College Football Realignment: Pac-12/Mountain West Announce Scheduling Alliance, ACC Faces New Issues

The college sports world has been shaken up over the past year specifically most of the Pac-12 teams have up and left. As observed various factors have been at center stage, with money and media deals being among the major ones.

Thus, when those programs wish to change their affiliation, the Group of Five leagues have started to feel the impact. What is left of the Pac-12 teams has very little to look forward to next season.

Below is a brief on what has happened and how it has affected the G5.

Pac-12 is losing the following teams as members. :

USC, UCLA, Oregon, Washington indeed have joined the Big Ten for the next season while Colorado, Arizona, Arizona State Udah have moved to the Big Twelve.

Later, it became known that Cal and Stanford will also join ACC in 2024. That reduces it two college football teams that are part of the Pac-12.

Who are plying their trade with the org from which they signed their contract for the Pac-2?

Currently there are only two teams, Washington State and Oregon State in the Pac-12. Some media instantaneously started referring to them as the Pac-2.

Earlier, when there were only four teams in the Pac-12 comprising Cal, Stanford, WSU, and OSU they used to call it the Pac-4. However, Stanford and Cal are now going to the ACC The role of the PAC10 as a conference in college football has now been significantly reduced due to the fact that two of it’s members, that is Stanford and Cal are now members of the ACC.

Since OSU and WSU have questionable futures, the two teams had some achievements over the last year and both time were in Top 25 of the AP rankings.

Plus SMU and Stanford and Cal head to ACC.

In the future, from period of 2024, SMU, Stanford, and Cal will be joining the ACC.

However, it was said that all the three schools are also claim to have no ACC revenue share for nine years.

AAC was adopted by SMU in the year 2013, however prior to this it was one of the teams considered to be the ‘Moving on to Power Four’. SMU said that it was been able to secure $100 million in only a week which would assist in supplementing of the school’s moving to the new league.

A lot of controversies which involve Clemson & FSU consists of lawsuits that they filed against the ACC.

Ever since the Pac-12 self-destructed, people have started pondering whether the same was fated to befall the ACC.

The Clemson has sued ACC in the recent past over issues relating to the grant of rights as has the Florida State.

It has been reported that Florida State has been complaining for several months about the current ACC media deal claiming that FSU cannot generate sufficient revenue to match up the SEC and Big Ten teams that are also seeking for the national championship.

For instance, nine FBS leagues agreed to a six-year College Football Playoff deal till 2031, which would disburse nearly double the amount for the Big Ten and SEC than the ACC and Big 12.

The Florida State has claimed that the ACC has poorly negotiated their TV agreement with ESPN, according to the report that was made by The Athletic. FSU is also in the process of finding a court in Florida with the view of being guided on whether the grant of rights by the ACC is genuine.

Apparently, Clemson is starting to undermines the legal authority of grants of rights in the ACC, at least, regarding a school that wants to depart from the conference.

BSport journalists have pointed out that the case Clemson and Florida State have presented against the ACC is weak and this means that the conference cannot be easily dismantled at the near future. Although it does not happen frequently, it is not say that is unattainable.

Perhaps those schools could have come up with the financial means to exit the ACC or all parties to the disagreement could have agreed a way of solving the problem which would mean that those two programmes could look for another conference.

But if that did occur the ACC would be left devoid of what are easily two of the conference’s most integral contributors toward college football. Indeed, as has been witnessed with the situation with the Pac-12, the departure of some of the big name schools could facilitate the desire of several others to similarly do so.

North Carolina’s board of trustees has been said to have incurred the wrath of a judge this week to an extent of his or her granting a temporary restraining order on them. That means that something like finances or a conference realignment cannot be discussed in a closed session by the board.

As much as the Group of Five may be fine with having a nonexistent conference in the case the ACC disintegrates, the power leagues are not exempted from leaving some programs behind. May be the AAC or the Sun Belt find a way of coming to an agreement with the remaining ACC teams.

Would you break your promise or lie to one of the individuals mentioned earlier in pursuit of the NCAA paying college football players … In his article, Barnes has a message for the NCAA, which says ‘I promise you this: I will not stop fighting until I see college football players get paid. ’

This month, the NCAA and the Power Four leagues finalised an arrangement that permits schools to pay the athletes.

This is following the NCAA entering into federal antitrust suits that will see former college athletes being paid because initially, they could not benefit from their names, images and or caricatures while still in college. This will apparently mean the organization in charge of college sports will be paying roughly $2. $7 billion over 10 years to past and current athletes, according to ESPN.

Finally each unit will cost and the NCAA will contribute almost forty-five percent of it. Of the rest half 60% of the funds will be generated from the non-Power Four conferences and their programs.

AAC/Pac-12 Potential Moves

The American Athletic Conference was said to be eyeing on the remaining Pac-12 schools but with the latter the AAC ceased such moves.

This is where it gets interesting for Group of Five fans certainly. As previously mentioned, the AAC has come out frowning at the G5 label and additions such as that would go a long way in branding the league as the next best thing to the Big Ten, SEC, Big 12, and ACC.

Although the American recently said its farewells to UCF, Cincinnati, and Houston to join the Big 12 the new teams of the AAC last year included UTSA, FAU, North Texas, Rice, UAB, and Charlotte. The presidents of the AAC also voted for the invitation of Army as a football-only member this forthcoming season.

Plans for OSU, WSU to join the Mountain West?

Both, Oregon State and Washington State, have reached a scheduling agreement with the Mountain West for at least the next season. The Pac-2 or Mountain West merger, or that group possibly adding those two schools at some point still remains a possibility.

The Mountain West declared early this year that MW teams will play seven games against league teams and the other one against either WSU or OSU in the next year 2024. Those two programs would not stand a chance in getting to the Mountain West Championship.

