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I hope it happens just because upsetting the status quo at least has the potential to benefit us. My hope is greed and self-interest blows the whole thing up and it reforms into something that looks vaguely like college athletics that I grew up with. I don't believe that it'll actually happen, though.I hope it happens. Why should those schools who do nothing in athletics be collecting all that money just because they are grandfathered in those conferences? Yes, I'm bitter.
And that is another reason the full breakaway won’t happen….but they will keep pushing to expand the gap.The big brands still need teams in their conference to eat those losses. Ohio State, Michigan, USC, Oregon, Penn State, and Washington can’t all be 9-0 in conference play as it is now. Drop the have nots and some of the biggest brands will finish .500 or worse in conference play on a routine basis. Even if they go to unequal revenue sharing, they still need to play Indiana, Rutgers, etc. to pad their conference records and keep the fan base happy.
Here's where I think this is all going:
Full professional franshise model - Probably 40 programs and they will compete based attracting talent with money. This will have nothing whatsoever to do with academics. It will be win at all costs. It will not be sustainable without some kind of labor agreement. It will be an alternative to the NFL and probably the NBA.
College athletics with compensation - Athletes get paid, but it's controlled in some manner to assure a more level playing field and to assure that athletic department budgets are not stressed. This is probably the BCS football programs less the 40 from above for football. Probably most of the division 1 hoop programs less the 40 from above.
True aumature - Kids are at school to get and education and enjoy the athletics of their choosing. Eveyone else not referenced above.
We'll see........I don't see this going particularly well. God knows so far it's been a disaster.
No one will care about a formal minor league that for some reason are affiliated with colleges.
No one will care about a formal minor league that for some reason are affiliated with colleges.
I think the biggest downside to conference consolidation is there will be top schools that will have football records that look mediocre or worse and the fan bases won't like that. The more conferences you have, the more conference champs you have and the more teams with really good records. There is a very high correlation between winning and football attendance over the long run, but what happens when a school stops winning as much? FSU is a perfect example of a school that won at a high level consistently and when they became mediocre, the fans stayed away. From 2018 to 2022, FSU averaged 52.9k fans per game, but attendance rebounded in 2022 and 2023 with more wins to 67.2k and 78.7k respectively.The big brands still need teams in their conference to eat those losses. Ohio State, Michigan, USC, Oregon, Penn State, and Washington can’t all be 9-0 in conference play as it is now. Drop the have nots and some of the biggest brands will finish .500 or worse in conference play on a routine basis. Even if they go to unequal revenue sharing, they still need to play Indiana, Rutgers, etc. to pad their conference records and keep the fan base happy.
No one will care about a formal minor league that for some reason are affiliated with colleges.
No one? I think the fans from the schools which are part of the league will care. The folks who like to bet on college football will care but in a different way. I’d expect FOX and ESPN will like it.
You can bet on G-League games.
Watch what happens if fan interest starts to slip. Why would the fans of the major programs care about a sport that only 20 schools play at the highest level? How many UConn fans would care if UConn had just won back to back "National Championships" of a sport that only 20 schools played?
I won’t care at all, but I don’t believe they are thinking about folks like me. The schools in the mix arelarge schools with a huge alumni network and national interest. I agree with you it won’t be like NFL fans. This is all about greed and they might kill the sport.
**except their massive national-level alumni and fan bases.Might kill the sport? If the P2 box everyone else out, they will be the best teams in sports that no one will care about**. I also firmly believe that if college sports still somehow remains relevant as a small, regional minor league, the NFL and NBA will step in to compete with it with their minor leagues.
I don't think the people running college sports every appreciated just how fragile their sports are. No where else in the world do minor leagues generate remotely this much fan interest or revenue. Yet those running college sports just can't stop messing with it.
Nobody ever died for dear old Rutgers. Oh, sorry. I was thinking of schools that merely exist in proximity to big markets.I hope it happens. Why should those schools who do nothing in athletics be collecting all that money just because they are grandfathered in those conferences? Yes, I'm bitter.
Coach K suggests an ACC-Big East Merger here.
ACC will surviveBetween this and the UNC BoT comments. The ACC is falling.
The ACC has been done for a while now. It's why I don't understand people wanting to join unless it can grab some Big XII schools and Big East schools.Between this and the UNC BoT comments. The ACC is falling.