Well, From the Devils Workshop

[kyyote]

I worry about conferences and realignment.  UTEP has been affected by it repeatedly over the years.  There are some lessons I have learned over those years and conference changes.  One of them is that strong teams eventually want to get rid of the deadwood(or deadbeats as some might say).  Another thing we know is that television money controls everything, and the lion's share is controlled by espn and their affiliated networks.  Usually, the conference adds teams and then the top teams split off from the other half.  Then there is that pesky tv market and money thing.

I did some checking, and it was kind of amazing that the conference champions for each of the power conferences over the past 22 years since the 2000 season were dominated by a team or two and then there were the others.  In the Pac12 there are two teams, USC and Oregon.  The rest are filler. The Big12 is dominated by OU.  Baylor has more conference championships since 2000 than Texas.  Moving east, the Big10 belongs to Ohio State.  Half of the championships since 2000 are either tied or outright owned by Ohio State.  Mich and MSU along with Wisconsin each have three in that time.  The ACC is Florida State and Clemson splitting the championships between them.  The big boy is the SEC and it is Bama's, but LSU, Florida, and Georgia have championships in the toughest club.

So, Texas and OU have taken the Champion and the biggest audience from the Big 12 to the SEC.  So, very soon the SEC will have Alabama, king and the three princes Florida, Georgia, and LSU, AND OU and UT.  The Big10 has their king in Ohio State and their three princes, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Michigan State.  They are taking the champion of the Pac12, USC and UCLA.  Those two form the North and South Divisions of a 12 team Super Conference.  Add Florida State and Clemson from the ACC to make it a beautiful 14 team Super conference that goes from seas to shining sea.  Throw in BYU and ND and it goes to 16 teams with all f the regions covered.  This would be a pure conference based on competition without and concern for media markets, but it covers most of what you want.

The next level would be the others who were just below the cut.  The Pac 12 champion half of the time has been Oregon and throw in Washington.  Stanford brings a lot of tv sets. From the Big 12, you get Baylor, Oklahoma State, Kansas State and Kansas for Bball.  The Big 10 has been gutted, but Penn State is still Penn State.  Then there is Maryland, and Rutgers for markets(?).  From the ACC you take North Carolina.  Now, grab Kentucky, Texas A&M, and Mississippi State and you have a sweet fourteen team conference.  Add Arizona and Colorado for regional and tv sets. Also, Utah and Boise State, Houston and SMU plus UTSA UCF and it is up to two 11 team divisions from sea to shining sea.  A possible championship between the two super conferences-one the cream of the cream, and then the people's champion from a much larger pool.

Thoughts?
 

 

[SisyphusMiner]

So there would be 38 total D1 teams divided into two conferences? 

[kyyote]

This is where I can see the realignment going. One or maybe two super conferences.  Maybe the teams above into a 38 team League type level or the two highest and just below levels like above.
 
Then comes a revamping of the regional conferences.  Without USC, UCLA, Wash, Ore, Az, CO, Stanford and Utah for instance, Washington State, Oregon State, Cal, Arizona State(or this one could be switched with AZ) combine with Nevada, Utah State, Colorado State, Wyoming, Fresno State, and San Diego State and you have a 10 team conference that covers California quite well, Ore, Washington, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and if you threw in UNM and UTEP you now have a twelve team conference that covers the western half of the US.  That's just a quick look at what might happen. 

Take a look at my imaginary Western US Conference.  We have two divisions.  The Western Division consisting of the California, Oregon, Arizona, and Washington teams, from the top down, Washington State, Oregon State, Cal, Fresno State, Arizona, and San Diego State.  The Rocky Mountain Division is Wyoming, Utah State, Colorado State, Nevada, UNM, and UTEP.

The conference above would be in two time zones next to each other.  Game times and travel distances would be more aligned, and the teams from the big conferences would actually have a chance of winning a conference championship that also contained actual regional bragging rights, and UTEP is where it kind of belongs.  Play each team in your division for five games, and two teams a year from the other division, and the rest OOC games.  Playing Wyoming, Utah State, Nevada, New Mexico, and Colorado State each year and throw in a Cal and Arizona for conference games, and then a championship game!  Damn! Just looking at that gets me fired up.  That Pac 12 teams would be thinking their shit don't stink and the rest would pin targets and kick me signs on the Pac12 team's backs.

The point I want to make is that realignment is ongoing, and you know how we have been the anchor before, well Vandy, and others in the top cartel conferences are getting ready to cut them loose. 

I think that this conference realignment resembles cell division.  The cell grows and then the half of the teams decide it is time to leave the other half behind.  In my original post I was shocked to find that each conference belonged pretty much to one team, or maybe two.  But now that I think of it, they probably all fit the perfect bell curve and have their twins at the other end.  Bama has Vandy.  USC had what, Oregon State, Cal, Washington State?  The Big10?  There are plenty of teams to choose from at the bottom to match Ohio State and the princes.  The Big12 has Kansas.  Round balls are fine there but those other ones are hardly tolerated.  When the SEC and Big10 took teams, remember the cell division model.  It always grows before dividing.  The only question I have about those two conferences is will they grow bigger before they split.  The split is coming, but have they already assembled the new top tier?  Look at my first post and see if there is anything left that they really want to pick or are the bones picked clean of the top teams.

[Minermojo]

That...will never happen. It's impossible for the Cartel to want to split the proceeds. They want it all. As it is the top teams in the cartel aren't even happy to have bottom feeders in their league how can anyone think that they would welcome the group of five wannabes.

It's a simple case of "show me the money" or "it's all about the Benjamins".

[kyyote]

Fleshing it out a little more, if you add in SJST and Santa Clara to the Western Division and Air Force and UNLV to the Rocky Mountain Division, we have taken care of 16 plus thirty-eight teams. That's 54 of the 131 teams.  There are 77 teams remaining.  Give the MAC Illinois, Purdue, Indianna, Northwestern, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Iowa, and they would be happier than pigs in shit.  That would be a 19-team conference.  I'll let them figure out divisions. Damn, throw in Iowa State for an even 20.

Now the ACC, or rather, what was left, is BC, WF, UNC, Duke, NC State, Louisville, Miami,  Pitt, Syracuse, Virginia, and VA Tech is 11 plus we throw in West Virginia from the big 12, ECU and Memphis, Tulsa, Tulane and Navy, Temple, and South Florida, and Army for 20. 

And so on.

I'm afraid that Hawaii and NMSU join our conference.  There are two 18 team conferences left.

There are the 38 teams in the top 2 groups. 

There are 5 other conferences each about 20 teams.  The top two teams from each of the two divisions of the five conferences play in opening round bowl games.  Twenty teams play in 10 bowl games in the first round.  Random draws or regionally for interest.  The ten winners play in round two. Five games.  These five winners move on.

The twenty-two next level conference sends the five top teams from each division.  Ten teams play five games.

Now, the top tier top 5 ranked teams play the original five that had moved up.  Winners move on.  The top five from each division of the 22 team conference play to get their five winners.  Winners of the Top Teir versus the Third Tier teams play the five Second Tier winners.  Five teams left.  Highest ranked team has a bye, the others four play for a chance to play for the championship.

I have confused myself, and am getting dirty looks from my wife for spending so muchtime trying to figure it out.  You get the idea.