Don’t be fooled by what occurred at last week’s BCS meetings last Wednesday. Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany squashed rumors of his conference moving up their expansion timetable from “12 to 18 months” to this week with some huge announcement.
It didn’t happen, but that doesn’t mean significant changes aren’t looming.
There will be major expansion in the Big Ten, which is likely to start a domino effect throughout the nation that will change the landscape of Division I football.
It might begin a year from now. It could take 10 years or more for the dust to settle, but when it’s over, you likely won’t recognize college athletics.
As I’ve stated before, this is all about money. And if you’re a fan of Big East or Big Ten hoops or even ACC or Big 12 baseball, sorry.
Threats — I mean rumors — of expansion are nothing new, but thanks to all the money college football is generating through television contracts, everyone who can is going to cash in.
So, bear with me as we take a look into what will likely be the future of college sports with a few crazy (are they really?) predictions:
There will be five super conferences (SEC, Big 12, Big Ten, ACC and Pac-10) made up of 14-16 teams in each. The BCS champion, or whatever we’ll be calling it by the time this sorts itself out, will only be from one of the five.
Mid-major conferences will become a thing of the past. No Boise State to keep out of the national title game. It’ll be in the Big 12 or Pac-10. The same goes for Utah and BYU, which happens to be in a very large and untapped market around Salt Lake City.
And leagues like C-USA and Sun Belt will be filled with programs nowhere near good enough to be in Division I football, meaning another new sub-division will have to be created.
The Big East will likely suffer the most. There are plenty of schools in big markets — like Louisville, Pittsburgh, and UConn — that will leave for three times the revenue sharing of another conference.
The ACC is likely to be low on the totem pole. It doesn’t have as much money and power as the SEC, Big 12, or Big Ten in football, meaning whatever decent-sized programs are left will have no choice but to join up with the old guards.
Much more here
Source: Scripps news
