We have seen the plans, or at least the beginning of them, of the SEC with Oklahoma and Texas changing sides, but what about the recent reports of the alliance being built with the ACC Big Ten, and the Pac 12?

For starters, it’s nothing more than discussions. According to reports from ESPN,

“This is about seeing if there’s a philosophical alignment. At this point, there’s no financial component.”

This is mostly about the sport of football, as the NCAA is quickly loosing their grip on the sport. The DI collegiate championship, the College Football Playoff, has no affiliation to the 2AA.

Since the ruling in the NCAA v Alston case didn’t go their way, and now the NIL systems are taking shape, the governing body is not able to do much governing.

Members of all 3 leagues, including ADs will meet in the next few days about what the alliance would look like, should the NCAA totally lose its grip, there needs to a way for them to govern themselves collectively.

Philosophically, these leagues make a lot of sense as an alliance. High-end educational institutions, quality football, and the ability to recruit from every major area -maybe except Texas – this makes sense.

On a scheduling format, this also seems to meet the mark. The ACC and the Big Ten have had weekend matchups over the years, and so has the PAC 12 and the Big Ten.

“All this banter and talk about the new NCAA structure and governance, having 41 institutions that have similar values would be really important,” said an unnamed AD.

Financials have not come into play yet, but no doubt they would, but it seems as though this could be a bugger political play than anything.

If the hold the NCAA has does slip away, without some type of collaboration, the rest of the college football world could be help to SEC’s commissioner Greg Sankeys whims. They would hold most of the collective power and money.

An alliance between these 3 leagues would even the political playing field, as it is thought that either the Big 12 will be absorbed by the SEC, or combine with the AAC, all but taking away their Power 5 status.

This is something that needs to be watched. A full-fledged realignment is highly unlikely, but scheduling, and a political alliance seems to be further down the road than we thought.