[cardcrimson]

I'm not sure what the current threshhold is, but back when Penn State added hockey, it made for 6 men's hockey programs in the Big Ten, which was then the minimum for the conference to sponsor a sport. (It also destroyed rich, traditional rivalries that meant a lot more in the hockey world than the new matchups between teams that historically had been rivals on the field or the court but not on the ice.) 

So, if there are now four women's water polo programs in the Big Ten footprint, they might only need two more to cannibalize the MPSF and leave Stanford out to dry in terms of quality conference matchups.

I think it'd be fine if UCLA/USC left the MPSF. The Big 4 (Stanford, Cal, UCLA, USC) would still play against each other in the non-conference invitational tournaments (like the one this past weekend) and we'd still have Cal as an in-conference matchup.

While there is a big transition with women's polo moving east, I don't see a move to the CWPA for USC or UCLA. Zero need for them to, and it would hurt their recruiting and prestige a bit. I'm not aware of any other Big 10 schools that even have women's polo. Out of the top 15, only Michigan, Indiana, Wagner and Princeton are east of, well, Phoenix. Indiana got beat over the weekend by D3 Pomona Pitzer. . . .

[cardcrimson]

I'm not sure what the current threshhold is, but back when Penn State added hockey, it made for 6 men's hockey programs in the Big Ten, which was then the minimum for the conference to sponsor a sport. (It also destroyed rich, traditional rivalries that meant a lot more in the hockey world than the new matchups between teams that historically had been rivals on the field or the court but not on the ice.) 

So, if there are now four women's water polo programs in the Big Ten footprint, they might only need two more to cannibalize the MPSF and leave Stanford out to dry in terms of quality conference matchups.

I think it'd be fine if UCLA/USC left the MPSF. The Big 4 (Stanford, Cal, UCLA, USC) would still play against each other in the non-conference invitational tournaments (like the one this past weekend) and we'd still have Cal as an in-conference matchup.

While there is a big transition with women's polo moving east, I don't see a move to the CWPA for USC or UCLA. Zero need for them to, and it would hurt their recruiting and prestige a bit. I'm not aware of any other Big 10 schools that even have women's polo. Out of the top 15, only Michigan, Indiana, Wagner and Princeton are east of, well, Phoenix. Indiana got beat over the weekend by D3 Pomona Pitzer. . . .