[chrisk]

Very nice post, Matt, and thanks.

I am intrigued by the concept of relegation.  And not just because I watched "Ted Lasso."  Maybe it makes more sense for professional sports, but hey, we're more than halfway down that road already.

I would guess that only a minority in any conference would support such a concept, even theoretically.

What would have to happen would be for the top schools of the Big 10 and/or SEC to leave the conference and set up a new power conference, leaving the laggards behind. That is essentially what happened when the MWC split from the WAC.

From Wikipedia:
In spring of 1998, BYU and Utah proposed a permanent split into two eight-team divisions. The proposal would have forced some schools into an unnatural alignment because of the geographic distribution of the conference.[3] Air Force was the most strident opponent of this proposal, threatening to become an independent.[3] Soon after the proposal by BYU and Utah, the presidents of Air Force, BYU, Colorado State, Utah, and Wyoming met at Denver International Airport to discuss their future, and they agreed to break away from the WAC to form a new conference.[3] They invited the WAC members New Mexico, San Diego State, and UNLV to join them in what became the Mountain West Conference.

[chrisk]

Very nice post, Matt, and thanks.

I am intrigued by the concept of relegation.  And not just because I watched "Ted Lasso."  Maybe it makes more sense for professional sports, but hey, we're more than halfway down that road already.

I would guess that only a minority in any conference would support such a concept, even theoretically.

What would have to happen would be for the top schools of the Big 10 and/or SEC to leave the conference and set up a new power conference, leaving the laggards behind. That is essentially what happened when the MWC split from the WAC.

From Wikipedia:
In spring of 1998, BYU and Utah proposed a permanent split into two eight-team divisions. The proposal would have forced some schools into an unnatural alignment because of the geographic distribution of the conference.[3] Air Force was the most strident opponent of this proposal, threatening to become an independent.[3] Soon after the proposal by BYU and Utah, the presidents of Air Force, BYU, Colorado State, Utah, and Wyoming met at Denver International Airport to discuss their future, and they agreed to break away from the WAC to form a new conference.[3] They invited the WAC members New Mexico, San Diego State, and UNLV to join them in what became the Mountain West Conference.