Jon Joseph

WOW! A Midwest guy who came to SC from Cincinnati and likely had a major influence on SC moving to the B1G.

Happy, I have but one minor disagreement. I do not see B1G/Fox making an offer to the NW schools before knowing the terms of the new media deal in order to have a real lowball number. Great post!

Are there 6 G5 teams in the West that meet the Pac-10 academic standards? I think SDSU would qualify and is on the shortlist. SMU qualifies as does Rice and Tulane. I'd grab these 3 of these, not Rice and also Fresno and UNLV and perhaps, Boise. Academics be darned. It's about survival and not academics. A number of existing Pac-10 members have no better academics than the last 3 on the potential list. At least on my list that the Pac-10 powers-that-be will surely and correctly ignore.

The B1G would lay down the red carpet for Notre Dame. Miami has decent academic creds but is a small private school, smaller than Northwestern. Clemson and FSU while attractive candidates from a football prospective do not have B1G-like academic qualifications. Thanks for the great comment.

An uninformed source. What inside information does an SEC network employee have? ESPN is not in the B1G broadcast mix come next season. The ACC has 5 AAU member schools, Duke, Georgia Tech, UNC, Pitt, and Georgia Tech. AAU membership matters to the B1G powers that be. I think that Duke, UNC, and UVA are on the B1G's radar and if the ACC breaks up Notre Dame would be a no-brainer addition. Thanks for the post.

I have enjoyed reading and discussing various posters' thoughts in regard to possible expansion candidates for Oregon and other Pac-10 schools. This is a fun topic to debate and ponder and no prospective realignment ideas are out-of-bounds in today's constantly changing world of CFB. But when it comes to business, we, like it or not, are living in a Power 2 age. The B1G and the SEC have lapped the field financially. I think a Super Conference made up of the B1G and the SEC might look like this. (If student-athletes are found to be employees all bets are off in regards to where CFB is headed.) B1G 20 - West - Oregon, UCLA, USC, Washington (all pod members would play one another every year.) Central - Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Wisconsin Mid-West - Illinois, Indiana, Penn State, Purdue Mid-East - Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Rutgers East - Duke, Georgia Tech, UNC, Maryland SEC 20 - West - Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A+M South - LSU, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Missouri Southeast - Alabama, Auburn, Kentucky, Tennessee Mid-East - Clemson, NC State, South Carolina, West Virginia/ or, Virginia Tech East - Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Miami Please feel to fire away at this proposed structure and most likely come up with your own better structure.

There is a clear demarcation between sports that drop money on the bottom line, CFB, CBB, a few women's basketball programs, and non-revenue sports. But I believe you are correct in that a union for just Men's CFB and CBB could violate the Equal Protection Clause. This is going to be a huge mess. My guess is that many programs will assign all of their football and basketball indicia to a 3rd party. Possibly the NFL for football and the NBA for basketball? And players would join the existing pro unions and there will be restrictions on free agency and team salary caps, but no cap on NIL deals. And players will be subject to being traded. I think we will see a high school draft of football and basketball players. I doubt that these athletes will be required to take any classes. One thing the above would do is drastically reduce the amount of money being paid to college football and basketball coaches. Obviously, schools like Stanford, CAL, Duke, Northwestern, BC, Wake Forest, and many others will not go along with this model. We are likely to see many schools going the Ivy and D3 route. No athletic scholarships. Is this what the federal government and certain state governments want to happen?

Although Prime is making a decent showing on the 2024 recruiting trail and not just out of the portal. The man had big-time success as an FCS coach and has put CU back on the college football map. I think he will soon have CU in the upper half of the conference if not higher. Equally as important as the hire was the CU administration's decision to open the pocketbook.

Dave, I love the thoughts. But you can put a whole bunch of bronze medal winners in a room and they won't turn into silver or gold winners. I do not particularly like it but Oregon's best long-term athletic interests lie with the B1G. Quantity does not equal quality. And ESPN today is in no position to fund this kind of realignment. Again, great thoughts, and this stuff is fun to ponder.

Dave, Apple is sitting on more cash than Amazon and Google combined. Apple does not have the TV presence of Amazon's Paramount but Apple has a huge number of worldwide business affiliations with households. No tech company today has its own broadcast facilities. The Pac-12 network's facilities would be perfect for broadcasting Pac-10 sports. The quantity of subscribers to the network stinks but the quality of the broadcasts for the most part was fine.

Dave, more like middlemen. Then, add in the ubiquitous consultants. Rob Mullens makes close to $1M a year. Check out his organization chart. It's as bloated as the before takes of folks who went on a miracle diet. And George Kliavkoff found the need to hire an assistant commissioner who has since resigned. What in the heck do these conference commissioners do all day long? How about rotating the conference ADs in the role of a commissioner with their voting on 3rd party matters directed by the collective group of ADs and the presidents? As it stands today, any major decision already requires board (presidents') approval. Give a stipend to the AD serving at any given time, cut way back on support staff, and save millions of dollars.

