Greg McElroy: 'The super conferences are here'

With the most recent conference realignment moves and the mass exodus of the Pac-12’s programs leaving the conference scheduled for 2024, the super conference era of college football seems inevitable. But according to former Alabama quarterback and current college football analyst Greg McElroy, the era is already underway.

McElroy joined ESPN’s Mike Greenberg on ‘Get Up’ Tuesday morning and was asked if we’re already living in a super conference era and if that is good or bad for the sport of college football.

“The super conferences are here, they arrived when Texas and Oklahoma joined the SEC,” McElroy said. “At that point, as far as brand size and brand notoriety, the SEC had nine of the top 17 schools in college football. And then the Big Ten said hey no, we can’t have you having a majority or a monopoly so we’re gonna go out and add UCLA, USC, now they’ve added Oregon and Washington. Now they have 10 of the top 21.”

Texas and Oklahoma deciding to join the SEC for 2024 may have been the first domino to fall in July of 2021, but since then, and particularly last week, a lot more have come down and altered the future of the college football landscape.

Four teams currently remain in the Pac-12 Conference with various schools being added to the Big Ten in order to keep up with the strength of the SEC, and the rest landing in the Big 12 in an effort to keep up with the pack.

“So when you think about it when you’re looking at maybe the top 18 of the top 22 college football programs all reside under one or two umbrellas, the super-conferences are here,” McElroy said. “And I know for all of us traditionalists it feels uncomfortable, I don’t love it. But I have to acknowledge that this game is about matchups, and rivalries, and creating big events for television. That’s where we’ve already moved.”

One of the biggest areas of pushback against the super conference era is the lack of geographical borders, as many teams, particularly in the Big Ten, will have to travel across the nation to compete across all sports. This could have a major impact on the ability of fans to travel to games, the regional rivalry aspect of college football, and the mental health of student athletes as detailed by Missouri head coach Eliah Drinkwitz.

But McElroy believes those days need to be kissed goodbye, as a new era of college football is being ushered in with a different set of priorities and a premium on creating the best matchup and product possible.

“We need to acknowledge that the age-old adage of old-school regionality is gone. So I’m okay with where we’re heading because it’s going to be bigger matchups and eventually bigger television windows that are gonna draw a more casual consumer down the road,” McElroy concluded.