Nick Saban on mega-conferences: Competitive balance is going to be in question

The SEC remains firmly in the conversation around conference realignment, and changes could still be coming to the college football landscape. Alabama coach Nick Saban — not one for hypothetical questions — talked about just how much things can change as dominoes continue to fall.

Speaking at SEC Media Days on Tuesday, a reporter asked Saban about if he thinks the SEC moving to 18 or 20 teams down the road. He said he had “no idea” and called it “as hypothetical as any” question he’s ever been asked.

Still, he addressed the impact realignment as a whole has on the game.

“I do think if we move toward the mega-conference, again, that whole thing about competitive balance is going to be in question,” Saban said. “Look, I’m not here to say we should have it or we shouldn’t have it, but if we have two 20-team leagues, how’s that going to impact all the people that are not in those leagues? That’s a question for all of you to speculate and answer on. I really can’t speculate on that.”

Nick Saban: ‘It’s not my job … to understand the dynamics of what’s in the best interest of college football’

Saban noted where the college football landscape is going as the SEC and Big Ten prepare to move to 16 teams in the next three years. But he also spoke about the competition within the SEC right now and how his team has to stay focused on the current task at hand.

“I do think there is some tendency to, as current events sort of indicate, that mega-conferences may be something in the future,” Saban said. “It’s not my job or my role to understand the dynamics of what’s in the best interest of college football, the SEC, other conferences in terms of how they expand. But this is always been something that has happened. I know one thing for sure is we have a great league. We made two really positive additions to our league that are going to come online in a few years. I think there’s a lot of underlying dynamics from the business standpoint that could impact and effect how this happens, if this does happen in the future.

“But for right now, we have 14 teams in our league for the next couple years and we have some really, really good teams in our league. It’s a very competitive league. You’ve got to be on task each and every week that you play and that’s kind of what we’re trying to stay focused on. That question is probably a better question for Greg Sankey or conference commissioners who maybe are looking at what’s in the best interest of their league in the future and I’m sure they would say maybe yes and maybe no because who knows what those circumstances may have an impact and effect in a positive way on each and every league and on college football in general?”