“There are good reasons why we proposed six highest-ranked conference champions, and those reasons haven’t changed,” Bowlsby said.
“We found out the extent to which we (Power 5 leagues) anoint ourselves with privileges, including automatic access, is usually the extent to which we get called in front of Congress or we get challenged legally.”
It seems non-coincidental that the split here appears to be between those who have had to appear before congress, and those that have not. The old hands vs the new.
Might be the only reason they are against top 6 conferences and want to keep the P5 idea going strong. Because they have almost no worry of ever being left out of the playoff.
I think the 12-team systems actually do a decent job of addressing that. They have access to the at-large bids, but because they are not in a conference they do not get any autobid nor can they skip the first round (something only conference champions are allowed to do).
Okay I see the main reason the AAC commish does not want to expand. Clemson does not want to play any extra playoff games. Dabo is only thinking about his school knowing he can make the 4 team playoff almost every year with that easy ACC schedule.
Not sure if Dabo appreciates that as a member of the ACC he is one loss away from being out so that a second SEC team can get in. Maybe he thinks brand will overcome that, but they aren’t Ohio State so I don’t think it will.
ACC’s ostensible objection is adding games is bad for athletes, so they’re probably not up for 16.
I think 12 is going to prove to be the right number. I think the top (and most important) teams are going to want that bye. So I think 14 is more likely than 16, if it goes up from 12.
To me, this is more about power than money. If it were merely money, a deal would be made. But the Alliance wants more than just extra money. They want to bring the SEC and by extension, ESPN, down a notch.
The Big Ten is the only conference with the power to do it, because their states represent a broad spectrum of support economically and politically, and their alum have deep pockets and are spread throughout the U.S. I never saw so many Big Ten alum license plates than when I lived in Washington, DC and NY. Even in Atlanta and Charlotte there are a lot of BIG Ten alum.
The SEC alum generally reside in the Southeast (outside of a Vanderbilt), and therefore are more parochial. And everyone outside the region dislikes them. A lot of it is jealousy, but some of it is that people just dislike the entire culture of the SEC and what it stands for (which is different things to different people).