shizzle787
King Shizzle DCCLXXXVII of the Cesspool
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I'm letting the Marchand Ourand Podcast be my guide this week. John Ourand thinks if there is a Pac-12 deal, it should be wrapped up some time around Labor Day.
With that being said, I predict the Pac-12 to stay together and add SDSU and SMU. Oregon and Washington don't have a B1G lifeline and will keep the league together. I don't know how much or with who the TV contract will be but I do think SDSU and SMU will get severely reduced shares to keep the remaining ten at least competitive with the next conference up.
The Big 12 ultimately decides to stay at 12. Unable to grab any P5 institutions, the Big 12 presidents decide against adding UConn, Memphis, or Gonzaga.
Side programming note: with the addition of USC and UCLA, the B1G decides to go to a 22-game basketball schedule and shelve the Gavitt Games.
The conference next up is the Big East. With the Pac-12 and Big 12 both out on Gonzaga, the Big East has the leverage to get the Zags at the price they want. The Big East invites Gonzaga, but the latter has to pay the league travel subsidies equal to 10% of their TV distribution. The league keeps the 20-game conference schedule and splits into an east division and west division for scheduling purposes.
Following the departure of SMU, the American is down to 13 football schools. After some internal discussion, the league ultimately adds Georgia State over Texas State to get back to 14. GSU gets the league into Atlanta, and the program gets a pay raise and more visibility.
The Mountain West is up next. Although staying at 11 appeals to the league, getting into Texas with Texas State appeals more. The MW invites Texas State who accepts.
The Sun Belt is now down to 12 members. They ultimately decides to stand pat as ESPN does not cut their per school payout.
After the departure of Gonzaga, the WCC decides to get back to 10 members. The league invites Seattle and Grand Canyon.
After the departures of Seattle and Grand Canyon, the WAC is down to 9 members. This is the WAC we are talking about- a cockroach that can't be killed. The remaining composition of the league includes 5 Texas schools, 3 Utah schools, and 1 California school. This geography entices a certain school in Oklahoma who sees an opportunity to upgrade the level at which its basketball program plays- Oral Roberts. The WAC invites Oral Roberts to stabilize at 10 members.
The next move is one that has been hypothesized: Bellarmine to the Horizon. Bellarmine is in its last year as a transitional member and would be a full Division 1 member by the time it joins the league. The Horizon is now at 12 schools.
The final league on the docket is the Summit. Down to 8 members it would prefer to add at least one school. However, they have a problem: nobody in a Division 1 conference is interested. They ask around the Division 2 Minnesota schools, and they all decline. This leaves the league with a choice: Chicago State or Augustana. The league ultimately invites Augustana to get back to 9 members.
This leaves Division 1 with 363 members, 134 FBS schools, 129 FBS schools, 1 independent, and 32 conferences as of July 1, 2025.
With that being said, I predict the Pac-12 to stay together and add SDSU and SMU. Oregon and Washington don't have a B1G lifeline and will keep the league together. I don't know how much or with who the TV contract will be but I do think SDSU and SMU will get severely reduced shares to keep the remaining ten at least competitive with the next conference up.
The Big 12 ultimately decides to stay at 12. Unable to grab any P5 institutions, the Big 12 presidents decide against adding UConn, Memphis, or Gonzaga.
Side programming note: with the addition of USC and UCLA, the B1G decides to go to a 22-game basketball schedule and shelve the Gavitt Games.
The conference next up is the Big East. With the Pac-12 and Big 12 both out on Gonzaga, the Big East has the leverage to get the Zags at the price they want. The Big East invites Gonzaga, but the latter has to pay the league travel subsidies equal to 10% of their TV distribution. The league keeps the 20-game conference schedule and splits into an east division and west division for scheduling purposes.
Following the departure of SMU, the American is down to 13 football schools. After some internal discussion, the league ultimately adds Georgia State over Texas State to get back to 14. GSU gets the league into Atlanta, and the program gets a pay raise and more visibility.
The Mountain West is up next. Although staying at 11 appeals to the league, getting into Texas with Texas State appeals more. The MW invites Texas State who accepts.
The Sun Belt is now down to 12 members. They ultimately decides to stand pat as ESPN does not cut their per school payout.
After the departure of Gonzaga, the WCC decides to get back to 10 members. The league invites Seattle and Grand Canyon.
After the departures of Seattle and Grand Canyon, the WAC is down to 9 members. This is the WAC we are talking about- a cockroach that can't be killed. The remaining composition of the league includes 5 Texas schools, 3 Utah schools, and 1 California school. This geography entices a certain school in Oklahoma who sees an opportunity to upgrade the level at which its basketball program plays- Oral Roberts. The WAC invites Oral Roberts to stabilize at 10 members.
The next move is one that has been hypothesized: Bellarmine to the Horizon. Bellarmine is in its last year as a transitional member and would be a full Division 1 member by the time it joins the league. The Horizon is now at 12 schools.
The final league on the docket is the Summit. Down to 8 members it would prefer to add at least one school. However, they have a problem: nobody in a Division 1 conference is interested. They ask around the Division 2 Minnesota schools, and they all decline. This leaves the league with a choice: Chicago State or Augustana. The league ultimately invites Augustana to get back to 9 members.
This leaves Division 1 with 363 members, 134 FBS schools, 129 FBS schools, 1 independent, and 32 conferences as of July 1, 2025.