Arizona Researchers Predict Doubling Of Carbon Emissions Due To Conference Realignment

Climate alarmists are coming for you, college football.

Researchers from Arizona State University are sounding the alarm that the drastic conference realignment that we've seen over the last few years — including the Sun Devils move to the Big 12 — could result in double the carbon emissions.

We've heard a lot of arguments against realignment, but this is a new one.

The findings are so simple that I'm not even completely sure why a legitimate study was called for.

The study titled "Carbon Emissions In Football Games" — which is good toilet reading, although you might doze off; it's a little dry —  found that because of realignment, teams will now have to travel greater distances, therefore creating more carbon emissions.

So, more traveling means more emissions? 

Thanks for the breakdown, poindexter.

"We’ve never had such a massive, massive realignment in terms of distances," computer science professor Ross Maciejewski who led the study told AZ Central.

The Arizona State Sun Devils and University of Arizona Wildcats are two teams who will be doing a lot more traveling this season due to conference realignment. (Photo by Zac BonDurant/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Of course, it's correct. A plane traveling 500 miles will spit more CO2 than one traveling 250 miles, but that's a drop in the bucket compared to what every plane flying around the globe is doing.

Sure, it could be a big increase per team over what teams were producing when conferences were more geographically aligned than they will be moving forward, but the number of flights to get all Power 5 teams to and from games all season will be fewer than what you see in a day at a busy airport.

In all honesty, conference realignment might destroy college football before it has an opportunity to destroy the planet with all of those emissions.

So, what are we to do?

I mean, by this logic, if college football is such a problem, shouldn't everyone stay where they are all the time? 

Global sports like Formula 1 are out, musicians going on world tours have to stop, and vacations? Not unless you live with a short drive of someplace worth visiting.

I'm all for the environment and us not ruining the climate, but if someone said to me, "Hey, bud; go melt the polar ice caps with this flame thrower otherwise college football is gone for good," I would do it without thinking twice. 

My only question would be, "Should I start with Greenland or save that for last?"

I don't think we've got anything to worry about, but if USC and UCLA joining the Big Ten dooms the entire planet, I'll be bummed out. 

But at least we had college football.