The powers that be have decided to move forward without the SEC and B1G - and everyone is in agreement.

How would you divide them up?

Rules:
1) You are not required to keep the other 3 power conferences intact as they are today.
2) You are not limited to only the 65 power schools.
3) You do not have to use all 65 power schools.
4) Independents are acceptable but fewer makes this more interesting.
5) No conference can have more than 4 present-day members of the B1G or SEC. This means a conference can have up to 4 schools from each of the B1G and SEC but no more than 4 from either.

Let's see how this goes!

So what’s your scenario? Anti-trust break up? If so, you might want a rule that would keep the big boys from teaming up.

You could get a conference of:

Ohio St, Mich, Mich St, Penn St, UGA, Alabama, Florida, LSU, Clemson, Florida St, Oklahoma, and Texas

The SEC just needs to drop the 5 worthless schools: Missouri, Kentucky (no one cares about b-ball), Vanderbilt, Ole Miss, and Mississippi State.

Add 3 schools that will draw eyeballs to games (remember, TV market size for cable contracts is no longer the biggest driver -- now you need to draw advertising revenue): Clemson, FSU, VT.

East: VT, Tennessee, USC, Clemson, UGA, UF
West: Alabama, Auburn, FSU, LSU, Arkansas, A&M

Protected crossovers:

Alabama-Tennessee
Auburn-UGA
FSU-UF

The alignment of the other three games doesn't really matter.

(04-21-2020 03:27 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  So what’s your scenario? Anti-trust break up? If so, you might want a rule that would keep the big boys from teaming up.

You could get a conference of:

Ohio St, Mich, Mich St, Penn St, UGA, Alabama, Florida, LSU, Clemson, Florida St, Oklahoma, and Texas

I thought about that but decided against it. I'm not sure all those schools would want to team up. If you look at the current CFP system, these schools make up 21 of the 24 playoff teams. As long as that conference doesn't have autobids that others do not, then there's no anti-trust issue. These schools would have many more losses than they would otherwise. We also may have other interests at play.

I fail your arbitrary "only move 3 per conference" rule but here's my try:

B1G to BIG XII: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska
B1G to ACC: Penn St., Maryland, Rutgers
SEC to BIG XII: Mizzou, Arkansas, LSU, TAMU
SEC to ACC: Florida, Georgia, SC

Merge remaining SEC and B1G

(04-21-2020 03:48 PM)Erictelevision Wrote:  I fail your arbitrary "only move 3 per conference" rule but here's my try:

B1G to BIG XII: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska
B1G to ACC: Penn St., Maryland, Rutgers
SEC to BIG XII: Mizzou, Arkansas, LSU, TAMU
SEC to ACC: Florida, Georgia, SC

Merge remaining SEC and B1G

Well, all rules are arbitrary to some degree. At some point we gotta accept some rules as objective or else everything goes in the crapper.

But to your alignment:

PAC - same

XVIII
North: Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Iowa St, Nebraska, Missouri
West: Kansas, Kansas St, Oklahoma, Oklahoma St, Texas, Texas Tech
East: TCU, Baylor, Texas A&M, Arkansas, LSU, West Virginia

ACC
North: Penn St, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Syracuse, Boston College
West: Louisville, Maryland, Virginia Tech, North Carolina St, Wake Forest
East: Virginia, North Carolina, Duke, South Carolina, Clemson
South: Florida, Florida St, Miami, Georgia, Georgia Tech

B1G-SEC
North: Illinois, Northwestern, Indiana, Purdue, Michigan, Michigan St, Ohio St
South: Kentucky, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Mississippi, Mississippi St, Alabama, Auburn

BePcr07: true. In fact, if you leave Wisconsin in the B1G I follow the rule.

@BePcr07: what do you think about my suggestions?

(04-21-2020 04:00 PM)Erictelevision Wrote:  @BePcr07: what do you think about my suggestions?

The B1G is easier to split than the SEC. My only though is Florida and Georgia would not want to split from Alabama, Auburn, and Tennessee. Perhaps, Kentucky and Vanderbilt head to the ACC instead?

