Quote:
Originally Posted by Saul Good
Conferences absolutely compete against each other. They compete for television contracts and sponsors and even members.
There are 3 mega-conferences.
After that, there's the ACC, the Big XII, and the Big East (in that order).
You can debate whether or not the 4 superconference structure is coming, but things are inching that direction. The SEC, B1G, and PAC have all expanded by poaching teams from the XII. The ACC is expanding by poaching teams from the Big East. The XII has hedged some of it's losses from the Big East. These are facts.
The Big East is on life support. Their days as a power conference are numbered.
The SEC, PAC, and B1G are more powerful than ever and all have room to expand if the right opportunity presents itself.
The ACC has expanded.
The Big XII has shrunk.
At the moment, the Big XII is the 5th most powerful conference. This also makes them the second most vulnerable major conference.
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The teams that left the Big 12 left because they wanted to leave. Top heavy conferences have this problem.
The conference is firmly entrenched with championship level athletics and an unrivaled TV contract when it comes to per school payout.
The Big 12 does what it wants. There are numerous teams banging on the door to try and get a piece of what the Big 12 has. But why would you split with more teams when your TV contract is already maxed out?
The logistics of corporate bowl tie ins are so complex that you will never have a playoff system in college football like they do at the FCS level. What schools need to do is start showing some pride in their history and stop hanging their brethren out to dry ala what Syracuse and WVU have done.