Where Does Arkansas Land In Proposed College Football Super League?
Razorbacks would be placed in familiar territory amongst historical rivals
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The idea of a college football super league has been in talks of happening over the course of 15 years. Nothing has ever been solidified with the option to move away from the NCAA.
However, talks have increased recently that may bring the super league into play. According to Sportico, a document that included an NIL cap plus regional alignment of the proposed college football, “Super League” was leaked in February from College Sports Tomorrow.
Enclosed in the document included 70 programs around the country separated into seven 10-team divisions with geography considered. A select group of current “Group of Five” schools made up an “Under League Division”.
For Arkansas’ sake, the proposal had them placed with several familiar programs in the “Southwest Super League.” The Razorbacks would face off with Baylor, Houston, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, SMU, TCU, Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech.
With recruiting becoming more of a national ordeal, most programs sitting in incredible facilities and NIL being a major factor for most players it won’t matter how far a student-athlete lives from the school they sign with.
Other factors to consider while moving programs around is the amount of revenue schools take in. While Arkansas was in the defunct Southwest Conference small schools certainly didn’t draw as well as the Texas’ and Texas A&M’s.
Baylor, SMU and the Oklahoma schools would obviously draw well. Houston would do ok but TCU and Texas Tech are in a much better position since the split in 1996 than they were previously. There’s no Rice’s to drag strength of schedule down.
From a competitive standpoint, the Razorbacks might have similar to more success than they currently do. Renewing rivalries every season with the Aggies and Longhorns will grow hate between fanbases and programs stronger than before.
Basketball-wise, the Southwest League would be as competitive as most power conferences with only Oklahoma State and SMU as doormats for now. Other unique conference designations include Florida remaining a member of the Southeast club. Here's the kicker. The Gators won't be in the same regional conference as long-time rivals Georgia and Tennessee. Instead, the Swamp would host the likes of Florida State, Clemson, Miami, UCF, Duke, NC State, North Carolina and Wake Forest.
The Big Ten would take the biggest hit of any power conference as its 16 members would separate into four different conferences around the country. Some places make sense like the re-emergence of the PAC-10.
These changes won't come soon as there’s plenty of time to formulate an official change given the technicalities. Most schools have signed new TV contracts and a new six-year deal with ESPN for the College Football Playoff worth over $7 billion. The current concept will be the way for now but the "Super League" will certainly be worth keeping an eye on.
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