So, I’ve been digging into this whole conference realignment thing, and let me tell you, it’s a real mess. I started by looking at what happened with the Univ. of Memphis. Apparently, they were thinking about jumping to the Pac-12, but they decided to stay put in the American Athletic Conference.
I read somewhere that they just didn’t think the Pac-12 deal was that great. Makes sense, right? Why move if it’s not going to be a step up?
Then there’s Notre Dame. I saw these guys are close to playing for a national championship, but it looks like they’re perfectly happy just being independent in football. They’re not even thinking about joining a conference. I guess they like doing their own thing.
I also found some stuff about UConn. From what I gathered, they were considering a change, but sources – anonymous ones, of course – said they decided it wasn’t the right fit for them at the moment. So, they’re sticking to being independent in football too, even though they’ve actually been doing pretty well this season. And they’re still part of the Big East for basketball and other stuff.
It’s hard to say which conference is the toughest. I tried to figure that out, but it seems to change every year, depending on how strong the teams are. One year it could be one conference, and the next year it’s another.
I even stumbled upon this article talking about media markets being the big deal in all this realignment stuff. It said that the bigger the market, the better.
- Seems like money is a big part of these decisions.
- Teams want to be where they can get the most attention.
- It’s all a bit of a gamble, really.
Some Random Thoughts
Oh, and I also learned that the Sun Belt had some changes recently. James Madison came in from the FCS, and Marshall joined up too. That was just before the 2022 season. It never stops. It’s a lot to keep up with, but I thought I’d share my notes. Maybe it’ll help someone else make sense of this whole mess.
