More Conference Reshuffling Rumors

[Mr. Nielsen]

Really good article detailing why this made sense for ESPN and how they were involved.

https://awfulannouncing.com/espn/biggest-winner-oklahoma-texas-sec-espn.html

Missing is CBS plans in three years after they lose the SEC. Also, could see FOX taking the whole Big Ten package. How does the Pac-12 look when their tv deal comes up in a few years. Is that a FOX/CBS deal. Hard to think that the Big Ten and Pac-12 will want to get scrapes when FOX and CBS is out there. ESPN will be heavy with SEC, ACC.

[jesmu84]

Allegedly, SEC also talking to Ohio state, Michigan, Florida state and Clemson.

[jficke13]

Allegedly, SEC also talking to Ohio state, Michigan, Florida state and Clemson.

Guess they want to add some tomato cans.

[cheebs09]

Allegedly, SEC also talking to Ohio state, Michigan, Florida state and Clemson.

That's pretty wild. So is it worth it for these schools to have the guaranteed SEC payout compared to an open shot at the CFP?

That SEC would make up close to 80% of the CFP appearances since it started. I would imagine it makes things tougher unless it goes to 8 at-large bids.

[Uncle Rico]

Guess they want to add some tomato cans.

I don't think this report is true as awesome as that would be

[dgies9156]

Allegedly, SEC also talking to Ohio state, Michigan, Florida state and Clemson.

Florida State and Clemson I get. Both fit nicely within the existing geographic and football-centric cultures of the SEC.

Michigan and Ohio State, NEVER. I see them talking as a means of leverage against other conference members.

Now, lets raise another issue. If the SEC expands to 16 football-centric schools, how long will it be before the conference asks Vanderbilt to leave. Yes, I get the argument that Vanderbilt does well in baseball and historically has been OK in basketball. Or that Vandy brings class to a bunch of Bubbas and historically has assured the conference's ACT scores reached an average of double digits, but Vanderbilt fits in the SEC about as well as Middle Tennessee State fits in the Ivy League.

At some point, Vanderbilt football and, recently, Vanderbilt basketball, doesn't fit. Vandy is now the only legacy SEC school never to have won the conference football championship. They NEVER will. The rest of the SEC has to split the television revenue with Vanderbilt and they candidly get nothing for it. Even the Mississippis have a chance at an SEC title (albeit not much of one). Imagine if Vanderbilt left and was replaced with Clemson or Florida State?

It could happen. The SEC Could tell Vanderbilt to upgrade Dudley Field to a 70,000 seat wonder. Vandy theoretically could play at Nissan Stadium, but then there would be a lot of empty seats most of the year. Or the conference could set minimum spending and performance goals Vanderbilt could not meet.

Bottom line: as quaint as it is to have Vanderbilt in the SEC, this is coming. And then how long will it be before other power conferences prune their weakest links? If football is the answer, all of this is coming!

[shoothoops]

Florida State and Clemson I get. Both fit nicely within the existing geographic and football-centric cultures of the SEC.

Michigan and Ohio State, NEVER. I see them talking as a means of leverage against other conference members.

Now, lets raise another issue. If the SEC expands to 16 football-centric schools, how long will it be before the conference asks Vanderbilt to leave. Yes, I get the argument that Vanderbilt does well in baseball and historically has been OK in basketball. Or that Vandy brings class to a bunch of Bubbas and historically has assured the conference's ACT scores reached an average of double digits, but Vanderbilt fits in the SEC about as well as Middle Tennessee State fits in the Ivy League.

At some point, Vanderbilt football and, recently, Vanderbilt basketball, doesn't fit. Vandy is now the only legacy SEC school never to have won the conference football championship. They NEVER will. The rest of the SEC has to split the television revenue with Vanderbilt and they candidly get nothing for it. Even the Mississippis have a chance at an SEC title (albeit not much of one). Imagine if Vanderbilt left and was replaced with Clemson or Florida State?

It could happen. The SEC Could tell Vanderbilt to upgrade Dudley Field to a 70,000 seat wonder. Vandy theoretically could play at Nissan Stadium, but then there would be a lot of empty seats most of the year. Or the conference could set minimum spending and performance goals Vanderbilt could not meet.

Bottom line: as quaint as it is to have Vanderbilt in the SEC, this is coming. And then how long will it be before other power conferences prune their weakest links? If football is the answer, all of this is coming!

