A Conference Realignment Plan That Makes Sense

Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany has been one of the most influential men in the conference realignment landscape.

Since 2009, we have been teased with rumors coming from university athletic departments to some guy on a computer in his mom's basement about major athletic programs moving from one conference to another. The first domino in the three year long wave was in June 2010 when the University of Nebraska left longtime rivals Oklahoma and others behind in the Big 12 by heading to the Big Ten, which they viewed as a land of more financial prosperity and institutional stability. Then an unprecedented movement of schools across the country ensued as schools and conferences were seeking the same thing: more money and stability. Schools made moves for a number of reasons including access to BCS bowls (later College Football Playoff), more lucrative television revenue, better athletic competition, stronger academic associations, geographic considerations, and much more. Major shifts took place until as recently as 2013, when the historically strong basketball-centric conference, the Big East, was separated into a basketball-only version and a new football and basketball conference, the American Athletic Conference.

On April 22, 2013, the Atlantic Coast Conference announced a grant of media rights that was signed by members, which effectively put conference realignment in the Power 5 conferences on hold. Aside from the Big 12 continuously flirting with adding two more schools to actually get back to a 12 team conference, every other major conference is standing pat. So we are now left with every major conference having endured changes, several new albatross television contracts and a new college football playoff system.

None of it makes any sense. Historic rivalries have been thrown away like paper and geographic considerations are non-existent. But what if there was a conference overhaul that did make sense? One that preserves most rivalries, sustains geographic integrity, and sets up for a behemoth of a college football playoff that everyone wants so badly? Here's what I have in mind.

There have been many issues at hand in this extended wave of realignment, nearly all of which have a significant place in my new structure. They include geographic continuity, number of schools per conference, current status in college athletics, historic rivalries and tradition and the ability to create a stable football and basketball playoff/tournament.

My plan calls for seven major conferences in Division 1 football, each consisting of ten schools. There will then also be six other "mid-major" or "non-power" conferences (also with ten teams each) consisting of the remaining Division 1 (current FBS) schools. This does not include the conferences such as the Big East or the Atlantic 10, which do not sponsor football but would still be included in Division 1 athletics for all other sports.

Here are the seven major conferences with an accompanying map showing the location of each conference's member schools:

Pacific-10 (Pink) Washington Washington State Oregon Oregon State California Stanford USC UCLA Arizona Arizona State	Southwest (SWC) (Light Blue) Texas Texas A&M Texas Tech Baylor TCU SMU Houston Oklahoma Oklahoma State Arkansas
Central (Purple) Utah BYU Colorado Nebraska Kansas Kansas State Missouri Iowa Iowa State Minnesota	Southeastern (SEC) (Green) LSU Mississippi Mississippi State Alabama Auburn Georgia Georgia Tech Florida Florida State Miami
Appalachian (Southern) (Red) South Carolina Clemson Tennessee Vanderbilt Kentucky Louisville North Carolina North Carolina State Wake Forest Duke	Atlantic Coast (ACC) (Blue) Virginia Virginia Tech West Virginia Maryland Penn State Pittsburgh Rutgers Connecticut Boston College Syracuse
Northern (Big Ten) (Yellow) Ohio State Cincinnati Michigan Michigan State Indiana Purdue Notre Dame Illinois Northwestern Wisconsin

Here is a map of the six non-power conferences with their affiliations listed below:
  

West Hawaii Fresno State San Jose State San Diego State Nevada UNLV Boise State Idaho Utah State Wyoming	Southeast UCF USF FIU FAU Georgia Southern Georgia State Charlotte Appalachian State East Carolina Memphis
Southwest Colorado State Air Force New Mexico New Mexico State Tulsa UTEP North Texas Texas State UTSA Rice	East Buffalo Army Massachusetts Temple Navy Marshall James Madison Liberty Old Dominion Western Kentucky
Sun Belt Arkansas State Louisiana Monroe Louisiana Lafayette Louisiana Tech Tulane Southern Miss UAB South Alabama Troy Middle Tennessee State	Mid-American Northern Illinois Ball State Western Michigan Central Michigan Bowling Green Toledo Miami Akron Kent State Ohio

* Eastern Michigan was demoted from Division 1, while Liberty and James Madison (two frequent candidates for FBS expansion) have moved up.

These conferences contain the best of all possible scenarios. They keep the geographic integrity of original rivalries while potentially fostering new rivalries among neighboring schools. They keep conferences to a reasonable size, allowing for true round robin play across all sports, something not seen in today's world of 14 and 16 team conferences. Perhaps the most important part is having these seven conferences sets up perfectly for a much anticipated eight team college football playoff, with the seven conference champions, plus one at-large bid from the non-power conferences, getting a bid to the playoff.

I don't think I need to explain what this type of playoff system would provide for all conferences in regards to television revenue. The contract for those games, plus hosting at least the semifinal and championship games at neutral sites would be cash cows for the NCAA.

Not only would this realignment be a huge benefit to the football world, but basketball leagues would return to the round-robin schedule (one of the greatest benefits of the old ACC - when Maryland had home-and-home dates with UNC, Duke and NC State every year), create fiercer rivalries and would set up nicely for conference tournaments and the NCAA tournament.

Perhaps the most practical part of the realignment is the geographic alignment. As I've mentioned, regional rivalries would be enhanced. But the decreased travel costs and times for all non-revenue sports would pay huge dividends financially and in the success of the student-athletes in the classroom.

The benefits of a conference overhaul could go on forever. It may not be realistic because of the contracts and money tied to everything in college sports, but it is nice to dream of a college landscape where rivalries still mattered, the well being of the student athlete was taken into consideration and the conferences and universities were still able to bring home a significant amount of money. But until then, we will sit and watch tradition pass us by as schools in Kentucky and Indiana join the Atlantic Coast Conference and the greatness of Big East basketball is a thing of the past.