NCAA Conference Realignment

[MalcontentMD]

I just wanted to see what the general consensus was regarding NCAA conference realignment. It seems every few months now we hear about schools defecting to another conference. We are likely seeing the final days of the Big East, which was once a great and competitive basketball league. There are even whispers that the ACC could be the next league that is gutted with Maryland's exodus. If the $52 million exit fee doesn't stand up in court, is FSU and Clemson next?

I for one am against all of the realignment. To me college sports meant traditional rivalries and more often than not, those rivalries were regional. I find myself thinking of college sports differently now. The pro game was where you watched sports and saw greedy athletes making ridiculous salaries for playing a game. College sports was where you were able to see a high level of competition without money and contracts being involved. I don't necessarily think that's the case anymore. Instead of the athletes making money in college, it's the school presidents, coaches, and athletic directors making money hand over fist off these tv contracts. I think what was once one of the purest form of sport has now been tainted and is only going to get worse as conference realignment continues.

For the first time in a long time I watched an NBA game instead of a college basketball game the other night (hey, the Knicks might have a decent team). No longer do I set aside time on a Saturday to watch college football, but I almost always watch the NFL every week.

 

[California Cajun]

I think one thing that would help college athletics is if football and basketball had professional minor league systems as extensive as Major League Baseball. That way, the athletes who aren't interested in getting an education have another entry into the major professional ranks.

My interest in the NFL is nil because of the volume of commercials and the second banana in the broadcast booth who will not shut up. The last straw was when a touchdown is scored. It is followed by a boatload of commercials. Then the team that scored kicks off. After the kick return there is another boatload of commercials. That's not reasonable.

I am a lifetime Angels baseball fan, and my interest in sports is pretty much confined to them and University of Louisiana sports.

 

[Crixus]

There are even whispers that the ACC could be the next league that is gutted with Maryland's exodus. If the $52 million exit fee doesn't stand up in court, is FSU and Clemson next?

I'm not sure where these two would even be able go that would be better for them than where they currently are in the ACC. The SEC doesn't want either one of them and neither of them are situated in a "good" TV market. What Maryland and Rutgers are giving the Big 10 (and the BigTen Network) is a chunk of the television market in Washington DC, Baltimore, and the greater NJ/NY viewing area. The Big 10 sure didn't annex either one of them to improve the quality of B10 football.

It's all about the money and situating yourself for survival for the next four or five decades, particularly since the handwriting is on the wall for the states to expect less money overall from the fed, and for the institutions of higher education to expect less and less from the state coffers going forward.

The anachronistic memories you have of neat little athletic conferences based on regional proximity and friendly traditional rivalries are about as likely to stick around as are all the daytime World Series games of my youth.

I'd still rather watch college sports than pro sports--warts and all.

 

[bamafan64]

The SEC doesn't want either one of them and neither of them are situated in a "good" TV market.

I've heard the SEC is not going to expand into states that already have a team represented in the conference. Florida and South Carolina brought up objections when FSU and Clemson were looked at during the last expansion, and if I remember correctly, refused to vote for expansion if these teams were included.

 

[Crixus]

I've heard the SEC is not going to expand into states that already have a team represented in the conference. Florida and South Carolina brought up objections when FSU and Clemson were looked at during the last expansion, and if I remember correctly, refused to vote for expansion if these teams were included.

Bama, that's pretty much how I understand it also. The obvious teams the SEC would have chosen when it went looking to expand would have, at face value, been Florida State and Clemson. Built-in rivalries, located in the region, etc. You don't pass them over and pick a team like Missouri unless somebody (read Florida and South Carolina) just flat doesn't want them in the conference.

 

[hotreds]

The conferences are geographically meaningless for the most part.

 

[warhawk]

Bama, that's pretty much how I understand it also. The obvious teams the SEC would have chosen when it went looking to expand would have, at face value, been Florida State and Clemson. Built-in rivalries, located in the region, etc. You don't pass them over and pick a team like Missouri unless somebody (read Florida and South Carolina) just flat doesn't want them in the conference.

