07-05-2022, 05:45 AM
(This post was last modified: 07-05-2022, 05:46 AM by OutsiderFan.)
Wilner has always hated Stanford and Cal and is rooting for them to be left out of the latest media rights grab. I have a hunch why, but I'm not going to share that now. Nobody has any insight into Stanford's thinking. Some assume Stanford is above it all and will beg out of major college sports. Others look at Stanford as inclined to leverage its value as an athletic and academic powerhouse into the Big Ten, maybe even be key to luring Notre Dame.
As for the "sanctity of tradition," it's total B.S. College sports has been going through evolutions that break "traditions" for decades. Anyone heard of the Southwest Conference? Or maybe the Pac-8 and Big-8? How about the SEC before a football playoff? Might I interest you in the Big 10 when it had 10 members? How about the Big East as a Football power? Utah has gone from the WAC, to MWC, to Pac-12, to now maybe the Big XII in what, 30 years? Colorado has been in the Big 8, Big XII, and Pac-12, and looks to be moving to Big XII again. Even San Jose State was in something called the California Coast Conference, before the Big West, WAC, and current MWC affiliation.
Now it is true that some groupings of schools have been together longer than others, but the reality is everyone operates in a market that determines how they are valued and how they want to compete. In a capitalist economy, the small fish get eaten by the bigger fish. I just don't get all the "it's so special and the money is ruining it" angst. The money has been "ruining it" for my entire lifetime. Absent regulations the public wants in place to keep status quo, college sports alignments will always be fluid until the market has settled. To me, the market has for sure decided Washington State and Oregon State do not matter. That's a tough pill for those institutions, but it's just life in a market economy.
The only thing I feel confident about in terms of how things shake out is the Pac being dead after 2023. Never imagined it would be the first to go, but when you consider all the factors, it probably was always going to the be first of the Power 5 to die. The ACC will be next, IMO.
As for the "sanctity of tradition," it's total B.S. College sports has been going through evolutions that break "traditions" for decades. Anyone heard of the Southwest Conference? Or maybe the Pac-8 and Big-8? How about the SEC before a football playoff? Might I interest you in the Big 10 when it had 10 members? How about the Big East as a Football power? Utah has gone from the WAC, to MWC, to Pac-12, to now maybe the Big XII in what, 30 years? Colorado has been in the Big 8, Big XII, and Pac-12, and looks to be moving to Big XII again. Even San Jose State was in something called the California Coast Conference, before the Big West, WAC, and current MWC affiliation.
Now it is true that some groupings of schools have been together longer than others, but the reality is everyone operates in a market that determines how they are valued and how they want to compete. In a capitalist economy, the small fish get eaten by the bigger fish. I just don't get all the "it's so special and the money is ruining it" angst. The money has been "ruining it" for my entire lifetime. Absent regulations the public wants in place to keep status quo, college sports alignments will always be fluid until the market has settled. To me, the market has for sure decided Washington State and Oregon State do not matter. That's a tough pill for those institutions, but it's just life in a market economy.
The only thing I feel confident about in terms of how things shake out is the Pac being dead after 2023. Never imagined it would be the first to go, but when you consider all the factors, it probably was always going to the be first of the Power 5 to die. The ACC will be next, IMO.