Conference Realignment Auction: Introducing the Plain American Conference

Quick Facts:

Conference’s name: Plain American Conference

Northernmost school: Marquette

Southernmost school: Indiana

Easternmost school: Temple

Westernmost school: Wisconsin-Whitewater

Which two teams have the longest driving commute? Wisconsin-Whitewater & Temple (Little over 13.5 hours)

Where is your football championship venue? Ford Field in Detroit, MI

Where is your basketball championship venue? Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, OH

Where is your baseball championship venue? Parkview Field in Fort Wayne, IN

Introducing the Plain American Conference

DePaul & Marquette for basketball.

For starters, I took Toledo in our draft. A lot of how my conference would shape up would be based on my first couple of of teams taken after them, then I’d figure it out on the fly if I’d trade Toledo and others away or not. Keeping good overall programs, regionally, mattered to me. I was happy with Toledo, since they’re one of the better G5 football programs in real life.

A lot of the participants wanted to go extreme couponing for their conference, but I wanted the big guns. I didn’t want 16 teams, I really just wanted to hit my minimum and everything after that is extra credit. Sure, some other schools slipped through my hands via that strategy, but I’m okay with that.

After Toledo, I ended up getting Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State. I like the regional rivalries there, which is a good way to stuff Benjamins in my pockets, get media coverage and brag about professional talents, all that good stuff. I didn’t care if I had to overspend on some of these schools, either.

I’d later get Purdue and Kentucky, but with a pair of trades, I was able to get more Hustle Bucks to bid with, Bowling Green to keep the Battle of I-75 going, and Indiana to expand the PAC's brand. Indiana can be good at football sometimes, but it also has the elite basketball prestige. S.O.S. on IU's baseball program.

For whatever reason I decided to get Temple, and had a stupid panic attack trying to get Youngstown State (failed) to help bridge the schools. Thankfully I was able to get Pittsburgh, though I was in a pricy bidding war with Justin over and I won’t tell you how much I hated it, but it was much more strenuous on my budgeting than I had anticipated.

I wanted Eastern Michigan, but wasn’t able to get them. I also was unable to get Cincinnati and Indiana State. Either way, I was still able to stay in the region I wanted, but I really wanted EMU to be a late pick-up for me. They ended up selling for $30 Hustle Bucks to Justin, which I still hate him for.

As consolation prizes, I’ve added DePaul and Marquette. Clearly, I did this for basketball purposes, and expanding the TV exposure and whatnot.

For football, I’ve got it split into two divisions of five: Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State, Toledo and Wisconsin-Whitewater all in the Ketchup Division, Bowling Green, Dayton, Ohio State, Pittsburgh, and Temple to make up the Mustard. Fairly simple, able to play more crossover rivalry games and everybody within the division. Ford Field is a really cool venue, and it works out demographically so that works easily for a championship venue. And they won’t be silly and play on a Friday, because the championship game for this is going to be played on Saturday.

Basketball will just be everybody without any divisions. 12 teams, but only the top eight will make it into the PAC tourney. Every round will be played at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland with the championship game held on Saturday night.

But really, I did make one venue change from the MAC. The PAC baseball tournament (including all 12 teams, double elimination) will be held at Parkview Field in Fort Wayne. It’s the home of the Tin Caps, it’s a great place to catch a ball game, so it works out to me.

The logo is a plain cheeseburger with American cheese because I hate running. And if anybody says "PAC Conference" you are subject to public ridicule.