Divisional Play
The potential for Bama to remain in the West while Auburn moving to the East could cause some issues. Bama having both traditional rivals in the other division, the Iron Bowl never being played "for the Division title", and the potential for back-to-back Iron Bowls weekends just begins the list.
QUESTION: What harm would come from not having divisions at all? When the SEC at a 10-Team conference we never played every team and managed to have a conference ranking that told us who our top two teams were. Noting that no SEC has more the 2 games a year that are traditional rivals, the majority of the conference schedule would be a home-and-home carossel working our way through all the other teams, much like we do now with the non-rival teams in the SEC East. In this manner rivalries continue, everyone plays in every stadium (eventually), and we avoid having the Conference Championship game played without the #2 team because it happens to be in the same division as the #1 team.
Markets vs. Polls
Having won the last 5 NCs, any move that the SEC makes isn't to catch up with other conferences. The conference does need to be mindful not to let other conferences catch up of pass us when all the dominoes fall, but for now we are the last team needing to add power. This means that other factors like TV markets stand to bring the most reletive value. Ignoring the schools, what new TV markets are geographically in reach of the SEC, and how could this impact where we look.
# 5 Dallas-Ft. Worth: Does Texas A&M bring enough of this market, or should the SEC consider adding another like Ft. Worth-base T.C.U.?
#8 Atlanta: Do you buy it that Georgia carries enough of this market to make snubbing Georgia Tech a smart move?
#10 Houston: Same question as the Dallas-Ft. Worth market, but on Houston Cougars vice TCU Frogs?
(With Texas A&M and UGA in the fold, would we have these 3 of the top-10 markets?)
#13 Tampa-St. Pete: The South Florida Bulls are in Tampa, play in the Outback Bowl's stadium, and have a huge enrollment, but then again they are 2 hours south of Gainesville. Great market, but do we own it already?
#16 Miami-Ft. Lauderdale: This means the Hurricanes, games in a BCS bowl stadium, and a routine chance to make "the U" shut up.
#19 Orlando: The University of Central Florida is located there, play in a cute on-campus stadium (seats ~60K if I recall correctly), and has the second largest enrollement of any college in America, but is a short drive from Gainesville. (See the Tampa-St. Pete comments above.)
#21 St. Louis: Relevant if Missou is in play. (Note also Kansas City and Springfield below, and that Missou is all the college football that state has.)
#29 Nashville: Vandy's more impressive asset.
#31 Kansas City, MO: Only Missouri market contested by another college, as Kansas is about 40 miles to the west in Lawerence, KS. SEC versus Jayhawk Football? Really?
#36 Quad-city region, S.C.: This does not include Columbia, but with adding Clemson we own it all...for what that is worth. (Columbia S.C. is #79 itself)
#40 Birmingham: No comment. Just added for perspective.
#43 Hampton Roads, VA: This is the recruiting hot bed that produced Phil Simms, the Vick brothers, Percy Harvins, and many more. This is only important if Virginia Tech (which is on the other side of VA) is to be considered.
#45 Oklahoma City, OK: The biggest market associated with a Oklahoma/Oklahoma State deal is smaller than Birmingham. Those schools stay/move together, and bring "Birmingham on a Talladega weekend" until you add the Tulsa market which is less than Mobile.
Other Southern Cities: Jacksonville, FL (47), Memphis (48), Louisville (50), NOLA (53), Little Rock (56), Mobile (60), Tulsa (61), Ft. Myers-Naples, FL (62), Lexington (63), Springfield, MO (74), Columbia, S.C. (79), Huntsville-Decatur (82), Chattanooga (86).
Beyond a market grab in Texas via the Aggies (I still don't have an idea of what value that brings), and noting the market rankings above, I see two markets that impress me; South Florida and Missouri. Assuming that already having the Gators does not give us the entire state of Florida and that we currently have no real pull in the Show-Me state, the largest market gain appears to be to take the University of Missouri and either the University of South Florida or the University of Miami. S. Florida/Miami attacks markets 13, 16, 19, and 62. Missou attacks 21, 31, and 74. That's adding 7 of the top 74 markets NATION-WIDE.
This of course, with A&M would leave us with one short of 16. Maximizing market value, this seems like we look at a second Texas team (TCU) or the adding the other South Florida team.
