Don't sell us short, Dude. We have 4 NCAA Tournament wins...

For those of you who find reading comprehension a challenge, basically the SEC and Big10 are plotting to reduce top-tier college football (i.e., what you see on TV) to them and them only-- though they will probably want to add Notre Dame, Clemson, Fla St and maybe SMU or Miami of Florida, too. After that, the BigSEC will then turn its attention to the next TV contract for the basketball tournament, because why share with UC Irvine and GW and SUNY-SB and UMKC what you can keep for yourself?
At what point will schools squeezed out of the money grab decide they are finished with the expenses? That is a question that will first hit football teams like UL-Monroe and Temple and Bowling Green, but will eventually reach down to any DI basketball program not in the SECBig.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2024/10/04/sec-big-ten-college-football-greg-sankey/75492420007/
 

So where do things stand now? Well:
UCLA fired its AD on the eve of the new school year. Believe it or not, they are millions in debt DESPITE the conference-jumping cash grab. Plus they cannot get out of their Rose Bowl lease (where despite the sentimental attachment they cannot draw for squat) and their baseball team is about to be evicted by the VA from its longtime home.
U$C, which set this whole shitstorm into motion (along with Texas and Oklahoma), is drawing fewer fans than lacrosse exhibitions. OK, it was a midday game in August against San Jose St, but still there have not been that many empty seats in LA since Steve Young QB´d the USFL team. 
LSU has decided to just quit on the "college" part of "college sports" and instead is looking to make its franchises a repository for players just on the edge of making a Big League team. Oh yeah, and they prefer Russians to Ukranians, too. 
A rejiggered Pac-12 is here, "Pac-12" in the sense that the Beavers and Cougars are there. A few of its games might outdraw U$C, but only maybe, But hey, Gonzaga can now play conference games in places like Fresno and San Diego when before they played conference games in San Francisco and San Diego. Gravitas.
Clemson and Fla St are still looking to ditch the ACC if they can come up with the cash to get out of it (the "college" sports equivalent of a franchise fee). 
Meanwhile, ESPN is downsizing its staff after cheerleading hard for the current era to begin (maybe not on air, but certainly with its rights deals). It is only a matter of time until it decides ancilary properties (like non Big4 conference rights) are not good business, and then where will the A10s of the world be? 
Some say the NCAAs days are numbered. Some say Congress will come in and save the day (ha!). In any case, are fans with actual affiliations to universities (alums, profs, students, etc...) any happier with the set up today than they were 10 years ago? And do the gambling companies, corporate sponsors and hospitality suite patrons care if they are or are not?

Last edited by GW Alum Abroad (9/02/2026 9:53 am)

And despite having all that money and playing at home, a Big10 team cannot even beat umASS´ sad sack excuse for a football team. Something about reaping what you sow...