Big 12 reportedly exploring alliance with ACC and 2 other leagues In an effort to reap the benefits of conference expansion without actually adding more teams, the Big 12 is exploring an alliance with the ACC and two other unspecified leagues, according to Kirk Bohls. The move is only considered to be in its exploratory stages at this point, but any deal would include football and basketball, with the potential to later expand to other sports. http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2013/1/25/3916770/big-12-acc-conference-alliance
NCAA poised to create separate voting for SEC, Big Ten, ACC, Pac-12, Big 12 SAN DIEGO – The big leagues appear poised to get their way and their own voting bloc within the NCAA. Polling of the roughly 800 administrators at the NCAA convention's dialog on governance revealed solid support for an autonomous voting body for the five most powerful conferences – the SEC, Big Ten, ACC, Pac-12 and Big 12. Fifty-eight percent of those administrators – from all levels of NCAA membership – were in support of autonomy for the power conferences; 30 percent were opposed; 12 percent were neutral. To NCAA president Mark Emmert, that's a significant change in outlook. "It makes sense for the five big revenue conferences to have their own voice," Emmert told Yahoo Sports Friday. "A year ago that would have been a very difficult conversation. Now [member schools] are saying, 'Yeah, that makes sense.' … People have just become more comfortable with the ideas and concepts of it.' " http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ncaa-p...--big-ten--acc--pac-12--big-12-212725211.html
The power conferences should form their own division and have their own tournaments in every sport. The separate voting bloc will probably affect recruiting and scholarships and give the power conferences an advantage on top of the one they already enjoy. I'm hoping that prospective athletes who might have been considering seeking scholarships to one of the non-power conference programs can now see that the administrators of many of those schools just undermined their own athletic programs for money.
Changes to NCAA Governance of Big Conferences http://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/media-center/news/division-i-moves-closer-new-structure
Fallout From Autonomy Movement This NCAA offseason will center on the high-resource conferences — dubbed the ‘Power Five’ — and how that group will likely either form a new division or be granted autonomy. The Big Ten, the Atlantic Coast, the Big 12, the Pac 12 and the Southeastern Conference want to shape their own rules. How severe is the fallout? Could it even be a blessing in disguise? The Power Five separating from the pack could create a regrouping of Division I, in which the top quadrant of the FCS and the bottom quadrant of the FBS become intertwined. For example, according to USA Today, the budget of Texas is more than $165 million, while the budget of fellow FBS member Ball State is about $21 million and FCS member North Dakota is about $22 million. GROUP of FIVE CONFERENCES MAC, Sun Belt, Conference USA, American AC, Mountain West FCS CONFERENCES CAA, Big South, Southland, Big Sky, Southern, Ivy, Patriot, MEAC, SWAC, MVFC, OVC, Northeast, Pioneer http://www.grandforksherald.com/con...ioner-looking-ahead-fallout-autonomy-movement
NCAA board hands 5 biggest conferences more power INDIANAPOLIS | The NCAA Board of Directors overwhelmingly approved a package of historic reforms Thursday that will give the nation's five biggest conferences the ability to unilaterally change some of the basic rules governing college sports. If the 16-2 decision stands, there will be striking differences between the 65 largest schools and the more than 280 others in Division I beginning as early as Oct. 1, though few expect change to come that quickly. Representatives from the five richest leagues — the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC — will hold nearly twice as much voting power (37.5 percent) as any other group on a newly created council, where most legislation will be approved or rejected. The five other Football Bowl Subdivision leagues would account for 18.5 percent while the second-tier Football Championship Subdivision and non-football playing schools would split up another 37.5 percent of the vote. Athletes and faculty will account for the rest. Commissioners and school leaders from the power conferences have until Oct. 1 to create a wish list of issues they want to handle on their own. http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/artic...-board-hands-5-biggest-conferences-more-power
Mid-American Conference inks historic TV deal With Fox Sports 1, CBS Sports Network and NBCSN looking for live sports programming, the Mid-American Conference could have tested the market with their television rights package.. Instead, the MAC decided the best move was to stay with ESPN. With three years left on its deal, the conference announced Tuesday a 10-year extension with ESPN through the 2026-27 academic year. It is the largest and most extensive agreement in the 68-year history of the conference. It also adds provisions to the remaining three years of the existing agreement. http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/smackblog/chi-espn-mid-american-conference20140819-story.html