What If... the Airplane Conference was Formed?

The Big Ten will have conference games in Washington and New Jersey next season. The Big 12 will have conference games in Arizona and Florida next season. The ACC will have conference games in California and the Carolinas next season. When it comes to the new age of conferences in college sports, and especially college football, it seems nationwide is the way to go. Apparently.
While this does seem a little extreme, it's nowhere near the first time a conference that stretched from sea to shining sea was proposed. In fact, in the late 50s and early 60s, one conference was proposed that almost could have set the entire college sports world on its head and changed everything. This conference, of course, was the aptly named Airplane Conference. Featuring teams like USC, Washington, Penn State, and Notre Dame, the Airplane Conference was trying to establish a superconference before a majority of other conferences were really getting their footing.
Of course, it fell through. But the ramifications of its creation create perhaps some of the most interesting hypotheticals in college sports history. There are too many to list in a single video, so my question to you is this: what do YOU think would have occurred had the Airplane Conference formed?
Once again, no content in this video belongs to me. All video, audio, and imagery was sourced from an outside source and is utilized under fair use for the purpose of education.

[@lukeontheplains]

Alright, what do YOU guys think would have happened had the Airplane Conference formed?

[@LuemD]

It never would have survived. The military schools aren’t to sports inclined later on and I think with them leaving the other 2 groups go the other way

[@GDoggy-em2xc]

Just like most of the conferences over the years, it would have eventually dissolved. Or it might have expanded to become what we know of today to be the BIG. 😆

[@nashmonti120]

The WAC would have been the surviving conference with the 3 other pacific schools joining. Throw in CSU, some smaller California schools like Long Beach or Santa Barbara or something like that and you have the modern MWC in the 60’s lol.

[@epicbirdy42069]

There would need to be more teams in the middle section of the country. They could try to recruit Minnesota or Arkansas

[@DFCwastaken]

I think it would've been the big celebrity conference, talked about by everyone until a plane crashed a la Marshall. With that many long distance games and in that era, the odds would only be greater for such a tragedy

[@MirasomeRailfan]

We 100% need that "What if Idaho runs the CFB World"

[@IllMatic97]

You spelled Ohio State wrong

[@avrowolf]

The CFB World would be vandalized... I'll see myself out

[@madc2004]

​@@avrowolf Stay.

[@angeloangelojoseph1494]

Didn't the Idaho Vandals win a share of the 1927 PCC championship. Should've been their 1st Rose Bowl appearance.

[@justinwarthen]

What is CFB mean

[@joeym5243]

Airplane conference vs the fly-over conference (Big 12)

[@cassandranugent2443]

My first thought was that in this scenario, there’s probably a major aviation accident that wipes out one of the teams in the conference. People forget that aviation, while relatively safe, was far more prone to accidents back in the 60s even into the 90s.

[@UserName-ts3sp]

i wonder if the conference changes because of marshall or something like that too.

[@SarumanOrthanc]

We missed out on the world where people make arguments like "Notre Dame would've won the 1979 National Championship if the whole team didn't perish in the crash of a DC-10."

[@mpetersen6]

​@@SarumanOrthanc The plane crash Marshall suffered. The US Ski Team in the early 60s. Expect it to happen to an MLB team before a college or pro team. Simply more flights in MLB.

[@zachdavis7004]

Idaho and Wyoming superiority. Cowboys and Kibbie!

[@Spitfirethedragon]

I read another article on this, and they said something about a couple of Ivy League schools as well like Penn and Yale. Boston College, Boston U., Oregon as well for the Airplane conference. The Ivy League schools back then were major programs.

[@MetalGod999]

You know, what I love about Lukas’s college sports videos is that they’ve opened my eyes to all sorts of what-if stories and other entertaining nuggets of college sports trivia. I never knew about the Airplane Conference, but if this conference had successfully formed, the college conference landscape would indeed look different. But think about this: The Big Ten is technically - and I’m not trying to be sarcastic when I say this, I promise - becoming an “Airplane Conference.” Stretching from California, Oregon and Washington, to Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey. Food for thought, indeed.

[@trhino3]

DALUKES is carrying my 2024, thank you king for all you do! This year will be amazing for college football!

[@GDoggy-em2xc]

We thought 2023 was one of the most exciting seasons in a long time. Just wait until the 2024 season. We ain’t seen nothin yet!

[@avrowolf]

It'd be an interesting topic about the Division 1 schools doing football in lower divisions (before NCAA forced them to come back up and having their programs go under)

[@agent_JorDi]

As an Oregon fan I’m not sure the football program explodes in the 90’s without playing for the rose bowl and cotton bowl in 94/95’. Those appearances were pivotal in getting Phil knight to invest in the program.

[@sportscastradio8658]

We need a what if Oklahoma never won the Board of regents University of Oklahoma vs NCAA and on how much better CFB would be

[@connerrutherford3807]

Bro it was good at the start

[@texasforever6950]

@@connerrutherford3807that’s literally what he’s saying

[@anthonypalicka4776]

Shocking, west coast schools being difficult……

[@troybaxter]

Shocking, West Coast school elitism...

