ACC, PAC-12, and BIG alliance / conference realignment

[TheCusian]

The proposed alliance is not out to harm the SEC but rather check it. The alliance would still want exposure in the Southeast. To create a league excluding the SEC would be a frivolous as the SEC going it alone, each side would alienate a significant market to their detriment.

The NFL works because the entire country is covered. What makes anyone think CFB would be different? CFB could be regionalized but that weakens everybody, possibly even the networks. I remember my years in CO, LA, and AZ, while a die hard Orangemen fan (as we all were back then), I would watch what games against could and catch a local game but I had no interest in most of the other nearby (relative term) teams. Having friends, families, and lives, most of us cannot watch CFB all weekend so we watch what we want and work around our preferred games. While I enjoy LSU, AZ State, and TAMU, I don't often make time to watch them as I will watch SU and then watch other games as time permits.

The alliance is more about keeping the SEC in check and maintaining relative balance among the P5(4). Eventually, the schools and conferences will realize their tru bargaining power is as one unit, like the pros. Until the, the networks, especially ESPN, will have the upper hand in controlling payouts and keeping some teams up and other teams down.

Just my take.

Yep, and they’d need to whittle it down some to like 65 teams. Less mouths to feed.

 

[HtownOrange]

Yep, and they’d need to whittle it down some to like 65 teams. Less mouths to feed.

I disagree because you cannot.have many elites unless you have a large enough pool of bottom feeders and middle of the pack teams.

The SEC is a microcosm of the above, too many big name teams and not enough fodder for them to feed them all. That is one reason the SEC has historically played several body bag games yearly. it is a means of making everyone look "good" one only looks at wins/losses records. If a person looks deeper, i.e quality of opponents, most people see that the SEC "emporers" have no clothes. Recall that the SEC/VATech/Rutgers scheduling practices were one of the main drivers for limiting body bag games.

My guess is that we need closer to 100 teams to keep the the breadth of elites and to offer the middle class to rise above periodically. Also, with 100 or so teams, the coverage and school loyalty is much easier to maintain, i.e. full coverage. This also helps the rivalries be maintained or develop.

There is some fat that can be trimmed but going too lean will hurt most teams, including most of the SEC.

 

[KaiserUEO]

I disagree because you cannot.have many elites unless you have a large enough pool of bottom feeders and middle of the pack teams.

The SEC is a microcosm of the above, too many big name teams and not enough fodder for them to feed them all. That is one reason the SEC has historically played several body bag games yearly. it is a means of making everyone look "good" one only looks at wins/losses records. If a person looks deeper, i.e quality of opponents, most people see that the SEC "emporers" have no clothes. Recall that the SEC/VATech/Rutgers scheduling practices were one of the main drivers for limiting body bag games.

My guess is that we need closer to 100 teams to keep the the breadth of elites and to offer the middle class to rise above periodically. Also, with 100 or so teams, the coverage and school loyalty is much easier to maintain, i.e. full coverage. This also helps the rivalries be maintained or develop.

There is some fat that can be trimmed but going too lean will hurt most teams, including most of the SEC.

its actually pretty easy.

tier 1 the big 4.

tier 2 the aac, confusa, maac & mountain west. the bevo remnants and the independents will have to choose accordingly, all will be picked up if they want (maybe not their desired location, like say if the B1G says no to KU).

they did this in the late 70s when 1AA was created.

they could easily make into 3 division 1 levels, with 3 championships. could even let the tier 2 champion into the tier 1 playoffs.

have tier 2 play a 10 game regular season (8 or 9 conf games, thus giving them the opportunity to still play a tier 1 team each year...both tiers will be happy) take the top 2 in each conf for a playoff game, then have a final 4. the remaining teams, just get cross conf matchup games TBD to get to 12 games and you match up the conf champ losers, all good strength of schedule games to help for bowls.

on 'Championship' weekend...5 teams make the playoffs. then we wait for the announcement of either 1 wild card (my choice) or 3.

the rest of tier 1 & 2 make up your bowls.

