Post by mainstreet on Sept 14, 2019 1:49:33 GMT
Recent news has indicated that California is considered a law that effectively allows college athletes to be paid. Since NCAA hates this, and is making threats, I can't see this resulting in any outcome other than an effective expulsion, so realignment is needed. This is a quick musing of what the realignment would look like.
I will, however, note that regardless of the lack of depth of prestige leagues may appear to have, the ability to get paid will be attractive and will still get the top talent. This post is not an indictment or an endorsement of this happening.
Division I:
There are 11 schools that play DI football in California but only 10 of them are scholarship programs.
These 10 would form a new conference, which I will call the California Premier Conference (CPC)
CPC Members: UCLA, USC, UC Berkeley, Stanford, SDSU, SJSU, Fresno St., UC Davis, Sacramento St., Cal Poly
The Pac-12 loses 4 members, and the Mountain West and Big Sky lose 3 members each.
It is *likely* that a lot of the Pac-12 infrastructure will be scooped by the CPC.
The Big West would have to expel Hawaii as the rest of its membership is CA. It will stay at 8 members with the incoming arrival of CSU Bakersfield and UCSD. (Later notes have accounted for these schools no longer being in their old conferences.)
Big West: CSU Bakersfield, CSU Fullerton, CSU Northridge, Long Beach St., UCR, UCI, UCSB, UCSD
Cal Baptist is the only member of the WAC in the state. It will likely flip to the WCC where it fits equally well.
The WCC will, of necessity, expel Gonzaga, Portland, and BYU. BYU and Hawaii will likely (re)join the Mountain West. (I suspect Gonzaga and Portland will head to the Big Sky.)
WCC: Cal Baptist, Loyola Marymount, Pacific, Pepperdine, St. Mary's, USF, Santa Clara, San Diego
This means there are 3 Division I Conferences in most sports, and lends itself well to either a 4-team or 8-team state championship tournament.
(In football, only the CPC plays football, so there is no state championship event; the CPC champion is considered the state champion for DI.)
Division II:
No changes to the CCAA, 12 teams that play in California (none of which play football).
The PacWest will likely expel all 3 Hawaii teams who will (I guess?) join the GNAC, and the 9 California teams will stay as a 9-team league.
The PacWest is again a non-football conference, only APU plays football, and it will have to leave the GNAC.
From a practical perspective, there is little reason to run a tournament here: a single state championship game between the winner of each conference will suffice.
Division III:
No changes to the 9-team SoCal Conference (This conference, excepting CalTech, plays football).
The ACAA is a psuedo-conference as is, and has 2 members in California: UC Santa Cruz and Mills (neither of which play football). These schools will likely have to return to independent status.
There is no need for a designated D3 state championship: the independents could consider postseason challenge games against the top teams.
The outliers: 2 schools that play football
San Diego plays in FCS currently, but in the Pioneer League for football (as a non-scholarship program) and it doesn't make much sense to let them play CPC.
Azusa Pacific is the only D2 school in California that plays football.
I suspect both USD and APU will have to effectively be independent in football, perhaps accepting no playoffs, except maybe an end-of-season bowl vs. each other. Alternatively, they could join the SoCal Conference as football-only members which while sort of making them D3, is still the second highest college football league in the state.
I will, however, note that regardless of the lack of depth of prestige leagues may appear to have, the ability to get paid will be attractive and will still get the top talent. This post is not an indictment or an endorsement of this happening.
Division I:
There are 11 schools that play DI football in California but only 10 of them are scholarship programs.
These 10 would form a new conference, which I will call the California Premier Conference (CPC)
CPC Members: UCLA, USC, UC Berkeley, Stanford, SDSU, SJSU, Fresno St., UC Davis, Sacramento St., Cal Poly
The Pac-12 loses 4 members, and the Mountain West and Big Sky lose 3 members each.
It is *likely* that a lot of the Pac-12 infrastructure will be scooped by the CPC.
The Big West would have to expel Hawaii as the rest of its membership is CA. It will stay at 8 members with the incoming arrival of CSU Bakersfield and UCSD. (Later notes have accounted for these schools no longer being in their old conferences.)
Big West: CSU Bakersfield, CSU Fullerton, CSU Northridge, Long Beach St., UCR, UCI, UCSB, UCSD
Cal Baptist is the only member of the WAC in the state. It will likely flip to the WCC where it fits equally well.
The WCC will, of necessity, expel Gonzaga, Portland, and BYU. BYU and Hawaii will likely (re)join the Mountain West. (I suspect Gonzaga and Portland will head to the Big Sky.)
WCC: Cal Baptist, Loyola Marymount, Pacific, Pepperdine, St. Mary's, USF, Santa Clara, San Diego
This means there are 3 Division I Conferences in most sports, and lends itself well to either a 4-team or 8-team state championship tournament.
(In football, only the CPC plays football, so there is no state championship event; the CPC champion is considered the state champion for DI.)
Division II:
No changes to the CCAA, 12 teams that play in California (none of which play football).
The PacWest will likely expel all 3 Hawaii teams who will (I guess?) join the GNAC, and the 9 California teams will stay as a 9-team league.
The PacWest is again a non-football conference, only APU plays football, and it will have to leave the GNAC.
From a practical perspective, there is little reason to run a tournament here: a single state championship game between the winner of each conference will suffice.
Division III:
No changes to the 9-team SoCal Conference (This conference, excepting CalTech, plays football).
The ACAA is a psuedo-conference as is, and has 2 members in California: UC Santa Cruz and Mills (neither of which play football). These schools will likely have to return to independent status.
There is no need for a designated D3 state championship: the independents could consider postseason challenge games against the top teams.
The outliers: 2 schools that play football
San Diego plays in FCS currently, but in the Pioneer League for football (as a non-scholarship program) and it doesn't make much sense to let them play CPC.
Azusa Pacific is the only D2 school in California that plays football.
I suspect both USD and APU will have to effectively be independent in football, perhaps accepting no playoffs, except maybe an end-of-season bowl vs. each other. Alternatively, they could join the SoCal Conference as football-only members which while sort of making them D3, is still the second highest college football league in the state.