A Word On Expansion
When did Barnum & Bailey start running college football? It’s as close to a 10-ring circus as any sport can get. There has been so much shuffling about in the major conferences, it’ll make your head spin. I find it hard to follow what’s happened so far:
- Colorado and Utah turned the Pac-10 into the Pac-12
- Nebraska joined the 11-team Big 10
- Texas A&M, needing an escape from the shadow of the University of Texas, jumped to the SEC
- Syracuse and Pittsburgh jumped from the Big East to the ACC
This is just the beginning. TCU is already being fickle about their conference realignment. Originally committed to the Big East, the Horned Frogs received an invitation Thursday to join the Big 12 that has already lost two teams. Regionally it makes sense, or at least more sense than a jump to the Big East. The point is though, that no FBS team is satisfied with where they stand in the landscape of college football. The NCAA does not have jurisdiction over where these teams land. They police themselves and work in their own best interest. All of this comes back to one thing: money. TV money, championship game money, money for national exposure. That’s all. Everybody is out for their own piece of the pie.
Remember when the conferences were fine the way they were, and everything seemed to make sense? For years, everything seemed serene. The “Big 6” conferences were in good shape. Rivalries ran strong and the races to the conference titles were intense. Now what? The Big 12 only has 10 teams and the Big 10 has 12 teams. The ACC poached the Big East for football purposes and ended up with the strongest basketball league in the land. And the Big East, well, it’s just trying to keep itself afloat among a furious exodus. Pretty soon we will have 24-team leagues in four different conferences. Teams will only play eight teams in their conference and the 12-team divisions will need calculus to determine the tie-breaks.
Everyone will still watch college football because people love football. They love the pageantry of the college scene. It has a different feel from the pro game that people are attached to. But the teams will not be as easy to follow, and there will be a constant unrest. Fans will begin to wonder when the next move by a major school will be. It’s a tenuous situation. It would appear that it’s impossible to leave good enough alone.
