Not Mad Enough

EPISODE 217: Power conferences.

A funny thing happened after this episode of The Sporting Class published Friday, and it should only enhance your listening experience, if you haven’t yet.

Because one part of the show centers around a story that former ESPN president John Skipper tells David Samson and me about a secret meeting he had, in a parking lot, with an NCAA official. The goal: outbid everyone else (using his famous one-dollar-more rule) and purchase the media rights to March Madness… in order to expand the field to 96 teams (instead of the current 68).

But another part of the show centers around John’s belief that the four biggest conferences — the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, and SEC — could simply start their own tournament, in the style of European soccer’s would-be Super League, in which their teams are the only participants… boxing out all mid-majors and small-conference Cinderellas.

And I hated this idea.

I hated it because it means we never would’ve gotten Davidson’s Steph Curry or Northern Iowa’s Ali Farokhmanesh.

I hated it because it defeats the magical cabinet of curiosities that we just celebrated, on this show, on Thursday.

But as of this morning, lo and behold:

And those four power conferences?

The ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, and SEC.

Enjoy.

SPOILER ALERT:

Predictably,

Pablo