To Super Conference, or not to Super Conference?
Apparently, when Texas decided to keep the remnants of the Big-12 together, the conference shuffle didn't stop. It just moved to another old west shoot-out between the WAC and Mountain West. The first jerk of the knee lends most folks to blame the chase for the almighty dollar, but it may be more about survival than greed in the latest move toward "super" conferences.
ESPN.com released an interesting report on the latest numbers regarding NCAA economics and in that article, it notes only "14 of the 120 Football Bowl Subdivision schools made money from campus athletics in the 2009 fiscal year, down from 25 the year before." Of course the same company that published that report offered BYU four million bucks for four home games in 2011. I'm no math major, but that any time the numbers break down into a cool million per contest, it is a pop quiz worth another look. That kind of cash will motivate any school to look beyond the super conference into corporation of Notre Dame type dollars as a football independent. The Irish have been generating Monopoly money for years with their own NBC contract.
No wonder all of the colleges on this side of the Mississippi have gone a little nuts this summer, as they continue to burn up phone lines looking for allies or a new way to jump ship. The Pac-10 will soon be the Pac-12 with the additions of Colorado and Utah, the Big-12 is the new Big-10 as the actual "Big Ten" now has a dozen members. College football fans in 2011 will need more than a program to keep up with the Mountain West Conference.
The MWC added Boise State, lost Utah, heard that solo BYU rumor and then invited Fresno State and Nevada. Confused yet? How about Hawaii, currently with the WAC this second, also considering a declaration of independence of their own while Utah State is bangs on the MWC door wanting in real bad before the WAC fades into football footnote history. All that and the first real hint of bigger things to come, the MWC is talking to Conference USA about their league champions playing each other. If the Big Ten had given Missouri the serious look they wanted, we would be talking about a level of chaos not seen since the first forward pass was completed in the year 1906.
When the music finally stops and the colleges try to find their respective seats, one potential future picture is painted with four sixteen team super conferences. Despite Andy Staples' semi-tongue-in-cheek presentation about breaking away from the NCAA to do it, fans would have a much better shot at a playoff and a far less subjective National Champion. The ultimate winner would play 15 games in a season that would include four regular season winners of the expanded conferences, a semi-final and an end game that could earn hype and money currently found only at Super Bowls and Final Fours.
The Pac-10 certainly made a serious run at building the first 16-team super conference, but Texas anticipated far more greenbacks than ever with their own television station and two fewer teams to share their take.
At the end of the day, the old school traditionalist in me is a bit sad with the troubled future brewing before us. I previously considered a college football playoff to be key to improving the game for players and fans alike. However, the cost will be high as some rivalries will be lost in the near term, such as Oklahoma-Nebraska, Colorado-Nebraska and the annual clash between BYU and Utah is in danger as well. Some of the traditions that keep fans around the sport long after leaving campus may be lost in the super shuffle.
In a world where universities are cutting professors and raising tuition, there are certainly bigger concerns, but the viability of many sports beyond football and basketball are in trouble of being cut altogether. The only way to improve the bottom line may indeed be the path to the giant sized conferences to draw more revenue from television and presumably more tickets at the gate. When the dust settles, some hard decisions will have to be made. In the Staples' scenario, Iowa State didn't make the 64-team cut. Cyclone fans can rest easy for now, because it is only one imagined future. At some point, the top tier teams will be making more moves to ensure their place at the table, and not merely for greed, but simple survival. Some excitement for the schools involved for sure and devastation awaiting the have-nots in a super conference world.
Suddenly, the flawed BCS system that allows for many bowl games and many rewards for 120 teams looks slightly less controversial than 60 or so teams closing ranks and closing out the smaller programs.
ESPN.com released an interesting report on the latest numbers regarding NCAA economics and in that article, it notes only "14 of the 120 Football Bowl Subdivision schools made money from campus athletics in the 2009 fiscal year, down from 25 the year before." Of course the same company that published that report offered BYU four million bucks for four home games in 2011. I'm no math major, but that any time the numbers break down into a cool million per contest, it is a pop quiz worth another look. That kind of cash will motivate any school to look beyond the super conference into corporation of Notre Dame type dollars as a football independent. The Irish have been generating Monopoly money for years with their own NBC contract.
No wonder all of the colleges on this side of the Mississippi have gone a little nuts this summer, as they continue to burn up phone lines looking for allies or a new way to jump ship. The Pac-10 will soon be the Pac-12 with the additions of Colorado and Utah, the Big-12 is the new Big-10 as the actual "Big Ten" now has a dozen members. College football fans in 2011 will need more than a program to keep up with the Mountain West Conference.
The MWC added Boise State, lost Utah, heard that solo BYU rumor and then invited Fresno State and Nevada. Confused yet? How about Hawaii, currently with the WAC this second, also considering a declaration of independence of their own while Utah State is bangs on the MWC door wanting in real bad before the WAC fades into football footnote history. All that and the first real hint of bigger things to come, the MWC is talking to Conference USA about their league champions playing each other. If the Big Ten had given Missouri the serious look they wanted, we would be talking about a level of chaos not seen since the first forward pass was completed in the year 1906.
When the music finally stops and the colleges try to find their respective seats, one potential future picture is painted with four sixteen team super conferences. Despite Andy Staples' semi-tongue-in-cheek presentation about breaking away from the NCAA to do it, fans would have a much better shot at a playoff and a far less subjective National Champion. The ultimate winner would play 15 games in a season that would include four regular season winners of the expanded conferences, a semi-final and an end game that could earn hype and money currently found only at Super Bowls and Final Fours.
The Pac-10 certainly made a serious run at building the first 16-team super conference, but Texas anticipated far more greenbacks than ever with their own television station and two fewer teams to share their take.
At the end of the day, the old school traditionalist in me is a bit sad with the troubled future brewing before us. I previously considered a college football playoff to be key to improving the game for players and fans alike. However, the cost will be high as some rivalries will be lost in the near term, such as Oklahoma-Nebraska, Colorado-Nebraska and the annual clash between BYU and Utah is in danger as well. Some of the traditions that keep fans around the sport long after leaving campus may be lost in the super shuffle.
In a world where universities are cutting professors and raising tuition, there are certainly bigger concerns, but the viability of many sports beyond football and basketball are in trouble of being cut altogether. The only way to improve the bottom line may indeed be the path to the giant sized conferences to draw more revenue from television and presumably more tickets at the gate. When the dust settles, some hard decisions will have to be made. In the Staples' scenario, Iowa State didn't make the 64-team cut. Cyclone fans can rest easy for now, because it is only one imagined future. At some point, the top tier teams will be making more moves to ensure their place at the table, and not merely for greed, but simple survival. Some excitement for the schools involved for sure and devastation awaiting the have-nots in a super conference world.
Suddenly, the flawed BCS system that allows for many bowl games and many rewards for 120 teams looks slightly less controversial than 60 or so teams closing ranks and closing out the smaller programs.
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