Yahoo sports reported that for one year of this kind of arrangement the two schools would be parting with $14 million to the Mountain West. It could also run through the 2025 season as well for this partnership.

Of conferences that looks like the future home for Oregon State and Washington State football teams, the Mountain West makes the most sense. Mountain West commissioner Gloria Nevarez has sent to OSU and WSU talking points about why the two schools should join the league, according to CBS.

Pac-12 News And Rumors

Pac-12 and Mountain West, a promotion/relegation system just like soccer in Europe could also be implemented as was reported by Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports.

With this idea, in every one or two years, two teams could be promoted to the pac 12, two could be demoted to mountain west depending on performance. This operation could also grow by either incorporating FCS teams such as North Dakota State or South Dakota State.

According to recent reports, some decision-makers in Mountain West are ready to consider such unusual concepts as this, although, not all of them will think that this model is quite suitable; moreover, many more such premises have to be defined. Washington State and Oregon State still need with the rest of the Pac-12 in matters regarding the remaining Pac-12 assets, therefore, a decision on this matter may not be made soon.

Pac-12/Sun Belt Scheduling Alliance?

The presidents of Sun Belt Conference schools met during this past season to discuss an understood scheme by Oregon State and Washington State whereby the two schools would schedule Sun Belt games, or perhaps join the conference, according to Yahoo Sports.

However, those discussions were severally stated to have been brief. Sun Belt leaders felt that there was too much traveling and not enough money to be made with an agreement like that.

ARG The change made by CFP in its format affecting competitive teams by changing the format to 5+7

The College Football Playoff is switching its format in 2024 and obviously, this is relevant to the Group of Five.

According to the Associated Press the CFP Board of Managers has in a unanimous vote on Tuesday agreed that there is need to change the playoff format. However for the most recent season five champions of the conferences get automatic bid and the other seven teams qualify based on their rankings to complete the tournament field.

Earlier, the six first-ranked conference champions could qualify for it. Then the remaining six teams of the next higher rank would follow the above teams for that rank only.

This means that at least one of the Group of Five team will be in the CFP. The previous rules would have ensured that at least two G5 programs would participate, but the systems could not have expected that most members of the pac-12 would join other leagues.

G5 representation of the CFP Board of Managers is as follows; West Kentucky president Tim Caboni- Conference USA, Tulane president Michael Fitts- AAC, Troy president Jack Hawkins- Sun belt, Buff University president Satish Tripathi- MAC and UNLV president Keith Whitfield- Mountain West.

“That direction of modification is very reasonable for the College Football Playoff in line with the changes of our conference affiliations since the board ratified this new model in September of 2022,” said Mark Keenum, Mississippi State President, and the Chair of the CFP Board of Managers. “I also understand that this change will also be welcomed by student athletes, coaches and even fans of football We all will be happy to see this new format come into fruition come this post season on the field. ”

College Football Playoff Rules

This year is also the first time that, according to its current structure of twelve teams, not all of the CFP’s league teams qualify for playoffs.

While the change from the 5+7 to a 6+6 format has Olympic bids, no conference – not even the Power Four – will have an Olympic bid automatic qualifier and there is no limit to the number of teams from a conference.

This way, the five highest ranked conference champions will qualify to the CFP and the four highest ranked conference title winners will have a first round bye. The next eight will fill the seeds 5 through 12, and as with most sports the better seed gets the home game.

Later on, the quarter finals and semi-finals will be constituted with New Year’s Six bowls, while the national championship will continue to be played at a neutral stadium.

Is It Possible for A Pac-12 Team to Qualify to The College Football Playoff

If Washington State and Oregon State, the teams remaining in Pac-12 for 2024 are fortunate enough, they may also make it to the CFP. Although, that path will not be easy without the opportunity to get an automatic bid with a conference championship.

This is so because there has been a massive realignment of the FBS conference in the past. With the exception of about five teams, majority of the Pac-12 members will be competing in the other four power conferences the following season. OSU and WSU signed the scheduling agreement with the Mountain West to play in 2024.

The situation seems to indicate that as it stands, with the Pac-12 now with only two members, the conference’s No. 1 team might not get to make the playoff easily. Oregon State and Washington State also will not be allowed to play for Mountain West’s conference championship.

Pac-12 Lawsuit And Hearing

Accounting to an earlier hearing before Whitman County Superior Court in Washington, leaders from Washington State and Oregon State testified. This led a judge to give his ruling in favour of OSU and WSU appropriate which meant that these two would form the complete Pac-12 board and would be the only ones with a vote.

Washington Supreme Court court declared in OSU and WSU’s favor by not entertaining an appeal of lower court decision which was made by the leaving members of the league. The upshot of this is that OSU and WSU retain a say through the board and can influence CSF.

The current members of the Pac-12 did actually work out a deal that halts those lawsuits for the time being, at least. At this time, the member programs which are leaving are relinquishing not all, but some money that was generated within the past school year. Since OSU and WSU have authority in the Pac-12 board the league will retain its future money and resources after this past academic season.

Large amounts of money such as the television revenues and other sources of income, running to hundreds of millions of dollars, have been involved in this conflict.

Mountain West Conference Media Rights Contract

The conference comprising of 12 universities passed a $270 million media rights deal with CBS and FOX in a agreement made in the year 2020 as reported by The Athletic. This he promised would bring change by ending it after the 2025-26 season. Teams are to be offered $4 million in cash per year.

AAC Media Deal

The agreement with the AAC and ESPN provided 12 years of the worth $1 billion, according to USA Today. This deal originated in the year 2019. It was to provide each program with funds of just shy of $7 million per year when it was agreed.