Let us begin with a hat tip to Friend of the Blog Derek for, for reasons unknown, finding out where Sun Belt Headquarters are and sending them our way.
Let us continue with a hat tip to Google Street View for allowing us to travel to all ten of these in just a few minutes.
Now, ranking the FBS Conference Headquarters:
10. Big Ten
Big Ten Headquarters and Conference Center
5440 Park Place
Rosemont, IL 60018
These losers. First of all, no, we aren’t counting your “New York City Office” (that’s its official title, just like the conference center is part of the official title of the Rosemont one). If we did, it’d be twelfth, with the independents’ non-existent headquarters in eleventh. Secondly, I’ve driven past this place dozens of times, seen the logo, and assumed it was just a TV studio or an avant-garde take on billboards. It’s right by O’Hare. It looks pretentious. It looks obnoxious. It fits the Big Ten perfectly. And that’s why it’s the worst.
9. Big 12
Big 12 Conference
400 East John Carpenter Freeway
Irving, TX 75062
I mean, I didn’t expect more, but this doesn’t look like it has a big barbecue pit in the back, and that’s disappointing.
Close to DFW, though. Remember that as the list goes on.
8. SEC
Southeastern Conference
2201 Richard Arrington Jr. Blvd. North
Birmingham, AL 35203
Again, it leaves something to be desired. And that something is a 24-hour vigil of South Carolina fans chanting “S-E-C!” outside some massive gates in their ongoing attempt to convince themselves their football program isn’t thoroughly mediocre and can just ride the coattails of Alabama, Auburn, and LSU.
7. Mountain West
Mountain West Conference
10807 New Allegiance Drive Ste. 250
Colorado Springs, CO 80921
The Mountain West shares its building with a bank, a vein institute, and some other stuff I’ve already forgotten. It’s fine, I just…I don’t know. I feel like the Mountain West could do better. I know Boise probably doesn’t make financial sense, but there’s always Reno or Vegas.
6. Pac-12
Pac-12 Conference
360 3rd Street, 3rd Floor
San Francisco, CA 94107
Predictably, the Pac-12 is hidden away in the Bay Area. Just keeps on keepin’ on.
5. ACC
ACC Office
4512 Weybridge Lane
Greensboro, NC 27407
In my experience, there are generally two types of rich southerners. The first type wants you to know how much money they have but also wants you to think they’re classy. The second type wants to buy the biggest boat God hath ever built and drink a fifth of Jim Beam a day on it.
The SEC, of course, is the second type. The ACC is the first. Which is probably why their headquarters, in the middle of an office park, are built in the style of Biltmore knockoff.
4. AAC
American Athletic Conference
545 East John Carpenter Freeway, Third Floor
Irving, TX 75062
Fun fact about AAC HQ: They’re the only headquarters that don’t come up when you just search the name of the conference on Google Maps. It’s possible this is because they’re the newest. It’s also possible this is because the AAC has snuck into office space directly across the freeway from the Big 12 and doesn’t want the Big 12 to notice. Really facilitates eventual handoffs if Texas ever decides to annex a couple more schools.
3. Conference USA
Conference USA
3100 Olympus Blvd. Ste. 400
Coppell, TX 75019
First, a recognition of a dispute. Conference USA says this is a Dallas address. Google Maps says it’s in Coppell. Nice try, Conference USA.
Conference USA, like the Big 12 and the AAC, is about ten minutes from DFW. Unlike the AAC, it didn’t move into space directly across the freeway from the Big 12. This looks like the nicest of the three. Seems like you could go on a little lunchtime walk at the little lake (retention pond named a lake?) across the way.
2. MAC
Mid-American Conference
24 Public Square, 15th Floor
Cleveland, OH 44113
Tasteful, gritty, and self-aware. Three words you could use to describe the MAC. Also three words you could use to describe nicer hotels in downtown Cleveland. Which is why it checks out that the MAC apparently has the 15th floor of one such hotel.
1. Sun Belt
The Sun Belt Conference
1500 Sugar Bowl Drive
New Orleans, LA 70112
Ok, here’s Derek’s revelation: The Sun Belt Headquarters are in the Superdome. Hell yeah.
