Just how the final alignments happen is the mystery.

negotiating their own tv deals or at least positioning themselves to do so in the near future. Vandy makes the same as Alabama in SEC deal. The biggest barrier, obviously, is that if you want to be in SEC you have to be in the SEC package as equal member. But if Alabama or a small collection of schools balk at being an equal member the SEC will have no choice but to accept their terms. If Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, and LSU shop their collective rights around they would have very willing suitors in all mediums.

You would think they would be happy being the highest earning conference but this is a never ending arms race it seems.

A different version of the above is 10 ACC teams doing that (the number required to disband conference, I believe) which could lead to a new deal.

The metro just dumped their bottom two teams by disbanding, us and VCU, and then merged with the Great Midwest to make the CUSA conference. They got sued, of course, by us and VCU and had to pay up, but they did it.

Technically, the ACC could actually have dumped our worst 4 by disbanding, metro style (I assume your number of 10 is right). Then we could have merged with the Big 12 leftovers to make a heck of an 18-team conference (they had 8 left). Or, more likely, just pulled over their top 4 or 6 (maybe Cincinnati in the mix, too, etc.).

[Post edited by Truthahn at 04/13/2022 3:45PM]

When ND signed the NBC deal for $9 million a year in 1991, people like Joe Paterno went out of their way to criticize ND as a "banking institution" instead of an academic one.

ND was reviled as "greedy" and "selfish" when it was getting that money and $17.5 million a year for making the BCS back then, especially when other schools were not feeding at that large of a trough.

Now, apparently, "greed is good" since the conferences are signing huge TV deals.

There is now even talk about some schools leaving other, lesser financially performing schools behind in a "breakaway" of the most popular and profitable schools.

"All for one, one for all" and the days of Ohio State propping up Illinois and USC propping up Washington State seems to be falling by the wayside.

Now, "eat what you kill" seems to be a lot more popular than it used to be when ND was doing the eating and killing.

I guess it all depends on who is doing it and whose ox is being gored? I guess that ND had it right all those years ago?

(Don't get me wrong, I am agreeing with your post, the overall irony as an ND fan strikes me as, well, ironic)

It’s destroying college rivalries, college sports and the academic reputation of conferences in pursuit of financial dominance.

Time to deal with the reality of what college football is evolving into.

The groupthink now is 2 conferences. Previously it was 4. But with all of the rule changes taking equal tv share makes terrible financial sense for the elite schools. And with technology it is easier than ever to negotiate. Perhaps the A&M angst within the SEC could be a harbinger.

Looks like some dallas cowboy cheerleader.. hmmm

over a decade. Also, the Athletic did a lot of research on what she is saying.

Again, I want the ACC to be Tier 1, but if it is not going to be and Virginia Tech wants to be, we need to not just criticize the facts or the person putting them out.

and pointed out the obvious disparity in revenue in the TV deals which has been discussed ad nauseam...and of course that the SEC and B1G will have disproportionate representation in the expanded playoffs.

Finebaum's job is to shape public opinion re: the SEC so they feel good about themselves; and that's it. He's Baghdad Bob; I mean he even threw in that cord cutting hasn't done ESPN in yet. He's also regularly on the phone with Sankey who co-chairs transformation; don't think for a second Sankey isn't shaping Finebaum's message.

Now that doesn't mean that he/they won't ultimately be correct, especially if the transformation group can't get off the dime. But that group should have some draft recommendations this month. They've been publishing weekly minutes in sets of 3...next set should be out in a week or so.

Drop FBS down to the FCS limits, 63 scholarships, 85 total players. That would save everyone a ton of money, and make title 9 rules much easier, too.

With the portal, there is no reason to keep so many players on the roster. We aren't limited to replacing seniors with players that were recruited into the program years ago anymore. We just grab someone from another team now.

for over a decade. Also, listen to the interview again, a ton of research was done on the subject by the Athletic staff. I want the ACC to be Tier 1, but it sure isn't looking good right now as far as the money gap.

assumptions including a 12 playoff dominated by the SEC...an assumption that basically prevented adoption of the 12 team format up to this point in time. The SEC/ESPN is still trying to get its original proposal passed and it since Finebaum has little else to do, they do a monthly release centered around their fantasy. Costs them nothing.

If ESPN wants it bad enough, they'd pay off the ACC...and why they haven't done it until now can only mean that financially it's a much, much tighter situation than they would have the public believe.

Now will there be a Big 2 at the top of D1? Maybe; like the Alliance being one, and SEC/Big 12 the other.

Insist that the 12 team playoff only allow one at large team per conference (plus the top six conference champions). If we did that and kept all of the other 12-team playoff "rules", it would divide the playoff money and status almost evenly between the P5 and ND. Everyone would be happy with it except for the SEC.

For independents, add a rule that says they must be ranked higher than at least one of the conference champions in order to be an at large. ND would get in almost every year on this one, but only when they were very good. This keeps Indys from being rewarded too much for not being in a conference.

