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College Football 2021: Cash is King

With the conference map stretching so far I wonder now if travel will play back into scheduling and pods are introduced. In that case, if all the rumored schools do join, this is one possible outcome. If there will still be a semblance of a normal schedule (9 conf, 3 non-con) then you could play your pod every year and cycle through the other pods. This would get a little wonky because MSU/UM and NW/ILL would need to be protected every year.

Edit: ND would also want at least USC, and maybe Stanford every year too.

East:
Maryland
Michigan
Rutgers
Penn State
Ohio State

Great Lakes:
Indiana
Michigan State
Northwestern
Notre Dame
Purdue

Great Plains:
Illinois
Iowa
Minnesota
Nebraska
Wisconsin

Pacific:
Oregon
Stanford
UCLA
USC
Washington

On the other hand, with all the money coming through, travel might not be the biggest issue, so they could stick with the proposed 3 protected + x wild card that's becoming the norm in other conferences. But who knows what scheduling will look like with these super conferences. They could have a ten game conference schedule, then have two crossover weeks at the end of the year with five tournaments. i.e. 1 East plays 1 Great Lakes, 1 Great Plains plays 1 West. Winners play for the conference championship. Losers play a consolation the next week. Do that for all five standings slots. Each year the pairings change so the next year the semi-final round would be East vs Great Plains and Great Lakes vs West.
 
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LynahFan said:
Yeah, I know about that. Still do not get it.

It's not like researchers at Ivy+SEC or Big10+Pac10 or Sunbelt+Oxford don't/can't collaborate. Is a UMich professor *really* more likely to share data and techniques and ideas with a Nebraska professor than, say, a Princeton professor, just because their respective lunkheads toss a pigskin around every so often? In my experience, professors these days collaborate with the best people doing similar/complementary/synergistic research literally anywhere in the world regardless of well, anything. Any result that is remotely interesting (and gazillions that are NOT) is published for all to see anyway, so it's not like the BTAI is hoarding trade secrets or something.
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As an example, in the early days, the CIC purchased a large telescope in South America that none of the individuals could have afforded.
 
So a four-team B1G, where the GP has a fight every year to be #4.

Spartanforlife4 said:
East:
Maryland
Michigan
Rutgers
Penn State
Ohio State

Great Lakes:
Indiana
Michigan State
Northwestern
Notre Dame
Purdue

Great Plains:
Illinois
Iowa
Minnesota
Nebraska
Wisconsin

Pacific:
Oregon
Stanford
UCLA
USC
Washington
Click to expand...

Add Cal to the Pacific and you've got the only part of the Pac-10 that ever mattered anyway.
 
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Spartanforlife4 said:
With the conference map stretching so far I wonder now if travel will play back into scheduling and pods are introduced. In that case, if all the rumored schools do join, this is one possible outcome. If there will still be a semblance of a normal schedule (9 conf, 3 non-con) then you could play your pod every year and cycle through the other pods. This would get a little wonky because MSU/UM and NW/ILL would need to be protected every year.

Edit: ND would also want at least USC, and maybe Stanford every year too.

East:
Maryland
Michigan
Rutgers
Penn State
Ohio State

Great Lakes:
Indiana
Michigan State
Northwestern
Notre Dame
Purdue

Great Plains:
Illinois
Iowa
Minnesota
Nebraska
Wisconsin

Pacific:
Oregon
Stanford
UCLA
USC
Washington

On the other hand, with all the money coming through, travel might not be the biggest issue, so they could stick with the proposed 3 protected + x wild card that's becoming the norm in other conferences. But who knows what scheduling will look like with these super conferences. They could have a ten game conference schedule, then have two crossover weeks at the end of the year with five tournaments. i.e. 1 East plays 1 Great Lakes, 1 Great Plains plays 1 West. Winners play for the conference championship. Losers play a consolation the next week. Do that for all five standings slots. Each year the pairings change so the next year the semi-final round would be East vs Great Plains and Great Lakes vs West.
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Football is the travel outlier. Figure out travel for basketball, baseball/softball, volleyball and other sports.

