We’re in the midst of a great evening out. It’s 12:35 a.m. at Phyrst on a Friday night. Ted and the Hi-Fis are covering some Petty fantastically. There’s a never-ending supply of Yuengling in pitchers, and you’re shoving your face full of fries from upstairs at Ernie’s.
You’re enjoying it. And then you’ll wake up in the morning with a hangover, maybe a trip or two to the bathroom and regret when you look at your bank account.
Much like that night at the Phyrst, you’re enjoying it now but when you face the reality of it, conference expansion isn’t going to feel great once we have to deal with the consequences. We’re all going to be paying for it very soon.
With the news that Oregon and Washington are going to join the Big Ten, it’s a bad day for college football fans – even if the online chatter is giving you a serotonin boost.
Sure, it’s enjoyable to watch national writers weave the saga that is this round of conference realignment, largely driven by the artist formerly known as the PAC 12. For as much crap has gone down lately on Twitter or whatever we are calling it these days, moments like this are what make hanging out there fun.
But pretty soon, we’re all going to be paying for that fun.
Let’s start with the current Big Ten. For those who actually enjoy traveling to away Penn State games, Michigan games or Ohio State games, it’s doable to get across the center part of the country to enjoy your team playing on average college football weekend. Virtually all of the Big Ten East are within single-day driving distance of Happy Valley. Right now, Nebraska and Iowa are truly the only schools in the Big Ten you need a flight for. (However, I’ve got some things wrong in the head and have made the drive to both.)
Yet even with the details murky on when the Ducks and Huskies join, and USC and UCLA joining in 2024 for sure, checking that bank account after purchasing cross country flights, hotels and maybe a rental car is going to hurt more than that Phyrst hangover. We don’t know what the scheduling will look like. But we do know it’s going to eliminate those chances for some to see your team in their away uniforms, even if it’s once a year.
Consider that part of the many rumors lately include using the Rose Bowl as a host for the Big Ten title game. If your team plays UCLA or USC during the regular season and makes it to the Big Ten title game, are you really going to want to shell out another grand or so to experience something that with the expanded playoff probably doesn’t mean as much as it used to? Probably not, especially with a looming playoff trip on the line. My couch is free and while my cable bill has gone up, it’s much more affordable than that price.
For fans who like to go to home games, conference expansion with bigger opponents coming to town is more of a reason to jack up the prices for games. Add in more expenses for departments and get more expensive tickets.
And when you expand the lens, the PAC 12’s crumbling is hurting other schools and moreover, their fans as they get left behind. Stanford, with its strong academic and athletic prowess, now seemingly doesn’t have a proper home. Cal, too, is left looking around an empty room like Will Smith at the end of Fresh Prince. Schools like San Diego State who had hopes of moving up the ranks in the college sports world are left in the dust.
And behind each one of those schools are passionate fans – like me and you – that enjoy everything that is the college sports experience. The feel of Saturday mornings with your friends and family. The fight songs and the alma maters. The mascots. All of it slipping way.
While I’m sure Stanford will continue to play football in the future, imagine being a lifelong season ticket holder right now. It doesn’t feel like your team has anything to play for after 2023. Washington State and Oregon State fans, too, are being punished in all of this. All of it being taken away. And that’s not right.
That’s what the beauty of college football is. Every year, your team could have its year. It was a bit of a fallacy then but now, it’s going to be damn near impossible for schools like Stanford or San Diego State. Those fans and their teams have been relegated to the second tier by virtue of television contracts.
Now, college football fans are going to go the NFL route: experiencing it all from the couch. The tradition and energy of fandoms that make stadiums so great on Saturdays are going away.
Football fans won’t be the only ones that suffer. Every Olympic sports athlete is facing long-haul cross country flights while, you know, balancing the real reason they are playing for your favorite college: a degree. While I’ve often hated the NCAA commercial that reminds you that 98 percent of NCAA athletes will go pro in something else, that 98 percent is taking the brunt of these decisions driven largely by presidents and athletic directors chasing bigger television contracts.
And yes, those contracts for football and basketball often cover the bills for the rest of those programs but at what cost?
That cost, while you’re enjoying it right now online, is going to come from my and your literal and figurative pocket very soon.
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