What these conferences need is an alliance.

I'm piggybacking on JR and GTS's notion of the mega conference in the Master Plan thread. I suggest a slightly different structure though.

Behold...

West: Texas, Texas Tech, Baylor, TCU, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State

South: Texas A&M, LSU, Tulane, Arkansas, Missouri, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Alabama, Auburn

East: Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia Tech, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Louisville, West Virginia

Atlantic: Florida State, Miami, Georgia Tech, Clemson, North Carolina, NC State, Duke, Wake Forest, Virginia

You play 8 division games...1 permanent rival from another division...1 rotating rival from each of the other divisions. That's 12 conference games...6 home, 6 away. Then hold conference semis with the 4 division winners.

The only schools left out are the 3 Northern ACC schools and I'm guessing Notre Dame isn't going to be that interested.

I think you only need one network for this conference, but you can also charge higher fees for a variety of content and games from different markets. ABC/ESPN will need all the content they can get for their primary platforms so as not to be caught behind the eight ball.

I'm still not buying these mega conference things. What's the advantage of grouping these 36 schools together when we already have three conferences that already do that for us? So what if the ACC or B12 implode...the market place will sort this out.

The way the divisions are lined up, not much has changed. Let's look at the Atlantic Division
Atlantic: Florida State, Miami, Georgia Tech, Clemson, North Carolina, NC State, Duke, Wake Forest, Virginia

That's basically the ACC southern schools. An improvement over what they had before, but still plenty of filler. The West Division is just the B12 minus WVU. The south is nothing more than the SEC West with Tulane added to help relieve the strain of having to find OOC cup cakes to add to future schedules. The other division actually added some good pieces competitively and geographically.

I think this could happen in a P2 scenario but I don't think there will be this many teams involved, 32 max per mega conference. The networks will want some consolidation to cut overhead. IMO mega conferences are bad for the networks, ESPN & Fox. Why pay 64 or so teams premium prices when you can keep them separated & save $100's of millions?

Example:
2 32 (64) team conferences making $30 each = $1,920,000,000.

Where as 2 conferences of 16 making $30 million each = $960 million plus 2 conferences of 16 making $25 million each = $800 million for a total of $1,760,000,000. That's a savings of $160 million.

slight change...

West: Texas, Texas Tech, Baylor, TCU, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State

South: Texas A&M, LSU, Arkansas, Missouri, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Alabama, Auburn, Vanderbilt

East: Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia Tech, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Syracuse

Atlantic: Florida State, Miami, Georgia Tech, Clemson, North Carolina, NC State, Duke, Virginia, Louisville

Dump Tulane and Wake, add Pitt and Syracuse.

(04-01-2016 01:08 PM)ren.hoek Wrote:  slight change...

West: Texas, Texas Tech, Baylor, TCU, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State

South: Texas A&M, LSU, Arkansas, Missouri, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Alabama, Auburn, Vanderbilt

East: Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia Tech, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Syracuse

Atlantic: Florida State, Miami, Georgia Tech, Clemson, North Carolina, NC State, Duke, Virginia, Louisville

Dump Tulane and Wake, add Pitt and Syracuse.

Put Auburn in the East or Atlantic and I could buy into something along those lines. Everyone born after 1990 seems to forget that in '92 Auburn game up these annual rivals: Tennessee & Florida, in '78 we gave up our oldest rival Georgia Tech, and we have to play our second oldest rival Georgia as a permanent crossover all so the Tide could keep both us and Tennessee on the schedule. Auburn has played Clemson more than they have some of their West divisional schools. I think we've played Clemson about 60 plus times and we've played L.S.U., Arkansas, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, South Carolina, and Missouri less.

Auburn is less than a half hour from the Georgia border. We are 3 hours from Athens, less than 2 hours from Georgia Tech, a littel less than 3 hours from Florida State, about 3 and a half hours from Gainesville, and our closest Western division rival is Tuscaloosa 2 and a half hours from Auburn. From Auburn to Knoxville is about 3 and a half and Nashville about the same. South Carolina falls into that range as well.

How about this P3?

