The Future of College Football: Super-Conferences

College football is a game that is steeped in tradition and history. There are few left that remember a time when college football was more popular then professional football. A time where you had eight teams in a conference and you played everyone in your conference once a year. A time where the Big 10 had ten teams and the Big 12 had twelve teams. That has all changed now and the primary reason is money. There is more money if you have more teams in a conference. The magic number is twelve. If your conference has twelve teams then you can split that up and implement two divisions within a single conference. When you have two divisions, then the winner of each division will play in a conference championship game, which is another game and another way to make more money. We are in a volatile time for college football and there are two teams that hold the key to order or chaos. Oklahoma and Texas.

The Big 12 is a power conference in college football. Many of the teams in the conference have lush histories and traditions. Major rivalries fuel this conference from Oklahoma vs. Texas to Oklahoma vs. Oklahoma St. to Texas Tech vs. Texas and the list goes on and on. The Big 12 could be in their final days of existence because of the departure of Texas A&M to the SEC two weeks ago. The conference already lost two schools, Colorado to the Pac 12 and Nebraska to the Big 10, last season and with the loss of A&M, leaves the conference at seven teams after this season. In today’s college football it is impossible to survive with seven teams and the Big 12 would most likely fold.

Oklahoma and Texas are the two schools that could try to hold the Big 12 together and convince other schools to join the Big 12. Oklahoma is willing to move to the Pac 12 because they are upset that Texas was able to create their own television network that will help recruiting immensely and provide millions and millions of dollars to the university in advertising dollars. Oklahoma St. and Texas Tech would also bolt for the Pac 12 leaving the Big 12 in shambles. Texas is considering moving to the Pac 12 also but may have to give up their Longhorn Network channel in the process. Again this all comes down to money, the money that Texas would get with a network, the money that Oklahoma, Oklahoma St., and Texas Tech would get in an expanded Pac 12 and the money that the NCAA can make on the further exploitation of their student athletes.

I wish we could go back to the days of 8 team conferences and keep traditional rivalries but that time is over. The corporate machine that is college athletics is rolling and knocking down anyone who stands in its way. The future of college football is in Super Conferences and it will happen sooner rather than later. The ACC has just agreed to add Syracuse and the University of Pittsburgh as its thirteenth and fourteenth schools. Oklahoma and Texas are the lynchpins for the Big 12 and the Pac 12. Who will they decide to go with? It is only a matter of time before that decision is made.
 
Matt