The COVID-19 pandemic has left little choice. C-USA and the Sun Belt have to realign.
The possibility of realignment among the Group of 5 conferences hasn’t earned that much traction in recent years, but it now seems more likely than ever with the COVID-19 pandemic already spurring significant changes in college athletics.
There are signs that conferences are ready to rethink their way of doing things to cut down on travel and save money.
The Mid-American Conference will be eliminating tournaments for sports like baseball and softball for at least the next four years. The league also plans to narrow the field for the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments to eight.
On Thursday, Akron of the MAC announced it is eliminating men’s golf, men’s cross country and women’s tennis as it takes steps toward cutting $4.4 million from the athletic budget.
To make ends meet, sports will be slashed by more schools as time passes.
Conference USA is discussing setting up more pod play to reduce travel expenses in sports like baseball, softball and basketball. Also, the Sun Herald has learned that the league is weighing the possibility of cutting down on league games so football programs can schedule more non-conference contests closer to home. This also may create more opportunities to schedule more payday road games.
These are all ideas that could be implemented quickly and used for years to come.
NCAA programs are hurting now due to coronavirus
While the MAC and C-USA are already coming up with new practices for the future, it’s difficult to come up with the perfect plan that avoids a chaotic fall for college football.
In California, campuses in the California State University system will be mostly closed and classes will remain in a virtual setting, putting Fresno State, San Diego State and San Jose State in a difficult position. The three schools may still play football this year, but they’ll be practicing on nearly empty campuses.
One Div. II conference that doesn’t sponsor football, the California Collegiate Athletic Association, has already suspended athletic competition for the fall semester.
The Group of Five conferences signed on to a joint letter to NCAA commissioner Mark Emmert in April, asking for a temporary reduction in the mandatory requirement to have at least 16 varsity sports. Also, the group asked that the NCAA waive minimum football attendance requirements.
Even though COVID-19 should remain a challenge well into the fall, FBS programs appear determined to hold a football season to generate badly needed revenue.
However, there won’t be much money involved if some games are played in empty stadiums.
C-USA and the Sun Belt are a good fit
For the Group of 5 conferences that don’t bring in millions of dollars in TV money, life may return to simpler times when cable networks didn’t call the shots for conference expansion and realignment. Revenue from TV contracts has dried up in recent years, leaving less of a hurdle if conference officials sit down to iron out a realignment plan.
The Sun Belt and Conference USA both draw about $500,000 per school from their multimedia deals and the two leagues seem a good fit for realignment.
What’s the value in playing Florida International or UTEP when there are multiple programs in the Sun Belt that would be much better regional rivals for a program like Southern Miss?
Conference USA, which stretches from El Paso, Texas, to Norfolk, Virginia, appears more outdated by the day. The Sun Belt is a little more compact, but it’s still over 1,200 miles from Texas State in San Marcos, Texas, to Appalachian State in Boone, North Carolina.
C-USA could take steps to allow teams to play more games closer to home, but the conference still won’t make financial sense as the long term home for most of its schools.
A look at conference realignment
Between C-USA and the Sun Belt, there are 24 schools that could easily be split into two 12-team conferences or three eight-team conferences.
Former Sun Belt commissioner Karl Benson, who led the conference from 2012-19, has always believed there’s too much overlap between his former league and C-USA.
“I still firmly believe that North Texas and Texas State and UT-San Antonio need to be in the same conference,” he said last year. “(Louisiana-Lafayette) and La. Tech need to be in the same conference. Southern Miss and South Alabama need to be in the same conference. That’s the same for Troy and UAB, and Charlotte and App State.”
One solution would be to merge the C-USA West and the Sun Belt West and then do the same for the East.
That means Louisiana Tech, Southern Miss, UAB, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, South Alabama, Arkansas State, North Texas, Rice, UTSA, Texas State and UTEP would be lumped together in the West
In the East, it would be Florida Atlantic, Western Kentucky, Marshall, Florida International, Middle Tennessee, Old Dominion, Appalachian State, Charlotte, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Troy and Coastal Carolina.
It would be difficult to split up two Alabama schools in South Alabama and Troy, but there could be a scheduling agreement between the two leagues that would allow an annual non-conference game between the Trojans and Jaguars. You could do the same for Middle Tennessee and UAB.
If C-USA and the Sun Belt dissolved to create three more regional conferences, independent football programs like UConn, Liberty, New Mexico State and UMass could also factor in as members.
A reshuffling for the Group of 5 has been bounced around by athletic directors for years, and there’s an even broader form of realignment that a smaller group of ADs believe would boost the bottom line — establishing football-only conferences while setting up separate Div. 1 conferences for basketball, baseball, soccer and Olympic sports.
Using Southern Miss as an example, you could lump the Golden Eagles in with Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, Louisiana Tech, South Alabama, New Orleans, Southeastern Louisiana, Troy and UAB for a new conference that would compete in all sports outside of football.
Realignment would be a complex effort for athletic directors, but changes in conference lineups are unavoidable. If the goal is to save money and bolster the long-term viability of Div. 1 programs that know big dollars aren’t waiting for them on the other side of a pandemic, something has to be done.
Once COVID-19 has been brought under control, the time will be right to act.
This story was originally published May 15, 2020 at 11:36 AM.