PAC
USC, Stanford, Cal, UCLA, Oregon, Oregon St, Washington, Washington St

Arizona, Arizona State, Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TT, Utah, Colorado

B1G
Ohio State, Michigan, Illinois, Purdue, Northwestern

Nebraska, Kansas, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota

Penn State, ND, Michigan, Indiana, Rutgers

NC, Duke, Virginia, VT, Maryland

SEC
A&M, Arkansas, Missouri, Louisville, Vanderbilt

LSU, Mississippi, Miss State, Kentucky, Tennessee

Alabama, Auburn, GT, Miami, Clemson

Florida, Georgia, SC, FSU, NC State

This leaves out Pittsburgh, Syracuse, BC, WF, Iowa State, Baylor, Kansas State, WV & TCU. The PAC, B1G & SEC champ goes to the CFP with the 4th spot going to a wildcard.

(04-01-2016 07:59 PM)Lenvillecards Wrote:  How about this P3?

PAC
USC, Stanford, Cal, UCLA, Oregon, Oregon St, Washington, Washington St

Arizona, Arizona State, Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TT, Utah, Colorado

B1G
Ohio State, Michigan, Illinois, Purdue, Northwestern

Nebraska, Kansas, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota

Penn State, ND, Michigan, Indiana, Rutgers

NC, Duke, Virginia, VT, Maryland

SEC
A&M, Arkansas, Missouri, Louisville, Vanderbilt

LSU, Mississippi, Miss State, Kentucky, Tennessee

Alabama, Auburn, GT, Miami, Clemson

Florida, Georgia, SC, FSU, NC State

This leaves out Pittsburgh, Syracuse, BC, WF, Iowa State, Baylor, Kansas State, WV & TCU. The PAC, B1G & SEC champ goes to the CFP with the 4th spot going to a wildcard.

I like the composition of the SEC okay. I'd like it better with Virginia Tech. Not so much the arrangement. Try this:

Arkansas, Louisiana State, Missouri, Mississippi, Texas A&M

Alabama, Florida State, Louisville, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt

Auburn, Clemson, Florida, Georgia, Georgia Tech

Kentucky, N.C. State, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia Tech,

(04-01-2016 08:27 PM)JRsec Wrote:  

(04-01-2016 07:59 PM)Lenvillecards Wrote:  How about this P3?

PAC
USC, Stanford, Cal, UCLA, Oregon, Oregon St, Washington, Washington St

Arizona, Arizona State, Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TT, Utah, Colorado

B1G
Ohio State, Michigan, Illinois, Purdue, Northwestern

Nebraska, Kansas, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota

Penn State, ND, Michigan, Indiana, Rutgers

NC, Duke, Virginia, VT, Maryland

SEC
A&M, Arkansas, Missouri, Louisville, Vanderbilt

LSU, Mississippi, Miss State, Kentucky, Tennessee

Alabama, Auburn, GT, Miami, Clemson

Florida, Georgia, SC, FSU, NC State

This leaves out Pittsburgh, Syracuse, BC, WF, Iowa State, Baylor, Kansas State, WV & TCU. The PAC, B1G & SEC champ goes to the CFP with the 4th spot going to a wildcard.

I like the composition of the SEC okay. I'd like it better with Virginia Tech. Not so much the arrangement. Try this:

Arkansas, Louisiana State, Missouri, Mississippi, Texas A&M

Alabama, Florida State, Louisville, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt

Auburn, Clemson, Florida, Georgia, Georgia Tech

Kentucky, N.C. State, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia Tech,

I wasn't completely happy with my arrangement either. Replacing Miami with VT is a nice move but I had trouble finding another to put in the B1G. Between VT, Pittsburgh, Syracuse & BC I thought they would take VT. You could slide ND into VT spot in the B1G to balance out the divisions & then put either Syracuse, Pittsburgh or BC in with Michigan & Penn State. Miami is a strong team to leave out though, I suppose the B1G could take them instead of another northeastern team & put them into VT spot. NC, Duke, Virginia, Maryland & Miami would work to I guess.