The other "rules" already favor parity enough to be acceptable, IMO, especially that the top four "bye" teams must be spread out between the top four conference champions. That is good for us, IMO.

Last year this is what we would get under these two rule changes:

Byes
1 Alabama - SEC Champ
2 Michigan - B1G Champ
4 Cinn - AAC Champ
7 Baylor - Big 12 Champ

Hosts
3 Georgia - SEC At large
5 ND - Indy At Large
11 Utah - PAC-12 Champ
12 Pitt - ACC Champ

Aways
17 Wake Forest - ACC at large (at Georgia)
14 Oregon - PAC 12 at large (at ND)
9 OK State - Big 12 at large (at Utah)
6 Ohio State - Big 10 At large (at Pitt)

And here is who would have been left out from the top 17:

Better than five teams
8 Miss, 2 SEC teams already

Better than four teams
10 Mich State, 2 Big 10 teams already

Better than two teams
13 BYU, not better than any of the champions

Better than one team
15 Iowa, 2 Big 10 teams already
16 OK, 2 Big 10 teams already

And the rest of the top twenty:
18 NC State
19 Clemson
20 Houston

IMO, none of these teams being left out hurts the integrity of this bracket.

Out of those, I think BYU has the most to complain about.

Notice that the ACC, as bad as everyone said we were last year, would have had two teams in these playoffs. And two more that were just outside the lowest team in it. The ACC would have two teams in this every year.


[Post edited by Truthahn at 04/13/2022 3:07PM]

for a spending cap for football or all sports. I bet the vote would be 8-2 in favor for a cap. If the B1G and SEC don't like, they can leave but won't be allowed to play any teams from the other 8 D-1 conferences in ANY sport. No NCAA Men's basketball tournament. No bowl games against the other 8 conference teams. A better idea is to have the B1G and SEC remain in the NCAA and have all the other conferences form a new athletics association.

College football and men's basketball have been becoming more professional in nature during this century. It is turning me further away from college football. I actually enjoy softball, lacrosse and soccer more than football now. That wasn't the case 15-20 years ago.

"If" Tech doesn't make tier 1, so be it. Maybe Tech can win a football national championship in tier 2. I attended a Class A high school that won state football championships and those championships were just as valuable as those in the higher classes. To us, we were still state champs even though we only had 500 students. Tech fans will just have to adapt to the new reality.
[Post edited by Old Line Hokie at 04/10/2022 4:29PM]

it would be an antitrust violation and would be illegal. The NCAA tried that with the salary restricted basketball coach, were sued and lost to the tune of nearly $54m to the affected coaches. Any limits imposed on NIL earning would similarly be illegal. US pro sports have salary controls in place that are collectively bargained between players unions and ownership. There is (currently) no such representation for NCAA players.

professional sports. That's the direction college athletics is going. It is definitely going to turn off millions of fans even those in SEC and Big Ten country. What was the original intent of college sports? To provide student-athletes with athletic scholarships that would pay for the tuition, room and board and some clothing and essentials and to also give colleges school pride. Now we are becoming the NFL-lite and NBA-lite. Lots of greed from top to bottom.

We think Congress and the Supreme Court made big changes in 2021 and they did, but they really just set the foundation for what is about to come in 2022 in August. The next few months are going to be very defining moments and as Coach K alluded to in the SI article, the NCAA has been sitting on the sideline and there really isn't much evidence that they will do anything different.

what Congress did as you repeatedly make this assertion but, have yet to ever say what you assert they actually did. Yes the courts have intervened.

I have a huge accountability issue. The university president is the accountable officer for all of an university . All officers of the university works for the oresident. The university board oversees the program he or she manages.

Ad works for rhe president or reports to senior vp who reports to the president. He does not report to the board.

Any tyoe of university president will not allow an ad to run a program without direction and oversight

bigger say in things. The President is the boss, but the boss is back to relying more on the AD's on what we should do with the changing landscape. The pendulum power is swinging back more towards the AD, even thought the President still has final say.

If a University President asks his AD for advice "on what we should do with the changing landscape," well, that President is just being polite. These presidents are talking to experts/consultants about employment/labor issues, NIL contracts, licensing, talent agents/representatives, media wonks both traditional (broadcast & print), and contemporary (social media). They are reaching out to the alumni across the globe and to boosters and local business leaders to find sources and means for NIL funding. They are calculating the possible effects that NIL giving might have on future contributions to the endowments and general funds. I'm sure I didn't cover the entire battery of headaches, but the AD is really going to just keep doing what he has been doing until somebody tells him to change direction.
This why I think the future is a jointly owned corporation, to manage these thorny issues that are beyond the skills arsenal of college administrators. The NCAA will make whatever proposals for change; many will embrace those ideas, many will condemn them; but it won't matter because the NCAA is going to lose most of the Div I schools to some new kind of governing body.

