08-20-2023, 08:12 AM
Conferences are not going to last much longer. College Football needs a national league like the NFL with 60-70 members divided by region, separate from the NCAA and conferences. It's NFL lite, and yes, players are going to be paid in this structure. It's only a matter of time. What will be interesting if this organization requires players to qualify for school and attend it. There is no guarantee they will, and it may be up to the school teams participating to decide themselves if school matters for them.
Maybe conferences as we have known them can work for basketball and other sports, but football has clearly outgrown them.
The focus is national now, not regional. Just like the AFL merged with the NFL, there is ultimately only going to be one college league. ACC and Big 12 members are ultimately going to be absorbed into the Big Ten and SEC. If you don't have a valuable program you will be left behind. Donors aren't gonna pay for weak programs to be in it. Stanford may ultimately beg out, but if it wants to be included and not lose its chair in the big time, it better take football much more seriously over the next 5 years than the last 5.
Maybe conferences as we have known them can work for basketball and other sports, but football has clearly outgrown them.
The focus is national now, not regional. Just like the AFL merged with the NFL, there is ultimately only going to be one college league. ACC and Big 12 members are ultimately going to be absorbed into the Big Ten and SEC. If you don't have a valuable program you will be left behind. Donors aren't gonna pay for weak programs to be in it. Stanford may ultimately beg out, but if it wants to be included and not lose its chair in the big time, it better take football much more seriously over the next 5 years than the last 5.