Play your division plus 2 permanent rivals & then rotate 1 from the 3 remaining divisions for a 9 game schedule.

(04-02-2016 12:55 AM)Lenvillecards Wrote:  

(04-01-2016 08:27 PM)JRsec Wrote:  

(04-01-2016 07:59 PM)Lenvillecards Wrote:  How about this P3?

PAC
USC, Stanford, Cal, UCLA, Oregon, Oregon St, Washington, Washington St

Arizona, Arizona State, Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TT, Utah, Colorado

B1G
Ohio State, Michigan, Illinois, Purdue, Northwestern

Nebraska, Kansas, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota

Penn State, ND, Michigan, Indiana, Rutgers

NC, Duke, Virginia, VT, Maryland

SEC
A&M, Arkansas, Missouri, Louisville, Vanderbilt

LSU, Mississippi, Miss State, Kentucky, Tennessee

Alabama, Auburn, GT, Miami, Clemson

Florida, Georgia, SC, FSU, NC State

This leaves out Pittsburgh, Syracuse, BC, WF, Iowa State, Baylor, Kansas State, WV & TCU. The PAC, B1G & SEC champ goes to the CFP with the 4th spot going to a wildcard.

I like the composition of the SEC okay. I'd like it better with Virginia Tech. Not so much the arrangement. Try this:

Arkansas, Louisiana State, Missouri, Mississippi, Texas A&M

Alabama, Florida State, Louisville, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt

Auburn, Clemson, Florida, Georgia, Georgia Tech

Kentucky, N.C. State, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia Tech,

I wasn't completely happy with my arrangement either. Replacing Miami with VT is a nice move but I had trouble finding another to put in the B1G. Between VT, Pittsburgh, Syracuse & BC I thought they would take VT. You could slide ND into VT spot in the B1G to balance out the divisions & then put either Syracuse, Pittsburgh or BC in with Michigan & Penn State. Miami is a strong team to leave out though, I suppose the B1G could take them instead of another northeastern team & put them into VT spot. NC, Duke, Virginia, Maryland & Miami would work to I guess.

Play your division plus 2 permanent rivals & then rotate 1 from the 3 remaining divisions for a 9 game schedule.

I think this would be more revenue neutral/positive for ESPN & Fox as well.

Let's say that Pittsburgh, Miami, BC & WF join WV, TCU, Baylor, Iowa St & Kansas St in the Big 12 & add 3 more.

Let's look at the numbers. Let's say the 9 teams left out of the P3 are dropped from $25 million down to $10 million, that saves $135 million.

The B12 & PAC make nearly the same but let's say that the networks sweeten the deal by giving them a $3 million bump for $48 million. Plus they help distribute their network, whatever cut they get off of the PACN would more than pay for this assumably. Having the state of Texas paying a premium price for the PACN & having improved distribution should make the network a success & be a good source of income for the conference & networks.

Now the 12 ACC/B12 schools joining the B1G & the SEC would get about a $5 million bump, not counting the conference networks revenue. That's about another $60 million in expenses. Would the SEC & B1G get a bump up in TV payouts? Let's say all 40 schools get a $3 million bump as well, that's $120 million.

All together that would be about a $93 million deficit before the additional revenue from the conference networks are included. If ESPN & Fox let the new B12 go with a different network then they would save an additional $90 million. It would come down to how these moves effect the conference networks that determine if they are financially worth it.

Heck if you just take out the $3 million bump across the board ESPN & Fox would save $75 million ($135 million saved from consolidation minus $60 million to bump up 12 teams to the B1G & SEC level).

(04-02-2016 01:54 AM)Lenvillecards Wrote:  

(04-02-2016 12:55 AM)Lenvillecards Wrote:  

(04-01-2016 08:27 PM)JRsec Wrote:  

(04-01-2016 07:59 PM)Lenvillecards Wrote:  How about this P3?

