Thoughts on the future of work, from the people and teams creating it.
After the shocking news that USC and UCLA will leave the Pac-12 and move into the Big Ten in 2024, many people have been wondering what college football will look like next week, let alone next year or in ten years. With so many changes occurring in the college athletics space, from the boom in NIL over the last year to the various conference realignments, it might be worth taking a look at the current structure of college football and what that might look like over the coming years.
While it is clear that the Big Ten has taken a nationwide approach to strengthen their conference, the SEC might be more apt to stay local to fill out the super-conference they are building. It also appears that the Big Ten and SEC are racing to develop the largest and most powerful conglomerates of college football programs in the nation while boxing out most of their competition. Backed by major TV networks and massive programming deals, these conferences might have their pick of the remaining schools in the country.
Let’s look at what the “Big Ten” and “SEC” might look like after all the reshuffling. I would replace any team in italics with any of the teams I added or any school from the “Other Options” list:
Indiana
Maryland
Michigan
Michigan State
Ohio State
Penn State
Rutgers
Illinois
Iowa
Minnesota
Nebraska
Northwestern
Purdue
Wisconsin
Indiana
Maryland
Michigan
Michigan State
Northwestern
+Notre Dame
Ohio State
Penn State
Purdue
Rutgers
Illinois
Iowa
Minnesota
Nebraska
+Oregon
+Stanford
+USC
+UCLA
+Washington
Wisconsin
Other options (would replace any team in italics): Boston College, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, California, Iowa State, Louisville
I did the same thing with the SEC, and here’s what it ended up looking like:
Florida
Georgia
Kentucky
Missouri
South Carolina
Tennessee
Vanderbilt
West Division
Alabama
Arkansas
Auburn
LSU
Mississippi
Mississippi State
Texas A&M
+Clemson
Florida
+Florida State
Georgia
Kentucky
+Miami
+North Carolina
South Carolina
Tennessee
Vanderbilt
Alabama
Arkansas
Auburn
LSU
Mississippi
Mississippi State
Missouri
+Oklahoma
+Texas
Texas A&M
Other options (would replace any team in italics): North Carolina State, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Duke, Oklahoma State
