Read the opposing argument from Loyal Homer and Sports Geek.
Change is inevitable.
The Conference structure that we know in college football today is not the same as it was ten years ago, and it will not remain indefinitely as it is today. Schools will come and go, Conference alignments will shift, and as some Conferences rise into dominance, others will fall into obscurity.
With that perpetual shift, Sports Geek correctly identifies the inevitability of not just Conference re-alignment, but of Conference expansion. Even if the Big Ten does not expand tomorrow, despite the many rumors to the contrary, it will happen at some point in the (probably near) future, and the Super Conference will emerge.
Loyal Homer, in anticipation of this change, raises many valid questions regarding the fallout from the emergence of such a conference.
How will the other Conferences compete?
Will the result be the folding of some “lesser” Conferences?
What will happen to the BCS?
All of those are outstanding questions, but as Sports Geek highlights, the answers to those questions do not necessarily imply doom for college football. The winner of this debate is Sports Geek.
Yes, other Conferences will be forced to step up to the plate and expand themselves in response to the creation of a Super Conference, or otherwise face the possibility of folding as their schools defect into Super Conferences. It would not be the first time that a Conference had to fold, though. In fact, just within the last 15 years, two Conferences have already folded as a result of Conference Expansion elsewhere in the nation – the Southwest Conference (which had been in existence since 1914) closed in 1996, followed by the Big West Conference which closed its doors in 2000.
Yes, the Super Conference will also have a major impact on the BCS format. But when you consider the fact that the VAST majority of college football fans would like to see the BCS done away with, perhaps the Super Conference would help speed that process along.
The important thing to remember here is that these changes can ALTER the game, but they do not RUIN it. For every Conference rivalry that is lost by the closing or realignment of one Conference, another is created. When Penn State left the Independent ranks to join the Big Ten in 1993, they were walking away from the Penn State-Syracuse game, which historically was one of college football’s biggest rivalries. As much as college football may now be suffering from the absence of that one rivalry (although Syracuse would HARDLY be considered a worthy opponent today), new rivalries sprung up to capture the attention of football fans and replace the old ones. One of the biggest games each year now is the Penn State-Ohio State game, which often plays a major role in deciding the Big Ten Championship, as well as carrying BCS implications.
While the “history” may be lacking from some of these newest rivalries, they are no less competitive and compelling than their now-retired predecessors once were.
It is ultimately the fans who will determine the success or failure of the organization. Fans of Notre Dame (for example) will remain fans whether the school plays independently, or joins a conference such as the Big Ten. While Conference structure and rivalry can help to enhance the fan experience, it is not the source of it.
It is love and support for the TEAM, not its CONFERENCE, that ultimately sells tickets and merchandise.
There is just no indication that the Super Conference would ruin college football. Expansion is a process that the sport has undergone many times in the past. When it does occur, the schools, players, coaches, and fans all adapt and move on without missing a beat, as though the new format is the way they have been playing the game all along.
Posted by Bleacher Fan 
