What I'm hearing and reading about conference realignment, from the AAC to the ASUN

Good morning, and thanks for your continued support of Extra Points.

One of the first newsletters I wrote that got any traction was a treatise on how we ought to think about conference realignment in 2019. Based on conversations I had, I believed that the next round of conference realignment would focus primarily on FCS and smaller D-1 conferences, as leagues sought to sell more tickets, decrease travel expenses, and find better institutional fits.

And hey, in the short term, that wasn't a bad read of the conventional wisdom. The WAC and ASUN made moves to consolidate around specific geographic identities. ADs and commissioners everywhere talked, especially in a post-COVID world, about their desire to decrease travel expenses. It made sense!

And then Texas and Oklahoma happened. All those nice, neat little theories about what the mid 2020s would look like were completely blown to hell.

I've tried to get a good grasp on how realignment may impact all college sports, not just the SEC, Big 12, and other major power conferences. While I'm sure I'll be writing about this again soon, because I keep getting asked about it, I wanted to jot down a few thoughts, predictions, and what I've been hearing, about how realignment impacts the many schools that aren't in the SEC.

Let's talk about The American.

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