+1

 

[warhawk]

The conferences are geographically meaningless for the most part.

I totally agree. I mean look at the Big East including Boise State and San Diego State in it's conference.

WARHAWK

 

[hotreds]

Ridiculous!

 

[Patman27]

Louisville is going to the ACC. While I'm sad to see them leave the big east basketball greatness, it's apparent the football conference is headed toward Conf USA land. We will still get to see a pretty darn good bball schedule with Duke, UNC, Wake, etc. I hope Cincinnati gets an invite as well, those games are always awesome.

My worry is that there will eventually be 4 ginormous conferences and that the ACC will get eaten up by the greedy football pigs like the big east did. It only takes one bad TV deal to bring down a conference now, it seems.

 

[MalcontentMD]

My worry is that there will eventually be 4 ginormous conferences and that the ACC will get eaten up by the greedy football pigs like the big east did. It only takes one bad TV deal to bring down a conference now, it seems.

I think the ACC is keenly aware that they could be the next ones pilfered like the Big East...thus the reason they created the legally questionable large exit fee last year. The only thing they have going for them at the moment is they know they can get the remnants of the Big East to join them in a heartbeat whenever they wanted...UConn (BC is likely blocking them at the moment) and Cincy. However, other conferences might see value in the likes of FSU, Clemson, Miami, and Va Tech down the road, so it will be interesting to see how the Maryland exit plays out in terms of the lawsuit over the exit fee. I think the ACC has pipe dreams that Notre Dame will join them in football and give up their lucrative NBC contract...not likely, especially given that they are playing relevant football again.

We are nowhere near finished seeing the reshuffling of college athletics. I may be in the minority, but I think it really takes something away from college sports. It creates a system of haves and have-nots...something that a lot of baseball fans (outside of NY) whined about when the Yankees were buying players from small market teams and winning Championships.

 

[FiveOhNine]

ND won't join the ACC in football (ever I hope, but anytime soon for certain), however, I do think that the ACC/ND matchups will be a big economic boon for the ACC....and, since we all know its just about the Benjamins......

 

[Crixus]

and that the ACC will get eaten up by the greedy football pigs like the big east did

You say this as if the acquiring conference held a gun to the heads of the teams they invited to join them. It's a two-way street, and none of these teams jumped ship unless they wanted to.

If I want your head chef to come cook at my restaurant and I offer him a 20-year contract at four times what you're paying him, can you blame him for leaving? You must do what is best for your situation. You then have to go and find another chef, whom you may have to lure from somebody's else's restaurant (with enticements). That leaves them high and dry and searching for a chef to fill the void. And so on and so on.

Big time college sports is amateur in name only. The players may not get paid, but the institutions do. Knute Rockne may turn over in his grave, but it was inevitable in coming. Will it eventually become the "haves and the have-nots"? Sure. Just like the world is.

 

[bamafan64]

I've heard rumors that UNC, NC State, Va and VT are likely candidates if the SEC adds two more. Almost looks like we're going back to the old Southern Conference.

 

[nole1]

I think they should have two sets of conferences. One for football and one for everything else. Schools can do whatever they want in football but all other sports follow the "traditional" conference alignment. That way a baseball (or any other "low budget") program isn't crippled by increased travel expenses because instead of busing to every game they now half to fly half way across the country and stay an extra night in a hotel.

 

[MalcontentMD]

I think they should have two sets of conferences. One for football and one for everything else. Schools can do whatever they want in football but all other sports follow the "traditional" conference alignment. That way a baseball (or any other "low budget") program isn't crippled by increased travel expenses because instead of busing to every game they now half to fly half way across the country and stay an extra night in a hotel.

Yeah, no one seems too concerned about the actual students on other non-football and basketball teams that are actually trying to get an education. Now they'll have to travel all over the country...much the same way professional athletes do. A wise man once said "cash rules everything around me." This is now true more than ever in college sports.