When Penn State commenced play in the Big Ten in 1993, it was the first year I joined the media proletariat in covering the team’s gridiron exploits. They finished 6-2 in conference play while their nonconference games were against Maryland, Rutgers, and USC all of whom will be Big Ten members by next season.
Not only will USC be joining the Big Ten next year but so will their neighbor UCLA, who like many other Californians needs an escape. Both schools were founding members of the 108-year-old Pac-12, which prided itself as the “Conference of Champions” that is now down to four schools and facing extinction: Stanford, Cal, Oregon State, and Washington State. Their dilemma would make a great word problem given the left coast’s new math standards. In an effort to make the playoffs, the Dallas Cowboys are considering joining what’s left of the conference.
It was in 1989 when Penn State University President Bryce Jordan and Head Football Coach Joe Paterno proposed joining the Big Ten. Such history had me reaching for my 1993 PSU media guide. In order to join, the process was strictly a stealthy endeavor. Penn State’s delegation flew a private plane to meetings in suburban Illinois not to draw attention. Penn State stood alone as the 11th member of the Big Ten until Nebraska was added in 2011 followed by Rutgers and Maryland in 2014.
Juxtapose that to today, where the great August collegiate athletic conference purge occurred in just one day reducing the storied Pac-12 Conference to the Pac-4. Giving several years’ notice was the standard but no longer. Money rules: Chisel it on the Pac-12’s tombstone.
The linear equation is not complicated: national exposure + bigger payouts = conference changes. The express money train of change has turned conference realignments into an NCAA’s version of The Price is Right. The ACC is locked into a media rights deal with ESPN through 2036, placing them behind door number four in the cash sweepstakes trailing the Big Ten, SEC, and Big 12. Presently, the ACC is the only conference not adding or losing members, having 14 schools.
Grow or wither away as schools aligned themselves with the richest conferences – their carbon footprint be damned. Some urban residents are not allowed a kitchen gas range, but for the USC’s women’s soccer team to fly to State College, Pa for a weeknight game – no problem.
College football and basketball have gone corporate with no regard for the tradition, rivalries, and geographical concerns from where they conduct business, err, games. Conference musical chairs is contrary to what college sports are supposed to be about as it dismisses local rivalries and places many road games out of reach. Big time college sports is a televised event, rather than a fan-driven affair.
This will diminish and dilute the schools’ current and future fan bases, whose loyalties are fueled by such nostalgia not by cable and streaming subscriptions.
A market correction could one day be in the offing as the broadcast pie that baked the Power 5 turns on itself like it did to the Pac-12. How great is the anticipation to watch Indiana play Oregon? While these universities are awash in broadcast dollars, Biden still wants you to bail out student loans.
All this should matter, but not when the goose is dropping golden eggs like raindrops in a hurricane. Athletic Directors are more like accountants tracking that golden goose who is exclusive only to the super conferences.
It mocks the student-athlete. Non-football and basketball athletes have become unwitting dupes in this drive for cash and ratings, as now they will fly cross-country to run cross-country.
Meanwhile, the College Football Playoff will expand from four to 12 teams. A few years from now, it will grow to 16 teams.
The NFL loves this as their product grows with no investment needed by the league.
One solution from longtime photojournalist Ken Seay: Stanford and Cal join the Big 10 and the conference is renamed “The Cash 20” with two divisions: the “Pac 10” and the “Big 10.” Both first place finishers in each division play each other on New Year’s Day at the Rose Bowl for the conference championship.
Sold.
