Super mega conferences make for great TV fodder and inspire entertaining discussions, but are they really in the best interest of college sports?

SCOTT JACOBS

As sports fans we love to chat.  Debate.  Scream till our throats run dry. But often times we get a little too caught up in the speculation.  We let the fantasy world take hold above the real one.  What could be becomes more important than what is.  That’s the reason why LeBron’s impending Free Agency is making more waves than the prize he desires most, the NBA Finals.

Lakers-Celtics?  Paleasseee.  That is so 1980’s.  Why live in the past, when one can immerse themselves in the future, and consistently live there. That’s what our sporting public has become.  Star gazers… to the future.

Screw the present.  The scenarios that lay the groundwork for the future of sports always seems to provoke far more interest to sports fans nowadays.  It’s why I sit here at this very moment in time talking about… the future.

And what a future it could be in college football, if some of the big BCS conferences decide to devour themselves whole.  The Pac 16?  The Big 10 + 4?  I had no idea that John and Kate plus 8 was getting it’s own football spinoff.

There has never been more anticipation and more chaos in a college football offseason than this one.  Instead of a free agency frenzy like the NBA is set to endure, college football is looking at shakeup that could leave could numerous schools free agents to be desired by other blood thirsty alliances.

Conferences big, and not so big, are all exploring what could be, forced to take ‘what is’ off the table.  Reactive has been replaced by proactive.  It’s beginning to feel like the NFL Draft.  You’ll have the guys you want on your big board, but be prepared if some other guy comes and swoops them up. Have a backup plan.  Or two.  Or ten.

In the center of this giant cluster is the Big 12, which is being virtually attacked from every which angle by hungry piranas from both the West and the Midwest.  We say virtually nicely, because even though nothing has officially happened, the behind the scenes work is probably mind-blowing.  The big prize is Texas, the cash cow of the west, and they appear to be up for grabs.  If the Pac 10 and Big 10 get their way, the only thing left of the once mighty Big 12 could be skin and bones.

Lawsuits could abound, and a frenzy could ensue.   The SEC could combat it by ripping the ACC and Big East to shreds, leaving us with three super-human larger than life conglomerates.  I mean conferences.

I mean hey, we’ve already conglomarized the living crap out of TV, movie,  radio, books, and music, what’s adding sports to the list?

I don’t like it.

I don’t like it one bit.

Fun to talk about, eerie to picture.

Can you picture Texas, Oklahoma, and USC in the same coalition?  I mean conference.  It just seems, too much.

What is this, survival of the fittest?

“Hey kids, the way to get ahead in life is to shred everyone to pieces.  Yay!”

Great message to send.

This just seems forced.  Like something that has to be done now that we’re a decade into the 21st century.  The ACC brought this concept to light back in the middle 2000’s, when they raided the Big East for Miami, Virginia Tech, and Boston College.  But guess what?  It didn’t work.  The ACC has been an afterthought in football since, and a blip on the TV screen too.

The current situation is a bit different, but the landscape of big time college sports is looking at a seismic change potentially.  Is that even a good thing?  Is change for the sake of change going to truly make college sports better for the future?

These are the questions these big time school presidents need to ponder as they contemplate gutting entire conferences, leaving the remains to lesser conferences.

College football is going to be different.  Just how different remains to be seen.

Feature: Getty

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