[@joeevans5770]

Never watched a minute of college sports in my life (I’m from the UK) still find your videos fascinating

[@nickdeiulis1809]

Talk about the pacific tigers

[@CamoFlage907]

He finally did it!!

[@markfischer1778]

If I had to pick what teams would be in a modern Airplane Conference, it would be these teams: Washington, Oregon, Cal, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, Colorado, Notre Dame, Army, Penn State, Navy, Georgia Tech, Florida State.

[@IAmFiiSH]

An amazing day whenever dalukes posts!!!

[@B3FMandCProductions]

As always, great video. Another interesting thought is "what if the original Southern Conference stayed together?" I know that's unlikely, but think of how dominant that conference would be. Just looking at the last 10 seasons, they'd have 8 football championships (Bama, Clemson, UGA, LSU), 3 men's basketball titles (Duke, UNC, UVA), 3 women's basketball titles (LSU, South Carolina), and 7 baseball titles (Florida, LSU, Miss St, Ole Miss, Vandy, UVA), not to mention championships in sports like lacrosse, soccer, softball, tennis, and swimming during that stretch. Would be a truly dominant conference, even if teams like Sewanee and Washington & Lee can't quite keep up

[@lorenzohaynes3886]

There's few channels i love. This is definitely 1 of them.

[@JDFrank20Diaz]

2024 Big Ten would be considered The Modern Airplane Conference Since The Pac12 is Dead

[@GDoggy-em2xc]

ACC too now for sure.

[@JDFrank20Diaz]

​@@GDoggy-em2xc ACC Yeah that's true Stanford and Cal going all the way to Miami Big Ten While USC going all the way to Penn State and Rutgers in New Jersey

[@IllMatic97]

The Pac12 is really gone now, that's pretty surreal.

[@JDFrank20Diaz]

@@IllMatic97 I Blame the Commissioner They had a chance to Get Texas and Oklahoma and other Big 12 Schools back in 2011 and they blew it Utah and Colorado wasn't sustainable Plus Texas A&M went towards the SEC while Nebraska went to the Big Ten And they never had a good Media rights deal for the Pac12 While the SEC and Big Ten were getting around 45-50 Million per school 54 for Michigan

[@CamBoone]

Hell yes! Always stoked for a new drop on this channel

[@JB-tl8rj]

I think in the 2020s of this alternate timeline, The Airplane Conference would have become so massive that it would essentially have become a 48 team super conference that operates above what would be regular Division 1, essentially becoming Division 0.

[@texasforever6950]

Prolly not though

[@__hjg__2123]

Can't wait for Washington Huskies to visit Piscataway!

[@rileybragin8552]

The funny thing is that we’re getting that conference right now

[@damnmarkey]

Love these videos & stores. Keep up the good work.

[@foreverorangegirl44]

I’ve never of this before. Fascinating. Cuse was a powerhouse back then. Hoping we might be gearing up for a renaissance under Coach Brown. 🍊

[@rileyschuler1441]

So, a common thing I like to is make up fake conferences and also give them a fake backstory on why they were created. I have been recently toying around with the idea of the "United Athletic Conference" as I call it which is nerly identical to this. The UAC teams: Washington, Stanford, USC, BYU, SMU, Houston, Memphis, Louisville, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Miami, Georgia Tech, Syracuse, Penn State, Pitt, Boston College. My idea of the conference was more that in the 90s (before the Big East was founded) a "pro-style" conference that combined big college brands with colleges in more metro areas along side a CBS tv deal to be essintial be the NFL on Saturdays. But still, its freaky that I made up something so close to something that almost happened.

[@orangehoof]

I don't think Washington would be a member of the group because of the travel. I also think the service academies could stay up with the others for long. But let's try this. From the West, Cal. Stanford, USC and UCLA along with Oklahoma and Texas. From the East, Notre Dame, Penn State, Pitt and Syracuse along with Boston College and Nebraska (or Kansas). Now you've got a national league with almost every contest a game of national importance. And yet you could spread the schedule so that the four California teams make one pod, The four northeastern teams make a pod and the four central schools (OU, UT, ND and Nebraska) make a third pod where travel among them is quite limited to keep the expenses down. Might have worked.

[@CarlaJenkinsTV]

I think that the ACC and Big 12 could learn from this and use the old ACC model. When you don't learn from history, you're bound to repeat it.

[@nathanmilam2732]

With the Big 10 getting this TV deal its sound good until you realize all this is going to go to airplane travel

[@UserName-ts3sp]

the conference should be split for non-revenue sports. football and basketball sure you can have cross-country travel but not for non-revenue sports. thinking something like pods of 4-5 schools for non-revenue sports for scheduling and some kind of conference tournament for the top team in each pod. so the west coast teams only travel east 2-3 times a year. id imagine the pods look somewhat like this - west: UW, UO, USC, UCLA - east: OSU, PSU, UMD, RUT - plains: NEB, IOWA, IL, WI, MN - lakes: MICH, MSU, IU, PUR, NW

[@eujr4SC]

