Things have quieted down a little bit -- at least publicly -- since the announcement that the Protect College Sports Act had cleared a U.S. Senate committee on its way to possibly becoming law.
USF, of course, is keenly interested in how this all plays out because one ;provision of the proposed law would freeze the current power conference membership. That would possibly exclude expansion or the domino effect of, say, Florida State or Miami leaving the ACC.
As Ross Dellenger, the Senior College Football Reporter for Yahoo Sports, noted, "Not only does the concept freeze in place the current membership of the power leagues — most notably locking in restless ACC schools like Clemson, FSU, Miami and North Carolina — but it prevents schools in the Group of Six conferences, such as the Sun Belt, Mountain West or American, from joining the big leagues.
"They've locked us in," says one G6 conference athletic director."
There is some debate about that, by the way. There doesn't appear to be specific language in the bill that would lock schools like USF is perpetually less relevant confernces. It would stop the poaching like the Big Ten did with USC, UCLA, Oregon, and Washington.
However, no matter how that plays out, the door is not locked yet because the bill has some tough legislative hurdles ahead. And while that process plays out, why take chances? It doesn't sound like the power conferences are waiting for the outcome. If there are preemptive strikes to be made, it could happen quickly.
For USF fans, the sooner, the better.
"Realignment discussions never stop completely," Dellenger wrote. "Intermediaries and third parties — perhaps even school executives themselves — remain embroiled in dialogue with conferences that they most wish to join.
"And now, given the bill's anti-expansion provision, those discussions have accelerated, according to several officials with knowledge of the talks. Are they accelerating to a place of imminent action? No. But the bill would apply immediately on the date in which President Donald Trump signs, freezing conference membership for an indeterminate amount of time (no sunset provision). It creates a quasi-deadline now on realignment."
We don't really need to go over all the reasons again for why USF should be at the head of the expansion/realigment line. They are obvious enough to anyone paying attention, and you can bet the other conferences are. The new stadium under construction is a key, but far from the only one.
It's also important to remember that university presidents -- not ADs or other athletic officials -- make the decision about who gets invited and who is waiting by a phone that never rings. Besides USF's enormous ongoing investment in athletics, the university's status in the presigious Association of American Universities is huge.
USF would be the rising tide academically that lifts other member universities.
If the Bulls are going to find a new home, we could know about it before the end of this year -- if not sooner. That's because programs typically have to give 27 months notice to their current conference that they are headed elsewhere. That would put USF on a timeline for when TV contracts are renegotiated by the end of this decade.
Until then, the power conferences are watching Congress and USF and other expansion hopefuls like Tulane and Memphis are watching (and listening) to what those leagues are saying. We may not know much about it because all of those conversations are likely back-channel jobs with sides sworn to silence.
But if Ross Dellenger is a plugged-in guy who gets it right. If he says the talks have, in his words, accelerated, you can take it to the bank.
Add us as a preferred source on Google