Where I believe this is all heading.

[wmcovol]

LMAO I just saw a post where someone broke down the SEC into 4 geographical divisions, north, south, east and west.
The SEC east was Tennessee, South Carolina, Kentucky and vandy. I would REALLY like that to happen!
The SEC south was bama, Florida, Georgia and Auburn. The west was A&M, LSU, Texas and Oklahoma. Those 2 divisions would be brutal!
Fingers crossed that the powers that be like the geographical alignment idea.
GBO!!

Sankey ain’t puttin his 2 favorite teams (Bama & Fla) in the same division.

 

[JonGrudensAgent]

I think someone needs to do a time heist and get the Infinity Stones away from Sankey.

 

[Johnnyreb#VFL]

Too long

 

[a vol n tears]

If Sankey doesn’t move while the SEC is on top, other commissioners will add the top dogs and make their conferences the new SEC powerhouse. Protection / insurance.

 

[a vol n tears]

All these comments are biased towards football and it is a huge cash cow. However other sports, think basketball and baseball, are excellent at some of the smaller schools. Think Gonzaga, TCU, Cinci, Conn, etc. They can form conferences that compete at a high level in the tourneys.

 

[SayUWantAreVOLution]

All these comments are biased towards football and it is a huge cash cow. However other sports, think basketball and baseball, are excellent at some of the smaller schools. Think Gonzaga, TCU, Cinci, Conn, etc. They can form conferences that compete at a high level in the tourneys.

I've seen the suggestion somewhere to let the NCAA keep all the other sports and let football form a separate governing body.

That's an interesting thought as the NCAA has left much of the football money to the conferences. I'm unsure how complex this could be but it would help out smaller schools that have a "sports niche" but aren't competitive overall.

I can't recall where I saw it..... but it was a recommendation from an organization of some sort, like a think tank.

 

[secking]

I believe there will be 4, 16 school superconferences.

Those schools will break away from the NCAA. They will have new contracts for various things that include a negotiated cut for athletes.

Don't know how long it will take to reach this end game, but that's what I think is the kind of thing that ultimately happens.

Is there enough good teams to spread out for 4 super conferences? I think it will be capped at 3 super conferences, might be two, similar to NFL model.

 

[secking]

I've seen the suggestion somewhere to let the NCAA keep all the other sports and let football form a separate governing body.

That's an interesting thought as the NCAA has left much of the football money to the conferences. I'm unsure how complex this could be but it would help out smaller schools that have a "sports niche" but aren't competitive overall.

I can't recall where I saw it..... but it was a recommendation from an organization of some sort, like a think tank.

NCAA currently gets Zero $ from football. Oklahoma/Georgia sued them in the 80s for the right to own tv rights and won. It is the reason there is multiple games on each week instead of 2/3 that was formerly shown.

NCAA cash cow is March Madness. NCAA receives $110 million for the tourney. I’d say they want that to continue.

 

[SayUWantAreVOLution]

NCAA currently gets Zero $ from football. Oklahoma/Georgia sued them in the 80s for the right to own tv rights and won. It is the reason there is multiple games on each week instead of 2/3 that was formerly shown.

NCAA cash cow is March Madness. NCAA receives $110 million for the tourney. I’d say they want that to continue.

I found it. These guys had a series of suggestions about NIL that I was looking at. I'm not endorsing this, as I've not looked at it too closely, but it's an interesting idea.

Knight Commission Recommends a New Governing Structure for the Sport of FBS Football - Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics

 

[GAVol]

So you are believing what @LWSVOL said, when he said basically the exact same thing some time ago?

I’ve been hearing coaches opine on this scenario for 20+ years.

 

[onevol74]

Biden administration will invoke antitrust law and stop all the collusion

Thought about this. Maybe economic redistribution to support the needy programs.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

I heard a caller to a radio show with an idea for a 20-team conference that I initially thought was just silly until he explained it. Have a 12-team upper division and an 8 team lower division. The top team of the 8 swaps spots with the 12th and last place team of the upper division the following year. That gives the dregs of a 20-team Conference something to play for and keeps late season games interesting. European soccer does something similar.

 

[HuntlandVolinColo]

I believe there will be 4, 16 school superconferences.

Those schools will break away from the NCAA. They will have new contracts for various things that include a negotiated cut for athletes.

Don't know how long it will take to reach this end game, but that's what I think is the kind of thing that ultimately happens.

If you divide the 129ish teams into two you will end up with two conferences. This will enable the group of 5 teams such as Air Force, Army, Memphis, and App State a chance to win a national championship.

 

[HuntlandVolinColo]

IMO......

There will be the 4 leagues and then the rest of the D1 programs will be left to die.....which they will.

The other issue, and why this is sending serious shockwaves, is that there isn't anyone out there outside of Notre Dame that is going to increase the value of the league.

Sure, the Pac 12 could add Kansas, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, and Baylor (just for sake of discussion), but that doesn't bring any additional money to the Pac 12. In addition, they'd actually lose money because there would be more schools feeding from the same pile.

