Definitely. Football is the big moneymaker and pretty much all the P5 conference realignment since the early 90’s concerns schools looking to better their status for football. The SEC inviting South Carolina and Arkansas to join so they would have enough teams, according the NCAA’s bylaws, to put on an SEC Championship game, was likely the start of all the upheaval since. FSU moved to the ACC in ‘91.
back up to the early 80s. Georgia and Oklahoma sued the NCAA who controlled and limited TV broadcasts. They won and it allowed teams or conferences to negotiate with TV for game broadcasts. Cable TV was a new platform and hungry for sports programming. Football broadcasts exploded.
Southerners love football. It’s the modern way of refighting the civil war. Thus it produced the best fanbase ( followed closely by the midwestern states). TV wanted more games. The SEC foresaw that a conference championship game would generate huge ratings.
1990s: Arkansas was a football power and unhappy with their SWC relationship with Texas. Florida had exploded in population due to air conditioning and FSU’s tv popularity from their recent success against highly ranked independents. Both were invited to the SEC. However, FSU believed they could own the ACC for an easier path to the national championship game.
South Carolina who, like FSU, had adopted a play anybody at anytime schedule in the 80s had enjoyed great ratings during George Rogers heisman year and the 1984 season beating a host of top teams.( BYUs 84 trophy shouldda been Scar’s choke choke choke) They were invited to rejoin the ACC. However, FSU followed the easier path and SCar defaulted to the SEC.
The next 20 years saw every conference expand toward the SEC model as top independents sough out conferences to increase their bargaining power. Top independents or new Big EST members) like PSU, Miami and VaTech were subsequently grabbed up.
However, there was Texas. Their greed drove Nebraska and Colorado out of the Big 12 ( a 12 team merger of the 80s Big 8 and SWC). Eventually, it even drove out TX A&M along with Mizzou.
What’s next? Is the SEC strong enough to survive Texas? Will the expansion beyond the 12 team model be wise or will cohesiveness be lost. Can the ACC and Big 12 survive against the two big dogs? Will Notre Dame keep its NBC contract and relative independence? Can west coast teams survive the new travel issues?
Will the P-4 turn their eyes toward the basketball honey pot? Will UConn ever get a p-4 invite? Will football continue to be the cash cow? Will streaming ever be an important money generator?
My generation has seen huge change. What will the next one see? WILL CONFERENCES START CUTTING TEAMS to get back to the 12/14 team model that has worked to well for the SEC and BIG? Will it settle out at 4 twenty member conferences? ( 18 is a weird stopping point)
Alas, I have gotten old.
