Heather Dinich explains how close college athletics is to embracing 'super conferences'

Those who thought the era of conference realignment would be over after the announcement of Texas and Oklahoma joining the SEC and USC and UCLA joining the Big Ten were wrong, as news and rumors about more movement continue to circulate this offseason.

Last week, Colorado announced it would rejoin the Big 12, while Arizona, Arizona State and potentially Utah are also rumored to be interested in leaving the Pac-12 for greener pastures in the Big 12. But as the Pac-12 continues to get thinner by the day, many believe the Big Ten and SEC will continue growing and adding teams moving forward to get stronger. This could create the two rumored ‘super conferences’ in the not-so-distant future, with the SEC and Big Ten each comprising a majority of college sports best programs. And on ESPN’s ‘Get Up’, college football insider Heather Dinich revealed how close she believes collegiate athletics are to having two super conferences.

“A heck of a lot closer than we were a week ago, I mean this is how fast things are changing,” Dinnich said. “I sat here last week and told Greeny [Mike Greenberg] no that’s not gonna happen, it could happen. It could happen very soon and it’s because I’ve never, I’m going into my 16th season at ESPN and I have never seen the collegiate landscape so volatile as it is now.”

Colorado leaving the Pac-12 only leaves a few more teams in the conference in 2024, making programs like Oregon, Utah, Washington, Washington State, Arizona, and Arizona State potential targets for the Big Ten or SEC. That paired with Florida State‘s president Rick McCullough expressing interest in potentially leaving the ACC makes another move seem inevitable in the college sports landscape.

“I mean you’ve got a university president at Florida State saying give us more money or we’re out. You have a Big Ten Conference based in Rosemont, Illinois considering schools in the Pacific Northwest after adding two flagship schools from California, this is …. that’s all I got,” Dinich said somewhat speechless.

USC and UCLA joining the Big Ten set a new geographic precedent moving forward regarding conference realignment, as it now seems any team from any part of the country can move to any conference at any time.

Revenue, media deals, geographic footprint, and the branding of schools have become just a few of the many factors that have played a pivotal role into conference realignment, and will likely continue to in the near future. Leaving SEC Network host Paul Finebaum with a short and sweet sentiment regarding the potential of two super conferences in college sports.

“Don’t forget, this is all about the student-athletes, this has nothing to do with money,” Finebaum said sarcastically.