Think about it, the traditional athletic conference is objectively obsolete today, at least for football. There's no reason why we should be in a conference with Cal, SMU, and Stanford. Who wants to watch those games anyways (besides Pitt fans)?
Instead, why don't we take all the schools wanting to compete at the highest subdivision for football and make them independents. This would be a win for all parties involved, for two reasons:
1) Regionalism and traditions are saved because teams are now able to schedule their biggest rivals without any conference scheduling interference. Pitt could once again schedule Notre Dame, Penn State, and WVU on an annual basis. Schools like Kansas and Missouri could resume the Border War while Oregon and Washington avoid pausing their in-state showdowns in exchange for Maryland and Rutgers. More meaningful games is what makes college football great and is what everyone wants.
2) Disney and FOX have significantly more open dates to create made-for-TV matchups between the elite programs of the country, increasing TV ratings while accomplishing the goal of the proposed "super leagues." Instead of Ohio State playing the likes Indiana and Northwestern, who they have no legitimate history with other than sharing a conference, they could schedule more games against the Georgia's and USC's of the world. Of course, they could still play their former Big Ten foes if the want to, but they could rotate them into their schedule over time instead of being locked into playing them each year. Penn State scheduling its fellow former eastern independents in non-conference play is an example of this.
I'll use Ohio State as an example since they're a blueblood. They could block out 4-5 games each year for permanent rivalry games (Michigan, Michigan State, Illinois, Penn State, Wisconsin), rotate in 2-3 other Big Ten team (Purdue, Iowa), and leave several open dates to play, say, Texas and USC. They'd even have a slot remaining for their annual MAC creampuff game. This really wouldn't look much different from their current schedule except it "trims the fat" from conference scheduling in exchange for more nationally relevant games, retaining their biggest rivalries in the process.
And with no more conference tie-ins getting in the way, you could once again put the highest ranked X number of teams into a real playoff to decide the national champion. To me, this seems like the best way to make everyone happy while increasing revenues through TV ratings... now tell me why I'm wrong.
Instead, why don't we take all the schools wanting to compete at the highest subdivision for football and make them independents. This would be a win for all parties involved, for two reasons:
1) Regionalism and traditions are saved because teams are now able to schedule their biggest rivals without any conference scheduling interference. Pitt could once again schedule Notre Dame, Penn State, and WVU on an annual basis. Schools like Kansas and Missouri could resume the Border War while Oregon and Washington avoid pausing their in-state showdowns in exchange for Maryland and Rutgers. More meaningful games is what makes college football great and is what everyone wants.
2) Disney and FOX have significantly more open dates to create made-for-TV matchups between the elite programs of the country, increasing TV ratings while accomplishing the goal of the proposed "super leagues." Instead of Ohio State playing the likes Indiana and Northwestern, who they have no legitimate history with other than sharing a conference, they could schedule more games against the Georgia's and USC's of the world. Of course, they could still play their former Big Ten foes if the want to, but they could rotate them into their schedule over time instead of being locked into playing them each year. Penn State scheduling its fellow former eastern independents in non-conference play is an example of this.
I'll use Ohio State as an example since they're a blueblood. They could block out 4-5 games each year for permanent rivalry games (Michigan, Michigan State, Illinois, Penn State, Wisconsin), rotate in 2-3 other Big Ten team (Purdue, Iowa), and leave several open dates to play, say, Texas and USC. They'd even have a slot remaining for their annual MAC creampuff game. This really wouldn't look much different from their current schedule except it "trims the fat" from conference scheduling in exchange for more nationally relevant games, retaining their biggest rivalries in the process.
And with no more conference tie-ins getting in the way, you could once again put the highest ranked X number of teams into a real playoff to decide the national champion. To me, this seems like the best way to make everyone happy while increasing revenues through TV ratings... now tell me why I'm wrong.
