There are three kinds of schools in the storm of realignment that is encompassing college football once again. There are the “haves”, the “have nots” and the “hopefuls”.
Tennessee doesn’t need hope on its side. The Vols are in the group of the “haves” thanks to tradition, dedicating resources to the sport and the Vols’ standing in the SEC. Tennessee isn’t going anywhere. The Vols will be a part of the SEC no matter how the sport changes in the coming weeks and years.
Being a part of the SEC guarantees Tennessee a spot at the adults’ table if/when there is a mega-conference that becomes the highest level of college football. As of now, there are two super conferences: The Big Ten and the SEC. Eventually, most believe that the two conferences and some other schools will create a higher, different level of college football.
The Big Ten caught up with, or surpassed, the SEC in terms of television exposure, although that can be slightly overrated. By pulling in UCLA and Southern California, the Big Ten now has pulled in the Los Angeles’ television market and already has a foothold in the New York City and Chicago television markets thanks to Rutgers and Northwestern, respectively.
The SEC doesn’t have as many big-time television markets but, to quote Vincent Vega from Pulp Fiction, that really doesn’t matter. It’s the little differences.
The Big Ten can have all the big television markets they want, but there’s no way that Northwestern is bigger than the Chicago Bears in Chicago, no way that Rutgers is even close to the New York Giants and Jets in New York City and no way that the Trojans or Bruins are the No. 1 television draw in Los Angeles.
The SEC has a bit of a different business model. The SEC wants the entire conference to be buoyed by a rather simple notion: good football. Let the Big Ten bolster its television market as long as it feels the need. Might as well pick up Miami if you can. There’s a lot of people in the magic city. The problem is there aren’t as many dedicated college football fans in Miami as there are in Knoxville, Columbia, Baton Rouge or Gainesville.
That brings us back to Tennessee and something that UT fans may have forgotten over the past, brutal decade. The Vols are a “made” program. It’s like being in the mob, but with less sociopathic overtones.
The only two SEC programs that should be concerned with a mega-conference scenario are Missouri and Vanderbilt. The SEC got some sort of midwest television presence with Missouri in the conference, but not much else.
I know that Missouri had a run of success in football, including an SEC Championship Game berth in 2014. However, the SEC East Division was woefully down and the Tigers still don’t feel like an SEC team, haven’t raised their facilities to SEC standards and really haven’t had any discernible difference when it comes to growing the SEC into the surrounding television markets. If I were Missouri, I would be concerned.
I’d also be worried if I were Vanderbilt. The Commodores have academic integrity and were actually good in football about100 years ago. That, however, is ancient history in this futuristic world of college football.
Unlike those two SEC teams, Tennessee and its other SEC brethren should have nothing to worry about. The rest of the SEC teams have competitive athletic departments. They’re not going anywhere. If they did, they’d have no trouble finding a home in a likely mega conference. They carry too much weight to be left out.
College football is becoming incredibly unfair. Programs that were born into blue-blood status have nothing to worry about, while there are some other schools that should be a bit skittish.
Imagine if the SEC decided it wanted to jettison a school other than Vandy or Missouri. None of the other programs would have any issue finding a home in the Big Ten. I know that all sounds bizarre. However, there could be a bidding war for at least one program between the Big Ten and SEC. At this point, I’m not ruling anything out. Missouri seems like the most likely school to be contended for but who knows definitively at this point.
Being a “have” like Tennessee is nice. Sit back, watch the turmoil and know that when it’s all said and done, the Vols will be in better financial position, most likely when the SEC’s new television contract is announced. That should work out well for the Vols. Membership has its privileges.
