Super Bowl Domination

Chapter 32 The world is in turmoil
On the one hand, the Big Ten Conference and the Southeastern Conference are expanding at an increasingly strong pace, and their revenues are rapidly widening. Not only are the number of subscribers to their own TV channels climbing steadily, but as their influence grows, the proportion of the two leagues' games included in national live broadcasts is also visibly rising.

There is no doubt that the right to speak will be tilted.

On the one hand, the University of Texas once again played a key role in changing the situation. They were not satisfied with their younger brother Texas A&M University, which had been suppressed by them for many years and made a lot of money after joining the Southeastern Conference. With sufficient funds, their enrollment became stronger and stronger every year, forming a virtuous circle.

In 2021, the University of Texas joined Oklahoma in the Southeastern Conference.

The Big 12 Conference is in dire straits.

Soon after, the traditional powerhouses on the West Coast could no longer sit still. The University of Southern California was dissatisfied with the weakness of the Pacific 2022 Conference. A year later in , it joined forces with the University of California, Los Angeles to join the Big Ten Conference. Now the Big Ten Conference has become even more powerful and has a huge market on both the East and West Coasts.

The price is that both the Big 12 and the Pac-12 are facing the dilemma of falling apart.

The Big 12 Conference took the lead in self-rescue and frantically recruited players. After winning over universities such as Arizona and Colorado, it barely managed to gain a foothold.

The Pac-12 Conference is in turmoil. After the University of Washington and the University of Oregon joined the Big Ten Conference, the once glorious Pac-12 Conference is now in name only.

In 2023, there were only four schools left in the Pacific Conference: Stanford, UC Berkeley, Oregon State, and Washington State. They sought help everywhere but encountered setbacks again and again. Finally, Stanford and UC Berkeley found a foothold in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Oregon State and Washington State remain homeless, with an uncertain future.

NCAA, because of interests, is entering a new era.

A century-old tradition was wiped out.

For example, in the same district derby, UCLA and UC Berkeley both belong to the University of California system. The competition between the two teams has lasted for more than a century, but now they are in different leagues, and the annual regular encounters will no longer happen.

For example, when it comes to home and away games, the divisions used to be regional, so even away games were not far away, but now the divisions have broken geographical restrictions, which means that away games may require flying from the West Coast to the East Coast, which not only affects students' daily routines, but alumni fans may also not be able to travel to away games.

Another example is the bowl game. The Rose Bowl on New Year's Day every year was once the signature of the NCAA. Even the University of Alabama's team cheering song mentioned the Rose Bowl. Since World War II, the Rose Bowl has always been a match between the Big Ten Conference champion and the Pac-12 Conference champion.

Every year during the Rose Bowl, the Big Ten Conference champions will travel to sunny and warm California to watch the game and take a vacation. Away fans will bring a red rose and follow the team to Los Angeles for the game.

But now, the Pac-12 has largely disbanded, and the Rose Bowl tradition will become history.

The wheel of history continues to move forward amidst a roar.

Let’s temporarily return to 2016.

At present, the development of the NCAA has not yet entered a new stage, but the success of the Big Ten Conference and the Southeastern Conference is obvious to all, and their voice is unique.

As a traditional powerhouse in the Southeastern Conference and the undisputed champion in the rapid development of television broadcasting in the past nine years, the University of Alabama has become a beneficiary of the progress of the times. It is no wonder that the president attaches great importance to the team's broadcast games.

If a warm-up match can be held with the Crimson Tide, the television broadcast revenue will also be very considerable - this game will not only be broadcast live on the Southeastern Conference TV Network, but will also be broadcast live across the United States on ESPN.

Everyone is eager to be a warm-up opponent for the University of Alabama.

Shaban has his own considerations.

Every year, when choosing the opponent for the warm-up game, it is carefully considered; this year is no exception. In the end, Shaban chose Clemson University.

Hotly discussed, a piece of——

The Clemson Tigers, affiliated with the Atlantic Coast Conference, is also a team with a long history. It was founded in 1896, more than a hundred years ago.

However, Clemson University in South Carolina is a public university, not a traditional prestigious school. Their football did not rise until after the millennium, and reached its peak at the same time as the University of Alabama, which Shaban took over, becoming the strongest team in the past decade.

Since head coach Dabo Swinney took over in 2008, the Clemson Tigers have won the Atlantic Coast Conference four times.

Clemson and Alabama are well-known rivals. Both schools are located in the South. Their historical grievances can be traced back to 1900, and they have met again and again in the following hundred years.

Logically speaking, the two teams belong to two different leagues, and there should be several years between each meeting. But the amazing thing is that every time they play against each other, there are sparks. They are either at their peak or at their lowest point at the same time, so that every confrontation is a bloody battle, constantly making history.

The clash between the Crimson Tide and the Tigers always witnesses the big scores in NCAA history. The Tigers once won by a sweep of "35:0", and the Crimson Tide once humiliated their opponents "74:7". Such dramatic scores have led to increasingly fierce verbal battles among fans, and it seems like a fight to the death.

In 1975, the Crimson Tide defeated the Tigers 56:0. The Tigers have been trying to get revenge, but fate played tricks on them. It was not until 2008 that the two teams met again, which was when Shaaban and Sweeney took over the team and both entered their peak years as players.

The last time the two teams met was last season.

The U.S. Championship.

The Crimson Tide and the Tigers met in the finals, launching a peak showdown on Mount Huashan. The final score was "45:40". In a roller coaster game, the Crimson Tide had the last laugh and defeated the Tigers to become the national champion.

So far this season, the Crimson Tide leads the head-to-head record with 1905 wins and losses. For the Tigers, this old rival is not a good memory. Their last victory over the Crimson Tide dates back to , a century ago, or even longer.

However, history is history, and the situation now is completely different.

It was precisely because of the excitement of last year's national championship final that all the media were excited when Shaban announced that the opponent of this year's spring training official warm-up game would be Clemson.

Right from the start, it’s drastic measures?
Before the season starts, the two teams with the best performance last season will face off to set the tone for the new season that is about to begin?
It's easy to tell that the ratings for this game will be very high.

So, what was Shaban thinking?
From another perspective, what is Sweeney thinking? Shaban can make a proposal, but Sweeney needs to agree. What are the two coaches doing?
It's still spring training camp, is it really okay to be so exciting?
Sprinkle flowers, finally squeezed into the top 100 of the new book list, thank you all for your support! Don’t stop voting, keep voting, I thank you all again! Thank you!



(End of this chapter)