(05-24-2018 10:07 AM)bullet Wrote: (05-23-2018 04:21 AM)XLance Wrote: Two leagues would allow conferences to be smaller and more regional.
If the P5 divided in half with 32 teams per league (plus Notre Dame on one side) we could go back to 8 team conferences playing in a 16 team division.
More regional play, less travel but still have the opportunity to have premier matchups within a league.
Or you could have 2 groups each with three 12 team leagues or 3 groups each with two 12 team leagues.
In the SEC now, you play your non-rival in the other division once in 6 years.
In a group with 2 12 team leagues, you could play an 8 game conference schedule +2 P5 out of conference, meet the 5 teams in your division every year, the 6 teams in the other division every other year and the 12 teams in the other league once in 6 years. Even with one fixed rival, you would play the 6 teams in the other division twice in 5 years.
So you could have a 24 team group and meet the all the other teams as much or more than you do now in the SEC.
5-0-3-2 schedule
12 years x 10= 120 games
5 teams in division X12=60
6 teams in other division X6=36
12 teams in other league X2=24
If you have that many somewhat regionally compatible schools to schedule from I would argue that you would only have 1 OOC game and that the variety that we all look for in our schedules would be ample enough keep everything else in house.
The problem with OOC games is that you splinter off the revenue from that game.
If Texas stays in basically a Big 12 oriented conference with Oklahoma, Kansas, and other Texas schools but they have access to anyone from the SEC or ACC for scheduling purposes would that not satisfy the alums desire for a better slate of schools to play?
So consider a Texas schedule in which Arkansas, A&M, Oklahoma, Tech, Okie State and Kansas make an annual appearance, and schools like North Carolina, Virginia, Alabama, Florida, Tennessee, etc. rotate in and out somewhat regularly is that not a major coup for UT?
In a two league set up the only thing that really changes is that current conference scheduling politics and restrictions are swept aside. Texas in a division of its key Big 12 schools with former SWC & Big 12 rivals open to them, would still be as powerful as they are today. That one OOC game could then be rotated between U.C.L.A., Michigan, U.S.C., Iowa, etc.
What it does do is save the full cost of at least 1 conference's overhead, and possibly 2. That without getting a raise is still more money. Right now each conference office essentially operates for the cost of 1 full share. Place the best of the Big 12 under an umbrella with the SEC and ACC and the League could have 1 set of offices. The 36 schools under that umbrella could then divide the money not wasted on the costs of 2 sets of conference overhead. And the cost of the league is now divided among many more schools.