The Big 10 is doing just fine, but I think they figured out that Rutgers and Maryland really did nothing because they didn't build the brand. The TV market thing sounds great, but Oklahoma is going to draw more interest for television than Rutgers and Maryland combined even though Rutgers and Maryland have the New York and DC markets. The TV market thing is a big deal at the professional level, not at the collegiate level. There are years where the Alabama-Auburn game has been the highest rated of the year and no one lives in Alabama. Duke-NC is often the highest rated basketball game of the year and the schools are 10 feet apart in North Carolina. The school's "brand" is a much bigger deal than TV market.

So, all these other leagues can add to get to 16 or whatever number they want. What they can't do is add anyone (outside of Notre Dame) who's brand makes the league more money.

They're basically screwed unless they can pull teams with a brand away from their current league (i.e. the Big 10 convinces North Carolina to leave the ACC). Just using that as an example, not that I expect that to happen.

I disagree. They will get their own NCAA championship with TV rights. Schools like Air Force, Navy, Southern Miss and Marshall will actually have a chance to win a championship.

 

[unfrozencvmanvol]

I definitely believe something is gonna happen.

Way to go out on a limb there. You could have a big future in politics.

 

[peaygolf]

Where I believe this is all heading.

 

[volbound1700]

Recently it seems like the PAC-12 has gone out of their way to not care about being good in football.

It isn't the Pac12, it is the three states that they are focused in: California, Oregon, and Washington. Young people in these regions are more likely to attend a gay pride rally or Antifa riot than a Pac12 football game.

 

[volbound1700]

It won't happen soon but a B1G-Pac12 merger is coming. Pac12 will collapse after ots top 5-6 teams join with the B1G.

 

[TnVol!]

Way to go out on a limb there. You could have a big future in politics.

I'm not going out on a limb. That's the point. All this conjecture and prediction of what's going to happen is wasted time. I'm looking forward to the upcoming season. Go Volunteers!!!!!!

 

[savannahfan]

That was always ideal from a mathematical/playoff view.

The issue is how absurdly imbalanced things are and heading towards even more. If CFB doesn't fix the issues of parity and conference balance, a ton of fans nationwide are going to lose interest year after year. Why should a Big 12 or Pac fan care when half of the top 25 are SEC teams? This whole conference system is fuzzed.

First, I am not arguing with what you say. I just wonder, if the average fan (of which I am one) really cares about "playoffs"? I think where it comes to my sports teams, (other than MLB, go Cards) I think of rivalries, or more, the games played with the same teams year in and year out. Yes, I do get interested in "playoffs/championships" when the time comes. But on a level of most interest, for me it is us against our yearly opponents.

 

[savannahfan]

Reading all these posts makes me sad. College football as well knew it is dead. Players will no longer be playing for the love of the game. It is basically like a minor league now. I just hope the bands/traditions/pageantry/etc are enough to keep my love for the sport alive.

Already bands travel every little. Could you imagine back to back trips say to TX or A&M, then to OK? Never happen. Or let's say Tx brings the steer to UT one week and say Fla the next. (I know he doesn't travel) Or let's be a little more realistic the TX band.

 

[bigorangepoppa]

I believe there will be 4, 16 school superconferences.

Those schools will break away from the NCAA. They will have new contracts for various things that include a negotiated cut for athletes.

Don't know how long it will take to reach this end game, but that's what I think is the kind of thing that ultimately happens.

Interesting perspective. I personally think the NCAA is a dinosaur that is quickly reaching the end of it's life.

 

[Ten_Titans]

I believe there will be 4, 16 school superconferences.

Those schools will break away from the NCAA. They will have new contracts for various things that include a negotiated cut for athletes.

Don't know how long it will take to reach this end game, but that's what I think is the kind of thing that ultimately happens.

If that's the case then we are literally regressing back to a time where multiple teams could claim national championships.

If four conferences are playing with different rules, they will never be able to agree on a universal playoff system.

 

[bigorangepoppa]

There's just not enough money for most lower tier programs to survive for very long, IMO. Look at App State, which is not a bad program, but how is a small conference program supposed to generate NIL money, donations, and revenue?

Even if a kid tore it up at App State, he's going to transfer to a major for NIL compensation and career aspirations ASAP upon getting noticed. Some lower tier schools may embrace some form of the basketball "one and done" by recruiting problem kids and coaches [Hi Liberty!] to do rehab and release...... and that might be a working, if risky, business model.

The lower tier schools are going to have to find a business model that works..... by works, I mean generates money to pay coaches AND players. I don't see one but maybe someone else does.

In those smaller markets, the more local businesses most likely will be the only option for the players for NIL money. Just not gonna be a big demand on a national level.

 

[VFL-82-JP]

I believe there will be 4, 16 school superconferences.

Those schools will break away from the NCAA. They will have new contracts for various things that include a negotiated cut for athletes.

Don't know how long it will take to reach this end game, but that's what I think is the kind of thing that ultimately happens.

That's probably too short-sighted by half.

Expanding to 16 is the kind of thing that happened with the conferences back in the 2012-2014 time frame. Back then, the NCAA was healthy and at the peak of its power. There was no power void looming as there is today.

In short, the driving forces are entirely different now. They're much (MUCH) more powerful today.

This isn't likely to stop at 16. Or even 20, though that's more likely. Look for a complete and utter restructuring of division I football.

Think bigger. Sankey is. And the other conference bosses are starting to get the hint, too.