Greed outweighs all other factors in conference realignment decisions
Photo/Mark Nash
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As conference realignment continues in college sports, it’s apparent these moves are motivated by money. Student-athletes, fans and other aspects of programs at various universities are being pushed aside in the pursuit of the most lucrative deal.
Syracuse University and the University of Pittsburgh announced they were leaving the Big East to join the Atlantic Coast Conference in September 2011, signaling the start of change across the country.
On Tuesday, Tulane University and East Carolina University announced plans to join the Big East in 2014. The schools are the ninth and 10th schools the Big East introduced since Syracuse and Pittsburgh announced their plans to leave. Four other schools — including West Virginia and Rutgers — have left or have plans to leave the unstable conference.
There seems to be no easy solution and no end in sight. Schools will always look out for their best financial interests so these moves will continue to happen. And while some realignment brings new faces and new programs to conferences, the greed in college sports in the past year has gotten out of hand.
The University of Maryland announced plans last week to leave the Atlantic Coast Conference in pursuit of a better deal in the Big Ten. School officials decided they would rather face a potential $50 million exit fee than stay in a conference they helped establish. The university will likely make $100 million more in its new conference by 2020, Sports Illustrated reported on Nov. 19.
When Syracuse announced it would leave the Big East, it was a similar situation, but the price tag was a $7.5 million settlement with the conference.
College sports fans, including the students, are left behind with these moves. Old rivalries die out. Traveling to cross-country games becomes more expensive and difficult to coordinate.
Unfortunately, there is no simple solution. Every university now feels a need to keep up or risks being left out, signaling a sad time for college sports, one in which money outweighs other history and traditions.