 

[HtownOrange]

its actually pretty easy.

tier 1 the big 4.

tier 2 the aac, confusa, maac & mountain west. the bevo remnants and the independents will have to choose accordingly, all will be picked up if they want (maybe not their desired location, like say if the B1G says no to KU).

they did this in the late 70s when 1AA was created.

they could easily make into 3 division 1 levels, with 3 championships. could even let the tier 2 champion into the tier 1 playoffs.

have tier 2 play a 10 game regular season (8 or 9 conf games, thus giving them the opportunity to still play a tier 1 team each year...both tiers will be happy) take the top 2 in each conf for a playoff game, then have a final 4. the remaining teams, just get cross conf matchup games TBD to get to 12 games and you match up the conf champ losers, all good strength of schedule games to help for bowls.

on 'Championship' weekend...5 teams make the playoffs. then we wait for the announcement of either 1 wild card (my choice) or 3.

the rest of tier 1 & 2 make up your bowls.

That's roughly 100 teams, as I recommended. You can call them whatever you want but you still need enough teams to lose so the winners can keep winning. Or in the SEC's mind, the bottoms feeders look like winners and the middle of the pack look like they are almost elite. Anyway, divide it up how you like, you still need the larger number of teams to cover the whole nation, keeping local interest in then game.

 

[KaiserUEO]

That's roughly 100 teams, as I recommended. You can call them whatever you want but you still need enough teams to lose so the winners can keep winning. Or in the SEC's mind, the bottoms feeders look like winners and the middle of the pack look like they are almost elite. Anyway, divide it up how you like, you still need the larger number of teams to cover the whole nation, keeping local interest in then game.

absolutely.

and as i have mentioned, the tv partners biggest tv partner...is the NFL.

they will not want the pool so small.

too many good kids, will be sitting on the bench...get them on the field, get them on tape.

 

[CuseLegacy]

 

[sutomcat]

Interesting they brought up the number of sports sponsored in average in each conference.

FYI, Syracuse only sponsors 18. Not good.

Sounds like the alliance might proposes some changes to require student athletes to spend more time in the classroom. I wonder what they are thinking here? I thought I read the alliance was considering requiring all members to only play FBS opponents in football in the fall, with the possibility of playing a couple of exhibitions type games against FCS opponents in the spring. Possibly require a game against a school in each of the other two conferences in the alliance each year. I could see that driving some major increases in TV money (and really hurting G5 and FCS programs).

These concepts seem to be in conflict. Hmmmmm.

 

[Toga]

 

[TheCusian]

In lieu of *all of* the powers in CFB doing what's best for the sport, universities, and players, this is probably the best outcome after getting blindsided by the SEC's (and ESPN) greedy manipulative actions.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

Interesting they brought up the number of sports sponsored in average in each conference.

FYI, Syracuse only sponsors 18. Not good.

Sounds like the alliance might proposes some changes to require student athletes to spend more time in the classroom. I wonder what they are thinking here? I thought I read the alliance was considering requiring all members to only play FBS opponents in football in the fall, with the possibility of playing a couple of exhibitions type games against FCS opponents in the spring. Possibly require a game against a school in each of the other two conferences in the alliance each year. I could see that driving some major increases in TV money (and really hurting G5 and FCS programs).

These concepts seem to be in conflict. Hmmmmm.

An actual Spring game against Colgate vs the gloried Spring "game" practice would be nice.

 

[HtownOrange]

Glad to see that academics is part of the alliance. The three conferences were generally the academically minded conferences so there is nothing new. Further, this may lead to strengthening the commitment to academic process of athlete's, the very issue the NCAA has failed at most in recent years and the very basis of SEC performance on the field.

Whether this bolsters the NCAA or leads to the break-away, keeping academics a variable in the overall equation is important.

 

[Alsacs]

Why play 2 games against the other power conferences rather than just more conference games.

Require all 3 conferences to play 9 conference games. 1 game against the other 2 leagues.
2 other nonconference games.

Georgia Tech won’t care if they lose playing Georgia yearly.

I don’t know how important it is for the other 3 ACC teams with SEC rivals.

I do like the idea of freezing the SEC out.
I wish the alliance would do the same to Notre Dame but it won’t.

 

[Alsacs]

The only games between the conferences that will drive TV would be
Clemson-Ohio State-USC-Florida State-Michigan-Oregon-UCLA-Miami-Penn State.

No need to make Syracuse play Washington State or Purdue play Wake Forest.

 

[syrBossHogg]

The only games between the conferences that will drive TV would be
Clemson-Ohio State-USC-Florida State-Michigan-Oregon-UCLA-Miami-Penn State.

