WHAT IF… Merger Coming?

There has been much buzz recently regarding the pending legislation, “Save College Sports” Act in the U.S. Congress.

This legislation has a clause that would prohibit college athletic conferences from future expanding. This has caused controversy across college athletics. For and against.

IF congress passes this act with the expansion prohibition, it could trigger fast moves by the conferences before the law takes affect. That brings us to a new scenario for consideration… a merger.

WHAT IF… the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) merges with the Big 12 Conference?

It makes sense since this boils down to a battle for the high ground in college athletics against the Big Ten and the Southeast conferences.

Such a merger will have to be quick, with a number of preliminary moves. Let’s break down the steps.

STEP ONE: Notre Dame

The Irish will remain independent. However, the new conference would want keep the strategic scheduling agreement with ou new conference, perhaps enlarging it to six game per year instead of the current five games with the ACC. This is a key move for the new conference because it brings value to potential media partners.

STEP TWO: Quick Expansion

Both the Big 12 and the ACC must move quickly to 18 football-playing schools.

Look for the ACC to bring Connecticut (UConn) into the fold. The Huskies would bring a major college basketball brand and a rising football program in the key northeast region.

Look for the Big 12 to strengthen it west coast presence with two additional schools. They should target southern California with invitations to San Diego State and UNLV. Both schools are located in large population cities and fertile recruiting grounds.

These three expansion schools would give the ACC and Big 12 eighteen schools each. That thirty-six schools total. Strength in number for a media partner. Inventory in keys markets.

STEP THREE: Merger

Here’s when the merger comes into play. The ACC and Big 12 announce their merger into a Super Conference with brand names in both football and basketball, significant population centers and a national footprint with a potential regional flavor.

STEP FOUR: Reorganization

Once the merger is made, the new conference would reorganize regionally into four nine-school divisions. West Virginia, Central Florida (UCF) and Cincinnati move into the eastern divisions. SMU, Cal and Stanford move into the western divisions. At this time, these moves are a reorganization, not expansions.

Northern Division:

Boston College, Connecticut (UConn), Syracuse, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Cincinnati, Louisville, Virginia, Virginia Tech

Southern Division:

North Carolina, Duke, NC State, Wake Forest, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Florida State, Central Florida (UCF), Miami

Central Division:

Houston, Baylor, SMU, TCU, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State

Western Division:

Arizona State, Arizona, UNLV, San Diego State, California, Stanford, Colorado, Utah, BYU

Scheduling - Each school would play an 8-game division regular season, with three conference crossover game and one out-of-conference game.

Playoffs - The four division champions enter the College Football Playoff (CFP). This would, of course, necessitate an agreement with the CFP for four automatic berths in the national 16-school playoffs.

BOTTOM LINE:

It makes sense. This new conference brings major brands in both football and basketball, population centers (eyeballs), game inventory, fertile recruiting grounds and reduced travel for teams and fans.

If the NCAA, SEC and Big Ten attempt to block this merge, then the new conference could break off from the NCAA and form a new college athletic association. They would have strength in numbers and an attractive package going into the next negotiations for media rights.

It’s a battle for survival and relevance.

GO CANES!