@@UserName-ts3sp When you break things down most sports either do travel a lot around the country because there isn't actual structured conference competition. Such as golf because there's only so many limited number of golf courses adequate enough for collegiate level competition and schools obviously don't maintain their own courses. Cross country & track and field are another because it typically involves needing multiple schools for competition so it's easier to hold meets/invites around the country. Swim & dive is kind of an in between because they too mostly compete in invites/meets around the country with a few single school competitions i.e USC vs. UCLA or Michigan vs MSU (although I think MSU cut their program during the pandemic). Baseball and softball are kind of hard ones to figure out. The northern teams are used to having to travel all over the country toward the south and west because the season starts in February when they usually don't have great weather. Because a lot of schools in California offer the sport they can build more local non-conference schedules and assuming Oregon, Washington, USC and UCLA all play each other at least once a season they should only have to come east 2-3 times a season. Again it hurts the northern teams because they either have to find a way to build more of their early non-conference schedule locally or end up travelling even more during the season. Fortunately though the B1G plays fewer baseball and softball games 24 than the PAC did at 30. Basketball and volleyball are hurt because they play 20 conference games/matches. The B1G did a pretty good job of balancing its volleyball travel schedule though. For example if PSU had to travel west they would have 3-4 road matches to play Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota or Wisconsin all in a week to avoid having to travel back and forth. Basketball sort of does this but not to the same extent because of schedules. Soccer, Tennis and Lacrosse are hurt the most because they play weekly matches. So unless the conference finds a way to either build mini-tournaments in the season to count towards conference schedules, reduce conference matches altogether, or allow the west coast schools to play each other home and away they may be in some trouble. So we'll see how those schedules get figured out.

[@CadenGates]

Why do the vintage logos look so sweet!!

[@mrrito546]

12:00 me in NCAA Football 11

[@waverunner6497]

It's going to be interesting for U of Arizona. They just fied their AD.

[@robertridley9279]

Big 10 and ACC are airplane conferences.

[@TheAcreanCandidate]

We need a "What if the ACC falls apart?" Get out in front of it so you dont finish up another history vid right as a conference dies 😂

[@rightfielderforlife]

Before 500 lets go

[@tommykeeran6776]

Pac 8 never happens if this happened. Oregon, Oregon State, and Washington State would have joined the WAC when they went to the startup meeting.

[@Marylandbrony]

Can you do if the military academies remained major college football power houses today?

[@nickparadies350]

I don’t think anything would really be different in that scenario, other than Air Force probably joining the Pac 12. Army and Navy were independent for almost their entire history, so the conference structure isn’t really affected.

[@Marylandbrony]

@@nickparadies350 I would put Army and Navy in the ACC in that case as well.

[@nickparadies350]

@@Marylandbrony maybe for other sports but in that scenario you presented there’s no real incentive for Army or Navy to join a conference for football because they’d want to have a national schedule and national presence. In reality they fell off but even so Navy didn’t join a conference until 2015 and Army didn’t until this coming season. So if they were more powerful they’d basically be what Notre Dame is.

[@griffinhays2053]

Bro is out here pulling snippets from a Prescott, AZ newspaper in the 50's

[@lukeontheplains]

there wasn't crap else to do in Prescott, Arizona in the 1950s

[@ericovalle8737]

Schenectady is Skuh-neck-tuh-dee, my friend. Good chuckle about NY names.

[@zplapplap]

Sken-ect-uh-dee

[@ericovalle8737]

/skəˈnɛktədi/

[@zplapplap]

@@ericovalle8737 Having had the "pleasure" to have grown up in the capital district, I've always said the name as I wrote it. I watched a few video from the Daily Gazette to see how they pronounced it. It was apparent that half of what I heard was pronounced as YOU wrote it. 😀

[@mrmoose6619]

Non-revenue sports would have either never existed or been killed off by this conference.

[@morgan_drui]

The big 10 should buy a airline

[@brandonhaddock6563]

Can you die a UAC video? That's an interesting football only conference to me...

[@ufailowell]

this is just the big 10

[@prestonhunter45]

Not First

[@justinwarthen]

MAKE A SOCON VID

[@justinwarthen]

Why did you put navy in DC

[@zplapplap]

DC is less than 30 miles away. The Naval Academy logo used in the video (4:44) covered a greater area on the map than the distance between Annapolis and Washington, DC.

[@justinwarthen]

@@zplapplap it’s clearly centered on DC not Annapolis lmao and 30 miles is pretty far, entirely different metro area

[@zplapplap]

@@justinwarthen It could have been moved over an inch. 🤷🏾‍♂️ What is it that you’re arguing? 30 miles is the distance for someone driving from the Naval Academy to the U.S. Capitol building. It’s not far away, especially for the purpose of a graphical representation used in this video. 🙄

[@justinwarthen]

@@zplapplap yeah 30 miles is a long distance lol, it’s a completely separate city.

[@mirzaahmed6589]

Schenectady is pronounced Ske-neck-ta-dee.

[@SebastianMcDermott-qg2ni]

Before 100 views gang

[@musyarofah1]

No one asked gang

[@SebastianMcDermott-qg2ni]

11 minute hang

[@voiceofreason2674]

Do the SEC stop doing videos on podunks

[@somecrazyveteran]

Sorrycuse* or Shitholeville*