The landscape of college athletics has been changing since the 1970’s as school have been switching their conference affiliations. But in the past few years, conference shifts have become so commonplace that some conference have ceased to exist altogether. The Southwest Conference ceased its operations in 1996 while the Big East and Western Athletic Conferences no longer participate in football. The latest conference shift has produced five “Power Five” conferences in the Pac-12, Big Ten, Big 12, Atlantic Coast, and Southeast Conferences that were created to stand head and shoulders above the others at the Football Bowl Subdivision level. These moves were solely football related as football is the top money maker in collegiate athletics and respective institutions are looking at securing the top dollar. But at what cost?
The University of Alabama decided last month to drop its football program effective immediately as the school claims that it is and will continue to lose money from it. UAB’s decision to drop football raised some eyebrows, but not enough to firmly get the message across. That message could get across loud and clear if UAB isn’t just a blip on the radar.
Smaller FBS schools such as UAB rely on the Power Five schools to provide money for them when they travel to meet them in the earlier stages of the season. So in spite of the fact that big schools such as Florida State may destroy an institution such Alabama A&M on the football field by an absurd score of 63-3, the smaller schools will receive a nice consolation prize that could fund their entire athletic department for the entire academic year. But with Power Five schools potentially just facing each other as the race to be one of the four teams selected for the College Football Playoff and the need for a stronger schedule is strongly desired, it could put a damper on the smaller schools receiving those paychecks which could lead to more schools dropping football as it is only a viable sport at the FBS level when money is being made.
Another aspect that is hurting the landscape of college football is the mega conferences themselves. The ACC, SEC, and Big Ten all have 14 football members and each conference only has an eight-game conference schedule which means that each school goes each college football season without facing five conference members. An example of this is illustrated with the University of Florida and Texas A&M. A&M joined the SEC in 2012 and their first conference game was when they hosted Florida. But these two schools are not scheduled to meet again until in football until 2017. Each FBS plays 12 regular season games with an additional contest if a school has a road game against the University of Hawaii. Thus it is out of the question to have a 14-team football conference have all its members meet each season. But what about if the 14-team football conference played a 10-game conference schedule which could cut down on the problem somewhat? A 10-game conference schedule would still leave room for those 14-team conferences to schedule one cupcake school and face a non-conference rival. An example of this can be seen from the past college football season where the Missouri Tigers were 7-1 in SEC Conference play. The Tigers play in the SEC East and they didn’t have to face Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Ole Miss, or Mississippi State.
The Pac-12 has twelve football members and they play a nine-game conference schedule which cuts down on the problem of teams not facing each other while the Big 12 has 10 members each school meets one another and it eliminates the problem altogether.
The mega football conferences has now led to Wake Forest and the University of North Carolina of the ACC agreeing to meet in 2019 and 2021 in non-conference games. Wake Forest and North Carolina were both charter members of the ACC in 1953 and they have formed a rivalry on Tobacco Road which has been threatened by the 14-team conference. But Wake Forest and North Carolina are not alone. In the SEC, Alabama and Tennessee always meet in what is dubbed as “The Third Saturday in November”. The SEC was the first conference to expand to 12 teams in 1992. And in spite of the fact that ‘Bama and Tennessee are in two separate divisions in the SEC, they have still managed to face each other on the gridiron, but with the additions of Missouri and A&M to the conference, it is no longer a guarantee and rivalries will continue to bite the dust in the race for a paycheck.
As I have stated before in previous writings, sports are a money making machine, but it is rivalries that breath life into sports. Major League Baseball would not be as big as it is right now if not for the rivals such as the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees consistently meeting each other. The same can be said about the NBA as you cannot go too long without thinking about the Boston Celtics without the Los Angeles Lakers coming to mind. And even in boxing Muhammad Ali may have never been dubbed as “The Greatest” if he had never clashed with Joe Frazier on three occasions. There’s isn’t any more loyalty between schools and conferences like it once was which is evident by the fact that Texas and Texas A&M no longer play in the same conference. The Big Ten and Pac-12 made each school sign letters of commitment to the conference, but could we ever fathom not seeing Michigan meeting Ohio State or USC not facing UCLA?
At some point in collegiate athletics the pig is going to get too big as it has feasted too much that it will be unable to move. Institutions are getting paid, but at what cost? What the Power Five should consider doing is what most of the professional sports leagues do and that is revenue sharing. If the Power Five were to chip in to keep the smaller schools afloat athletically; aside from just paying them to show up, it is something that would help collegiate athletics all around. But the voices in the room have changed now as school presidents are mainly concerned about their respective brand as opposed to the greater good of the entire landscape. And as history has taught us, when the gap between rich and poor grows too big, utter chaos is not that far away.
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