is occurring for the benefit of everyone but them" aka the smart cynical option (less likely)

SMU, Memphis, Tulane, South Florida, East Carolina, Rice, UAB, UTSA, Georgia State, and Southern Miss leave their respective leagues and form their own new 10-team league of real football programs plus a couple of big growing market prospects in UTSA and GSU. Good programs, good stadia, big cities, in a defined geographic area, no useless mouths to feed, and collectively within the metro area of the lion's share of the country's best recruiting talent. All of them better off together than stringing together permutations of arriviste directional nowhere schools.

Check it out:
View attachment 12198


Then the Sun Belt picks one of FAU and FIU from the rump CUSA to replace GSU and add a Florida presence.

The now-shattered remnants (Tulsa, Temple, UTEP, North Texas, Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee, Western Kentucky, Old Dominion, Charlotte, Marshall, the other one of FIU/FAU) have no choice but to band together, and add UConn as a football only member to really complete the Ship Of Lost Souls Conference.

Option 3 - "The whole non-Power Five comes to the collective realization that they have far more to gain from cooperation than from competing against each other in this endless rat race" aka the fun, good for the sport outcome (never in a million years)

The AAC, CUSA, Sun Belt, and remaining non-ND independents (37 schools total) join forces to create four new 9-team leagues, playing a full round-robin schedule to crown a regular season champion in each league. Then during the usual doldrums of the week before the big rivalry Saturday, they pair off and play 1v1, 2v2, 3v3 etc matchups, with the two winners of the 1v1 matchups meeting in an overall championship game in the Superdome in New Orleans on conference championship weekend.

And each league gets one of Monday-Thursday for its own game of the week. All of this to create maximum value for a TV package, and something sustainable to grow.

The leagues as follows

Atlantic League - Army*, Navy, UConn, Temple, Old Dominion, Liberty, East Carolina, Coastal Carolina, Charlotte
(*UMass only gets a spot if Army wants to remain independent. The scheduling structure is important, no more than 9, sorry UMass)

Red River League - New Mexico State, UTEP, UTSA, Texas State, SMU, North Texas, Tulsa, Louisiana Tech, Louisiana-Monroe

Smoky Mountain League - Memphis, Arkansas State, Middle Tennessee, UAB, App State, Georgia State, Georgia Southern, Western Kentucky, Marshall

Gulf Coast League - Rice, Louisiana-Lafayette, Tulane, Southern Miss, South Alabama, Troy, South Florida, FAU, FIU

Look at this absolute beauty:
View attachment 12199
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This is just some straight up EA Sports NCAA Football ‘14 madness. I love it.
 
#129      
IlliniReb
GilThorpe said:
Ann Richards ( Gov back then) was a Baylor alum. much has been written about it , and she was proud of it - she and other influential alums made sure Baylor was part of the deal . the other schools never had a chance .
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Yup, and don’t overlook the influence of Drayton McClane ( at one time the largest shareholder of Walmart not from the Walton family) and other moneyed alums.
 
#130      
Serious Late
AAC Targeting Mountain West

I find myself loathing AAC commissioner Mike Aresco more than anyone in all this. His attitude toward re-alignment has been gross.

As a UNM grad, really hoping this doesn't come to fruition.
 
#131      
The Galloping Ghost
Serious Late said:
AAC Targeting Mountain West

I find myself loathing AAC commissioner Mike Aresco more than anyone in all this. His attitude toward re-alignment has been gross.

As a UNM grad, really hoping this doesn't come to fruition.
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Something from the article I find fascinating:

"Big 12 executives are also watching closely as the Pac-12 negotiates a new TV deal in 2024 when its current agreement with Fox and ESPN expires. If the Pac-12 media rights revenue approximates that of the Big 12 at that time, there is a feeling within the Big 12 some Pac-12 schools might be interested in joining."

I'm just an unfrozen caveman, but that feels like hilarious wishful thinking to me.
 
#132      
GilThorpe
The Galloping Ghost said:
Something from the article I find fascinating:

"Big 12 executives are also watching closely as the Pac-12 negotiates a new TV deal in 2024 when its current agreement with Fox and ESPN expires. If the Pac-12 media rights revenue approximates that of the Big 12 at that time, there is a feeling within the Big 12 some Pac-12 schools might be interested in joining."

I'm just an unfrozen caveman, but that feels like hilarious wishful thinking to me.
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yea - like they really think Colorado and Utah are going to leave the PAC12 ? those must be the schools they are "thinking" of
 
#133      
The Galloping Ghost
I guess the thing the Big 12 isn't saying, but are meaning, is that USC bolts to one of the three power conferences once it's determined the new deal is gonna be unspectacular. From there, the Big 12 is hoping USC tries to take some dance partners with them. But at that point, it'd really depend on how many teams left the Pac-12 for greener pastures. A 10 team Pac still seems more inviting than what all is going on in the Big 12. If the Pac went down to 8, then maybe the valuable remnants (basically what's left besides WSU and OSU) band together with the Big 12. But, uh, that seems like a lot of steps before it becomes a viable possibility. Though, I mean, it's not like the Big 12 has a better option.
 
