NCAA Basketball: Potential impact of collge football expanding the playoffs
Biggest winner of the CFB expansion
The word “expansion” has been part of the college football world for the past decade, and I don’t mean by just the playoffs. It feels as if every six months, some rumors spark off concerning the Big 12 and other leagues possibly losing members. And for the G-5 conferences, potentially losing members as well.
The league that arguably has been affected the most by the constant talks is the American Athletic Conference (AAC). This conference is just a decade and already has seen members come and go, including the UConn Huskies back to the Big East just a year ago. Although from a football perspective, the Huskies becoming an independent in football was good for the AAC, as they were simply horrible on the gridiron.
In the past, programs such as UCF, Memphis, Cincinnati, and Houston have been linked with the Big 12 in realignment scenarios and there have been talks about once the various media deals are up around 2023-25, that conferences would look to add members in an effort to get more money and better position themselves to get one of those four playoff spots.
However, the fact that 12 teams now being in the playoffs probably ends any real desire for conference expansion. Barring a complete disaster (such as losing to 4 Sun Belt teams during non-conference play), the Big 12 should be guaranteed at least one playoff team and likely gets another year almost yearly. The 10 programs aren’t in financial trouble and none of the candidates would be big enough to warrant expansion.
That’s music to the AAC’s ears, as if there was going to be any realignment talks, they would’ve likely taken the brunt of it. Now, they’ve been spared and have a great shot at sending a team to the college football playoff almost every year. They also now have a bit of leverage if the BYU Cougars want to move to a conference, as the Big 12 likely won’t have interest and the history between them and the Mountain West may make the AAC the favorite in that case.
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With the Houston Cougars just recently making the Final Four, the AAC has something good going for them. And if Memphis Basketball can finally get things going under head coach Penny Hardaway, they’ll be in contention too. And now that the college football playoffs have been expanded, the AAC could end up the biggest winners, affectively them positively in the two biggest sports leagues.