XLance
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I Root For: Carolina
Location: Greensboro, NC
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RE: Former Texas AD says Big 12 should add teams
(12-06-2020 10:09 AM)XLance Wrote: The secret to playoff sports is symmetry.
Even if the Big 12 were able to add 2 school of value we would still end up with only 5 conferences which does not translate well into providing an even number of playoff teams.
So we are faced with either having to reduce the number of conferences down to 4, which moves were made to be able to do when Notre Dame (the 65th P school) was attached to the ACC as a partial member or expand the number of conferences to 6 (which would fit in the MLB model of having 6 divisions among 2 leagues).
Over time, nobody could agree on the distribution of schools that would fit into 4 leagues, so the simple solution would be to expand the number of conferences to 6 with a membership of 11 per conference. Since there are only 65 P teams, this would necessitate the elevation of one school into the P club. I would suggest that Cincinnati should be that school. They are the highest rated school in and area (northeast/eastern midwest) which needs populating.
Playoff sports has proven to generate more fan interest and more revenue dollars across all sports spectrums. College football is no different, and 6 conferences with either two byes or two wild card participants provides flexibility and penetration into multiple parts of the country for maximum fan involvement.
My first take at dividing into 6 conferences goes like this:
Northeast:
Boston College, Syracuse, Rutgers, Penn State, Pitt, Maryland, West Virginia, Ohio State, Cincinnati, Notre Dame, Louisville
ACC
UVa, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, Duke, NC State, Carolina, South Carolina, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Florida State, Miami
SEC
Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Alabama, Auburn, Old Miss, MSU, LSU, Texas A&M
B1G
Michigan, Michigan State, Indiana, Purdue, Illinois, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nebraska, Missouri, Iowa
Big 12
Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas Tech, Baylor, TCU, Colorado
PAC
Washington, WSU, Oregon, Oregon State, Cal, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Arizona, ASU, Utah
Not only does the regular season increase value with round robin play of ten conference games, but the playoff value is increased by having all regions of the country represented.
It's a win-win for everybody.
I suppose the B1G wouldn't be the same without Ohio State so perhaps moving Ohio State back to the B1G and Purdue to the Northeast so that they could continue their association with Notre Dame would be a prudent thing to do.
(This post was last modified: 12-06-2020 08:47 PM by XLance.)
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