This is one of accountability, use of State lands, taxing. etc.

Also, many folks, are down on presidents. Presidents are managing a huge enterprise that even dwarfs athletics. VT is a multi-billion dollar enterprise. It employs over thousands of staff, and is responsible for a physical plant statewide in thousands of acres and million sf of facilities. Athletics is just another major department, and it must be run efficiently, financially accountable and comply with the University Vision and mission to support student athletes and the programs they participate. That is not platitudes., but that is why having a strong university president is so important. Many of our land grant schools, have great presidents....THe key aspect for presidents is at the end its running a successful enterprise that delivers in all areas.

I agree with every word you wrote, Mercury. I'm not down on university presidents and I agree that athletics will never be independent of the universities.
University presidents manage huge enterprises, and have done so very effectively for the last two or three centuries in this country. But their style of management is super-cautious/hyper-responsible, especially with expenditures and investments. They also have diligent oversight for everything they do.
The money that will be rained upon the college sports world is going to be up for grabs to any party willing to jump in the arena and compete. It will require a level of risk-taking, sales acumen, and promotional bravado that is non-existent in the halls of academe. That's why the schools and/or conferences need to form a corporation and fill it with the best talent they can find for the fields of expertise I listed in my previous post. It will allow them to share the risk of going into that arena. If they fail to do so, that money is simply going to "windfall" to others, outside of the universities. That is the way it works today, but the money is about to escalate and the schools can no longer just concede their rightful bounty to whomever shows up with a TV camera.
The first order of business for this outfit should be to establish a governing body to replace the NCAA.

why assume that a new organization would somehow be different than the NCAA?

leasing the existing facilities from the schools. I think most (maybe all) colleges/universities have already separated the athletic department from the academic side for accounting purposes. It may not be that difficult for the colleges/universities to complete the spin off particularly if the athletic department already has its own tax ID number.

There will be clear relationships, but more of them in the next configuration.
The athletes will still have academic requirements and standards to meet.
The athletes will still receive scholarships.
They may still receive "Cost Of Attendance" stipends.
They may, if a school allows, receive NIL compensation from the school.
They will obviously be free to seek NIL agreements from outside the school.
As for the NCAA, they currently serve over 2000 schools, many of which have fewer students than VT has varsity athletes. Every thing they do carries a caveat regarding consequences to the least of their members. The big schools won't endure that anymore.

20 years or so ago to join a lower tier semi-pro league? BYU left the league in 2017 and re-joined a club league. It is worth noting that BYU men's soccer left the NCAA in 1987 to become a club team primarily because of Title IX requirements.

FWIW while BYU was a semi-pro team, it still had the same educational and mission requirements as the rest of the student body. If BYU can do it for a sport, then it is possible that any college/university could do it for any sport. If enough schools did it for football, then that could solve a lot of Title IX problems for schools because the biggest sport has just been removed from the equation.

BYU notwithstanding, I'll bet that large numbers of schools trying to circumvent Title IX will hear from some civil rights lawyers,

towards Title IX under the NCAA's guidelines since the club team would no longer offer athletic scholarships? It is even possible that football could shift to the intramural department which is typically responsible for overseeing the other club teams affiliated with the school. For years people have been suggesting that football should be removed from the Title IX equation because there are currently no female sports that offer a similar number of athletic scholarships. This might be the only option to achieving that goal.

different standards (for a lack of a better word) depending on if the sport is intercollegiate (aka NCAA), club, or intramural. I say that because most schools have different policies on how much "support" the school will provide a sport depending on if it is intercollegiate, club, or intramural. Also, each group's compliance is independent of the other two.

"The major differences between intercollegiate programs and club sports programs are that club teams are most often self-initiated. This means that participation in club sports programs usually meets test three (full accommodation) of the three-part test,
whereby every sport of interest, ability, and available competition is offered for the underrepresented sex. In effect, the institution meets one of the tests of the three-part test, and complies for the accommodation of interests and abilities."

http://titleixspecialists.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/...

The hyperlink is a list of all the official VT clubs. If you notice that bass fishing and women's ice hockey are 2 unaffiliated club teams that are not on the list because they don't satisfy the requirements (see "How to Become a Sport Club" hyperlink for that information).

Bass fishing doesn't qualify because it isn't a "Recognized, Emerging, and Olympic Sports." While women's ice hockey doesn't qualify because it doesn't meet the 5 year requirement and a few other requirements. The reason I mention both clubs is because both unaffiliated clubs use the VT logo on their uniforms and/or equipment (i.e. boat). Also, keep in mind when review the different lists that "Football, Men's" on the Recognized NCAA Sports page refers to American Football. While "Football" on the Olympic Sports page refers to soccer.

If VT football becomes an unaffiliated club sport (like bass fishing), then it wouldn't be a factor on whether the Department of Recreational Sports Sport Clubs Program is Title IX compliant or not. It may not even matter if VT football (club) leases the existing facilities from the school.