NCAA Football: SEC Studies Expansion

The college football landscape may never be the same following the continuous talks of the super conferences expanding.

If ever we needed more reasons to believe that expansion is upon us, the SEC is studying the possibilities just in case. Commissioner Mike Slive said although the league is not courting any teams, they are looking at the logistics if there is a "significant shift in the conference paradigm," according to the Miami Herald .

The 12-team member SEC is the most successful of all BCS conferences, having won the past four national championships. The SEC was the first conference to host a championship game at the end of the regular season when it expanded to 12 teams.

Since then, everybody else has been trying to catch up to the premiere league. Before the start of the 2009 season, ESPN reported paying $2.25 billion for its football games through 2025.

In addition, CBS signed a 15-year television deal worth $55 million per year.

"We've always been known to be a creative league, be on the cutting edge," Slive said. "We're not going to allow ourselves in any way, shape or form, to be anything less than what we are now."

Much of the conference's success lies in stability. Ten members have been with the league since it was founded in 1932. This has allowed each team to have a large following for many decades and has forged incredible rivalries on the gridiron. Both Arkansas and South Carolina joined in 1991.

Everybody is waiting to see what the Big Ten does when, in fact, it does decide to expand. The league has 11 members, with Penn State becoming the 11th member in 1990. Needing only to add one team so it can host a conference championship game, it is unknown whether one team joins, or several do, in an effort to expand to 16 teams.

"The important thing is we're paying attention, we're going to be strategic, we're going to be thoughtful, but we're not going to relinquish our role as one of the premier conferences," Slive said.

The SEC is in great shape, and potential expansion only makes it more attractive than it already is. CBSSports.com senior writer Dennis Dodd made note that the football landscape has the possibility of being five super conferences.

In his article , Dodd has Texas and Oklahoma moving to the SEC with Oklahoma State and Texas A&M following.

The Big Ten has the potential to change everything and become a better league, but even with the shuffling, the SEC has the upper hand because of its success in the BCS-era. With the way things may go, each league could be looking to have 16 teams.