Conference musical chairs is about to start back up. The way things are moving it looks like CFB will someday end up being a league like the NFL. How would things shake out if a Mega-Conference were created?

Let's explore:

1. How many schools would be in the mega-conference.
2. Which schools would they be?
3. What would the structure of the conference look like (divisions, pods, etc.)?

I'll start...

1. 40 schools.

I went with 40 because it seems best to have a number divisible by 4 for scheduling and playoff purposes.

2. Now comes the fun!

Shoe-Ins:
ACC - Florida State, Miami, Clemson
B1G - Michigan, Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, USC
Big12 - None
PAC - None
SEC - Alabama, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas
INDY - Notre Dame

Safe Bets:
ACC - UNC, Virginia Tech
B1G - Iowa, Michigan State, Nebraska, UCLA, Washington
Big12 - Arizona State, Colorado
PAC - None
SEC - Auburn, Texas A&M
INDY - None

Decent Chance:
ACC - UVA
B1G - Wisconsin
Big12 - Utah
PAC - None
SEC - Ole Miss, Kentucky, S. Carolina
INDY - None

This leaves 8 more spots for everyone else to vie for. That would be an interesting battle royale!

Edit: I forgot to include Auburn in the Safe Bet category.

Thought this was a post about My Wives!
Tech gets in. Money talks.

Big 12-0 said:

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Thought this was a post about My Wives!
Tech gets in. Money talks.

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I would give Tech a solid shot at the final 8.

Top Contenders:
Arkansas
Texas Tech
Oklahoma State
Arizona
Pitt
West Virginia
Mississippi State
Washington State
Stanford
Cal
Indiana
Illinois
Purdue
Louisville
NC State

GTFO:
Religious Schools other than Notre Dame
Directional Schools
City Schools other than those listed

k state

and if money talks (as tech is finding out in real time) don't count out byu

Texas velvet maestro said:

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k state

and if money talks (as tech is finding out in real time) don't count out byu

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K-State and Iowa State aren't bringing any eyeballs.

you said the virginia cavaliers for example, have a "decent chance. I think k state is a bigger ticket. they probably have a similar enrollment w k-state having a better football rep.

Texas velvet maestro said:

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you said the virginia cavaliers for example, have a "decent chance. I think k state is a bigger ticket. they probably have a similar enrollment w k-state having a better football rep.

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K-State is better in every football metric. Virginia has 5 million more pairs of eyes. I prefer K-State but I don't think it's going to be decided by football cred alone.

The only Big XII team with genuine visibility is BYU. It would still be a stretch to include them in any mega-conference. None of the other conference members add anything other than regional diversity.

So lets map this out now:

North:
Iowa
Michigan
Michigan State
Nebraska
Notre Dame
Ohio State
Penn State
Wisconsin
Vacant9
Vacant10


South:
Alabama
Florida
Georgia
Kentucky
LSU
Ole Miss
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas A&M
Vacant10

East:
Clemson
Florida State
Miami
North Carolina
Virginia
Virginia Tech
Vacant7
Vacant8
Vacant9
Vacant10

West:
Arizona State
Colorado
Oklahoma
Oregon
Texas
UCLA
USC
Utah
Washington
Vacant10


Who takes the vacant spots?

For me it would be:

North: Illinois and Indiana
South: Arkansas
East: Louisville, NC State, Pitt, West Virginia
West: Oklahoma State

You have vacancies because there are really only 32 programs that command value to be included in such a league.

Big12 - Arizona State, Colorado

Colorado? They lost the moneymakers IIRC.

South Platte said:

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You have vacancies because there are really only 32 programs that command value to be included in such a league.

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So a 32 team conference might look like this:

North:
Iowa
Michigan
Michigan State
Nebraska
Notre Dame
Ohio State
Penn State
Wisconsin

South:
Alabama
Auburn
Georgia
Kentucky
LSU
Ole Miss
Tennessee
Texas A&M

East:
Clemson
Florida
Florida State
Miami
North Carolina
South Carolina
Virginia
Virginia Tech

West:
Arizona State
Oklahoma
Oregon
Texas
UCLA
USC
Utah
Washington

Yep, that's it.

Utah, BYU, Stanford, Cal . . . 2 from those 4. Not sure it makes a ton of difference.

I actually agree with your money talks comment, but it's how much money can tech bring to the ncaa and espn- I.e,eyes on tvs in larger markets, etc. not money paid to a softball player and an OL. I see how it is meaningful to tech, but not how it benefits espn of ncaa.

TPS_Report said:

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Conference musical chairs is about to start back up. The way things are moving it looks like CFB will someday end up being a league like the NFL. How would things shake out if a Mega-Conference were created?

Let's explore:

1. How many schools would be in the mega-conference.
2. Which schools would they be?
3. What would the structure of the conference look like (divisions, pods, etc.)?

