By Kyle Kenny
Being a Nebraska native, I’ve been watching a little closer than some the whole speculation of Nebraska moving to the Big 10 Conference. Now that move is official. Many have their heads scratching as to why they would move from a conference where they were relative big fish. There are several good reasons, the least having to do with football itself.
I. Show me the money. I am a fan of pro football. I have a lot of friends, however, that are strong proponents for college football. To these friends, they feel more team spirit prevalent and feel it is “less about the money, more about the spirit.” I have always disagreed with these arguments. Measuring team spirit of players and fans between any sport—college or pro—is impossibly subjective of an argument to consider. However, anyone who believes college sports isn’t about the money needs a serious reality check. The mere existence of the BCS is proof that money talks more than passion of the game. Also, while players themselves aren’t necessarily playing for money, some players are playing for the CHANCE to get big money on draft day. Some, as headlined in the news from time to time, DO receive money in the form of kickbacks while attending college. But I am digressing. The Big Ten offers something to Nebraska that the Big 12 couldn’t do during its entire existence: maximize cash flow to the School’s athletic program. I read a recent article that stated on average, the Big Ten schools received as much as $20 M per year from TV contract revenue via the Big Ten network. The Big 12, in comparison, only dished out $7-12 M, depending on the school. Fans nationwide will decry this as a “money grab.” But when you’re talking money in this proportion, it no longer becomes an athletics department issue, but rather a business issue for the school as a whole. This brings me to my next point.
II. Academics. Hopefully, college fans have not forgotten that the team in which they support is not an end in itself. Rather, it is merely an auxiliary to a much more important academic institution for higher learning and career development. Many fans are not aware that schools in the Big Ten are very much academically superior to schools in most other major conferences. While Nebraska is likely not currently on par in academic prestige as current Big Ten schools, the move will likely pressure Nebraska to make the changes to help it conform to the higher standards, and hence higher prestige. For the other several thousand attending, or planning to attend UNL that AREN’T part of any athletics program, dividends will be had in the form of a more relevant and prestigious degree.
III. Insurance. Nebraska knew that the conference was under attack, and with other power schools such as Texas and Oklahoma being targets of other major conferences, Nebraska didn’t want to be the odd man out. Nebraska insisted that it considered all alternatives, and decided the Big Ten invite was something they had wanted for years. Whether this be the real case or not, the application of game theory among the Big Twelve schools in my opinion had a definite role; in this instance of head games, Nebraska concluded that the other schools, despite their verbal stances, were already leaning on leaving. Whether or not that was truly the case will forever be open to speculation.
IV. Sports. Honestly, in my opinion, football (among other sports) itself was the least of the factors leading to the decision to move. I am likely wrong; however, in my defense, I would find difficulty accepting any argument that the Big Ten is far superior to the Big Twelve in strength of schedule, if at all superior. What this move does do is open doors to new regions/states/markets for recruiting purposes for all sports programs in Nebraska Athletics.
It will be intriguing to see the fallout of these conference decisions. Will Texas, Oklahoma, and co. move to the Pac-10? What other schools will the Pac-10 lure away if things don’t go as planned? Will MWC successfully snag Kansas and Missouri to keep itself from being part of the other, smaller conferences left in the dust? Will the Big Twelve figure out a way to salvage itself with its own add-ons of BYU and TCU? Whatever the result, bring on the chaos!
I think its natural to forget about these other factors. Take Boise State, who the MWC just added. Do they really add that much besides football? Obviously the MWC is in a different situation since it is looking for automatic BCS status. However, it as well as other conferences need to be careful when adding schools. Just having a large conference is pointless if the schools provide little. If you have any doubt go take a look at the old 16 team WAC.
ReplyDeleteI think the coaches are thinking ahead.
ReplyDeleteI am hoping that this is just the beginnings of things to come. Create "Super Conferences" then start the play-off era.