Classroom will be virtual.
 
As a Notre Dame football fan since 1971 who respect the tradition of independence and has resisted joining a conference... join now. This is a stupid idea whose time has come. If, as I strongly suspect, super conferences are granite countertops, the fad will eventually run its course and we can either fashion a smaller conference of secessionists or even go back to Indy. But for now, there are 2 choices and Jesusfuckistan Football has nothing to do with us, so cut the shit now. Even Hamlet makes a choice in Act V.
 
Kepler said:
As a Notre Dame football fan since 1971 who respect the tradition of independence and has resisted joining a conference... join now. This is a stupid idea whose time has come. If, as I strongly suspect, super conferences are granite countertops, the fad will eventually run its course and we can either fashion a smaller conference of secessionists or even go back to Indy. But for now, there are 2 choices and Jesusfuckistan Football has nothing to do with us, so cut the **** now. Even Hamlet makes a choice in Act V.
Click to expand...

The USC move by the B1G* was the final move ... Notre Dame had no idea they were vulnerable before they were in check and mate.


*Most pundits are saying UCLA was the benefactor. The B1G needed about $200M in media for this to work and USC brings $150-175 of it. UCLA is the benefitting travel partner.
 
Kepler said:
As a Notre Dame football fan since 1971 who respect the tradition of independence and has resisted joining a conference... join now. This is a stupid idea whose time has come. If, as I strongly suspect, super conferences are granite countertops, the fad will eventually run its course and we can either fashion a smaller conference of secessionists or even go back to Indy. But for now, there are 2 choices and Jesusfuckistan Football has nothing to do with us, so cut the **** now. Even Hamlet makes a choice in Act V.
Click to expand...

I could see ND/Stanford added as a pair. It makes it more palatable for ND to go to the B1G if USC and Stanford are both there, as then all of their big rivalries are within the conference. It would raise hell for Stanford to go where Cal is not, but it feels like it's getting to be every program for themself at this point.
 
French Rage said:
... where Cal is not, but it feels like it's getting to be every program for themself at this point.
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That's what I'm not understanding in this.

Folks on other boards are putting out scenarios where NoDame/Stan/UW/UO go to the B1G and UC-Berkeley is left swingin' in the wind.

I don't see Cal without a good chair when the music stops.
 
The Sicatoka said:
That's what I'm not understanding in this.

Folks on other boards are putting out scenarios where NoDame/Stan/UW/UO go to the B1G and UC-Berkeley is left swingin' in the wind.

I don't see Cal without a good chair when the music stops.
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Washington has Seattle. Oregon has the branding. Notre Dame is Notre Dame and 70 years of rejection by both sides at one time or another finally coming to fruition.

Stanford has the Bay Area, the academics, and the championships.

What does Cal bring that wouldn’t already be covered? Stanford would cover the Bay Area, if we’re looking for a UC public, UCLA is tied or ahead of them in rankings depending on where you look and has a bigger endowment, and are outflanked by current and former success by the other three California schools getting brought in.

I would love to see Cal come if the Big Ten goes over 20 teams, but with all the characteristics that appear to be important, what Cal brings to the table is already covered by other schools.
 
Spartanforlife4 said:
Washington has Seattle. Oregon has the branding. Notre Dame is Notre Dame and 70 years of rejection by both sides at one time or another finally coming to fruition.

Stanford has the Bay Area, the academics, and the championships.

What does Cal bring that wouldn’t already be covered? Stanford would cover the Bay Area, if we’re looking for a UC public, UCLA is tied or ahead of them in rankings depending on where you look and has a bigger endowment, and are outflanked by current and former success by the other three California schools getting brought in.

