Mark Ingram endorses realignment in college football

We’ve seen two ends of the spectrum when it comes to the conference realignment discussion. Some people are already on board with it, while others are going to cherish every bit of the 2023-24 athletics year.

Former Heisman Trophy winner and longtime NFL running back Mark Ingram is very much on the side of change.

“I think the realignment could be good for fans. I mean, now you’ve got USC playing Michigan, Penn State playing USC, like you got all these big games, then you’ve got Texas playing Alabama,” Ingram said on The Herd with Colin Cowherd. “So, you have all these big games that people want to watch. I think for tradition and history, it could be a little whatever, but I think everyone’s getting more marquee matchup from the realignment.

“I mean, who doesn’t want to go to the Big Ten where the schools are getting $80-100 million. You know what I mean? Who doesn’t want to go to the SEC, were you getting $70 million per school when they were only getting $30 million in the Pac [12]? So as a business, do you get mad at that making that decision?”

Those matchups will fork in the revenue dollars with ease. Huge fanbases coming together to support their teams in a midseason game worthy of a national championship is one way to embrace the new big three “super conferences” in the SEC, Big Ten and Big 12.

For the major sports — everyone wins. For Olympic sports that lack the same funds, traveling thousands of miles for a weekend conference series isn’t something any team is looking forward to. The NIL space becomes more competitive now, too — so there has to be a middle ground for these lesser-followed sports.

“But at the same time, it’s kind of hypocritical because they didn’t want players to make their own money from NIL. So, you’re making all this money at the expense of the athletes that got to travel all these miles,” Ingram said. “So, we’ll see man. I think it’s good for the game. But obviously, you know, you put some of the athletes that got to go from the West Coast now to the Midwest. Especially like the non-football sports. So I think it’s going to be a challenge, but I think it’s good. I think we get a lot more key matchups that everyone will enjoy to watch.”

2023 will be the final year with college athletics as we know it. Beginning next summer, the great conference realignment will take place and will reshape multiple major conferences forever.