Article: What Even Are College Sports Conferences In 2024?

Not no, but hail no, to the thought of two super leagues like the AFC and the NFC... I think the way to look at this is not about rewarding teams like Clemson and FSU, for breaking-up their own league, by letting them come and simply join the SEC or the B1G conference. That kind of behavior cannot be rewarded (for several other reasons not mentioned, can't reward cheaters) becasue it's antithetical to all that makes a college conference an independent entity without an over arching NCAA overlord type governing body to mandate behavior of schedules or even match-ups.

If the SEC wants to preserve college football as a conference controlled and driven entity and not a conglomerate with one NFL type commissioner making all the rules then the SEC and the B1G have to say NO to FSU and Clemson.

This whole grant of rights contract dispute sounds like it's driven by outside sources (NFL people, special interests, lawyer/agents and unions) that are hoping to make two giant college leagues in college football just like the NFC and the AFC in the NFL... with all the same BS problems that forced people like me to never again watch the NFL.

We have to tell Sankey that he has NO right to add more teams unless all SEC presidents and administrators see every single possible detail of what that might entail. Remember that Sankey and the SEC never told us ahead of time that they would be getting rid of the two divisions east and west divisions in the SEC before we added Texas and Oklahoma. At least I don't remember reading about that detail in any printed paper ahead of this latest expansion.

This whole FSU and Clemson lawsuit is geared for one outcome. To make college football more like the NFL and I can see that a mile away. I DESPISE THE NFL and everything about it from the organizational (one commissioner) standpoint all the way down to the agents and unions controlling it.

No... hail no... we do not need to get to twenty teams and create more drama by adding teams like FSU and Clemson trying to break-up the ACC, in order to get to these NFL people's final solution for college football.

These NFL type will reinvent ways to get their message across over and over again and again... thinking they can fool us this time into changing college football into an NFL light developmental league with the same BS that I despise about the NFL. The NFL wants that money and control...

Just like that last questionnaire about The Swamp remodel that's out... It's just a new way to trick people into going along with their 10,000 seat delete proposal for The Swamp... that we all DO NOT WANT. It's the same thing with college football and they way these people will create new ways to trick us into an NFL type professional college football league.

They are not fooling anyone and their tactics are not fooling anyone. Our university presidents have to know that they will lose all control of their own university teams if we let these special interest groups get control of college football by way of conference amalgamation into one super league, with two major conference/divisions... it's a trick for control.

Screw FSU and Clemson... They can join the big-12 and suck it for all I care.

 

Same old song and dance... to make college football into the NFL 'light" league.

And one more thing... we do need to bring back the east and west divisions to the SEC.

Screw the current BS schedulers and scheduling.

Of course the Gators got shafted with this new non-division BS.

 

Man, I hear ya, but its headed that way with steam. These University Presidents have big enough fish to fry trying to run educational institutions. Running professional sports leagues are way outside of their wheelhouses. Personally I think that Colleges and Universities should eliminate all but intramural and club sports and build back. That would force the NFL to create a minor league for all the athletes that don't care about going to a college and eliminate the ridiculous notion of an institution of higher learning running a pro sports league(s).

 

How about just making it the Southeastern Conference first. Missouri? Oklahoma? Texas, Texas am?

Much like every other once great brand ( John Deere, craftsman, star wars, etc...) they've taken a product that was built to please it's customer base and redesigned it to maximize profit.

 

That SEC East ring would mean a little more now.

 

I agree partly with the sentiment as I don’t follow the nfl much anymore. I would hate to lose the Gators and I doubt I’d watch intramural anything. They might as well fold the sports program at that point. I don’t like where it’s going but we are the ones that supplied the cash to get it where it is today. If we weren’t paying so much for tickets and cable, maybe things wouldn’t have changed. You can’t fight money, it ruins everything.

 

I'm all in with your posts on this subject, sadly I think you are expressing positions and wishes that will not be coming true.

Not that I am an expert on this subject, far from it, but IMO what you are posting against, is an inevitability, long in the making.

I hope I am wrong, and you are right, but pandora is out of the box I'm afraid.

Get ready for your new look Jag Gators, brought to you by Greg Sankey, and the University President's.

What led me to this conclusion? Several financial writers on the subject have expressed that the "Market" for College Football is severely undervalued.

According to them, this is simply a market and organizational correction, that was and is inevitable.

Get ready for NFL Light, a delightful combination of minor league pro ball, housed in College venues.

Sure they will try to put lipstick on this pig, but the game so many of us loved is changing, evolving and going straight to an NFL model, if the pundits I listen to are correct.

