How does the college football conference realignment work? A sneak peek into the NCAA rule book

There have been a lot of conversations going on throughout the last few days about college football realignment, since the deadline is July 1. But what exactly does that mean and how does it work?

We have around 15 different programs that will be changing their conferences this upcoming season. How does this work and what does it mean for college football fans in general?

---

What is college football realignment and why is the July 1 date important?

There are a lot of different things to understand about college football realignment, but let's try to break it down into its simplest terms. There have been changes to each conference as new programs are joining, which we ranked the top 10 moves, and makes for new and exciting matchups.

The July 1 date is significant as that is the deadline for college football programs and the final chance for a team to leave their conference and go to a new one. In some cases, they can pay the exit fee to leave their conference but the price gets exponentially higher if they do not declare they are leaving before the July 1 deadline.

This is the same case for programs that are joining a conference after being an independent program as well. The only difference is they will obviously not be subjected to an exit fee as they do not have any affiliation with a college football conference.

---

What teams are changing conferences ahead of the 2023 season?

There are 14 programs that are changing their conference designations ahead of the 2023 season, which is the most to happen in a single season in the 21st century. The BYU Cougars, Cincinnati Bearcats, Houston Cougars and UCF Knights are all heading to the Big 12.

The American Conference has six new members joining the fray with the North Texas Mean Green, Rice Owls, FAU Owls, Charlotte 49ers, UTSA Roadrunners and UAB Blazers. Conference USA is the only other conference getting new programs under its umbrella as the Jacksonville State Gamecocks, Liberty Flames, New Mexico State Aggies and Sam Houston State Bearkats are all incoming members.

There are a lot of interesting things to expect out of the 14 programs changing places. With the ability to see new matchups and begin to form rivalries with other members of the conference, there are a lot of different aspects to dive into.