Thought I'd share a tidbit on realignment and expansion. The AAC is mentioned in the article a number of times.
Roundtable: Are realignment and expansion on college football's horizon?
The College Football Playoff is expanding to 12 teams. The Group of 5 is guaranteed an opportunity to compete for a national championship for the first time in history. Gigantic paydays are on the way for the already-rich power conferences and schools across the country.
College football (and college athletics) is changing, and as revenue streams widen for schools, players are on the cusp of dipping their toes in the pool to earn money thanks to Name, Image and Likeness laws going into effect this summer and fall in nearly 20 states. College athletics might not look familiar in five years, but what exactly will the landscape look like as more money flows through programs and more opportunities open for players, coaches and administrators?
Nearly 10 years after the latest round of conference reorganization and expansion, might we see it happen again as Group of 5 schools look to strengthen their place on the national stage? Might the SEC and ACC look to the west in an effort to create super conferences and earn more money through the playoff and other ventures?
When there is more money available, that usually leads to more business opportunities. For college athletics, particularly college football, more opportunities usually leads to realignment among conferences and, sometimes, expansion. What's good today in the Big 12 might be great tomorrow in the Pac-12. It may seem like a long time ago, but we were once this close to seeing Texas and/or Oklahoma join the Pac-10. Imagine what the national landscape would look like today had that happened. Would the Big 12 have folded or invited more programs into the conference that would have led to more Group of 5 programs making the jump to the Power 5?
The 247Sports college football crew gathered for a roundtable to discuss the future of college sports as we embark through a new era that will be paved by the expansion of the College Football Playoff. Let's start with realignment, and whether the expanded playoff will influence conferences and schools to reevaluate their position in college athletics.
Brandon Marcello: I’m not sure we will see expansion immediately across college football, especially if the playoff does not expand until 2026, but at some point a domino will fall. If that domino is big enough, others will follow. I’m just not certain that, say, Boise State jumping to the AAC would drastically change the landscape. The spark to this fire would obviously be Notre Dame, but will the Irish be willing to jump to the ACC in the early years of the expanded playoff? I think, at best, Notre Dame would only shed tradition (look at us, we’re independent!) the day it is a legitimate top 4 team and is blocked from a first-round bye in the playoff because it doesn’t have a conference affiliation. It’s easy to say that will not happen, but emotions are powerful and when that reality finally hits Notre Dame square in the jaw, you can bet the power brokers behind the scenes are going to raise hell (and open the doors to finally jumping to the ACC) the year the Irish lose in the first round.As for the bigger picture, the mid-2020s through the 2030s is going to be wild in college athletics. It will look nothing like it does today. Reorganization and further expansion is inevitable. It’s just how we work in this country, in sports, entertainment (hi, Disney!) and business. College football has its fingers in all three, and with players grabbing some of that power, you can bet there are developments coming none of us could predict.
Brad Crawford: The lack of parity at the top of college football will not be altered by the inclusion of eight additional teams in an expanded Playoff. However, with more teams in the dance, we’re going to see a few desired matchups from the first-timers that will heighten the hype a bit in the postseason. Realignment, to me, is the bigger story. Super conferences? The chance Group of 5 “powers” break into one of these bigger leagues? That’s where we could see actual change among the elites. I like the idea of doing away with divisions within conferences as well. Try to play as many conference games annually as possible and take the top two teams at the standings to play in the league final. Too easy.Josh Pate: It seems to me the super conference conversation (for many) tends to work off the premise of an existing P5 conference absorbing parts of an existing G5. What if the Great Pac-12 Reset doesn’t produce results though? What if Texas isn’t back in the Big-12? If those conferences haven’t closed the revenue gap with the SEC & Big Ten in a few years AND they watch the AAC start cashing bigger checks of their own with programs parked in far more favorable recruiting territories, I’d say a potential Pac-12/Big-12 merger could become the story to keep an eye on.
Trey Scott: Such a merger nearly happened during the last bout of realignment and I think Texas, even if it hasn’t won a Big 12 title in that time, is glad it didn’t — the Pac-12’s entire existence has been an even bigger joke than ‘Texas is back.’What’s better for college football: The AAC rising to the ranks of the Power 5, or parts of the Big 12 and Pac-12 dissolving to in turn merge and make it four “Super Conferences.” In this instance, are Texas and Oklahoma even in the same conference any more? Does Kansas State become a G5 team? Colorado? Maybe they’d be more competitive in the smaller conferences but I can’t imagine it’s healthier for the sport for that to happen. It’s all so political … there’s also something weird about Texas being at the epicenter of all this, even though it’s true.
I’m not a huge fan of 16-team conferences in which you might go eight years without playing a cross-divisional opponent.
