A breeze of change is in the air. The change isn’t summer getting into full swing; that change is college sports realignment.
It certainly feels like de je vu in the realm of conference realignment. People will talk about greed, the loss of rivalries, state legislators getting involved and a slew of other things. They’re not exactly wrong neither.
There are 100 year’s worth of traditions are being lost at the stroke of a pen. Many people can be to blame: whether it’s faulty conference commissioners, TV execs making business decisions, or schools just flat out looking to get paid.
Throughout the decades there has always been some form of conference realignment. But those changes weren’t solely based upon tv/streaming device deals that would make a school tens of millions more with a conference change.
University of Southern Cal, University of California Los Angeles, University of Oregon, University of Washington, and the University Notre Dame will all likely be making the move to the Big Ten Conference.
State legislators in both Oregon and Washington already stated that they’ll do whatever possible to keep Oregon State & Washington State (respectively) in the same conference as Oregon & Washington, per John Canzano. That’s not a fight that they’ll win; however, a fight that they can win is keeping the Oregon/Oregon St & Washington/Washington State rivalries intact. Zero conferences are going to want all four, and that’s unfortunately a sad reality.
Schools like University of Colorado, Iowa State University, University of Kansas, Oklahoma State University and others will hurt the most through this wave of change because they’re being reduced to a Tier 2 status. It’s going to hurt their exposure thus their ability to recruit; then there will be a loss of interest in their programs.
Rivalries and the very essence of regionalism is being lost in this wave of super conference building. That essence will never be regained. Penn State has been in the Big Ten for almost thirty years now, and still hasn’t really established a top rivalry yet. There’s rivalries of course, but none of those schools consider PSU their top rival. Perhaps they’ll finally find one with Notre Dame; however, ND will likely consider USC the bigger game.
It’s ultimately about greed, whilst players are only getting Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) from this. It’s practically unpaid labor, and it’s time to start paying the players; or better yet, start taxing athletic programs. You can’t call this nonsense a nonprofit when schools’ athletic programs will be bringing in $100M in television revenue on top of the revenue generated via ticket sales and merchandise sales.
Time to call this what it truly is: minor league football with college branding and likeness that’s being funded by television. I wonder what Walter Camp thinks about what college football has become?
joeweasel 