The potential for Bama to remain in the West while Auburn moving to the East could cause some issues. Bama having both traditional rivals in the other division, the Iron Bowl never being played "for the Division title", and the potential for back-to-back Iron Bowls weekends just begins the list.
QUESTION: What harm would come from not having divisions at all? When the SEC at a 10-Team conference we never played every team and managed to have a conference ranking that told us who our top two teams were. Noting that no SEC has more the 2 games a year that are traditional rivals, the majority of the conference schedule would be a home-and-home carossel working our way through all the other teams, much like we do now with the non-rival teams in the SEC East. In this manner rivalries continue, everyone plays in every stadium (eventually), and we avoid having the Conference Championship game played without the #2 team because it happens to be in the same division as the #1 team.
Markets vs. Polls
Having won the last 5 NCs, any move that the SEC makes isn't to catch up with other conferences. The conference does need to be mindful not to let other conferences catch up of pass us when all the dominoes fall, but for now we are the last team needing to add power. This means that other factors like TV markets stand to bring the most reletive value. Ignoring the schools, what new TV markets are geographically in reach of the SEC, and how could this impact where we look.
# 5 Dallas-Ft. Worth: Does Texas A&M bring enough of this market, or should the SEC consider adding another like Ft. Worth-base T.C.U.?
#8 Atlanta: Do you buy it that Georgia carries enough of this market to make snubbing Georgia Tech a smart move?
#10 Houston: Same question as the Dallas-Ft. Worth market, but on Houston Cougars vice TCU Frogs?
(With Texas A&M and UGA in the fold, would we have these 3 of the top-10 markets?)
#13 Tampa-St. Pete: The South Florida Bulls are in Tampa, play in the Outback Bowl's stadium, and have a huge enrollment, but then again they are 2 hours south of Gainesville. Great market, but do we own it already?
#16 Miami-Ft. Lauderdale: This means the Hurricanes, games in a BCS bowl stadium, and a routine chance to make "the U" shut up.
#19 Orlando: The University of Central Florida is located there, play in a cute on-campus stadium (seats ~60K if I recall correctly), and has the second largest enrollement of any college in America, but is a short drive from Gainesville. (See the Tampa-St. Pete comments above.)
#21 St. Louis: Relevant if Missou is in play. (Note also Kansas City and Springfield below, and that Missou is all the college football that state has.)
#29 Nashville: Vandy's more impressive asset.
#31 Kansas City, MO: Only Missouri market contested by another college, as Kansas is about 40 miles to the west in Lawerence, KS. SEC versus Jayhawk Football? Really?
#36 Quad-city region, S.C.: This does not include Columbia, but with adding Clemson we own it all...for what that is worth. (Columbia S.C. is #79 itself)
#40 Birmingham: No comment. Just added for perspective.
#43 Hampton Roads, VA: This is the recruiting hot bed that produced Phil Simms, the Vick brothers, Percy Harvins, and many more. This is only important if Virginia Tech (which is on the other side of VA) is to be considered.
#45 Oklahoma City, OK: The biggest market associated with a Oklahoma/Oklahoma State deal is smaller than Birmingham. Those schools stay/move together, and bring "Birmingham on a Talladega weekend" until you add the Tulsa market which is less than Mobile.
Other Southern Cities: Jacksonville, FL (47), Memphis (48), Louisville (50), NOLA (53), Little Rock (56), Mobile (60), Tulsa (61), Ft. Myers-Naples, FL (62), Lexington (63), Springfield, MO (74), Columbia, S.C. (79), Huntsville-Decatur (82), Chattanooga (86).
Beyond a market grab in Texas via the Aggies (I still don't have an idea of what value that brings), and noting the market rankings above, I see two markets that impress me; South Florida and Missouri. Assuming that already having the Gators does not give us the entire state of Florida and that we currently have no real pull in the Show-Me state, the largest market gain appears to be to take the University of Missouri and either the University of South Florida or the University of Miami. S. Florida/Miami attacks markets 13, 16, 19, and 62. Missou attacks 21, 31, and 74. That's adding 7 of the top 74 markets NATION-WIDE.
This of course, with A&M would leave us with one short of 16. Maximizing market value, this seems like we look at a second Texas team (TCU) or the adding the other South Florida team.