Atlantic Coast Conference (2 Big Ten, 3 SEC)
Atlantic: Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Maryland, NC State, Wake Forest
Coastal: South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Rutgers, North Carolina, Duke

Big 12 Conference (4 Big Ten, 3 SEC)
North: Iowa, Iowa State, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Wisconsin
South: Arkansas, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Vanderbilt
Protected crossovers: Kansas/Missouri, Nebraska/Oklahoma

Big Central Conference (4 Big Ten, 4 SEC)
North: Cincinnati, Illinois, Indiana, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Purdue
South: Alabama, Auburn, Kentucky, Louisville, Memphis, Tennessee

Big Gulf Conference (0 Big Ten, 4 SEC)
East: Central Florida, LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, South Florida, Tulane
West: Baylor, Houston, TCU, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech

Great East Conference (4 Big Ten, 0 SEC)
East: Boston College, Miami-FL, Michigan, Michigan State, Virginia, Virginia Tech
North: Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Ohio State, Penn State, Temple, West Virginia

Pac-12 Conference (0 Big Ten, 0 SEC)
North: California, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, Washington, Washington State
South: Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, UCLA, USC, Utah
Protected crossovers: California/Stanford/UCLA/USC

Mostly geographic, although exceptions due to the constraints of the challenge. No change to the Pac-12. For the ACC and GEC, teams are listed in the same order as their protected crossover.

Notable annual interconference P6 games: Alabama/LSU, Auburn/Georgia, Florida State/Miami-FL, North Carolina/Virginia, Notre Dame/USC, Oklahoma/Texas, Tennessee/Vanderbilt

(04-21-2020 05:14 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  Atlantic Coast Conference (2 Big Ten, 3 SEC)
Atlantic: Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Maryland, NC State, Wake Forest
Coastal: South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Rutgers, North Carolina, Duke

Big 12 Conference (4 Big Ten, 3 SEC)
North: Iowa, Iowa State, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Wisconsin
South: Arkansas, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Vanderbilt
Protected crossovers: Kansas/Missouri, Nebraska/Oklahoma

Big Central Conference (4 Big Ten, 4 SEC)
North: Cincinnati, Illinois, Indiana, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Purdue
South: Alabama, Auburn, Kentucky, Louisville, Memphis, Tennessee

Big Gulf Conference (0 Big Ten, 4 SEC)
East: Central Florida, LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, South Florida, Tulane
West: Baylor, Houston, TCU, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech

Great East Conference (4 Big Ten, 0 SEC)
East: Boston College, Miami-FL, Michigan, Michigan State, Virginia, Virginia Tech
North: Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Ohio State, Penn State, Temple, West Virginia

Pac-12 Conference (0 Big Ten, 0 SEC)
North: California, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, Washington, Washington State
South: Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, UCLA, USC, Utah
Protected crossovers: California/Stanford/UCLA/USC

Mostly geographic, although exceptions due to the constraints of the challenge. No change to the Pac-12. For the ACC and GEC, teams are listed in the same order as their protected crossover.

Notable annual interconference P6 games: Alabama/LSU, Auburn/Georgia, Florida State/Miami-FL, North Carolina/Virginia, Notre Dame/USC, Oklahoma/Texas, Tennessee/Vanderbilt

I like this setup. It’s fairly even across the board!

(04-21-2020 03:27 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  So what’s your scenario? Anti-trust break up? If so, you might want a rule that would keep the big boys from teaming up.

You could get a conference of:

Ohio St, Mich, Mich St, Penn St, UGA, Alabama, Florida, LSU, Clemson, Florida St, Oklahoma, and Texas

Well it could simply be everyone agreeing to share revenue so they need to split up the biggest TV conferences.

Interesting exercise
I had the ACC absorb most of the eastern schools, the Big 12 most of the western schools and then each of those split in half, ACC and Atlantic North, and Big 12 and Big Gulf (sponsored by 7-11).
The American got Vandy, Duke and Wake to fill in for schools lost to Pac 12.
The Pac 12 absorbed a couple from the Big 12, the military academies and a few others and then split into Pac 12 and Pac West.
MWC filled in a few.
Sun Belt and CUSA merged, absorbed remaining indies and split geographically.
Missouri St. and Cal-Davis moved up to get to 132 so you could have 11 conferences of 12.
MAC stayed the same.

