20 team football league consisting of four 5-team pods.
Pod A - Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska and Washington
Pod B - Illinois, Northwestern, Michigan State, USC and UCLA
Pod C - Michigan, Ohio State, Indiana, Purdue, and Oregon
Pod D - Penn State, Rutgers, Maryland, Stanford, and Cal
Play every team in your Pod annually to preserve rivalry games (only casualties may be Washington-Oregon and Michigan State-Michigan).
Play every team from another pod on a rotating basis (Pod A plays Pod B in 2022, Pod C in 2023, Pod D in 2024, etc.). Ensures that each school plays every other conference member every 3 years. 9 game conference schedule.
Conference championship game participants determined by winners of the "grouped pods" for each year. In my hypo Pod A/Pod B and Pod C/Pod D grouped together in 2022. Best conference record in A/B plays best conference record in C/D. For 2023, the pairings would be A/C and B/D. For 2024, the pairings would be A/D and B/C. No longer split divisions and the grouped pods would produce true championship participants.
PLUSES:
1. Money - TV contracts would be ridiculous
2. Brings the conference footprint into the LA, Bay Area, Portland, Seattle TV markets
3. Preserves the B10 academic integrity
MINUSES:
1. Travel -- Oregon and Washington would be most affected (as their pods don't include a fellow West Coast institution), but we are only talking about 4 or 5 road games each season.
2. Start times for West Coast teams -- minimize this issue by mandating that West Coast teams never play in the early 12 noon kickoffs.
Pod A - Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska and Washington
Pod B - Illinois, Northwestern, Michigan State, USC and UCLA
Pod C - Michigan, Ohio State, Indiana, Purdue, and Oregon
Pod D - Penn State, Rutgers, Maryland, Stanford, and Cal
Play every team in your Pod annually to preserve rivalry games (only casualties may be Washington-Oregon and Michigan State-Michigan).
Play every team from another pod on a rotating basis (Pod A plays Pod B in 2022, Pod C in 2023, Pod D in 2024, etc.). Ensures that each school plays every other conference member every 3 years. 9 game conference schedule.
Conference championship game participants determined by winners of the "grouped pods" for each year. In my hypo Pod A/Pod B and Pod C/Pod D grouped together in 2022. Best conference record in A/B plays best conference record in C/D. For 2023, the pairings would be A/C and B/D. For 2024, the pairings would be A/D and B/C. No longer split divisions and the grouped pods would produce true championship participants.
PLUSES:
1. Money - TV contracts would be ridiculous
2. Brings the conference footprint into the LA, Bay Area, Portland, Seattle TV markets
3. Preserves the B10 academic integrity
MINUSES:
1. Travel -- Oregon and Washington would be most affected (as their pods don't include a fellow West Coast institution), but we are only talking about 4 or 5 road games each season.
2. Start times for West Coast teams -- minimize this issue by mandating that West Coast teams never play in the early 12 noon kickoffs.
