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The 2010–14 NCAA conference realignment refers to several proposed and actual conference expansion plans among various NCAA conferences, beginning in the 2010-11 academic year. While conferences in all three NCAA divisions—Division I, Division II, and Division III—experienced change during this period, media attention focused on extensive conference movement in Division I. Most of these changes involved conferences in the top Football Bowl Subdivision, with all of the FBS conferences, as well as the ranks of FBS independents, either gaining or losing football members. Most notably, after significant attrition and replacement, the old Big East Conference split into football-sponsoring and non-football sponsoring conferences in 2013 with the establishment of the American Athletic Conference and the new Big East Conference, while the Western Athletic Conference became the first Division I FBS conference to drop football since the Big West Conference did so in 2000. Two other conferences (the Mountain West Conference and Conference USA) discussed a merger, but due to likely revenue losses resulting from specific provisions in NCAA rules, these plans were abandoned. The second-tier Football Championship Subdivision also saw changes, with 13 schools changing their football affiliation, and four other schools announcing that they would establish football programs at that level. The most significant change to the FCS landscape was the collapse of the Great West Conference, which was forced by attrition to drop football after the 2011 season. It then saw the departure of all but one of the remaining full members in 2013 (New Jersey Institute of Technology), causing its complete collapse and forcing NJIT to compete as an independent in most sports for at least 2013. Additionally, Division I men's ice hockey underwent major realignment, with the Big Ten beginning sponsorship of men's hockey, the formation of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference, and the demise of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association. Every men's hockey conference, except for the ECAC, was ultimately affected. ==Background== Talk of conference expansion began in December 2009, when Big Ten Conference commissioner Jim Delany announced that the league would consider adding one or more teams. Media reports indicated that the Big Ten had two major motives for expansion. First, adding one or more schools would increase the reach of the conference's cable network, the Big Ten Network. The conference reportedly receives as much as 88 cents per month for every subscriber to the network in the Big Ten member states, and in the 2008–09 fiscal year, the Big Ten Network alone distributed $6.4 million to each of the conference's 11 schools. Second, expanding to 12 or more schools would allow the conference to launch a potentially lucrative conference championship game in football. Shortly after the Big Ten announced its intention to explore expansion, the Pacific-10 Conference, under new commissioner Larry Scott, announced similar plans. As with the Big Ten, television played a major role in the PAC-10's plans, although for a different reason. The conference's then-current deal with Fox Sports Net was set to expire at the end of the 2010–11 school year, and in the wake of lucrative TV deals recently signed by the ACC and SEC, the Pac-10 apparently felt a need to expand its footprint to gain more leverage in broadcast negotiations.〔 Expansion to 12 teams would also allow the Pac-10 to host a conference championship game. While television was undeniably a factor in the realignment speculation, it was not the only one. Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick stated in an interview with Pat Forde, then of ''ESPN.com'', that at most schools, realignment was being driven primarily by university administrators who saw an opportunity to improve the academic image of their schools—not by athletic directors. Also, for at least three schools—Hawaii, Belmont, and Denver—travel costs played a major role in their decisions to change conferences. The realignment process has consumed much of the resources of conference administrators. Karl Benson, who was commissioner of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) when the cycle started and since March 2012 has held the same position with the Sun Belt Conference, stated in a May 2012 interview that about 90 percent of his workload since taking over the Sun Belt position has been taken up by realignment-related issues—either recruiting new members or trying to keep current members in the conference. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「2010–14 NCAA conference realignment」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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