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A college football alliance between the ACC, Pac-12 and Big Ten could be confirmed and announced as soon as next week, according to a report in The Athletic on Friday.
Nicole Auerbach reported the news of the massive merger of sorts, which is in reaction to the SEC’s emerging power, as Big 12 powerhouse programs Oklahoma and Texas are set to switch conferences in several years’ time.
It’s unclear what the specifics of this college football alliance between three of the Power 5 conferences will entail, but concern among the top administrators is that the sport will radically change, and could become a farm system of sorts for the NFL Draft and professional game.
Auberbach reported that key leaders in each conference “believe in the collegiate model” and are essentially threatened by the NCAA’s ruling that players can now profit off their name, image and likeness.
Perhaps the most visible coach from any of these conferences, Clemson’s Dabo Swinney, reflects this apparent widespread paradigm due to his backtracking to support NIL and bitter acknowledgement of an inevitable College Football Playoff expansion.
The commissioners and athletic directors from all three conferences hope to delay the eventual CFP expansion, per The Athletic‘s report, which is another major motivation for this college football alliance.