American E Central Florida
American E Connecticut
American E Duke
American E East Carolina
American E Temple
American E Wake Forest
American W Cincinnati
American W Memphis
American W South Florida
American W Tulane
American W Tulsa
American W Vanderbilt

Atlantic Coast N Michigan
Atlantic Coast N Michigan State
Atlantic Coast N North Carolina
Atlantic Coast N North Carolina State
Atlantic Coast N Purdue
Atlantic Coast N Virginia
Atlantic Coast S Auburn
Atlantic Coast S Clemson
Atlantic Coast S Florida
Atlantic Coast S Georgia
Atlantic Coast S Georgia Tech
Atlantic Coast S Miami

Atlantic North N Boston College
Atlantic North N Notre Dame
Atlantic North N Ohio State
Atlantic North N Penn State
Atlantic North N Rutgers
Atlantic North N Syracuse
Atlantic North S Florida State
Atlantic North S Kentucky
Atlantic North S Maryland
Atlantic North S Pittsburg
Atlantic North S South Carolina
Atlantic North S Tennessee

Big Gulf E Alabama
Big Gulf E Louisiana State
Big Gulf E Louisville
Big Gulf E Mississippi State
Big Gulf E Virginia Tech
Big Gulf E West Virginia
Big Gulf W Baylor
Big Gulf W Indiana
Big Gulf W Iowa
Big Gulf W Nebraska
Big Gulf W Oklahoma
Big Gulf W Texas

Big Twelve N Illinois
Big Twelve N Iowa State
Big Twelve N Kansas State
Big Twelve N Minnesota
Big Twelve N Northwestern
Big Twelve N Wisconsin
Big Twelve S Arkansas
Big Twelve S Kansas
Big Twelve S Mississippi
Big Twelve S Missouri
Big Twelve S Oklahoma State
Big Twelve S Texas A&M

MAC E Akron
MAC E Bowling Green
MAC E Buffalo
MAC E Kent
MAC E Miami U.
MAC E Ohio
MAC W Ball State
MAC W Central Michigan
MAC W Eastern Michigan
MAC W Northern Illinois
MAC W Toledo
MAC W Western Michigan

Mountain West E New Mexico
Mountain West E New Mexico State
Mountain West E North Texas
Mountain West E Utah State
Mountain West E UTEP
Mountain West E Wyoming
Mountain West W Fresno State
Mountain West W Hawaii
Mountain West W Nevada
Mountain West W San Diego State
Mountain West W San Jose State
Mountain West W UNLV

Pac 12 N Boise State
Pac 12 N California
Pac 12 N Oregon
Pac 12 N Oregon State
Pac 12 N Stanford
Pac 12 N Utah
Pac 12 S Colorado
Pac 12 S Colorado State
Pac 12 S UCLA
Pac 12 S USC
Pac 12 S Washington
Pac 12 S Washington State

Pac West E Air Force
Pac West E Army
Pac West E Navy
Pac West E Rice
Pac West E SMU
Pac West E TCU
Pac West W Arizona
Pac West W Arizona State
Pac West W Brigham Young
Pac West W Cal-Davis
Pac West W Houston
Pac West W Texas Tech

Sun Belt E Alabama Birmingham
Sun Belt E Arkansas State
Sun Belt E Middle Tennessee
Sun Belt E Missouri St.
Sun Belt E South Alabama
Sun Belt E Troy State
Sun Belt W Louisiana Tech
Sun Belt W Louisiana-Lafayette
Sun Belt W Louisiana-Monroe
Sun Belt W Southern Mississippi
Sun Belt W Texas State
Sun Belt W Texas-San Antonio

USA N Charlotte
USA N Liberty
USA N Marshall
USA N Massachusetts
USA N Old Dominion
USA N Western Kentucky
USA S Appalachian State
USA S Coastal Carolina 2018 SB
USA S Florida Atlantic
USA S Florida International
USA S Georgia Southern
USA S Georgia State

(04-21-2020 08:36 PM)bullet Wrote:  Interesting exercise
I had the ACC absorb most of the eastern schools, the Big 12 most of the western schools and then each of those split in half, ACC and Atlantic North, and Big 12 and Big Gulf (sponsored by 7-11).
The American got Vandy, Duke and Wake to fill in for schools lost to Pac 12.
The Pac 12 absorbed a couple from the Big 12, the military academies and a few others and then split into Pac 12 and Pac West.
MWC filled in a few.
Sun Belt and CUSA merged, absorbed remaining indies and split geographically.
Missouri St. and Cal-Davis moved up to get to 132 so you could have 11 conferences of 12.
MAC stayed the same.

