It has always been funny to me how everyone seems to get up in arms over conference realignment. Sure, it’s odd when traditional schools pick up and head to another conference, but shouldn’t we be used to that by now. No one seems to have the same response when other, non-sports related, businesses collude with one another.
Tennessee is one of the fortunate teams that can just sit back and watch other teams scurry for new landing spots while conferences look to increase their national footprint and schools try to remain relevant with a mega-conference on the way. The Vols don’t have to worry about that. They’ll be a part of any mega-conference plans in the future. However, there are changes that will affect how the Vols do business moving forward.
It was just about this time last year that it was announced that Texas and Oklahoma would be joining the SEC in a startling move. The Big Ten waited a year, but answered the SEC by adding Southern California and UCLA to their mostly midwest conference. The move, which happened in late June, came out of seemingly nowhere.
Multiple sources have told me that the Big Ten and SEC are not done with conference expansion. There is one school, Notre Dame, that both conferences would love to land. There are also teams that the SEC will consider, such as Clemson and Florida State. The Big Ten is considering Washington and Oregon. However, there is one surprise school among the possible mega-conference candidates that is more desired than any other: North Carolina. The SEC and Big Ten would both like to land UNC.
Chris Landry of Landry Football thinks the Tar Heels are the team that no one is talking about that could be in a strong negotiating position.
Adding the Tar Heels to the SEC would certainly be a boon. It’s a state school that is highly respected in basketball and has seen some ups-and-downs in football. However, North Carolina could just be the beginning. In a world of conference realignment that revolves around football, the SEC could consider North Carolina AND Duke. Suddenly, the SEC would become the premier basketball and football conference, which was discussed on Off The Hook Sports:
It’s unclear just when the next step of conference realignment will take place. However, one thing is certain, there will be another domino to fall. The SEC and Big Ten have made that abundantly clear.
