A superconference is a term that has been used to refer to a very large athletics conference. It is an idea that can be traced back to the 1960s, but over the years has seemingly become more of a reality. Superconferences now exist in some high school athletic associations, while in recent years, they have been formed for college athletics. In the 2010 NCAA Realignment rush, the possibility of superconferences threatened to draw an end to college athletics as we know it. However the prospect of a superconference is far from a new idea.
In the 1960s, the term "super conference" was coined by the media when talks between Texas, Oklahoma, Southern Cal, and Alabama, four of the most powerful football programs in the country led to the proposal of a new college athletics conference that would bandy together some of the nation's premier athletic programs. The membership in the conference was different from source to source, but generally included Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Southern Cal, Alabama, and LSU. Arkansas, Texas Tech, Ole Miss, Nebraska, UCLA, Notre Dame, and Georgia Tech were among the other teams mentioned as candidates for the conference, which would span from coast-to-coast in a time when most college athletic conferences were very localized. Big Ten powers Michigan and Ohio State were not included in this exclusive membership despite their status as elite programs. The new conference, it was believed, could monopolize college athletics by potentially breaking away from the NCAA and ending amateurism in college athletics. The conference, it was believed, could contain anywhere from 8-14 teams. However, it never came to life thanks to lack of interest from Notre Dame and the long travel distances associated with USC's and UCLA's membership.
In 1974, a new idea for a superconference was formulated. After the 3-division split, all of the football powers tried to break away from the rest of d-1 and create a 73-team "super conference" that would have much different rules than other divisions, would split revenue amongst only themselves, and would require members to sponsor football. This conference would be ultra-exclusive as far as attendance numbers and scholarship limits. It was believed that the new "conference" could create better TV deals since it would act as a confederation of the seven major conferences at the time, as well as 15 major independents. This whole idea eventually gave birth to Division I-A, as the remaining schools were separated into I-AA. However, this "super conference" was not as exclusive as originally thought and was to be governed by the NCAA, with limited negotiating power. Also, the split occurred in football only, after it was originally intended to occur in all sports.
The next time the idea of a super conference came to light was in 1990, when the SEC and Big Ten both opened themselves up to consider expansion. At this time the Southwest Conference was unstable and the east coast was filled with independents. The Metro Conference, which did not sponsor football despite the fact that all 8 members had football teams was on the verge of creating a 16 team super-conference that would have pulled together teams from all across the eastern half of the United States, including perennial national championship contenders Miami and Florida State. But the idea dissolved when South Carolina was invited to the SEC and Florida State joined the ACC. The remnants of the conference formed the Big East Football Conference, leaving out the smaller schools and forcing them to eventually join forces with Houston to form Conference USA. At this time, there were also talks that the Big 8 may be splitting up since Oklahoma and Nebraska dominated a conference that was very weak at the bottom, with only Colorado presenting a challenge to the top 2 schools in the conference. The Southwest Conference was also looking to make some major moves with the growing disparity in the league and with the loss of Arkansas to the SEC. A potential merger seemed possible, but if it happened, it was believed that Nebraska and Iowa State may seek a new home (namely, The Big Ten). In the end, the Big Ten, who had set out to add Penn State and Notre Dame, added Penn State, but no one else. The SEC expanded by two with Arkansas and South Carolina, the ACC added Florida State, the Big East football conference was created, the Metro football Conference never came to be, and the Big 8 and SWC remained intact for the time being.
Eventually, the SWC conference became even more unstable, with Texas and Texas A&M petitioning the Pac-10 for membership, but they were denied. Then this happened, they opened discussions with the Big 8. Texas, Texas A&M, and Texas Tech were asked to join the Big 8 in the founding of a new conference, the Big 12. BYU was set be the 12th member and had been favored by the former Big 8 schools, but Texas preferred Baylor as the 12th member, and, using their leverage, force the Big 12 to include Baylor. This left Houston, SMU, TCU, and Rice to find a new home, which they eventually did. Houston helped to found Conference USA and reunite the some of the former Metro Conference teams. SMU, TCU, and Rice were accepted into the WAC, along with independent Tulsa and Big West schools UNLV and San Jose State. In 1996, this massive expansion on the part of the WAC created the first true superconference: a 16 team league that spanned from Texas to Hawaii. However, after only three years of existence, some members grew tired of the new league and embarked on a quest to form a new conference. The Mountain West was born.
After this, there was relatively little movement among top notch schools until the ACC expansion of 2003-04. This left the ACC with 12 schools, and created a second superconference, but only in sports other than football. The Big East, which had previously been home to 14 basketball schools and 8 football schools expanded to 16 in basketball and expanded their footprint dramatically in adding Mid-Eastern schools Depaul, Marquette, Cincinnati, and Louisville. In football, the league remained at 8.
In 2010 came the reopening of Big Ten expansion, and with it the scare of super-conference resurfaced. The Big Ten said that its intention with expansion was to go big and do something that had never been done before. It was believe that if the Big Ten expanded, other leagues would have to expand as well, in order to "keep up." The Pac-10 made the first big move when they extended bids to 6 Big 12 schools, including Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Colorado. Colorado immediately accepted the invite, leaving the formation of the most prominent superconference to date at the hands of the other 5 Big 12 South schools. Rumors surfaced that Texas Tech and Oklahoma State were ready to join, then it was reported by ESPN that the superconference would be formed, as Texas, A&M, and Oklahoma had decided to move as well. The move was said to be ready to take place within 24 hours, but a last minute meeting of the 11 remaining Big 12 schools, save the conference and ended the possibility of a Pac-16. Still the Big Ten talked of expanding to 14 or 16. Nebraska left the Big 12 for the Big Ten, to become the Big Ten's 12th school. Eventually, the Big Ten shut down discussions of expansion and remained at 12 schools. No new superconference was created, and the lasting effects of realignment were the Nebraska's joining the Big Ten, the Pac-10 adding Utah and Colorado, TCU joining the Big East as its 17th school, BYU going independent in football, and the Mountain West Conference decimating the WAC to the point where they may not even be defined as a conference in 2012-13.