Like many others I love our 10 team set up. I think many 10 team conferences is better for the landscape of college football than for four 16 team conferences. With the 4 super-conferences there will be a fifth conference of teams that were unlucky in not making the cut, but are far superior to all the other FBS conferences. ISU is in danger of being left out, even if we feel secure right now.
B1G
Expansion based on Big Ten Network and number of tv sets they can force it into. As the richest conference they can have pretty much anybody they want and don’t need to be in a hurry as there is essentially no chance they are left behind. The reason they aren’t already to 16 is the outside chance that they can land Notre Dame despite Notre Dame’s continued lack of interest. When crunch time comes I imagine they’ll go for where ever they can get the most TVs.
SEC
SEC doesn’t need expansion and much like the B1G it can have who it wants. The triangle of Florida-Georgia-South Carolina is keeping it from getting the teams everyone else in the conference wants. There is no guarantee that they won’t change their minds when crunch time comes. Look for them to find football brands in states outside of their current states.
PAC
The west coast is pretty much safe from expansion because of geographic considerations. That being said, until they can get to Big 12 teams or are forced into taking small schools, I feel they are done expanding for the time being. Should something happen in the Big 12 I imagine they will be foaming at the mouth to get at our brand named schools.
ACC
The ACC just keeps surprising me at making all the smart moves. Right now it feels they are in danger of losing schools to the B1G, Big 12, and SEC, but all they really need to do is something like the Big 12’s Grant of Rights and those schools will start feeling secure. Their strategy right now isn’t to expand but to secure all the schools that they already have. If they do that, then it won’t be them left out of the super-conferences,
Big 12
Like I said I love our 10 team format. However, the college landscape seems determined to make it four 16 team super-conferences. I agree we shouldn’t add just anybody. I do think its in ISU’s best interest to make sure that if things do go to super-conferences that the Big 12 is one of those conferences. To me the best way to do that and not dilute the Big 12 name is to convince those football minded ACC schools that they would be better off in the Big 12. I would rather not wait and see what happens. If we wait, the ACC could secure its position. The GOR 13 years could come and go in no time flat. Then we could see our brand name schools jump ship. I do feel secure for the near future, but not for the long run. I feel like waiting to see what happens is like wait to see ISU left in the dust. I would much rather see Wake Forest and Duke join up with Cincinnati and South Florida than us.
I know everyone is convinced the Big 12 is safe, but I’m not so sure in the long run. Like I said we keep waiting on the B1G and SEC to disolve the ACC for us, but the B1G isn’t going to with the possibility of grabbing ND. The SEC could, but it has no reason to go beyond 14. This seems to be shaping up as an ACC vs Big 12 battle. Right now it feels the Big 12 is winning, but I don’t want to wait for the ACC to make any moves to get ahead of us. Go get one of their schools, just to prove we can. I’d feel much better about ISU’s long term future.
We won't get 4 16 team conferences until either the ACC or Big12 collapses. I don't see the Big12 falling apart until the 13 years are up. No conference can take more than four so the remaining teams can retain the conference to fight legal battles.
If we stay put with 10, that will also allow the ACC to survive thus no 4 superconferences.
That creates another scenario. In the next ten years, this TV contract bubble could burst making the large conferences unstable. Perhaps we''ll see the desire to move back to 10-12 team conferences.