Conference Expansion or Super Conferences?

In case you have been living in a Fallout shelter or living on a remote island somewhere, let me bring up to speed on the world of college football.

Last Summer, Texas and Oklahoma let the entire world know that they plan to leave the Big XII and head to the all mighty SEC. This was out of the blue but not an entire shock. Both programs have been carrying the Big XII for years and even with all of the history and tradition they have, they haven’t been able to make it big in the playoff era. Understand, this was not a “well if you can’t beat them, join them” type of scenario. This was a “we want a piece of the pie” scenario and the SEC can give this to both schools.

But it hasn’t stopped there.

On June 30, USC and UCLA announced that they plan to move from the Pac-12 to the B1G. Again, that’s a good move for both schools. That Pac-12 has not been relevant in big time college football for a while.

So what happens next? First, let’s look at the current situation at three conferences- ACC, Big XII, and Pac-12.

First, the ACC not too long ago signed a “Grant of Rights” deal that goes into 2036. What is that? Basically, the ACC has signed at long-term tv deal with ESPN. All of the “tv money” that a school is owed from the ACC’s contract with ESPN belongs to the conference through June 30, 2036, even if a school decides to leave the conference or stay put. If you ask me, that was a horrible move by the ACC. Signing a deal with ESPN is usually a smart move because the money will be great. However, the ACC played their cards too soon. That is a very long deal and it will cost schools a bug sum to get out of it unless they want to go court or hope someone bails them out(hello, SEC).

Now there’s the Big XII who actually is in OK status right now. Yes, they lost their two blue blood schools to the SEC but that was bound to happen. The good news is that they added four quality schools last year- BYU, Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF. These are solid football schools with winning traditions. I don’t think the Big XII is done. Currently, there are a few more schools that could fill more spots- Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Colorado St. Regionally this makes sense. Will it happen? Time will tell but I would keep an eye on these schools making a move to the Big XII. Say what you want about this conference, but they never sit idle when it comes to conference expansion.

And then there is the Pac-12. They recently lost two of their blue bloods-USC and UCLA to the B1G. The situation here is a bit more dire because USC was the trademark school for this conference for years. Yes, Oregon has been good recently but they don’t bring in the revenue like the Trojans. The tradition, the history, the Heisman winners, USC has it all. They’re the Alabama of the west coast and now they’re gone. This conference needs to makes some moves and fast if they’re too survive. I could see the Pac-12 poaching some schools from the Mountain West like Boise St, Fresno St, and San Diego St.

Even with these three conferences making moves or possibly making moves, it could be futile.

I’m not a prophet and I don’t claim to be incredibly smart, however, I truly believe with all of my heart that College Football is headed to a semi-professional system. It’s all speculation right now and it’s still foggy, but I think down the road this sport will be made up of two divisions and it will be schools from the current power five conferences.

In other words, the sport as you currently know it will never look the same.

Is that a good thing or bad thing? Well, if your an old school guy like myself, it’s not necessarily a good thing. The one thing that separates college football from other sports is the traditions each school and conference have. The rivalries, the coaches, the players, seeing your team enter the stadium, the fans standing on their feet and yelling at the top of their lungs, the hail mary, the overtime comeback- all of these are examples that make this sport incredible and it’s a shame money is the single driving force behind it’s change.

Maybe I’m being too anxious about this and it’s a big deal about nothing. I hope so!

I’m not going to stop watching or writing about my favorite sport just because it’s changing. One of my favorite speakers on leadership said once “Change is inevitable, growth is optional.” If this doesn’t speak loudly to us about this topic then I don’t know what to tell you.

If you and myself truly love this game, then we will roll with the ever changing times. We might not like it, but we can adjust to it. Keep loving your school, keep loving the traditions, pass them down to your children and their children. All of the money in the world can’t change these traditions and as long as we hold onto them tight then college football will be alright.