#134      
the juiceman cometh
The Galloping Ghost said:
I guess the thing the Big 12 isn't saying, but are meaning, is that USC bolts to one of the three power conferences once it's determined the new deal is gonna be unspectacular. From there, the Big 12 is hoping USC tries to take some dance partners with them. But at that point, it'd really depend on how many teams left the Pac-12 for greener pastures. A 10 team Pac still seems more inviting than what all is going on in the Big 12. If the Pac went down to 8, then maybe the valuable remnants (basically what's left besides WSU and OSU) band together with the Big 12. But, uh, that seems like a lot of steps before it becomes a viable possibility. Though, I mean, it's not like the Big 12 has a better option.
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Also, under those circumstances, wouldn't it also be a possibility the PAC just reponds by poaching an already weakened Big 12, rather than the other way around?
 
#136      
ChiefGritty
Serious Late said:
AAC Targeting Mountain West

I find myself loathing AAC commissioner Mike Aresco more than anyone in all this. His attitude toward re-alignment has been gross.

As a UNM grad, really hoping this doesn't come to fruition.
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Told ya
ChiefGritty said:
It's an interesting juxtaposition, right? The Mountain West which, at this point, is probably the conference in the entire FBS that is most geographically and culturally coherent and has schools that they seem like they belong together, versus the coming AAC, which will be the most shameless marriage of convenience yet seen.

Though, don't bet on the two not interacting. AAC commissioner Michael Aresco is a board-certified doofus, has staked his professional reputation on the notion of bootstrapping a major conference together out of sheer refusal to admit otherwise, and will definitely be trying to add the likes of Boise State and San Diego State.

I hope they say no, but who knows.

Anyway, the two-step of adding Wichita State as an all-sports member then Navy as football-only was pretty clever if you're a league who doesn't care about making any sense. If you really want to just get nuts with it:

Football

AAC West: Boise State, San Diego State, Colorado State, Air Force, UNLV, Tulsa, SMU
AAC East: Army, Navy, Tulane, Memphis, Temple, East Carolina, South Florida

The service academies are all football only, and for all other sports you have Wichita State, VCU, and hey let's get nuts, Gonzaga
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#137      
ChiefGritty
The Galloping Ghost said:
Something from the article I find fascinating:

"Big 12 executives are also watching closely as the Pac-12 negotiates a new TV deal in 2024 when its current agreement with Fox and ESPN expires. If the Pac-12 media rights revenue approximates that of the Big 12 at that time, there is a feeling within the Big 12 some Pac-12 schools might be interested in joining."

I'm just an unfrozen caveman, but that feels like hilarious wishful thinking to me.
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That feeling must not be that strong, otherwise they wouldn't have lunged eastward adding schools that bring down their per-school distribution.
 
#138      
Serious Late
Air Force and Colorado State Staying In The Mountain West

The most delicious part of the article:

""The American Athletic Conference has not offered membership to any institution," Aresco said. "Our process for considering potential members remains deliberate, strategic and focused on the continued proven success of our conference.”

We should point out that official conference invites are typically sent out after a conference knows a school will accept. The four schools heading to the Big 12 were mentioned as candidates for weeks before the Big 12 officially invited the schools. The invites were a formality; they were only sent out because the four schools were ready and willing to accept them."

You're looking great right now, Aresco. 😀
 
#139      
ChiefGritty
Serious Late said:
You're looking great right now, Aresco. 😀
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As I said above, the likes of Memphis and SMU would be wise to leave the AAC corpse behind and cherry pick their own new league. They'll wind up sharing their money with Coastal Carolina if they aren't careful.
 
#140      
Frontierman
There's a rumor going around that navy and temple are considering going independent in football with temple joining the big east in all other sports. If that were to happen (which is a big if) I think it would be a tough sell to keep this conference together even if neither of those teams really belonged.
 
#141      
champaignchris
Frontierman said:
There's a rumor going around that navy and temple are considering going independent in football with temple joining the big east in all other sports. If that were to happen (which is a big if) I think it would be a tough sell to keep this conference together even if neither of those teams really belonged.
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If they do that, they’re halfway to a reasonably coherent northeastern football conference.

Navy, Army, UConn, UMass and Temple would all be independents. Add Buffalo, Marshall, ODU and Liberty and then call it a day.
 
#142      
Frontierman
I couldn't see that working as a conference although potentially having 6 independent teams in the same region could make independence sustainable for teams that really don't like their conference. I like the idea of going back to having a bunch of independent schools.
 
#145      
Serious Late
ChiefGritty said:
What a depressing collection of schools.
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Quite honestly, you have to be happier as a fan of the Mountain West, MAC or Sun Belt. Even if the AAC does manage a bigger per school TV contract or more years as the sacrificial lamb of a BCS game, who cares at this point. At least those other conferences will care one iota about the match ups between schools game to game (football and basketball). To say that Aresco has missed the forest for the trees is a monumental understatement.

I love it.
 
#147      
champaignchris
UAB and UTSA seem like up and coming programs. UAB especially, after nearly being shut down, seems to have recommitted to football and has improved their facilities significantly. Rice is a dumpster fire of a program, but at least is a great academic institution with a lot of history as a former SWC member. Along with Navy, Tulane and SMU, they bring some academic credibility to a conference otherwise made up of a bunch of commuter schools.

The other three, you could have grabbed out of a hat full of university names. What does North Texas bring to a conference that already has SMU? What does Charlotte bring to a conference that already has East Carolina?
 
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