Vandy has a top 25 recruiting class with its first year with its new staff. I expect them to be a winning record mid tier bowl program under this new staff. They are also spending $300 million (to start) on new football and athletic facilities. This is in addition to their recent locker room, end zone, and McGugin upgrades.

Success is often linked to current coaching regime, administration,  and $ commitment. All 3 of those things recently changed there. (Vandy is not alone in that regard.)

With that said, the landscape is ever changing, schools such as Texas are only out for Texas. Perhaps talks will emerge about combining the SEC with the ACC. We'll see.

[dgies9156]

Vandy has a top 25 recruiting class with its first year with its new staff. I expect them to be a winning record mid tier bowl program under this new staff. They are also spending $300 million (to start) on new football and athletic facilities. This is in addition to their recent locker room, end zone, and McGugin upgrades.

Success is often linked to current coaching regime, administration,  and $ commitment. All 3 of those things recently changed there. (Vandy is not alone in that regard.)

With that said, the landscape is ever changing, schools such as Texas are only out for Texas. Perhaps talks will emerge about combining the SEC with the ACC. We'll see.

Brother Hoops,

Do you believe there is room for Vanderbilt in the forthcoming SEC? I really don't. Vandy is a quaint throwback to another era when the idea of college sports was alums from, say Tennessee and Vanderbilt, or Alabama and Auburn, getting together on a Saturday afternoon and watching the latest kids play football.

Those days are way past gone.

Look, I grew up on VU football and there were some pretty fun afternoons at Dudley Field watching really bad football teams get pummeled. I still watch them from time to time on the SEC network. But, in the new SEC, they are not relevant.

Stanford, Northwestern and others are a couple steps ahead of Vanderbilt but also may face the same fate if they become uncompetitive for an extended period of time — again.

[The Sultan]

Brother Hoops,

Do you believe there is room for Vanderbilt in the forthcoming SEC? I really don't.

Are they getting kicked out?

[shoothoops]

Are they getting kicked out?

No.

He often posts about memories from many, sometimes many many, decades ago. Sometimes things change over time. And, sometimes things can and do change more quickly. If you don't keep up you may not know what is or isn't going on.

Let's give some current event examples.

Take Vandy. I mentioned that they now have a new AD, new Chancellor, new board construction with several high profile sports people on it. They just upgraded their locker rooms. They are currently finishing a stadium end zone project. They recently completed upgrades to their Athletic building. They have a $300 Million multi building project coming, mostly for football. They hired an alum as their coach, who immediately hired a good staff that is recruiting at a top 25 level. They have a long term goal of being more competitive more often in football. This is just for football. Obviously the school is highly successful in several other sports. If anything, the excitement level for football future there is high.

Dgies referenced Northwestern and Stanford. Vandy thinks it has a coach and staff and admin that can win there as James Franklin did, but, stay longer. Their route and path will be different to it, but they think they can do that.

Northwestern has won 9 games 4 times in 15 seasons under Fitzgerald. They have won 6 games 11 times. The SEC is a tough league but Vandy can have this type of success longer term based on what they have now and what they are doing.

Mizzou's AD unexpectedly stepped down last night. Coming into a difficult situation at the time if some recall, they raised $51 Million in 2017. They raised $56 Million this past year. They completed a $100 million end zone project. The newer coach is recruiting at a high level, currently top 15 for 2022. Ticket sales are up. And this is another example of small time SEC money compared to the bigger money places.

There are more examples as well.

The SEC may add more teams and merge with any additional league.

We'll see what happens. But the past isn't the present, and the present, isn't the future. If one doesn't keep up with what is going on somewhere, their reference points sometimes can become outdated. Time change. Vandy is no longer a quaint Mid South/Southeastern school and it hasn't been in a long time. Diverse student body comes fom equally all parts of the country, as well as others Internationally.

Dgies might want to take a visit and a campus tour. Vandy is almost finished with its 2023 completed $600 Million campus project. At the very least maybe watch online this weekend, as the last 2 of 4 Carmichael Towers are being demolished this week on West End Avenue this Saturday, 9am.

[The Sultan]

Well yeah that's my point.  Is Vandy going to compete for conference titles in football?  No.  But there certainly is "room for Vanderbilt in the forthcoming SEC."

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

Looks like this is now official per the ESPN notification I just got.

