Lighter fare today - and fewer words - in order to fit the time I have to write. But I have to keep this new writing habit alive, as I’ve explained before.
College football season is upon us. I’m not a huge sports fan. But I did grow up in a Big 10 household, which makes it impossible not to be a bit sentimental at this time of year.
Thing is, the Big 10 hasn’t been the Big 10 in a long time, of course.
First Penn State joined about 33 years ago to make it eleven. Over the years, the expansion continued. I never could quite wrap my mind around when the conference firmly moved out its Midwest roots to encompass East Coast teams at Maryland and Rutgers. Then the Big 10 went coast-to-coast with USC and UCLA a couple years back. And now again this year, we have a spectacular expansion and realignment of college football:
Big Ten grabs Oregon, Washington; Big 12 completes Pac-12 raid with Arizona, Arizona State and Utah
Things change, and I’m fine with that. And again, not being a huge sports nut, this doesn’t affect my life much.
But what bugs me is why all of this happens. Here’s the AP from last year:
USC and UCLA stand to significantly increase their revenues. The Pac-12 distributed only $19.8 million per school in fiscal year 2021, by far the least among Power 5 conferences. The Big Ten’s per-school distribution was $46.1 million, second only to the SEC’s $54.6 million.
The Pac-12 has had difficulty getting its conference television network untracked while the Big Ten Network is the most established of the conference networks.
TV money, plain and simple.
College football is basically minor league football in everything but name now. The players can even earn money off of endorsements.
I really don’t understand why these teams aren’t simply spun off into the sports entertainment companies that they are. It works for major league baseball to have minor league affiliates; it can certainly work for football.
I’m familiar with some objections. It would deprive some student-athletes of an education. Universities don’t like to give up all of the revenues and publicity that come with big-time sports. And probably most powerful of all, alumni groups would freak out.
But let’s at least be honest about the fact that this is not predominantly about academics, which presumably is the focus of our universities. In fact, many of the so-called “elite” universities - the Ivy League, the University of Chicago, etc. - are certainly not known for their sports prowess. And if we’re worried about student-athletes, well then, we should be working hard to end minor league baseball and bring those teams into the collegiate fold.
It all seems hypocritical and crass - two qualities that I hope universities would shy away from.
But history has put us in this spot - and the counter-pressures are too strong - to expect any change in the foreseeable future.
So, I guess I’ll sit back and look forward to the regular Michigan State vs. - uh, what - Oregon or UCLA game?
Some tradition right there.