I’m postulating here but I’m wondering if one tiny realignment change could have preventing the rush to join conferences in the 1990’s:

The ACC adds Miami when they add Florida St

Without Miami being unavailable is there really any reason for Big East football? I can see everyone else staying independent or in loose scheduling alliances:

Big East: BC, Syracuse, Pittsburgh

Atlantic 10: WVU, Rutgers, Temple

Metro: Louisville, VT, USM, Tulane

Great Midwest: Cincinnati, Memphis

Sunbelt: LA Tech, ULL, Ark St

Others: ND, Army, Navy, ECU, Tulsa, NIU

The Bowl Coalition and then the Bowl Alliance still form but allot 1-2 slots for the top ranked independents

If/when the Metro and Great Midwest have re-merger talks maybe then we see pressure for schools to join conferences as I think this was mostly a response to the formation of Big East football.

It would’ve been doable until the late 90s but once the separation became obvious when the BCS was created (AQ, nonAQ) and the focus shifted to television money at the turn of the century, it was inevitable conferences were going to expand with the existing independent schools. If the SEC and ACC decided to stay at 12 and 10 respectively, a Big East like conference would’ve still been created with Notre Dame as a non football member and for bowl tie-in purposes.

After the 1984 court ruling on TV media rights, football-first conferences became essential for maximizing revenues. Regardless of whether Miami goes to the ACC, football schools needed to aggregate into bigger groupings. BC, Syracuse and Pitt could get get more revenues with WVU, Rutgers and Temple...than with St John’s, Villanova and Georgetown. The creation of 14 team conferences is just a means to aggregate content and gain leverage in negotiations with media companies. The decision of the ACC or Miami doesn’t change the broader market dynamics.

Without Miami, the football conference would have been crippled. The Big East football programs most likely would have looked for a football-only invite to the ACC or formed a football conference with Louisville in place of Miami.

The eastern independents would have still had to have formed a conference because things like bowl contracts and TV rights were being purchased as a conference. Only ND could get decent money for there rights back then as an independent.

Louisville was the last choice left out of the formation of the conference, so they would have taken Miami's place. Louisville probably would have been treated better than Virginia Tech was with their basketball about joining the BE BKB side but the Basketball schools wouldn't let in Temple either back then and they had a very strong basketball history as well. Worst case scenario, Louisville joins VT and Temple in the A10 and football only member in the BE.

Let's assume this 8 team BE would have gotten an auto bid to the bowl alliance like the real BE did. The teams that made up the Eastern independents were more highly regarded then than they are now, so likely even without Penn State or Miami, they would've gotten a bid. By the time the BCS rolled around, WVU would have been rolled in a MNC bid in 1993, VT would've beaten Texas in the 1995 Sugar Bowl and lost the 1996 Orange bowl to Nebraska and Cuse would have lost the 1998? Orange Bowl to Florida. The BE at that point without an anchor football program would have been left without an auto-bid when the BCS started in 1999. Maybe VT goes undefeated with Michael Vick in 1999 and makes the championship game but that would not be enough to retroactively grant an auto-bid to the BE.

So, any BE school would be chomping at the bit to get an invite to one of the 5 BCS auto-bid conferences. There would have been opportunities for the BE football schools to step up in the Bowls that Miami earned a bid into but I'm just going by what we know happened.

The era of football independents did last into the 90's.

ECU was one of the last major independents and didn't join CUSA until 1997. Many thought they should have been called up by the BE.

Louisiana and Ark State made it as indies until 2000.

90's was really the decade of rapid change in college sports. From conference movement to accelerating salaries and budgets. Modern conference TV packages as we know it.

(02-11-2021 12:49 AM)ChrisLords Wrote:  The eastern independents would have still had to have formed a conference because things like bowl contracts and TV rights were being purchased as a conference. Only ND could get decent money for there rights back then as an independent.

Louisville was the last choice left out of the formation of the conference, so they would have taken Miami's place. Louisville probably would have been treated better than Virginia Tech was with their basketball about joining the BE BKB side but the Basketball schools wouldn't let in Temple either back then and they had a very strong basketball history as well. Worst case scenario, Louisville joins VT and Temple in the A10 and football only member in the BE.

Let's assume this 8 team BE would have gotten an auto bid to the bowl alliance like the real BE did. The teams that made up the Eastern independents were more highly regarded then than they are now, so likely even without Penn State or Miami, they would've gotten a bid. By the time the BCS rolled around, WVU would have been rolled in a MNC bid in 1993, VT would've beaten Texas in the 1995 Sugar Bowl and lost the 1996 Orange bowl to Nebraska and Cuse would have lost the 1998? Orange Bowl to Florida. The BE at that point without an anchor football program would have been left without an auto-bid when the BCS started in 1999. Maybe VT goes undefeated with Michael Vick in 1999 and makes the championship game but that would not be enough to retroactively grant an auto-bid to the BE.

The BE would have still earned a spot in the BCS even without Miami. At the time Syracuse and Pitt still had highly respected FB programs on the national scene. Louisville came off a Fiesta Bowl appearance in 1991 and would be joining in with a new stadium. Plus the conference would have ND/GTown/Nova/UConn in basketball.

In fact Miami in the ACC 91' might of had the effect of slowing ACC expansion down helping the long term helping the prospects of BE FB.

(02-11-2021 12:56 AM)Kit-Cat Wrote:  The era of football independents did last into the 90's.