[MU82]

Well-written piece about conference reshuffling in general and about how it affects the ACC (and also some ND) in particular:

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/article253041348.html?

[jesmu84]

https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/big-12-commissioner-alleges-espn-conspired-with-sec-american-to-lure-teams-from-conference/

Big 12 is pissed

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/big-12-commissioner-alleges-espn-conspired-with-sec-american-to-lure-teams-from-conference/

Big 12 is pissed

So just like ESPN did with the old Big East and the ACC. 
What's old is new again.

[Uncle Rico]

So just like ESPN did with the old Big East and the ACC. 
What's old is new again.

ESPN is the de facto commissioner of college football

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

I wouldn't guarantee TAMU saying no.

TAMU voted yes

[Hards Alumni]

TAMU voted yes

Probably under duress, but the SEC wanted to make the decision appear unanimous.

[LON]

https://streamable.com/dbjm7a

[StillAWarrior]

https://streamable.com/dbjm7a

I LOL'd

[The Sultan]

Probably under duress, but the SEC wanted to make the decision appear unanimous.

Actually their Board of Regents voted 8-1 in support.  The money is too good, and frankly voting no would have looked ridiculous.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

https://www.reddit.com/r/CollegeBasketball/comments/os6iie/gif_war_realignment_buddies/

[Billy Hoyle]

poor A&M:

https://twitter.com/SkaggsOB/status/1420862245676933122

[HouWarrior]

With OU and UT off to SEC its time to bust up the Big12, ...I reflected logical moves of its remaining members, reset each of these four to 16 teams/8 teams per division, and Voila its a new Power 4 with 48 teams fairly grouped by area, rivalry etc.
Take a look:
THE BIG- East                                                                             Ohio State Buckeyes
Indiana Hoosiers
Penn State Nittany Lions
Maryland Terrapins
Rutgers Scarlet Knights
Michigan Wolverines
Michigan State Spartans
Purdue Boilermakers
THE BIG- West
Northwestern Wildcats
Iowa Hawkeyes
Wisconsin Badgers
Minnesota Golden Gophers
Nebraska Cornhuskers
Iowa State Cyclones
Kansas Jayhawks
Illinois Fighting Illini
SEC- East
Florida Gators
Georgia Bulldogs
Kentucky Wildcats
Tennessee Volunteers
South Carolina Gamecocks
Vanderbilt Commodores
Alabama Crimson Tide
Auburn Tigers
SEC - West
Texas A&M Aggies
LSU Tigers
Ole Miss Rebels
Arkansas Razorbacks
Mississippi State Bulldogs
UT Longhorns
OK Sooners
Missouri Tigers
Pac 16- West
Washington Huskies
Stanford Cardinal
Oregon Ducks
Oregon State Beavers
California Golden Bears
Washington State Cougars
USC Trojans
UCLA Bruins
Pac 16 - East
Colorado Buffaloes
Utah Utes
Arizona State Sun Devils
Arizona Wildcats
TCU Horned Frogs
Baylor Bears
Texas Tech Red Raiders
OSU Cowboys
ACC- North
Boston College Eagles
Pittsburgh Panthers
Syracuse Orange
Virginia Cavaliers
Virginia Tech Hokies
West Virginia Mountaineers
Louisville Cardinals
Notre Dame* (5-7 games)
ACC- South
Clemson Tigers
Duke Blue Devils
Florida State Seminoles
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
Miami Hurricanes
NC State Wolfpack
North Carolina Tar Heels
Wake Forest Demon Deacons

This came out pretty balanced and complete, but nothing is perfect....

Incompleteness: K state is not re-homed from Big 12, BYU is still indep. ... lots of second tiers
my thought is American and Mountain West merge to have a 4 division conf to also include BYU, K State

Thoughts about the above Power 4?

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Thoughts about the above Power 4?

It makes logical, geographic sense. Which of course means it will never happen.

I've always wondered about the 16 team cap. As long as realignment has been a thing, people have suggested that conferences would not go above 16 teams. Are we certain that's the case? If you can go to 16, why not go to 20? 24? More?

I've also always wondered why conferences would want to add more members if it just means the pie is getting sliced more ways. Obviously the SEC getting OU and TU moves the needle enough that the pie gets bigger so it makes sense. But does the B1G adding Iowa St just to get to 16 teams make them more money? Or is it just another mouth to feed?