“The current model for governing and managing college athletics is dead.”
That’s what Kent Syverud, the chancellor of Syracuse University, said to The Athletic in an article released earlier this week.
It’s a statement made in the midst of a flurry of changes happening in college sports, with football being the main proponent for change. Name, Image, and Likeness has brought the payment of players into the public eye, the transfer portal has opened up, and conferences are either growing or collapsing.
In an attempt to navigate through that, Syverud is a part of a group campaigning for a “Super League” for college football. There would be 80 teams, split across eight divisions with ten members each. The top seven divisions would be locked into the Super League, while schools in the last division would be involved in a promotion/delegation system with a second-tier league made up of an additional 50 schools.
This is a system that feels as though it’s pulling in two different directions. On one hand, it’s very new and out of the ordinary for college football. There would be much more organization than before, from a league that’s sole focus is football. On the other hand, and in a weird way, a Super League would keep some key parts of the sport the same. It would keep more teams relevant than the alternative, a world where the Big Ten and SEC start to separate themselves from other conferences.
That last point is most relevant to Syracuse right now. The ACC is by all accounts still a power conference, but far from the top two. In 2022, the SEC and Big Ten brought in $2 billion of revenue each. The ACC, along with the Big 12, brought in roughly half of that.
How likely is the Super League? It’s hard to say, but the initial reactions aren’t great. Per The Athletic, only the ACC met with the group leading the campaign. The Big 12, SEC, and Big Ten all canceled meetings on the topic. However, even if it isn’t likely, it might help the ACC, and therefore Syracuse, stay relevant, especially in the world of football. For that reason, it absolutely makes sense for Syverud to support the proposed Super League.
