Topic: P4 meeting with NCAA

[MUfan08]

I think the schools from the 28 conferences being left out of the "P4 Mafia" should come to an agreement that none of the schools in the "left out" conferences will accept transfers from the Top Tier P4 programs.  Kids will have to make a choice.  Be fourth string at Bama, 2nd string at Penn St or start and contribute at Marshall or App or Boise.    The lower conferences have some leverage to strengthen their product and they need to employ every measure to do so.

That has anti trust lawsuit written all over doing something like that to outcast players and restricting their options of play and potential nil.

Also, like was mentioned why would schools like Marshall turn away players that could help the team?

[chris88]

I am no expert on this, but I feel it will be the Big 2 and every one else will try to find a nitch somewhere.

The Big 10 just dismantled a power conference in one year by taking Oregon, USC, UCLA and Washington. They left no stone unturned. Clemson and Florida State will jump to the SEC in just a matter of time. The SEC just took Texas and Oklahoma at their own pleasure. The ACC took a couple of leftovers that no one else really wanted in Cal & Stanford. The same can be said for the Big 12. It isn't like Cincinnati, Utah, Colorado, Houston and UCF were huge gets in the grand scheme of things. Again....leftovers.

The only other program I see a battle for is North Carolina. They have a national brand when it comes to basketball. Other than that, I see nothing else out there that the Big 2 will want.

All by design in my opinion. Not to kill the Pac12 but to eliminate the schools without the mega resources. Those teams went to B10 so they could shed the smaller budgets/stadiums etc.  ACC next to shed Wake Forest and possibly others for FB or Clemson and FSU will just leave. Once there are two mega conferences for FB, I look for them to then regionalize divisions and pretend that wasn't the plan all along.  The SEC will still have to find a way to get rid of Vandy at some point. They will still need some cannon fodder teams imo or you're going to see many kids just beaten up. That might be where teams like WVU might land along the spectrum. It would be nice if any lower school loses a player to top division via NIL/transfer they would get financial compensation.

As others have said, one of biggest reasons G5 and others have gotten left out is the void of leadership. Could have developed an organized front that had a greater say about scheduling, finances, etc but they were more worried about short term finances and not wanting to anger the powers that be only to realize they had no intention of allowing real access to championships or the big money involved. Always seemed to me that the "plan" restricts upward mobility and monopolizes the resources. I agree this would appear to be lawsuit worthy at some point. They want it to be semi-pro football but without any competitive balance structure or paying taxes? Unlimited scholarships are probably coming soon as well. They will count on the gambling markets even more than they do now for viewership. If non gambling college football fans want to watch the best 10-15 teams money can buy that so be it.

[thelonderee]

There aren't millions and millions of eyeballs for any two of those teams at a given time because neither of them have any national interest.  They will have less interest to non-specific fans because their pinnacle is not the big playoffs and title.  When Ohio St plays Michigan people nationwide tune in.  When James Madison plays Marshall a few regional fans tune in and maybe some Sun Belt fans.  And less than that if up against a P4 game in the same slot.  They can spread out the P4 games instead of overlapping them with fewer teams in the league.  We may only even be seen on weekdays by anyone but our own fans.  And again, just like FCS, our ceiling would be limited and no games against the p4 so national interest would be diminished.

Hybridizing the league would be basically what CUSA is now.  No coincidence they are the lowest paid conference in FBS.  ESPN will have their cash cow.  They will have less use for their cash goat.

I used to tune in when two major programs faced off. That is no longer the case. I watch Marshall. As things have changed and traditions have been dumped in favor of money, I've found that I have almost no interest in anyone other than Marshall. For me, college football is now like the NBA ... I don't watch any of the regular season and then tune into a few playoff games just to see what happens. And if those games aren't close, I turn them off.

[whf]

I'm with you, I watch ESPN+ almost all day long on Saturdays, and occasionally a bigger P4 game, otherwise my eyes are on the SBC, MAC, C-USA, and MWC