Independents Expansion
What’s Going On? BYU is off to the Big 12 next year, Liberty and New Mexico State will go to Conference USA, and Notre Dame is going to … that’s the big question.
Best Case Scenario: It doesn’t matter because they’re independent schools, but overall, it would be a plus for Army if it could make its way into the American Athletic Conference, and UConn and UMass might need to play well with others in the MAC or Conference USA – even though UConn bolted from the AAC a few years ago and UMass left the MAC after 2015.
– Independent Predictions For Every Game
Worst Case Scenario: There’s a shot the big conferences go more to in-league games and squeeze out the paycheck options for the smaller independents.
Crazy Idea That Won’t Work, But … Army makes a big push to be a part of the Big 12. The league landed a national brand in BYU, and getting Army could create a fun weekly buzz for the conference that’s missing a whole lot of brand name is sizzle.
What Will Probably Happen: Outside of Notre Dame, it’s going to be tough to remain an independent. The media deals and alliances – even for the lower conferences – are going to be too strong to overcome.
Conference Expansion: What’s Going On?
ACC | AAC | Big Ten | Big 12 | C-USA | Ind
MAC | Mountain West | Pac-12 | SEC | Sun Belt