I would love to see Cal come if the Big Ten goes over 20 teams, but with all the characteristics that appear to be important, what Cal brings to the table is already covered by other schools.
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Cal has a larger student body, a larger alumni base, and as much as I hate to say it probably a bigger fan base when push comes to shove, due to the two previous factors and the fact it has the state association, versus Stanford being private. The bigger problem they have, as you pointed out, is that any advantage they have can be covered by another school; their UC association is covered by UCLA; their Bay Area association is covered by Stanford. If they are the first in, great for them; if not, though, there is less to marginally gain by adding them.

I think the big question for them, and really for all schools, is how big does the B1G get? If they are OK with just USC/UCLA, this is all moot. If they want just two more after that, then suddenly there is a lot of jockeying between UW, UO, Stanford, and ND. If they want just four more, then we start to wonder where Cal fits in.
 
Also, given how much Cal is still financially on the line for their recent retrofits to Memorial Stadium, if they suddenly find themselves with all of their football rivals in another conference, shit is going to hit the fan.
 
What are the odds that a P5 groups decides to exit the football arms race?

If Cal/Stan made such a move to a more "Ivy" view of athletics* ... could they get others in?
Notre Dame?
If someone broke the ACC GOR could they lure Duke/Wake/Virginia**?
Would Vandy or N'western step away from the SEC or B1G?
Rice? Tulane?


* again become universities with football, instead of football teams with university branding
** UNC would take the B1G money
 
I saw this notion in a different forum. I'm having trouble defeating the argument --> The well-off are just hardening up for tough times.

... it isn't greed. It's fear.

The reason so many here doubted the potential of this (B1G poaching PAC) is because you were focused on sports. IMO, this became evident when Texas moved. Institutions like Texas, which had resided in a world of its own making, and which sat atop yearly revenue leaders, doesn't move out of greed. Something had to scare the hell out of them for that to happen. So, what was it?

Demographic and Economic paradigm shifts amid an uncertain global political future.

These moves are a circling of the wagons for defense, strength in numbers.
Click to expand...

The B1G just got the #2 media market, a top 5 research spending school, and the #1 state for exporting college students.
USC and UCLA just got far better monetary (athletics or research alliance) guarantees through the coming days.
 
It seems to me the writing is on the wall for two, 32-team super-conferences, as follows:

SEC

Southeastern Division
Alabama
Auburn
Florida
Georgia
LSU
Mississippi
Mississippi State
Tennessee

Atlantic Division
Clemson
Duke
Florida State
Georgia Tech
North Carolina
North Carolina State
Virginia
Wake Forest

Big Southwest Division
Arkansas
Baylor
Colorado
Missouri
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Texas
Texas A&M

No Championship Division
Arizona
Arizona State
BYU
Kentucky
Louisville
South Carolina
TCU
Vanderbilt

B1G

Big Division
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Michigan
Minnesota
Northwestern
Purdue
Wisconsin

East Division
Boston College
Miami
Pittsburgh
Rutgers
Syracuse
Virginia Tech
West Virginia

Independent Division
Notre Dame

Pacific Division
California
Oregon
Oregon State
Stanford
UCLA
USC
Washington
Washington State

Others Division
Kansas
Kansas State
Iowa State
Maryland
Michigan State
Nebraska
Ohio State
Penn State
 
Why bother with the term 'conference' at this rate? To me a conference is a grouping in which you more often play the other teams within, with some more than others. At 32 teams there are opponents you might see every 8 years or so. That doesn't make for rivalries.

Now I'm not naive and I understand this is all about $$ but 32 teams would be absurd. 18-20 would be only mildly absurd.
 
Slap Shot said:
Why bother with the term 'conference' at this rate? To me a conference is a grouping in which you more often play the other teams within, with some more than others. At 32 teams there are opponents you might see every 8 years or so. That doesn't make for rivalries.

Now I'm not naive and I understand this is all about $$ but 32 teams would be absurd. 18-20 would be only mildly absurd.
Click to expand...

I wonder if this is all just setting the stage for the power teams to tell the NC$$ to DIAF.

It is obviously just about money.
 
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