Realignment Megathread (All The Moves)

[Malty Flannel]

They didn’t call us the Hateful 8 for nothing!

Villains make the sport fun. I’m excited for it. There were a lot of angry Cincy fans in 2020 when we were ranked ahead of them. Maybe there’s something that’ll bubble up there for ISU.

I'm personally hoping a natural rivalry builds with Cincy. the two northern/midwest programs, Campbell will have plenty of Ohio recruiting battles with them, etc

 

[RagingCloner]

I like to think that Kliavkoff brought all the remaining PAC teams together to play them an awkward rendition of Aerosmith's Baby Please Dont Go. There is no way he has any other plan of action

 

[Malty Flannel]

The feeling I can't shake is that a conference with West Virginia, UCF, Oregon, and Washington just isn't a long term stable conference. Now maybe no conference is truly stable and you can only look ahead the next handful of years anyway. But it just has the feeling of a conglomerate born out of necessity that eventually gets broken apart (and not just one or two teams leaving).

How is that less stable than a conference with Rutgers, Maryland, USC and UCLA?

 

[CycloneWanderer]

100%. Some of the mouthbreathers out there (like Altimore) have said that the PAC crumbling actually speeds up the “P2” process and is bad for the XII long-term. Of course they say that. A cornered dog will bite. “Don’t kill me”, said the man under attack.

Having P2 is much easier with more space between the top and bottom. Ruling over a bunch of small, disjointed groups is a key mark of power grabs that succeed. It’s played out in history time and time again.

I’d think differently if I thought that the ACC, PAC, and XII could align cooperatively to counter the P2. But that goes out the window when every member institution would jump for the B1G or the SEC if given the chance. We’re all in until we aren’t. And the NCAA as it stands doesn’t have the stones to fight that fight.

I just don't think a P2 is feasible unless you have complete division between P2 and non-P2 alongside a removal of the rules governing NCAA athletes to enable it becoming more resembling of a true NFL minor league.

 

[HawaiiClone]

No PAC school is worth $32M on their own. Fox/ESPN are partly gambling that Big12 (and B1G) eyeballs will stay on their platforms later by adding conference games in western time zones. They know the western schools can’t do it on their own.

Someone showed a game viewership chart last year with Big 12 and Pac 12 (minus USCLA) schools and Oregon and Washington were near or at the top.

 

[JM4CY]

 

[KnappShack]

 

[CascadeClone]

If it helps, we can remember ALL the blame for the current realignment upheaval falls on the SEC and the B1G. If it weren’t for their overbearing greed in poaching conferences right and left, we wouldn’t be here now.

But it isn't really the B1G and SEC - it's ESPN. TV money has driven most of this, especially the last few moves OuT and USCLA. They are consolidating product (ie teams) to maximize value.

Or if you really want to go back in time, Oklahoma's lawsuit in the early 80s that broke it all lose.

 

[Malty Flannel]

I'm hesitant to see the big 12 move to 16 teams but someone mentioned that with 16 means we could have 4 pods and the idea of the big 8 pod of K state, ISU, Kansucks, and OSU. would be cool.

Pods would be amazing, and would help preserve some of the regionality of the conference.

Besides some more obvious configurations, this could be a fun one:

North:
WVU
Cincy
ISU
Colorado

West:
Oregon
Wash
Arizona
BYU

East:
UCF
Houston
BU
TCU

Central:
KU
KSU
OSU
TTU

 

[wenkeej]

Props... Dude is covering Arizona media day and tweeting meeting updates at the same time

 

[PickSix]

Props... Dude is covering Arizona media day and tweeting meeting updates at the same time

This guy needs to be nabbed by a major media outlet when all this is said and done. He's the real deal.

 

[PickSix]

 

[exCyDing]

Conferences with fewer than 12 members can still have championship games, they’re just not required to. And we already know SDSU will make #10 for the PAC the instant they ask.

The PAC is going to have to give SDSU (or any other MWC team) close to $14M/ if they're going to be in the PAC for 2024, and that's if the MWC can spread out their buyout over 5 years.

I really think GK holding out on presenting offers may have kept the 10 members together longer, but delaying past the MWC notice date just put the PAC behind yet another 8-ball in this whole saga. The PAC probably could have gotten MWC schools to accept an offer around $10M/ if the buyouts were $16M rather than $34M. That frees up some money to give larger cuts to a few schools to stick around.

How the PAC manages to put together the 2024 season is going to be mighty interesting. AAC schools (SMU, Tulane, Memphis) could still probably accept somewhere the in $10M range and be in the PAC for 2024, but it depends on how many slots they need to fill. If it's 1 or 2, okay, but you really have to reach to find 3 or 4 or 5 to get to 10, which is the magic number for a championship game and kind of important when you're trying to land a media deal.

 

[Malty Flannel]

I want Arizona just to get Scheer covering the BXII

 

[Cyhig]

Props... Dude is covering Arizona media day and tweeting meeting updates at the same time

He has done a tremendous job this past week IMHO

 

[PickSix]

Hmm... "Stability". Wonder which conference provides that...

 

[KnappShack]

 

[2speedy1]

So are these guys Sheer, Fisch, etc all present in the meeting?

 

[SolterraCyclone]

I feel bad for Fisch having to answer all these questions that go way above him. He just wants to coach his football team

 

[CoachHines3]

So are these guys Sheer, Fisch, etc all present in the meeting?

Jedd Fisch is the head coach of AZ football

he's have his media day press conference.