(01-02-2018 01:03 PM)Win5002 Wrote:  IN a P3 of 60 or 63 I don't think you can find reasonable grouping of conferences where each new team maintains an existing rivalry with 2 of the EXISTING members of the new conference outside of the 1st conference selected. For instance I can pick 6 with established rivalries for the SEC but you won't be able to do that with the new teams the B1G picks next. The B1G is going to go with ND, NC, Duke, Va., Va. Tech and Pitt or Syracuse. Oustide of ND all of those schools really only have rivalries or a history with Maryland. So unless only the SEC in a P3 has to have existing rivalries I don't think you can make it work.

Also, in a P3 where you have 3 pretty equal leagues I think a little horse trading could make sense. I don't know if that would still be against the rules because the SEC & B1G would theoretically have their advantage cut into by consolidating to 3 leagues. There could still be a money difference but it would be smaller and teams could decide a better fit is definitely more important than the small revenue difference.

The solution of a 3 x 20 is that essentially the schools that move form their own division and already have the rivalries and annual games with each other.

So if the SEC expanded with say Clemson, Florida State, N.C. State, Virginia Tech, Miami, and Georgia Tech, and the Big 10 expanded with Duke, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Virginia, and the PAC took Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, T.C.U., and Texas Tech the rivalry and familiar foe conditions are met through the additions more than through connections to current conference members.

If say the SEC were permitted to expand to 24 while the PAC & Big 10 remained at 20 then Baylor, West Virginia, Louisville, and perhaps Duke could be accommodated leaving a slot for B.C. in the Big 10. Now the only odd man out is Wake Forest.

But while I'm not advocating for this exact division I use it to illustrate that with large moves the criteria for rivals and familiar foes are met by the moves themselves.

If the powers that be decided a P3 was in the best interest of the majority I agree a little shifting of existing members might come into play. But that's a good topic for another thread. This one is just a thinking exercise so I gave it rules that would approximate how conferences might think through this process, and for fun.