BCS leagues expanding - yeah?

Big 12-Pac 12 makes sense. Pac-12 Network never caught fire. Call it the Pac West Conference or something, two 10-team divisions — Colorado and Utah slide to the east. Colorado won’t get Missouri or Nebraska back on the schedule, but there’s other old Big Eight schools there. Pac West Network could have two feeds, one for the western schools and one for the eastern schools. You’d add the Dallas market in there, perhaps that makes the network a better sell.

 

Also notice that the SEC has not raided the ACC over repeated cycles, even though schools like NC State and Virginia Tech could make sense for them. Is there some gentlemen’s agreement?

 

The closest case is South Carolina, which left the ACC to go independent in 1971 before joining the SEC alongside Arkansas in 1992.

 

Splitting into two separate tournaments would kill both. People don't want to see mid-majors playing mid-majors before the Big East dominates the Elite Eight. They also don't want to see Nebraska vs. Clemson on a 94-foot playing surface.

 

N.C. State is the Miss Congeniality of expansion. No matter how many times people try to ‘ship them with the SEC, it ain’t happening, not unless they are part of a 6-8 school package from the ACC.

 

I'm mixed. I'm following the realignment pretty hard, but there is virtually no chance that it affects UAB. We aren't going to the P5 anyhow. My only concern, and I'm not going to get wound up about it, is that we were hoping to squeeze our way up to the AAC. It's a pretty good fit. I strongly suspect that they'll fill from P5 castoffs now, so that one is out the window. We want out of C-USA very badly, it's a pit. Reality is that like all the G5, it's going to just be wait and see how things look after the dust settles.

 

The only real obstacle I see is the ACC grant of rights running through 2035, but I'm sure that enough lawyers and money could remove it.

 

The AAC, C-USA and Sun Belt are practically interchangeable geographically (with the notable exception of UTEP). Combine the 34 other teams into a single alliance of 3 conferences, rank them by overall athletic budget and make the top 12 schools a power conference. Pro-rel based on a 4-year review of program status (here I go again on pro-rel). The likely B12 castoffs would boost the top conference to P5 status, replacing the defunct B12.

You have the top league, and a West and East league that are G5.

 

Someone is seriously overestimating the appeal of the Big 10.

Imagine being the AD at Oregon and telling your donors and boosters "Well, no, we won't play Oregon State or Washington anymore... but we'll have a terrific TV contract so you can watch those games against Minnesota and Rutgers!"

Not happening.

If there's going to be some kind of Pac-12 merger with the Big-10 it's probably going to have to include the original Pac-8 teams.

I don't see any way this benefits the Pac-12 at all. The remains of the Big-12 are straight trash.

 

I say we cap Division I sports (all non-football) at 256 teams and open up all sports national tournaments to all comers. Would only take an extra weekend of games.

The public is positively crying for Duke vs. Utah Valley.

 

That would be the absolute last resort for any Big 12 castoffs, going from a P5 conference to a place that uses relegation. Why do the Iowa States and Kansas States and Oklahoma States need to worry about their futures because of all this? It’s fun to watch the rumors fly, but as a Big 12 guy, I’m exhausted from the past decade off the field.