PAC
USC, Stanford, Cal, UCLA, Oregon, Oregon St, Washington, Washington St

Arizona, Arizona State, Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TT, Utah, Colorado

B1G
Ohio State, Michigan, Illinois, Purdue, Northwestern

Nebraska, Kansas, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota

Penn State, ND, Michigan, Indiana, Rutgers

NC, Duke, Virginia, VT, Maryland

SEC
A&M, Arkansas, Missouri, Louisville, Vanderbilt

LSU, Mississippi, Miss State, Kentucky, Tennessee

Alabama, Auburn, GT, Miami, Clemson

Florida, Georgia, SC, FSU, NC State

This leaves out Pittsburgh, Syracuse, BC, WF, Iowa State, Baylor, Kansas State, WV & TCU. The PAC, B1G & SEC champ goes to the CFP with the 4th spot going to a wildcard.

I like the composition of the SEC okay. I'd like it better with Virginia Tech. Not so much the arrangement. Try this:

Arkansas, Louisiana State, Missouri, Mississippi, Texas A&M

Alabama, Florida State, Louisville, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt

Auburn, Clemson, Florida, Georgia, Georgia Tech

Kentucky, N.C. State, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia Tech,

I wasn't completely happy with my arrangement either. Replacing Miami with VT is a nice move but I had trouble finding another to put in the B1G. Between VT, Pittsburgh, Syracuse & BC I thought they would take VT. You could slide ND into VT spot in the B1G to balance out the divisions & then put either Syracuse, Pittsburgh or BC in with Michigan & Penn State. Miami is a strong team to leave out though, I suppose the B1G could take them instead of another northeastern team & put them into VT spot. NC, Duke, Virginia, Maryland & Miami would work to I guess.

Play your division plus 2 permanent rivals & then rotate 1 from the 3 remaining divisions for a 9 game schedule.

I think this would be more revenue neutral/positive for ESPN & Fox as well.

Let's say that Pittsburgh, Miami, BC & WF join WV, TCU, Baylor, Iowa St & Kansas St in the Big 12 & add 3 more.

Let's look at the numbers. Let's say the 9 teams left out of the P3 are dropped from $25 million down to $10 million, that saves $135 million.

The B12 & PAC make nearly the same but let's say that the networks sweeten the deal by giving them a $3 million bump for $48 million. Plus they help distribute their network, whatever cut they get off of the PACN would more than pay for this assumably. Having the state of Texas paying a premium price for the PACN & having improved distribution should make the network a success & be a good source of income for the conference & networks.

Now the 12 ACC/B12 schools joining the B1G & the SEC would get about a $5 million bump, not counting the conference networks revenue. That's about another $60 million in expenses. Would the SEC & B1G get a bump up in TV payouts? Let's say all 40 schools get a $3 million bump as well, that's $120 million.

All together that would be about a $93 million deficit before the additional revenue from the conference networks are included. If ESPN & Fox let the new B12 go with a different network then they would save an additional $90 million. It would come down to how these moves effect the conference networks that determine if they are financially worth it.

Heck if you just take out the $3 million bump across the board ESPN & Fox would save $75 million ($135 million saved from consolidation minus $60 million to bump up 12 teams to the B1G & SEC level).

I still think there is merit in forming the 3rd P conference as an all private conference. Try working with that. It solves a lot of problems. Especially if you work the service academies in as a kind of private status (which of course they aren't, but they are more like privates than state schools and might not be adverse to playing in a private conference). And if you take some of the state schools with weaker programs and work them into the private conference in regions where they fit.

SEC:

Auburn, Clemson, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Georgia Tech
South Carolina, North Carolina, N.C. State, Tennessee, Virginia, Virginia Tech

Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana State, Louisville, Mississippi, Mississippi State
Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M

Big 10:

Maryland, Ohio State, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Purdue, Rutgers
Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Wisconsin

Colorado, Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas, Utah, Nebraska
Arizona, Arizona State, California, Cal Los Angeles, Oregon, Washington


Private:
Army, Boston College, Navy, Notre Dame, Syracuse (West Virginia)
Duke, Northwestern, Miami, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest (Connecticut)

Baylor, Rice, T.C.U., (Houston, Kansas State & Texas Tech)
Air Force, Brigham Young, Southern California, Stanford (Washington State & Oregon State)

Now you have 72 schools regionally grouped into conferences.