(01-26-2018 10:48 AM)Wolfman Wrote:  There will be no demotions. There will be a split on academic lines. Schools will have to decide if they want to put academics first or athletics first.

(01-24-2018 08:56 PM)oliveandblue Wrote:  Cutting football from 100s of schools - which is what you're suggesting since the lower levels are also losing money - would actually be fought tooth and nail by the NFL. It would also have a lasting negative effect on football popularity - and maybe that's a good thing.

The NFL doesn't give a flip about college football. It would benefit the NFL if college football went away. They could start their own minor league(s). They would break even or maybe make a little money. They could develop players the way they want and not have the pleasure of dealing with the NCAA and college presidents. Mostly they would lose their major competitor for TV time/money.

What? College football as is gives them a developmental league free of charge. Why would they want to start up their own venture? Developing players pro style is just a matter of game experience and training camp. If they can't cut it, they weren't meant to be NFL players anyways.

(01-26-2018 01:21 PM)_C2_ Wrote:  

(01-26-2018 08:58 AM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  

(01-25-2018 11:48 PM)_C2_ Wrote:  

(01-25-2018 08:55 PM)megadrone Wrote:  The other goal in expanding to 12 is to protect against further raids. The 27 month timeframe to leave the conference was too easy to breach. But with 12 schools in the conference, if the Big 12 had taken 2 or 3 teams a couple of years back it wouldn't have been so bad with 10 schools remaining. Even if 4 schools had gone to the Big 12, you're still left with 8 football/7 full members and it's not completely devastating to the conference.

You don't dilute your own product just for fear of competitors.

And besides, with the ACC, B1G and SEC as bloated as they are, who is gonna expand into the AAC? The Big 12 maybe and you don't lose much if they grab just two. That's easy to rebuild from.

Look no farther than C-USA as an example of a conference that overexpanded to "protect against raids." The Sun Belt is stronger because they didn't overexpand (other than grabbing Coastal Carolina for some reason beyond me). I bet you they wish they had left one of the Florida schools in the Belt, if not both. And at least one of the new programs. There was no rush to add Charlotte, UTSA, ODU (probably the best of the bunch) all at once. UNT has more or less been deadweight since they got back to D-I. They're all about markets but added La. Tech, who has no market to speak of.

Hindsight is 20/20. Also, 12 was still the minimum for a CCG when they were making expansion decisions.

Hindsight is 20/20 my behind, I said at the time it was silly to add Tulsa and Tulane. And some conferences need to stop pretending they're the SEC, a conference title game is really only viable if your conference can more or less fill up a 70,000 seat neutral site and be broadcast OTA. Other than the MAC because of its tight geography, it's ridiculous for anyone else outside the R5.

An 8-10 team conference is stronger because you have less deadweight at the bottom and less potential for bad losses. That, plus round robin play.

Who instead should they have known to add (and have been able to add) to reach 12? The goal was the CCG, not simply expanding for the sake of doing so.

No one, you don't add anyone unless there is a candidate worthy of adding, see the Big 12. The Pac-12 got screwed because they thought they were getting Texas, Texas A&M and Oklahoma and ended up with a dud in Utah. Yes, that's right, I said Utah was a dud, for the Pac-12 anyways. Even Colorado is a relative dud compared to the other schools they were looking at.

So, as I said, you're stronger without a conference championship game unless you have the right 12 teams.

Heck, even the SEC definitely wanted Texas A&M the first time rather than South Carolina. Maybe even Florida State.

(01-26-2018 02:37 PM)_C2_ Wrote:  No one, you don't add anyone unless there is a candidate worthy of adding, see the Big 12. The Pac-12 got screwed because they thought they were getting Texas, Texas A&M and Oklahoma and ended up with a dud in Utah. Yes, that's right, I said Utah was a dud, for the Pac-12 anyways. Even Colorado is a relative dud compared to the other schools they were looking at.

So, as I said, you're stronger without a conference championship game unless you have the right 12 teams.

Heck, even the SEC definitely wanted Texas A&M the first time rather than South Carolina. Maybe even Florida State.

The Big 12 had the luxury of waiting out the NCAA for a rule change (and also had little in the way of expansion options). The old BE/AAC needed to do all it could to remain relevant. I'm not excusing the decision to overexpand (if that's what it is), just explaining it.

They still waited things out, they didn't just add because they could. C-USA and the AAC just did what it took to get to 12 or over. The Sun Belt and Big 12 stood pat and stayed or got stronger.

You don't bring in an employee just because you can, you wait until you find someone you like. And if you do have to get to a certain number, you do a thorough search to bring in the best, not just bring in someone just because you're worried about losing to the company down the street.

(01-26-2018 03:19 PM)_C2_ Wrote:  They still waited things out, they didn't just add because they could. C-USA and the AAC just did what it took to get to 12 or over. The Sun Belt and Big 12 stood pat and stayed or got stronger.

You don't bring in an employee just because you can, you wait until you find someone you like. And if you do have to get to a certain number, you do a thorough search to bring in the best, not just bring in someone just because you're worried about losing to the company down the street.

Well, the past is past. But it's fun to think about what could have been. Did you see my post in the Alternate History thread about a BE/AAC with only 10 FB schools?

Yes, the past is the past, it doesn't mean that we didn't know it was a bad move back then. That's my point.