Tennessee football as Super League team comes down to money vs. wins
The attempted European Soccer Super League was a source of major controversy and fell apart immediately this week. However, it got everybody talking about a potential NCAA Super League, and when that happened, Tennessee football drew even more controversy.
If the NCAA hypothetically did a league with the top teams, would the Vols belong? Do you just base this on success in college football, or do you add college basketball and other sports? Is revenue and money more important than wins?
All of this made for a raging debate between certain schools that win at a high level but don’t generate revenue and other schools that have struggled but bring in a ton of revenue, a category Tennessee football and the Nebraska Cornhuskers fall into. The results were mixed.
Of the six ESPN analysts who laid out what a potential Super League would look like earlier this week, only one, David, actually included the Vols. However, Hale said UT and Nebraska would be the “designated punching bags,” basically perennial losers in exchange for being in the same league as the powerhouses.
Bill Bender of Sporting News suggested 15 teams in a Super League and scored them based on revenue, record, championships and NFL Draft picks. Recency was weighed on all of them. However, he said those factors could be used to move teams in and out every year. In that scenario, the Vols would be fifth among the first five out, or 20th overall.
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Pat Forde of SI.com came up with a top 12 based on all sports and academic rankings. Rocky Top was left off that list, but even football blue bloods were out of that one, including the Alabama Crimson Tide, Texas A&M Aggies and LSU Tigers. However, with a focus on football, the Vols were left off as well.
College Football News, on the other hand, was one to give the Vols respect. There were 24 teams separated into four region divisions, and Tennessee football was among the SEC schools in Division C. As the site noted, the revenue kept them in there regardless of their success.
Taking all of this into account, the debate for the Super League is simple: Is it money, success or a mix of both that drives whether or not a program would belong? If it’s more about money, the Vols would belong. They wouldn’t if it was more about wins.
What’s clear, though, is if there was a reorganization of college football that allowed teams to move beyond NCAA regulations for more autonomy, the Vols could buy their way into the league by simply buying more success. Using their position to pay players has always been one way they could get ahead of the curve.
Next. Ranking Vols 17 conference championship teams. dark
Maybe with Josh Heupel, Tennessee football becomes a no-brainer for these hypothetical situations because they start to win again at a high level. If not, though, they have a path to be a Super League team regardless of what happens, should that arise.