No need to make Syracuse play Washington State or Purdue play Wake Forest.

I agree, although if schools like Wisconsin, UNC, Washington are highly ranked they can prolly draw some decent eyeballs.

 

[N.Y. Orangeman]

I believe the OOC potential is greater. SU vs half the B10/Pac 12 is compelling to me. It will be interesting how they handle games outside of the Alliance.

 

[syrBossHogg]

Interesting they brought up the number of sports sponsored in average in each conference.

FYI, Syracuse only sponsors 18. Not good.

Sounds like the alliance might proposes some changes to require student athletes to spend more time in the classroom. I wonder what they are thinking here? I thought I read the alliance was considering requiring all members to only play FBS opponents in football in the fall, with the possibility of playing a couple of exhibitions type games against FCS opponents in the spring. Possibly require a game against a school in each of the other two conferences in the alliance each year. I could see that driving some major increases in TV money (and really hurting G5 and FCS programs).

These concepts seem to be in conflict. Hmmmmm.

I think that was just thrown in to show that the conferences are more similar to each other than the SEC. The big football schools obviously want to make as much money as possible without leaving and risking becoming a smaller fish in a big pond.

 

[sutomcat]

I think that was just thrown in to show that the conferences are more similar to each other than the SEC. The big football schools obviously want to make as much money as possible without leaving and risking becoming a smaller fish in a big pond.

Makes sense. Whatever is done will surely have to drive increases in revenue.

 

[qdawgg]

I guess my idea wasn’t so crazy. They aren’t going to have an announcement if there isn’t some considerable smoke to all this. The SEC hopefully dug it’s own grave, not that they won’t make $ anymore but I would love for an alliance that says you can’t play any SEC teams.

 

[KaiserUEO]

Why play 2 games against the other power conferences rather than just more conference games.

Require all 3 conferences to play 9 conference games. 1 game against the other 2 leagues.
2 other nonconference games.

Georgia Tech won’t care if they lose playing Georgia yearly.

I don’t know how important it is for the other 3 ACC teams with SEC rivals.

I do like the idea of freezing the SEC out.
I wish the alliance would do the same to Notre Dame but it won’t.

if the B1G has found a way to convince USC and Stanford not to play ND anymore, we may have something.

 

[syrBossHogg]

This can prolly also lead to some Pac-12 teams coming to the Dome for hoops

 

[All4SU]

Is it so much to ask to have Syracuse develop some real rivals? Gosh it’s been 20 years since I’ve felt like circling a game on the calendar.

 

[MSOrange]

Why play 2 games against the other power conferences rather than just more conference games.

Require all 3 conferences to play 9 conference games. 1 game against the other 2 leagues.
2 other nonconference games.

Georgia Tech won’t care if they lose playing Georgia yearly.

I don’t know how important it is for the other 3 ACC teams with SEC rivals.

I do like the idea of freezing the SEC out.
I wish the alliance would do the same to Notre Dame but it won’t.

I think you underestimate the Ga Tech/GA rivalry. That's a big deal among all my friends in Georgia - not that the fans really matter in all this.

 

[Alsacs]

I think you underestimate the Ga Tech/GA rivalry. That's a big deal among all my friends in Georgia - not that the fans really matter in all this.

My Ga. Tech buddies hate playing Georgia every year on top of Clemson.

UGa dominates them and even when they play at home UGA gets a huge portion of the stadium.

 

[djorange1989]

Glad to see that academics is part of the alliance. The three conferences were generally the academically minded conferences so there is nothing new. Further, this may lead to strengthening the commitment to academic process of athlete's, the very issue the NCAA has failed at most in recent years and the very basis of SEC performance on the field.

Whether this bolsters the NCAA or leads to the break-away, keeping academics a variable in the overall equation is important.

hey the SEC is a very academically minded conference. here is an excerpt from a classroom session with one of their athletes:

professor: "Billy the football player, who is on the $100 bill?"
Billy: "Ben Franklin!!"

 

[MSOrange]

My Ga. Tech buddies hate playing Georgia every year on top of Clemson.

UGa dominates them and even when they play at home UGA gets a huge portion of the stadium.

You're probably right. Most of my friends are on the UGA side. When I lived there, it was during the Bobby Ross/George O'Leary years when Tech was actually good.