American E Central Florida
American E Connecticut
American E Duke
American E East Carolina
American E Temple
American E Wake Forest
American W Cincinnati
American W Memphis
American W South Florida
American W Tulane
American W Tulsa
American W Vanderbilt

Atlantic Coast N Michigan
Atlantic Coast N Michigan State
Atlantic Coast N North Carolina
Atlantic Coast N North Carolina State
Atlantic Coast N Purdue
Atlantic Coast N Virginia
Atlantic Coast S Auburn
Atlantic Coast S Clemson
Atlantic Coast S Florida
Atlantic Coast S Georgia
Atlantic Coast S Georgia Tech
Atlantic Coast S Miami

Atlantic North N Boston College
Atlantic North N Notre Dame
Atlantic North N Ohio State
Atlantic North N Penn State
Atlantic North N Rutgers
Atlantic North N Syracuse
Atlantic North S Florida State
Atlantic North S Kentucky
Atlantic North S Maryland
Atlantic North S Pittsburg
Atlantic North S South Carolina
Atlantic North S Tennessee

Big Gulf E Alabama
Big Gulf E Louisiana State
Big Gulf E Louisville
Big Gulf E Mississippi State
Big Gulf E Virginia Tech
Big Gulf E West Virginia
Big Gulf W Baylor
Big Gulf W Indiana
Big Gulf W Iowa
Big Gulf W Nebraska
Big Gulf W Oklahoma
Big Gulf W Texas

Big Twelve N Illinois
Big Twelve N Iowa State
Big Twelve N Kansas State
Big Twelve N Minnesota
Big Twelve N Northwestern
Big Twelve N Wisconsin
Big Twelve S Arkansas
Big Twelve S Kansas
Big Twelve S Mississippi
Big Twelve S Missouri
Big Twelve S Oklahoma State
Big Twelve S Texas A&M

MAC E Akron
MAC E Bowling Green
MAC E Buffalo
MAC E Kent
MAC E Miami U.
MAC E Ohio
MAC W Ball State
MAC W Central Michigan
MAC W Eastern Michigan
MAC W Northern Illinois
MAC W Toledo
MAC W Western Michigan

Mountain West E New Mexico
Mountain West E New Mexico State
Mountain West E North Texas
Mountain West E Utah State
Mountain West E UTEP
Mountain West E Wyoming
Mountain West W Fresno State
Mountain West W Hawaii
Mountain West W Nevada
Mountain West W San Diego State
Mountain West W San Jose State
Mountain West W UNLV

Pac 12 N Boise State
Pac 12 N California
Pac 12 N Oregon
Pac 12 N Oregon State
Pac 12 N Stanford
Pac 12 N Utah
Pac 12 S Colorado
Pac 12 S Colorado State
Pac 12 S UCLA
Pac 12 S USC
Pac 12 S Washington
Pac 12 S Washington State

Pac West E Air Force
Pac West E Army
Pac West E Navy
Pac West E Rice
Pac West E SMU
Pac West E TCU
Pac West W Arizona
Pac West W Arizona State
Pac West W Brigham Young
Pac West W Cal-Davis
Pac West W Houston
Pac West W Texas Tech

Sun Belt E Alabama Birmingham
Sun Belt E Arkansas State
Sun Belt E Middle Tennessee
Sun Belt E Missouri St.
Sun Belt E South Alabama
Sun Belt E Troy State
Sun Belt W Louisiana Tech
Sun Belt W Louisiana-Lafayette
Sun Belt W Louisiana-Monroe
Sun Belt W Southern Mississippi
Sun Belt W Texas State
Sun Belt W Texas-San Antonio

USA N Charlotte
USA N Liberty
USA N Marshall
USA N Massachusetts
USA N Old Dominion
USA N Western Kentucky
USA S Appalachian State
USA S Coastal Carolina 2018 SB
USA S Florida Atlantic
USA S Florida International
USA S Georgia Southern
USA S Georgia State

I like the Atlantic Coast, Atlantic North, Big Gulf, and Big Twelve line-ups

This can be done with no change to the Pac-12, no change to Notre Dame's football independence (you're welcome, Terry), and realigning the other 52 P5 teams into six conferences.

Bonus for JR: Auburn and Alabama are in different conferences.

Current Big Ten teams in blue, current SEC teams in red.