I'll start...

1. 40 schools.

I went with 40 because it seems best to have a number divisible by 4 for scheduling and playoff purposes.

2. Now comes the fun!

Shoe-Ins:
ACC - Florida State, Miami, Clemson
B1G - Michigan, Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, USC
Big12 - None
PAC - None
SEC - Alabama, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas
INDY - Notre Dame

Safe Bets:
ACC - UNC, Virginia Tech
B1G - Iowa, Michigan State, Nebraska, UCLA, Washington
Big12 - Arizona State, Colorado
PAC - None
SEC - Auburn, Texas A&M
INDY - None

Decent Chance:
ACC - UVA
B1G - Wisconsin
Big12 - Utah
PAC - None
SEC - Ole Miss, Kentucky, S. Carolina
INDY - None

This leaves 8 more spots for everyone else to vie for. That would be an interesting battle royale!

Edit: I forgot to include Auburn in the Safe Bet category.

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Why LSU over A&M as a shoe in vs safe bet?

1. A&M has more eyeballs for TV
2. A&M has a bigger stadium and larger attendance
3. A&M has more money

Last year, A&M had the top attendance average in the SEC

Quote:

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Texas A&M 102,847
Texas 102,386
Tennessee 101,915
Alabama 100,077
LSU 99,518
Georgia 93,033
Florida 90,017

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Attendance means nothing in today's football world. Just because you have more fans going to the actual game, that doesn't translate to more eyeballs for tv. LSU is a much bigger-known brand across the country than A&M. You think the average Big Ten football fan knows what an A&M is?

Big 12-0 said:

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Attendance means nothing in today's football world. Just because you have more fans going to the actual game, that doesn't translate to more eyeballs for tv. LSU is a much bigger-known brand across the country than A&M. You think the average Big Ten football fan knows what an A&M is?

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when tech plays the golden zips of pine bluff they'll be streaming it on twitch. and it'll mean something. in todays football world.. and to the average big10 fan

Big 12-0 said:

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Attendance means nothing in today's football world. Just because you have more fans going to the actual game, that doesn't translate to more eyeballs for tv. LSU is a much bigger-known brand across the country than A&M. You think the average Big Ten football fan knows what an A&M is?

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Yes, I'm pretty sure an average football fan from the Big 10 knows about A&M. Now that Texas and OU have left the Big 12, I'm not sure how many Big 10 fans would recognize any of the remaining Texas schools in the Big 12.

Texas velvet maestro said:

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Big 12-0 said:

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Attendance means nothing in today's football world. Just because you have more fans going to the actual game, that doesn't translate to more eyeballs for tv. LSU is a much bigger-known brand across the country than A&M. You think the average Big Ten football fan knows what an A&M is?

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when tech plays the golden zips of pine bluff they'll be streaming it on twitch. and it'll mean something. in todays football world.. and to the average big10 fan

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See, that's the kind of thing we laugh out now, football games on twitch, but five years from now, alternative streaming services will be King over network/cable tv options.

DevilD77 said:

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Big 12-0 said:

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Attendance means nothing in today's football world. Just because you have more fans going to the actual game, that doesn't translate to more eyeballs for tv. LSU is a much bigger-known brand across the country than A&M. You think the average Big Ten football fan knows what an A&M is?

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Yes, I'm pretty sure an average football fan from the Big 10 knows about A&M. Now that Texas and OU have left the Big 12, I'm not sure how many Big 10 fans would recognize any of the remaining Texas schools in the Big 12.

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I can't say for certain how many Big Ten fans would recognize any of the other Texas BigXII schools, but they sure as heck know about Texas Tech. Patrick Mahomes, a Red Raider that plays for an NFL team located in the heart of the Big Ten, has been winning Super Bowls for years now.

so you agree pine bluff has a chance

Texas velvet maestro said:

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so you agree pine bluff has a chance

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Hey, after the Abilene Christian game last year, anything can happen!

I'm betting the number who have heard of A&M is greater than number of have heard of tt/ by a thousand fold. We've played big ten schools many times.

Sure they know he plays for KC and has been very successful, but I doubt many if any know he went to tt.

Big 12-0 said:

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Attendance means nothing in today's football world. Just because you have more fans going to the actual game, that doesn't translate to more eyeballs for tv. LSU is a much bigger-known brand across the country than A&M. You think the average Big Ten football fan knows what an A&M is?

