ITS TIME FOR A TRUE COLLEGE FOOTBALL SUPER CONFERENCE
by The Football Vets
By stacking on the heavy weights of Texas and Oklahoma the talking heads are calling the SEC a New Super Conference. However, this new conference is only 2 teams over the current 14 team SEC. Its time for a real College Football Super Conference. In a previous article we mentioned a regionally aligned minor league and this is exactly what a super conference needs to be SUPER.
So, if we are just referring to the SEC Super Conference, a newly realigned Sunbelt will become their minor league. The two together will look something like this:
16 teams to align with 16 teams
Is the SEC going to cross play with the Sunbelt? What is the point of this? An aligned Major league and Minor league conference is the future of college football just as assuredly as the Power 5 conferences are becoming the Power 4. The stars aligning to shine on the SEC makes this the right time for the Super conference to control the region’s assets and maximize the revenue for its members.
Between TV deals, Exclusive play deals, and Relegation the money to be made by the SEC and its aligned Group of 4 conference will be stupendous. By controlling the region, the SEC gains tremendous leverage over the networks and sports media. They can ensure even the group teams get TV time by scheduling games on Tuesday, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Featuring matches to hype, up and coming programs creating trends and excitement around the smaller teams. Even Marquis matchups on Thursdays since the NFL has retreated behind Amazon Prime. With powerhouse teams in the Power Conference the SEC can dictate prime time slotting for match ups well in advance and at premium prices.
This is all about scheduling. A power conference with its two divisions play seven games in their division to vie for the division crown and one cross (or two*) team to seal the deal. The teams would also play one team from every other conference to ensure there is some cross-conference comparison. Finally, the Super-conference teams would each play one down into their minor league conference. In fact, this could be the featured Wednesday game following a previous Thursday marquis match-up. At the end of the season there can even be a chance for minor league teams to compete to move up to the majors. This is big time money even for small-time teams.
So, what does this look like? Let’s follow two teams, a major league team and a minor league team for the 2022 season:
I think we can all see the fun of a super conference and the fun it will bring to the Fall. All of this and we haven’t even gotten to the post season yet.