Realignment Megathread (All The Moves)

Maybe this has been discussed earlier, but why would the Big 10 bring in Oregon and Washington now? They didn't think it was a good idea last year, what changed in the meantime?

They are probably going to offer them a 50% share of revenue and those guys will take it.
 
This thread is racing along, and I didn’t want to quote a post from six pages ago, but some things @HFCS said back then were spot-on.

College football fans love college football, but more than that they love their teams. They watch their team’s games and games involving their team’s conference opponents first. Other games of national interest may catch their eye, especially as they play into rankings/playoff determinations, but by and large it’s a regional fan base.

So, if the SEC decides they want to form a 24- or 32-team NFL minor league, how much interest does that get from fans in Iowa, or California, or Pennsylvania? Not that much, frankly. And considering the importance CFB and ESPN has put on the playoff, considerable fan interest in the B12 and the PAC is about their conference’s playoff chances.

Mega-super conferences like the B1G and SEC, in collaboration with TV, would love nothing more than to change the playoff rules in 2026 to consolidate most (if not all) the playoff spots to their conferences alone. While they see nothing but dollar signs, this probably can’t be a sustainable model, as those outside the Mega group have no chance at getting a ticket to what CFB media is telling us all is the sole purpose for playing football in the first place.

It’ll blow a huge hole in fan interest outside the Mega-land. The Plains, the West, the Northeast just won’t care as much, leaving fans in the Southeast and Rust Belt to pay for those huge media contracts. This kind of greedy concentration of power and perks can’t be sustainable, I don’t think.

Maybe going too far and realizing they overreached is the only way to eventually blow it up and go back to smaller, regional conferences. Eight conferences of 10 or 12 teams would be a nice size, keep that regional fan interest, and fit nicely into a playoff model. Now to convince ESPN/FOX that they can still make stupid amounts of money with that …
 
it won’t happen but it would be great to take Arizona, Arizona state, and UConn. Leaving Utah out and back filling them into the big 12 years later.
 
I think the Wisconsin’s, Iowas, and Nebraska’s of the big ten may object to OrWa. These are teams that could knock them down a peg in the conference and make them also rans.
Maybe not. If the Big10 adds 4 more Pac12 teams that gets the Big10 to 20 schools. To agree to that Iowa, Nebraska, Wisky, Minnesota could require that Big10 be divided into 4 five team divisions to improve the chance an Iowa or Nebraska could get a CFP invite.

East Div: Rutgers, Maryland, Ohio State, Penn State & Indiana
Great Lakes Div: Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue, Illinois & Northwestern
Corn Belt+ Div: Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisky, Iowa & Oregon
Pacific Div: USC, UCLA, Stanford, Cal & Washington

I am a big believer that the 12 team playoff will be short-lived and by 2031 it will be 16 teams and the Big10 & SEC will count on getting at least 12 bids between them.
 
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I'm not sure about him but Altimore has lost all touch with reality.


In what way would Apple severely overpaying be "the smartest move, by far"? It would be the most positive development possible for PAC shills but, smart?

And yet one key objection would remain. The games will still be mostly on streaming.

Even at equal pay to the Big 12, we would be at an advantage due to exposure. This helps our brand and helps recruiting.
 
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This thread is racing along, and I didn’t want to quote a post from six pages ago, but some things @HFCS said back then were spot-on.

College football fans love college football, but more than that they love their teams. They watch their team’s games and games involving their team’s conference opponents first. Other games of national interest may catch their eye, especially as they play into rankings/playoff determinations, but by and large it’s a regional fan base.

So, if the SEC decides they want to form a 24- or 32-team NFL minor league, how much interest does that get from fans in Iowa, or California, or Pennsylvania? Not that much, frankly. And considering the importance CFB and ESPN has put on the playoff, considerable fan interest in the B12 and the PAC is about their conference’s playoff chances.

Mega-super conferences like the B1G and SEC, in collaboration with TV, would love nothing more than to change the playoff rules in 2026 to consolidate most (if not all) the playoff spots to their conferences alone. While they see nothing but dollar signs, this probably can’t be a sustainable model, as those outside the Mega group have no chance at getting a ticket to what CFB media is telling us all is the sole purpose for playing football in the first place.

It’ll blow a huge hole in fan interest outside the Mega-land. The Plains, the West, the Northeast just won’t care as much, leaving fans in the Southeast and Rust Belt to pay for those huge media contracts. This kind of greedy concentration of power and perks can’t be sustainable, I don’t think.

Maybe going too far and realizing they overreached is the only way to eventually blow it up and go back to smaller, regional conferences. Eight conferences of 10 or 12 teams would be a nice size, keep that regional fan interest, and fit nicely into a playoff model. Now to convince ESPN/FOX that they can still make stupid amounts of money with that …
Six pages ago...is like 3 minutes real time in this thread.
 
I've been telling you guys for a long time that FSU and Clemson aren't going to sit and watch everything happen around them. They may have a tough contract, but they also have massive high dollar donor bases that can help foot some bills. I fully expect them to move by 2025.
I was off work today, so like any sane person I watched the livestream of today's FSU board of trustees meeting. The Chair said 2-3 times about this topic, "we may be coming back to you sooner rather than later," so we may see them withdrawing by the deadline on 15th.
 
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I've been telling you guys for a long time that FSU and Clemson aren't going to sit and watch everything happen around them. They may have a tough contract, but they also have massive high dollar donor bases that can help foot some bills. I fully expect them to move by 2025.
Similar to OU and UT, they are just trying to get the conference to panic and dissolve. Similar to the remaining 8, the rest of the ACC needs to stay calm and hold FSU and Clemson to the legal contract. As Pollard explained after the OU/UT move, a grant of rights gives the conference rights to all of a school's games. If that school leaves and the conference stays in tact and does not let them out with a penalty, the original conference would still own rights to their games. Any broadcast partner would need to enter a contract with the ACC to broadcast the games for those schools, until the ACC GOR expired.
 
Assuming college football goes exclusively streaming some day, I'll be delighted to watch the P2 conference leaders scratch their heads wondering how to increase their subscriber base after decades of narrowing the pool from a hundred schools down to a couple dozen.
 

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