And, FUTA, FICA, Group Insurance, contributions to a state's retirement fund, etc., ad nauseum. IMO, at least half if not a whole lot more of the schools offering athletic scholarships today will go the Ivy/D3 route.

The NLRB, on appeal from a lower-level bureaucratic ruling, found that Northwestern football players were not employees of the university. Now, the NLRB decides to challenge its own precedent. Why? USC and Pac-12 schools are doing nothing different today than they did 8 years ago. Yes, NIL and the portal are here but neither was created by USC and the Pac-12 member schools. Male bovine excrement!

Yes, 'mergers' with the B12 or the ACC are fun to ponder but you can put 100 bronze medalists into a room and there is no alchemy that will turn them into silver or gold medalists.

This is egregious selective enforcement against a conference that can least afford it. If you want a private school defendant? How about Northwestern? 8 years ago the NLRB held against NW football players attempting to form a union. Why? Because the athletes were not employees. What has changed so dramatically in the last 8 years? Vanderbilt and the SEC could also have been filed against instead of SC and the Pac. Instead of choosing a conference that can ill afford the cost of defending against this complaint. And against a school that will be in the B1G in 2024, the federal government chooses to file against a defendant whose finances are uncertain. I'm shocked. The NCAA should step in and pay all costs associated with this selective enforcement action. Good luck with that happening. The NLRB wins this complaint and the baby will be thrown out with the bath water. How many schools awarding athletic scholarships today will continue to do so if athletes are found to be employees? If the NLRB wants CFB to morph into the NFL's minor league this should do the job.

Great point Jon, but even though it will be his second season the limit on 25 new scholarships a year has been lifted by the NCAA. Guys not making the grade at CU and other schools will be encouraged to enter the portal. Of course in the Pac-12 whether a young man plays or not so long as he is not kicked off the team for disciplinary reasons his scholarship stays in place. I think 6 members of the CU squad took advantage of this and stayed in Boulder.

Whether I think of any of the ideas for realignment posited on the board doesn't matter. It is a fun exercise to move the college football chairs around. Fun to ponder and fun to discuss.

Charles in the case of ESPN I think it is a smart move but also a move born out of necessity that would not happen without cord-cutting. If ESPN would agree to own and operate the Pac-12 Network and use it as a platform for streaming on ESPN 3 this would be fine but I prefer the reach of Amazon and/or Apple over that of ESPN. Regardless, great post by NJDuck and a great comment by you. Streaming is coming, and not too long from now linear broadcasts of sporting events will likely become obsolete.

'In the coming years?' No doubt. But no way will the SEC today allow its 1st and 2nd tier inventory to be streamed and not shown on linear TV.

Good thoughts but it isn't going to happen. Minneapolis is much closer to Eugene than Mr. Jefferson's University. This would be massive but it would be an untenable structure that at the end of the day would not bring in more money than the Pac-10 staying together and adding good-sized and big market teams closer to its footprint: SDSU, Fresno, UNLV, SMU, UTSA, Rice and Tulane would bring in. All of the above schools can be had at a discount off of what Pac-10 teams will receive. You go beyond 16 teams and do you have a viable conference? The quantity will not make up for the quality in the SEC and the B1G.

Why would ESPN that has the ACC 'locked up' through 2036 at $20M a year like this? Why would Disney like this? If ESPN liked anything it would likely be Clemson and FSU to the SEC. This is an unwieldy deal geographically that IMO could not work travel-wise and would not IMO, score more money for the Pac-10 than if the Pac-10 stays together. There are better expansion candidates in better markets and closer to the Pac-10 footprint.

Amen and Clemson and FSU if freed up? ESPN will find a way to usher these 2 into the SEC. If you think LA to B1G locales is crazy travel? Travel between ACC schools and Pac whatever schools would be worse. Cuse does not have a strong influence in the NYC market any more than does Rutgers. Duke, NC St, UVA, and NC St will not move the media market needle. San Diego State, Fresno, UNLV, SMU, UTSA, and Tulane would all be better and closer markets than any ACC market except perhaps Charlotte but the ACC breaks up and UNC is off to the B1G or the SEC. Miami has a smaller market size than UCF.

Anderson is the guy who hired Herm and is now awaiting NCAA sanctions. IMO, both he and ASU president (eat) Crow should go. Crow, one of Livin' Large Larry's biggest enablers should be long gone.

No, I'm referring to annual match-ups if the conference merges. On a stand-alone basis, I'd love to see a challenge in CFB and CBB.

Cart, the travel would be prohibitive and ACC teams are now stuck at $20M a year in media revenue in a deal that runs through 2036. I do not see any desire on ESPN's part to facilitate such a merger. Football games vs Clemson and FSU and maybe Miami would draw large numbers of viewers but against BC, Duke, Syracuse, Pitt, Va Tech, UVA, NC St, UNC, Georgia Tech, and Wake? Not so much.