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Message: [QUOTE="HRE Otto IV, post: 3917813, member: 5685"] The bigger a conference is the smaller it feels. A 14 team conference stinks because it is too big. But a 32 team conference is smaller because it is more like a bunch of small conferences under one umbrella. With 4 divisions of 8 teams an ACC - B12 - P12 merger could work. The problem is the P12 would need to dissolve because Stanford and Cal won't vote for it otherwise. And they aren't breaking away from B1G brother. Of course convincing ND to join is an issue as well. Pac 8 - Cal, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Washington, Washington State Big 8 / SWC / WAC - Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, Houston, Kansas, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, Utah ACC - Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, NC State, UNC, Virginia, Wake Big East - Boston College, Louisville, Miami, Notre Dame, Pitt, Syracuse, Virginia Tech, West Virginia For football this would really be 4 separate conferences under one umbrella as you would rarely play the teams in the other divisions. But the good thing is you play your regional rivals every year! Also this setup is better for keeping fans engaged. In a 14 team conference fans can feel like they have no chance. In an 8 team conference there is more hope. In a four game playoff the 5th best conference gets left out. So an entire region has no chance at playing for the title. Conference expansion has taken good programs and made them mediocre. Mediocre programs have become bad. That is what happens when you have too many good teams fighting it out. Under the above split the best team in the Northeast is in the conference playoff. The best team in the West is in. The best team in the South is in, as is the best team in the Southwest. Keeping fans in each region engaged is good for TV $. As to the schedule, we would play each team in division one time (7 games) and 2 games against the other divisions however you want. This keeps inter division games like FSU vs Miami. it also allows for made for TV matchups like Clemson vs Oregon ($$$$). For SU we would have 3-4 road Big East games and then 1 road game vs a team from another division. Travel would be easy. OOC we would play 1 team from either the B1G or SEC to get to 5 home and 5 road P5 games total. Add in two G5 home cupcakes and that is our schedule (7 home games!). Each division winner makes the conference semi final. Conference champ makes the Final Four along with the B1G champ, the SEC champ, and 1 at large. Currently we play 20 conference games in BBall, and if you add 2 more conference games it works out nicely (22 games). If we play every team in our division twice (14 games), 2 teams from the other divisions once on a rotating basis (6 games), and 2 teams that you can schedule however you want. Over 4 seasons you play everyone once and over 8 seasons you play everyone both home and away (Kansas in the Dome once every 8 years!). For SU we would have 7 road Big East games, 1 road ACC game, 1 road Big 8 / SWC / WAC game, 1 road Pac 8 game, and 1 TBD (most likely ACC) road game each year. That isn't bad for travel. The 2 "however you want" games allow for inter divisions rivalries to remain. For example UVA and VA Tech will still play every year. It also allows for made for TV matchups ($$$) to happen more often than 1 in 4 years, like Duke vs UCLA or UNC vs KU. The conference would cover the entire country, provide a ton of inventory, and has plenty of big time programs in both sports. TV $ should be higher than Beet can count. Of course this will never happen. [/QUOTE]

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