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MEGA Conference Realignment and lawsuits Megathread: Stories, Tales, Lies, and Exaggerations

Hey FSU! You’re going nowhere!
randy savage jazz hands GIF


It turns out the ACC has a contract where teams can’t just leave! It was in response to losing Maryland!

Goodness! Who knew?
 
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hesskilla said:
Interesting….. One notable poster in this thread kept saying that was going to be the death blow for anyone not in the P2.
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Huge amount of $$$$ are at stake in the sports broadcasting area, an area that has been identified as "under performing" vs the potential to make dramatically more money. There is a reason (or reasons) that the "realignment" smoke has died down quite a bit and one big part of that is the network push to make things happen appears to be at a slight pause while a lot of different issues get ironed out. VENU was scheduled to launch this Fall with and unknown (or as yet unpublished) slate of most likely minor sporting events .... as a dry run. Now that is on hold. The SEC and B10 are both evaluating when to go to 9 conference games ... and that is on hold.

There are a lot of moving parts to "realignment" and they all involve $$$. Still pending is the final NCAA settlement impact on universities. When and how much is each school going to be penalized? How are they paying? Conferences still digesting (from a programming standpoint) their latest expansion teams. ESPN and the ACC in a ****ing match over a variety of issues ... the ACC having added the three stooges (Cal / Stan / SMU) to weaken an already weak conference, and the SEC having vocalized their intent to invest in the SEC. The FSU / ACC law suit might be getting very ugly soon as the ACC is digging in in spite of a lot of prior misinformation they put out having been documented in court as inaccurate (ESPN media deal termination date), and the fact that discovery is now underway.

Even unsolicited comments by coaches like Kyle Whittingham are pointing to an inevitable "P2" conference reality similar to an NFC / AFC format in which it is highly likely that the only OOC games they will play will be P2. There are literally $Billions at stake and there will be streaming losers and winners, and undoubtedly some legal actions by some attempting to protect their territory. There will be possibly be more changes to college football over the next 5-6 years than in the entire history of the sport as far as "structure" and programming. I prefer the "old era" but since the day ESPN was launched in 1979 and began the search for content to broadcast the panorama has continued to change.
 
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Was with a friend of mine last night who works in sports investing. He said every school & conference is trying to figure out how to some kind of equity deal. Which I just find to be a bit of a bummer. His prediction was 40 - 50 teams in an NFL type league and then small schools in another who don’t have a chance to compete for the same title, $$$, etc. I love CFB but there’s so much uncertainty around its future. I’m going to enjoy the **** out of this year.
 
If you think CFB will trouble figuring all of this out... think of the he11 college basketball will be with all overachieving minnows and sporadic conferences that do well just in that sport
 
Gocanes1990 said:
Was with a friend of mine last night who works in sports investing. He said every school & conference is trying to figure out how to some kind of equity deal. Which I just find to be a bit of a bummer. His prediction was 40 - 50 teams in an NFL type league and then small schools in another who don’t have a chance to compete for the same title, $$$, etc. I love CFB but there’s so much uncertainty around its future. I’m going to enjoy the **** out of this year.
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Conference realignment has always been a part of college football's landscape but is just on prominent display now because of heightened media coverage.

Realistically, G5 programs have never been in serious contention for national titles. The concept of having a Tier 1 and Tier 2 league, with opportunities for successful Tier 2 programs to move up if they choose, is something I actually want to see.

I’d much rather watch a Tier 2 playoff with real stakes than a bowl game that feels inconsequential, like Memphis vs. NC State.
 
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There has to be a tipping point, otherwise schools like Vandy and Nortwestern are going to get booted out of the Power 2!
 
Gi0logy said:
Conference realignment has always been a part of college football's landscape but is just on prominent display now because of heightened media coverage.

Realistically, G5 programs have never been in serious contention for national titles. The concept of having a Tier 1 and Tier 2 league, with opportunities for successful Tier 2 programs to move up if they choose, is something I actually want to see.

I’d much rather watch a Tier 2 playoff with real stakes than a bowl game that feels inconsequential, like Memphis vs. NC State.
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UCF did exactly this. DII to 1AA to D1 to national champions 🤣
 
Gi0logy said:
Conference realignment has always been a part of college football's landscape but is just on prominent display now because of heightened media coverage.

Realistically, G5 programs have never been in serious contention for national titles. The concept of having a Tier 1 and Tier 2 league, with opportunities for successful Tier 2 programs to move up if they choose, is something I actually want to see.

I’d much rather watch a Tier 2 playoff with real stakes than a bowl game that feels inconsequential, like Memphis vs. NC State.
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Agree to a point, but a 40-50 team P2 League would push down much more than just G5 leagues to a Tier 2. There were 68 P5 teams last season. They will be throwing out a minimum of 26% of the existing P5 teams.

IMO, the simplest solution would have been to have the P5 schools come together to create their own league. Of course, that would have involved thinking of the health of the sport as a whole.
 
TheEye said:
There has to be a tipping point, otherwise schools like Vandy and Nortwestern are going to get booted out of the Power 2!
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Give it time. They will be. TV execs first worked conferences to **** over each other. The next step will be getting in the ears of the individual school's leadership to get rid of the "deadweight" so the school can maximize its TV revenue.
 
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CaneinBroward said:
Agree to a point, but a 40-50 team P2 League would push down much more than just G5 leagues to a Tier 2. There were 68 P5 teams last season. They will be throwing out a minimum of 26% of the existing P5 teams.

IMO, the simplest solution would have been to have the P5 schools come together to create their own league. Of course, that would have involved thinking of the health of the sport as a whole.
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Honestly though, if you’re a Vanderbilt, would a drop to Tier 2 league where you can actually compete and create a decent fan environment not be interesting?
 
Gi0logy said:
Honestly though, if you’re a Vanderbilt, would a drop to Tier 2 league where you can actually compete and create a decent fan environment not be interesting?
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I have no problem with Vanderbilt going down, but there are a lot more schools than Vandy that would be affected.
 
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CaneinBroward said:
I have no problem with Vanderbilt going down, but there are a lot more schools than Vandy that would be affected.
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Then create a relegation/promotion system where successful tier 2 teams can go up and schools like Vandy go down until they get serious about playing.
 
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