Read the opposing argument from Loyal Homer.
College football is a business. There, I said it. Well, SOMEone had to.
Is it a fair business? That is an impossible question for me to answer. From a bottom line standpoint, of course it’s an AMAZING business model. Charge hundreds of dollars for an event and make an event a total fan experience? Check. Do the minimum amount of marketing and promotion? Check. Refuse to pay the talent? Check. Geez, that’s a brilliant business. But fair? It would depend on your definition of fair. I’m sure the financial stakeholders feel it is fair… the “talent,” though… not so much.
The primary goals of both business (big spending athletic departments have to break even, too) and politics – money, power, and influence – are very much present in the world of college football. The imperial goals of expansion are restless, and ever-present in college football’s present, future – and past.
Before the Pac-10, college football fans had the Pac-8. The Big VIII conference became the Big XII. Most recently the ACC expanded from nine teams to twelve and, by adding a conference championship game, has inked a huge TV package and the accompanying revenue. College football conferences look to expand their footprint because there is big money in it. It’s just like a business heavily involved in the mergers and acquisitions market to increase product value and revenue. Conferences look to add teams under their respective banners to improve the overall quality of play and mass appeal to fans. In short, conferences want to sell more widgets, and better teams help them do that.
Super conferences are not some pie n the sky pipe dream. They are potentially very rewarding financially, and in the ever-expanding imperial mindset of competing college football conferences, the biggest conference with the best media strategy wins. The competition is as real as the dollars, making the super conference unavoidable. Even Joe Paterno has acknowledged that conference expansion is an unstoppable force, though he doesn’t know what that force will look like.<br.
Now we that all understand that the Super Conference is entirely unavoidable, and that the folks that run the conferences, and the participating athletic departments, stand to make a lot of money, we must ask what the potential downside is for fans. I mean, there MUST be one, right?
One of the reasons college football has remained so popular in America is its inherent regionalism. Unlike professional sports where free agency shakes up the competitive balance year in and year out, college sports – especially football – require homegrown talent to play at local colleges against the homegrown talent from other locales. Therefore, when Ohio State plays Michigan there are a lot of story lines. Perhaps the Buckeye that was recruited to Michigan is getting headlines for some comments, or the Michigander that grew up in Detroit can have a bigger impact in Columbus, so he makes the drive down I-75. Local ties and regionally mashed up rosters are part of what makes college football great.
Expanding conferences only enhances the regional battles over recruits and yardage. Using the Big Ten as an example, the potential exists for Ohio State to play the University of Pittsburgh. If you’re not from the Rust Belt that may not mean a whole lot to you, but for folks in the Ohio Valley… there’s no love lost between the two areas. Even without having a deep rooted competitive history between these two teams, the Big Ten will have immediately welcomed a rival into the conference.
Let’s stick with our Big Ten example. It is true that Pittsburgh is not a huge TV market – though it is one of notable size – Rutgers would be a major prize for the Big Ten because of the size of the New York TV market. Of course, Rutgers being good would be a major help, but even when regional competition doesn’t play into the value of the conference expansion, notoriety and financial impact are big gains for fans and stakeholders alike.
No doubt each of the current major conferences will use the same model to expand. First, where can regional ties be counted on to quickly build strong rivalry games, and second, where are the best TV markets where the most potential ad revenue can be had. Satisfy those two criteria, and a compelling Super Conference is not far behind.
Also, add in the potential of a conference-only network like the Big Ten Network, and another major revenue source is leveraged.
For every fan out there complaining desperately about the need for a playoff, the Super Conference is your best hope. The aforementioned money making is something that the BCS has, for better or worse, become quite good at. The chances of the administrators and broadcast partners eliminating the BCS is poor, to put it mildly. But, Super Conferences will all have a championship game. Instead of question marks surrounding whether a conference runner up was jilted, the BCS can play the odds that one of the four Super Conferences has produced the two best teams in the country. And, if a “plus one” game were to ever be discussed seriously, four conference championship games certainly help to definitively identify the best four teams in the country, creating a de facto tournament under the BCS badge.
If the presence of a Super Conference, or four, in college football is not a question or “if,” but “when,” then the NCAA needs to be quite careful when governing how the process takes shape. We all know that schools and conferences in college football enjoy pushing to the outer reaches of what is permissible under the current rule structure. Given that known quantity, the NCAA must be careful about how the process progresses to maintain integrity and keep the newly aligned NCAA college football above reproach. College football is at its best when the buzz and commentary is focused squarely on the teams and big matchups, and not distracted by obscure rules, poor officiating, or the recruiting scandal du jour.
As conferences get better, more regional, and more wealthy, the overall quality of the live experience will get better for fans, and the potential changes in store of the process of determining a national championship will be more clear and less debatable. Super Conferences will achieve one of the rare feats in sports where the folks who are intent on making more money and expanding influence will actually create a positive outcome for fans.
Posted by Sports Geek 
