BITB's realignment plan.
The latest Big 12 realignment news is that we could be in a holding pattern for as long as a year. Ok, whatever, I mean who really knows?
But it's an interesting idea floating around that cooler heads may prevail and we're going to actually put some thought into all this and try very hard to do the right thing by as many schools and fans as possible. So here's a quick look at what I think may actually work if we put together some special committee with somebody really smart at the head of the table. You know, like an actual fan or something.
We currently have more than 64 teams so let's scrap the idea of four, 16 team conferences. Teams that get bumped and teams that can't get in would lobby Congress and there could be all kinds of mayhem. Let's think 72 teams. I know, nobody's said anything like this and it just sounds like some half baked plan based on a number that's greater than the number of current BCS teams. But it's not. It's based on a different number that coaches love... NINE. Nine?
Coaches love the idea of 9 in a division because that's 8 league games and four non conference games. See, the idea is to do the right thing by as many people as possible. Coaches, check.
Now you take two of these nines and call them a "super conference". Seems we could make most everyone happy with Big Ten, SEC, Pac 18 and ACC. Check.
Then you take all 8 division winners, true division winners because of the round robin format, and you have yourself a nice, tidy playoff. Seed them 1-8 however you like, nobody will care, it's a playoff. Fans are happy. Check.
The other 64 teams are all bowl category teams so the bowls stay in place and they're happy. Check.
What about independents like Notre Dame and BYU and a school like Texas with it's own network? Well, you have a massive tv deal for ALL DIVISION GAMES that everyone splits equally 72 ways. The other four games are the unique and individual property of the schools or the conferences. Texas could have all four on LHN, Notre Dame could have four on NBC and keep all the money for themselves. This give the bigger schools and programs a big financial advantage, but again, we're trying to make everyone happy. The biggest issue here could be Big Ten Network but they would have 18 teams with four non-cons each that they could air on BTN. That's 72 games if they wanted and that's plenty.
So that leaves us with one really huge problem we still haven't addressed and that's rivalries. What if OU and Texas wind up in separate divisions. Or programs like Michigan, Ohio State and Notre Dame? Seems easy enough to me that you ask everyone to pick their biggest rival not in their division and play them in the non-conference. Remember, you get to go sell that thing all to yourself and keep all the money. Which of the big boys wouldn't love to do that?
This plan would generate record revenue, include the most teams and fans, create a playoff, protect the bowls, keep the game geographically sane and protect the special interests of the biggest programs. I'm sure there are holes and gaps in this thing somewhere, I've only been working on it for a day. But it seems to me the biggest issues are covered here and the rest of it can't be that hard to figure out.