Big Ten (ha): Texas, TCU, Texas Tech, Baylor, Oklahoma, Oklahoma St, TAMU, LSU, Ole Miss, Miss St

Plains: Kansas, Kansas St, Iowa St, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas

Dairy To Tobacco: Wisconsin, Ohio St, Michigan, Michigan St, North Carolina, Duke, NC State, Wake Forest

Stuck In The Middle: Northwestern, Illinois, Indiana, Purdue, Louisville, Kentucky, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Alabama

South Atlantic: Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Auburn, Florida State, Miami, Georgia Tech, Clemson

Northeast: Penn State, Rutgers, Maryland, Boston College, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Virginia, Virginia Tech

Pac-12: As is.

Notre Dame: Still not playing football in a conference.

(04-21-2020 04:04 PM)BePcr07 Wrote:  

(04-21-2020 04:00 PM)Erictelevision Wrote:  @BePcr07: what do you think about my suggestions?

The B1G is easier to split than the SEC. My only though is Florida and Georgia would not want to split from Alabama, Auburn, and Tennessee. Perhaps, Kentucky and Vanderbilt head to the ACC instead?

That misses the point of this exercise, which appears to be to punish the B1G and the SEC for having built very successful brands and business strategies over a century.

As to Eric's question, those changes result in a Big XII with 18 teams, ACC with 20, and the B1G/SEC with the awkward 14. That could be fixed by leaving Rutgers and Maryland in the B1G, thus inflicting even more pain on them.

(04-21-2020 03:29 PM)CitrusUCF Wrote:  The SEC just needs to drop the 5 worthless schools: Missouri, Kentucky (no one cares about b-ball), Vanderbilt, Ole Miss, and Mississippi State.

Add 3 schools that will draw eyeballs to games (remember, TV market size for cable contracts is no longer the biggest driver -- now you need to draw advertising revenue).

People keep saying this, but in terms of realignment, I'm not sure things have changed much. Everyone points to the B1G adding Rutgers and Maryland as examples of market-size additions, but the B1G never would have added Bowie State (same market as Maryland) or Fordham (same market as Rutgers). Merely being in a market wasn't good enough in 2012 and isn't good enough today. There has to be fan interest, because that's what drives advertising revenue.

Cable contracts (which are still huge, btw) or streaming subscriptions, advertisers will pay to get their products in front of consumers, and consumers only tune in if they are interested in watching a school's games.

(04-22-2020 09:52 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(04-21-2020 03:29 PM)CitrusUCF Wrote:  The SEC just needs to drop the 5 worthless schools: Missouri, Kentucky (no one cares about b-ball), Vanderbilt, Ole Miss, and Mississippi State.

Add 3 schools that will draw eyeballs to games (remember, TV market size for cable contracts is no longer the biggest driver -- now you need to draw advertising revenue).

People keep saying this, but in terms of realignment, I'm not sure things have changed much. Everyone points to the B1G adding Rutgers and Maryland as examples of market-size additions, but the B1G never would have added Bowie State (same market as Maryland) or Fordham (same market as Rutgers). Merely being in a market wasn't good enough in 2012 and isn't good enough today. There has to be fan interest, because that's what drives advertising revenue.

Cable contracts (which are still huge, btw) or streaming subscriptions, advertisers will pay to get their products in front of consumers, and consumers only tune in if they are interested in watching a school's games.

Well, Rutgers was about getting in-market cable subscriber money for the B1G Network. New Jersey itself is a large state, and then you add NYC, and that was a lot of money for the B1G Network. I doubt Rutgers would get invited in this cord cutting environment. I'd be curious to hear Frank's thoughts on that.

ACC north: BC, Syracuse, Pitt, UVa, UMD, Rutgers, PSU and OSU
ACC south: UNC, Duke, WFU, GT, Miami, UF, UGA and USC

B12 north: Oklahoma, Kansas, ISU, IA, NW, Wisconsin, Minn and MO
B12 south: TTU, Ok St, Baylor, TCU, LSU, Ms St, Alabama and FSU

PAC north: WA, WSU, OR, Oregon St, Cal, Stanford, USC and UCLA
Southwest PAC: Arizona, ASU, Utah, CO, UNL, Ks St, UTx and TAM

Central north: Michigan, MSU, Ind, Pur, Louisville, KY, WVU and Vandy
Central south: NC St, Clemson, VT, Tenn, Aub, Ole Miss, Ark & Illinois