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Well, there is this

https://www.nielsen.com/news-center/2024/nielsen-shares-college-football-conference-champs-and-overall-top10-based-on-season-viewership-rankings/

Texas Aggies - 4.9 million viewers
Swamp dwellers - 4.8 million viewers

Read an article by Zach Taylor from Medium TAMU 10th at an average of 3.37M people watching per week, tt was 53rd at an average of 600K people watching per week only beating out three other big big xii teams

Sure it does, eyeballs generate revenue dollars for the networks that host sports. If regurgitated is no money to be made, they will discontinue hosting sports and move on to the next big thing. Pretty much every streaming platform has already moved to adding ads, those that haven't will. Every medium out their lives and dies by ad revenue. Subscription services lack the stability, which is why the revenue projections includes a churn number- how many subscribers do we forecasts vs how many do we expect to lose.

Science Denier said:

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Big 12-0 said:

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Attendance means nothing in today's football world. Just because you have more fans going to the actual game, that doesn't translate to more eyeballs for tv. LSU is a much bigger-known brand across the country than A&M. You think the average Big Ten football fan knows what an A&M is?

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Well, there is this

https://www.nielsen.com/news-center/2024/nielsen-shares-college-football-conference-champs-and-overall-top10-based-on-season-viewership-rankings/

Texas Aggies - 4.9 million viewers
Swamp dwellers - 4.8 million viewers

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Sure, I understand that. What I'm talking about is a die-hard football fan in Ohio who wants to watch a football game. Is he choosing to watch A&M vs. Ole Miss or LSU vs. Florida? Or LSU vs. Mississippi State or A&M vs. Tennessee? Nine times outta ten it's LSU. Those 4.9 million Aggie viewers are pretty concentrated in the Houston metro, which to be fair is a lot of eyeballs. But the brand, you see, is so, so very important in today's college football world.

TXAGBQ76 said:

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I'm betting the number who have heard of A&M is greater than number of have heard of tt/ by a thousand fold. We've played big ten schools many times.

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Yes, A&M is an attractive non-conference opponent for Big Ten schools. You get to play a mid-but-respectable SEC team and an SEC win carries a bit of cache to it.

TXAGBQ76 said:

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Sure they know he plays for KC and has been very successful, but I doubt many if any know he went to tt.

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Yeah, when he introduces himself as "Patrick Mahomes, Texas Tech" when the KC offense is introduced, all those millions of millions of eardrums suddenly go deaf until the next player speaks.

LOL!

LOL!

Quote:

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Why LSU over A&M as a shoe in vs safe bet?

1. A&M has more eyeballs for TV
2. A&M has a bigger stadium and larger attendance
3. A&M has more money

Last year, A&M had the top attendance average in the SEC

Quote:

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Texas A&M 102,847
Texas 102,386
Tennessee 101,915
Alabama 100,077
LSU 99,518
Georgia 93,033
Florida 90,017

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Answer:

A: LSU is the only Louisiana school on the list
B: LSU has 3 nattys since 2000
C: Playing for nattys makes LSU a national brand (same thing has happened to Clemson)
D: As with Tech, the AD's balance sheet is way down the list of important qualities
E: Stadium attendance is way down on the list of important qualities
F: Other than the JFF year, A&M has underachieved relative to its talent since about 1999

TPS_Report said:

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Quote:

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Why LSU over A&M as a shoe in vs safe bet?

1. A&M has more eyeballs for TV
2. A&M has a bigger stadium and larger attendance
3. A&M has more money

Last year, A&M had the top attendance average in the SEC

Quote:

---

Texas A&M 102,847
Texas 102,386
Tennessee 101,915
Alabama 100,077
LSU 99,518
Georgia 93,033
Florida 90,017

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Answer:

A: LSU is the only Louisiana school on the list
B: LSU has 3 nattys since 2000
C: Playing for nattys makes LSU a national brand (same thing has happened to Clemson)
D: As with Tech, the AD's balance sheet is way down the list of important qualities
E: Stadium attendance is way down on the list of important qualities
F: Other than the JFF year, A&M has underachieved relative to its talent since about 1999

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Thank you!

TPS_Report said:

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Quote:

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Why LSU over A&M as a shoe in vs safe bet?

1. A&M has more eyeballs for TV
2. A&M has a bigger stadium and larger attendance
3. A&M has more money

Last year, A&M had the top attendance average in the SEC

Quote:

---

Texas A&M 102,847
Texas 102,386
Tennessee 101,915
Alabama 100,077
LSU 99,518
Georgia 93,033
Florida 90,017

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Answer:

A: LSU is the only Louisiana school on the list
B: LSU has 3 nattys since 2000
C: Playing for nattys makes LSU a national brand (same thing has happened to Clemson)
D: As with Tech, the AD's balance sheet is way down the list of important qualities
E: Stadium attendance is way down on the list of important qualities
F: Other than the JFF year, A&M has underachieved relative to its talent since about 1999

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LMAO. I guess last year they watched a regional team over that national brand. We got more views. You see, that means we were more popular. Nobody must give a **** about those three natties over the last 25 years or our "underachieving".

We deliver ratings. Proven ratings. Not some dumbass message board opinion.

Logic seems difficult to some.