I follow Brent Baird somewhat on this topic.
He can be found on Matthew's in the Morning at 8:00 am on Thursday. He provides weekly updates on what is happening with the evolution of the college game every week.

 

The states and universities have many arrows left in their quiver. College football is not dead and doomed yet. That is NOT what the NIL is, nor did it allow for that to happen.

I don't remember the SCOTUS allowing for amateur athletics on colleges and university campuses to become university employees of those athletes? Do you?

 

What are they? Given the role cash now plays, what is it you think the Universities can do?

 

I never defined it, and I don't have to define what they are... other than the fact that they are simply amateur collegiate athletes that are now allowed to make money on their Name, Image and likeness. But they are NOT employees like hundreds of these NFL sycophant will have you believe.

 

You just said it, university presidents have bigger fish to fry, so lets imagine that the SCOTUS actually said (which the most certainly DID NOT SAY) that these student athletes can be employees of their universities. Do you think the university president's work load diminishes or does it increase? It increases by a factor of who knows how much.

But, like I said, the SCOTUS never said collegiate athletes can now become full-time university employees. They said these amateur athletes can make money on their Names... their Image... and their likeness.

The NFL is in a full-time blitz to conflate the facts of the truth... about what the SCOTUS ruled on and what they said in their ruling.

Don't believe the NFL sycophants distorting the truth... NOTHING is inevitable.

 

I do not. Nor am I arguing your points, rather reflecting what I see and hear about the subject. As I stated I certainly hope your right, and some sembelance of what we had is saved, but I am not optimistic and in fact have become fatalistic about the topic.

Pro, half and half, or amatuer, I will still support the Gators, but it looks like NFL light is coming IMO.

 

That's just it... IT IS ALL THAT YOU HEAR and SEE... and you are parroting it all without questioning it. That is purposefully done to sway your thought... to encourage you to repeat their same OLD talking points..

Use your Critical Thinking brain, go back to the facts and the basics that you do know to be true, and start from there.

Did the SCOTUS allow for amateur athletes to become full-time employees of their colleges and universities? NO, they did NOT.. all the rest that you hear and see is a guided narrative designed for people like you and others to repeat thinking what they say is the truth. It is NOT the truth... it's just the NFL (and their sycophants) trying to trick you and others into believing that it's "INEVITABLE" that these kids will be employees and they will join unions and etc.. etc.. ctc.

When everyone says the same damned thing... question it.

 

No argument here and it's a great point Rick, we should be "fighting" not acting compliant to everything these "high priests" want to dictate to us!

 

I hope those of us who love college football won’t have to see it morphed into something we barely recognize.
Ive never been a huge fan of pro football: although I am a casual fan. I’ve always felt the pro athletes were better but when football is chiefly a business rather than a game it looses something that money can’t buy or replace. And like Gatorrick I don’t think those of us who have a distaste for what’s happening should acquiesce without at least voicing disapproval. Very little of what’s happening remotely resembles amateur sports much less university sponsored football being played by student/athletes. And BTW I’m not opposed to a stipend to be paid to student /athletes on an athletic scholarship.
One more item about the article that bothers me is the adoption of two “super conferences” in the NFL mold. I think 32 teams is pretty cumbersome for a two conference league. It would be beyond cumbersome with a group of 100+ schools.
Wish I was more articulate and not as long winded but, if nothing else I have now vented.

 

"fight" all you want, it won't matter. The only way to stop what is going to happen is to stop spending your money on college football. It will take a large percentage of fans to totally drop football and for the conferences to see a large decrease in revenue over several years.

 

The only issue with the article I have is the ACC probably isn't going away like the Pac-12 did.

The Pac-12 got killed off because they had no TV deal and without USC and UCLA, they lost any ability to ever secure a decent TV deal. So UW and Oregon took a half share in the Big-10 and most of the other members jumped at the Big-12 to get a TV deal. That left just 2 schools nobody wanted.

The ACC is in MUCH better position than the Pac-12 was. The ACC already has a TV deal and even if they get raided by the Big-10 and SEC for a small handful of members (FSU, Clemson, UNC), they still have plenty of decent members. I really don't think the Big-10 and SEC want more than a small handful of ACC members. Granted, the ACC will be an even more clear 2nd-tier conference, probably slightly below the Big-12, but they will still have some decent programs with value and can add USF and a few other mid level programs and survive on their own and renegotiate a reduced value TV deal, or maybe even merge with the Big-12 into a second tier superconference.

I also don't agree with the writer's assertion that the purpose of a conference is to give everyone a better chance to win championships. The conferences have always been top loaded with schools like Bama, Ohio State, Texas, USC and Oklahoma. The difference now is that the conferences are more evenly distributing revenues and resources to all members.

 

I’m afraid you are correct.