ECU was one of the last major independents and didn't join CUSA until 1997. Many thought they should have been called up by the BE.

Louisiana and Ark State made it as indies until 2000.

90's was really the decade of rapid change in college sports. From conference movement to accelerating salaries and budgets. Modern conference TV packages as we know it.

Perhaps I should have said the Era of the Great Independents. Decisions that occurred in 1989-1990 saw SC, Penn St, FSU, plus the 8 Big East schools all enter conferences

This had a ripple effect that extended to the lesser independents—

1996 saw 5 more band together in C-USA, and Tulsa to the WAC

Army, ECU, and NIU were the last 3 in.

Ark St, ULL, and LA Tech each did a stint in the Big West and then realized they needed a conference too and began laying the groundwork for Sunbelt football.

Navy and ND were the lone hold outs, by choice.

As far as tv rights go, had these schools remained independent, might their football rights been rolled into the same package as their basketball rights? Perhaps ESPN’s early contract with the BE comes with the football home games of BC, Syracuse, and Pittsburgh

The best thing that ever happened to UC was to get out of Indy status. A suggested read is “Bearcats Rising” by Josh Katzowitz. This book chronicles UC’s football history up to the BK years in the Big East (2009) and has quotes from former administrators, coaches and players who detail the difficulty with money, bowl tie-ins, getting on TV, scheduling, recruiting and growing the fan base as an Indy. Turns out recruits want to play for a conference championship, compete for all-conference teams, etc.

(02-11-2021 05:00 AM)CliftonAve Wrote:  The best thing that ever happened to UC was to get out of Indy status. A suggested read is “Bearcats Rising” by Josh Katzowitz. This book chronicles UC’s football history up to the BK years in the Big East (2009) and has quotes from former administrators, coaches and players who detail the difficulty with money, bowl tie-ins, getting on TV, scheduling, recruiting and growing the fan base as an Indy. Turns out recruits want to play for a conference championship, compete for all-conference teams, etc.

That sounds like a good read.

I wish the Metro would have sponsored football. That would have really helped programs like Cincinnati stabilize and legitimize themselves. Florida St, Louisville, and SC would probably be the tent poles. I’d liked to have seen Miami added too. WVU might have been tempted to join too.

VT
SC
FSU
Miami
USM
Tulane
Memphis
Louisville
Cincinnati

Conferences were necessary in the big TV era. Aside from low demand P5 schools like Baylor, Wake Forest, and Northwestern, they really aren’t doing much anymore. And as media continues to become cheaper and easier and less tied to cable TV, they will continue to become less and less relevant.


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(02-11-2021 07:21 AM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  

(02-11-2021 05:00 AM)CliftonAve Wrote:  The best thing that ever happened to UC was to get out of Indy status. A suggested read is “Bearcats Rising” by Josh Katzowitz. This book chronicles UC’s football history up to the BK years in the Big East (2009) and has quotes from former administrators, coaches and players who detail the difficulty with money, bowl tie-ins, getting on TV, scheduling, recruiting and growing the fan base as an Indy. Turns out recruits want to play for a conference championship, compete for all-conference teams, etc.

That sounds like a good read.

I wish the Metro would have sponsored football. That would have really helped programs like Cincinnati stabilize and legitimize themselves. Florida St, Louisville, and SC would probably be the tent poles. I’d liked to have seen Miami added too. WVU might have been tempted to join too.

VT
SC
FSU
Miami
USM
Tulane
Memphis
Louisville
Cincinnati

I wanted this back in the day for Memphis. Was not meant to be.

(02-11-2021 01:09 AM)Kit-Cat Wrote:  The BE would have still earned a spot in the BCS even without Miami. At the time Syracuse and Pitt still had highly respected FB programs on the national scene. Louisville came off a Fiesta Bowl appearance in 1991 and would be joining in with a new stadium. Plus the conference would have ND/GTown/Nova/UConn in basketball.

We'll never know for sure, but I seriously doubt it, and the thinking at the time was that Miami was essential for Big East football's national profile.

Louisville's Fiesta Bowl team was regarded as a fluky feel-good Schnellenberger Cinderella Story. Before the 1990 season, Louisville hadn't been to a bowl since the 1970s, and even after winning the Fiesta they finished AP #14 in the country. The Alabama team they beat was 7-4 and ranked AP #25 at the time of the game, it was regarded as a courtesy invitation to that bowl. Louisville had essentially no football history worth mentioning at the time.

Pitt and Syracuse were more respected, but in 1990 were basically regarded then as they are now - solid programs with some great historical highlights, but nothing close to being P5 "tentpole" programs.

Just as the ACC needed FSU to ensure inclusion in the coming Bowl Coalitions and the like, the Big East needed Miami. That's why they were invited.

(02-11-2021 12:56 AM)Kit-Cat Wrote:  The era of football independents did last into the 90's.

ECU was one of the last major independents and didn't join CUSA until 1997. Many thought they should have been called up by the BE.

Louisiana and Ark State made it as indies until 2000.

90's was really the decade of rapid change in college sports. From conference movement to accelerating salaries and budgets. Modern conference TV packages as we know it.

We did join the big west for two years between our independent stents

If the independent football programs could figure out a way to monetize their football rights as a package with their conference’s basketball rights I think this could work out quite well.

I think you’d some scheduling alliances start to form:

BE-A10

BE-ND

WVU-L’ville, VT, Cincinnati

Temple, Rutgers-Army, Navy

Tulane, USM-Sunbelt