I only hear about this Alliance in bits and pieces.

But WRT to football, it sounds like the ACC, PAC, and B1G are going to play more. Sounds good to me. But I'm not sure the purpose. Schools can simply schedule each other more often if they want without an Alliance. So will we be playing games on the West Coast? If so, that is fine by me. But is this at a bigger cost?

It sounds like the Alliance is a reaction to SEC hegemony. Again, if so, fine. But I think the real power in an Alliance would come from POST season scheduling rather than regular season scheduling. For example, some real leverage might come from the Big Ten and the Pac 12 after this contract is up saying "we are going back to the Rose Bowl alliance of champ vs. champ on Jan. 1". But this would have nothing to do with the ACC. Or maybe, the three conferences could play some sort of championship between them--but this seems like it would be very difficult to put together, and in the end might be a Pyrrhic Victory.

I also see the point of the Alliance as a union to help form the rules of college sports and academics in a new and improved way. But we don't need the suggested new regular season football Alliance schedule to do this.

And I'm just spit balling here. But maybe the answer is to play LESS OOC games and play more in conference games when it comes to getting a bid to the CFP now, and in the future. There would be more sense of mystery around the champion of a major conference if the conference's champion didn't have any OOC losses. And as a result, the committee would be just as likely, or more likely to select them, or even a runner up if the CFP expands.

WRT to basketball scheduling and the Alliance. I'm not sure how the scheduling would work. Would VT go to Pullman to play just one game? Would and team making a cross country trip play multiple games out west (or east) to make the trip worthwhile (like the NBA)? I, for one, think it might be better to just schedule some other great programs OOC here on the East Coast. And also, how does this fit in to the NCAAT? Is the Alliance going to try to impact that as well?

WRT West Coast trips, I must say, I'd love it. Both to watch on TV and maybe to be blessed enough to make a few trips out there myself. But is it worth it for the schools? One of the best threads I've ever read on TSL was originated by a post wondering why we don't play more football games on the West Coast. It ascended into a great conversation about airports, fuel capacities, airplane types, lengths of runways, best temperatures to fly, etc. Many of our great Hokie engineer types who may be read-only guys on most sports issues, were dropping knowledge big league. Totally fascinating.

Anyway, sorry for the long and rambling post, but I just wanted to get more knowledgeable on the Alliance.


[Post edited by Maroon Baboon at 02/12/2022 11:29AM]