Environmental Impact of Power Five Conference Realignment

NCAA Division I athletic conferences have recently undergone conference realignments . The expanding geographic footprint of these conferences has led to teams having an increased travel distances for all sports . T his research investigates the environmental impact that conference realignment has had in the “Power 5” conferences in NCAA Division I football . Based on travel distances, has the carbon footprint of the conferences changed dramatically from pre-realignment to post-realignment? In order to answer this question, we examined the changes in average travel distances for each conference pre- and post-alignment . We then calculated the carbon footprints resulting from travel for 2010 and 2014, as well as the total emission and average emission changes for each team and conference . We found that while there were changes in emissions after conference realignment, these changes were not significant