Let’s talk college sports superconferences.
The big news in college sports is that UCLA and the University of Southern California (USC) are leaving the Pac 12 conference to join the Big 10. They are not the first big schools to leave their familiar roots in recent years, nor will they be the last.
In recent years, Oklahoma, Texas, Penn State, UMass, Rutgers, Nebraska, Maryland, West Virginia, Syracuse, Pitt, Missouri, Colorado and others have severed their established conference relationships for new, richer lands.
Notre Dame is the biggest chip on the horizon. It left the Big East for the ACC (non-football). Its football program is independent – for now – but with the Pac 12 and Big 12 raided, the SEC, Big 10 and the ACC (which has other ND programs in its grasp) look to fight it out for inclusion of the Fighting Irish. Some believe that Notre Dame has the clout to form its own conference … possibly TV-backed by ESPN, Fox or NBC, with whom it has a big deal set to expire in 2025.
Is it greed or superior marketing? Many believe that it is all about money and it has changed the comfortable and accepted landscape of college sports. Following the UCLA-USC departures, it is rumored that the Pac 12 will be gutted further as Oregon, Stanford, Washington and Colorado are looking for greener (greenback) pastures and others will consider their options. There is speculation of a merger between the Big 12 and the Pac 12. And rumors are flying that the Big 12 wants to add Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, Colorado, Oregon and Washington, to create an 18-team mega-conference and devastate the Pac 12.
In the east, Duke is a rumored mover; North Carolina, Clemson, Miami and others are in the wind, and there are many more.
Having added Texas and Oklahoma, the SEC looks to court Florida State, Clemson and Miami. The Big 12 is about to add BYU, Houston, UCF and Cincinnati. Will the Kansas University Jayhawks remain loyal to the Big 12, or will other conferences make them Rock Chalk offers they can’t refuse?
So, the number conferences really make little sense right now. There are 16 schools in the Big 10. Ten teams are in the Big 12 and the Pac 12, and for those top conferences un-numbered, 14 play in the SEC and ACC.
Old, comfortable regional conferences that fostered rivalries from nearby schools are a thing of the past. USC moved on after 100 years in the Pac 12 and its earlier iterations. UCLA left the Pac 12 after 94 years. Money 1, loyalty 0. The Big 10 (or Big 16) was a Midwest stronghold; now it goes from coast to coast, from Maryland and Rutgers on the east to UCLA and USC on the west.
OK, I get the superconference approach for marketing, recruiting, broadcast rights, prestige and top dollars, but in simpler days, you could cross into the next state to watch your college team take on its biggest rival. Now, you need plane fare to cross time zones.
What is in store for college rivalries? There is a strong belief that 20-team superconferences will be the college landscape in the near future, possibly even breaking away from the overreaching government of the NCAA. Right now, it looks like the Big 10, SEC and ACC will form the foundation, and the ACC is iffy, as Notre Dame, Duke, Louisville and North Carolina may roam. If they choose to go to a four-conference, 16-team-per-conference alignment that makes sense, perhaps a new hybrid conference (possibly backed by a TV network) or the remains of an existing conference will make up the new powerhouse. The weaker universities and conferences will be left to fend for themselves in tournaments and for TV money, but there is precedence for that in previous battles between the NCAA, AAU and NIT.
There is even speculation that the NCAA could adopt Euro soccer league standards in which the 48 top teams (or Top 12 in each major division) stay in a conference and those below the Mendoza Line drop out of the conference, while top lower-division schools or D-2 schools are given the opportunity to move up.
The bottom line is the top dollar. Amateur sports are big bucks nowadays and every school (and student-athlete) wants to cash in with more money, greater exposure, higher prestige and more TV time.
I get it and I understand, but in simpler times, you knew that your rivals for conference championships, local recruits and regional bragging rights were right next door.
What are your thoughts? Do you prefer superconferences in which super-competition is nationwide? Or do you long for the halcyon days of border battles? Let me know at mike.blake@mountvernonnews.com.
See you next time.
