(10-29-2019 03:57 PM)Soobahk40050 Wrote:  

(10-29-2019 02:30 PM)JRsec Wrote:  

(10-29-2019 12:44 PM)Soobahk40050 Wrote:  

(10-28-2019 05:21 PM)JRsec Wrote:  

(10-27-2019 11:29 PM)AllTideUp Wrote:  Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Kansas

It would be a really good combo.

I believe that would be the strongest play to date in realignment. It gives us the entire footprint of the Big 12 minus Iowa and West Virginia. It gives us their best three remaining brands. It keeps the rivalries together. And it leaves a future move to 20 with two remaining slots for the ACC reserving slots for a North Carolina school and Florida State. The rest can be left to hang out to dry.

If we don't raid the ACC I think they add WVU for football gravitas and stand pat waiting for N.D. to go all in.

I still like 3 divisions of 6 but going divisionless would be great too. But adding those four cleans up the table and leaves the SEC in an unassailable position with regard to content.

I think 20 is an arbitrary number. If we are already at 3 divisions of 6, shifting to 4 of 5 is harder than 3 of 7. 21 might be better.


Scheduling would be harder, but it would establish a wild card and keep fans interested

Division less works at 21 too. You play:
5 every season, rotate 5 for 10 conference games, takes 6 years

4 every season, 4 others at 8 conference games, takes 8 years

Actually 20 is not arbitrary. With 4 half divisions of 5 you would play the 4 in your half division every year. Rotate the 5 from the other divisions each year and play everyone in 3 years. What you would not be able to keep are any permanent rivals except those in your division.

Divisionless you might keep 4 annual rivals and rotate the other 15 (5 per year) play 9 conference games and play everyone every 3 years.

Maybe "unnecessary limit" is a better word. The only difference between 20 in a 4 division set up and 21 in a three division set up is you need the 10th conference game to see everyone in three years.

I wrote this mostly because your post mentioned having two spots open for a NC school and FSU. I guess what I am claiming is that 3 spots could also work. One NC school, Clemson and FSU all fit.

I know this is reductio ad absurdum to a point:
If you had 12 conference games you could have 25 teams and play 12 one season and the other 12 the other, but no one is suggesting 25 teams. I've seen some 24 team alignments: 5-1-3 (play 5 from your division, 1 permanent, 3 from another division, get through in 6 years).

I do tend to like the configurations that allow for H-H of every conference team in 4 four years, so that 4 year players are guaranteed to play every team twice. That could work at 15 (4 in your division every year, 5 from the other division and rotate), 16 (3 permanent rivals, rotate the other 6), and larger configurations too.

Slive said it best. The only real limit on the size of a conference is profitability.

The biggest obstacles to any of this isn't the desire of the conferences, but the regulations of the NCAA.

And that affects profitability. Get the NCAA out of the way and basketball programs would earn (by themselves) at least 25 million a year in media revenue and many say possibly 35 million. If the NCAA's money hoarding governance of the tournament is out of the way that means that Duke, North Carolina, and Kansas all three could pay their way in (Duke may still be a bit iffy but Carolina may help to cover that).

Right now it is content football program driven process. Let the basketball schools truly keep most of what they actually earn through the tournament and the worm turns and suddenly they become a major factor in realignment.

Last year the tournament made 1 billion. Divide that in half and divide by 64 and figure out the tourney creds. You'll be shocked.

If we truly needed to act in our own self interest with the ACC should it implode why not go to 24 (Clemson, F.S.U., Duke, UNC, Virginia & Va Tech).

If you simply paid every participant in March Madness an equal share that would be 15,625,000 per school. Of course that won't happen. But tack that onto the regular season rights and conference tourney rights and you should be looking at 30-35 million per school easily. And we all know if you pay by credits the top. Tourney creds would be $8,064,500 per school instead of something like 2.5 million now. So each round a school advanced that would be another $8,064,500. Auburn would have made over 40 million just for the tourney last year. Instead we'll get around 12.5 million and we will get that over 6 years.