While the endless search for more money throughout the sport is justifiable, given the increasing costs of fielding a competitive coaching staff and roster, the conferences that pushed the 24-team format through may not have fully considered the obvious implications.One of which is the necessary end of conference championship games.This page may contain affiliate links to legal sports betting partners.
If you sign up or place a wager, FOX News may be compensated.This content was created by a team that works independently from the FOX newsroom.In decades past, winning the Big Ten, ACC or SEC meant something.
Both for the teams and their fanbases, and for poll voters who helped determine bowl selections.But in this new era, with a massive tournament field, if conference championships are meaningless, it raises a number of other questions.
Namely, why should conferences even exist?THE COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF IS SACRIFICING ITS SOUL TO BE AN ATM FOR CONFERENCES WITH EXPANSION TO 24 TEAMSCFP trophy during the College Football Playoff press conference and media roundtable on November 19, 2022, at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles, CA.(Photo by Jevone Moore/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) (Jevone Moore/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)Theoretically, conferences are designed to create regional groupings, making travel and scheduling easier.
In reality, as the modern ACC and Big Ten have demonstrated, they now exist mostly to make negotiating group media rights easier.There's no reason for UCLA and Rutgers to be in the same conference, other than a collective desire to increase their media value.
Or Stanford and the Miami Hurricanes.But with the 24-team playoff in place, a whole new world of possibilities could now be available.Chief among them, independence and the advantages that it offers.
Why share television revenue with other schools? Why essentially give away your flexibility with scheduling? Notre Dame has more flexibility than anyone, and their sche...