Abdalla questions realignment, NCAA ethics
Posted on Jul 26, 2010 in Sports
The two biggest sports in collegiate athletics were anything but conservative in 2010. NCAA football and basketball have both implemented major changes that will certainly mix up competition in the upcoming years.
In the collegiate football world, many conferences have taken part in expansion that has seen teams call new conferences home. Controversy in recent years over certain conferences not having a conference championship game sparked talks of possible conference realignments.
The University of Nebraska began the domino effect when it announced its departure from the Big 12 for the Big Ten. It did not take long for the pieces to fall as shortly after as The University of Colorado became the second team to leave the Big 12, headed to the Pac-10.
The Pac-10 also aided in Utah’s championship legitimacy as the Utes are now members of a BCS conference. After all the expansion smoke cleared, the end result was a Pac-10 with twelve teams, a Big Ten with twelve teams and a Big 12 on life support with ten teams. Hold that thought and move on to college basketball.
NCAA basketball was pushed around like a younger sibling as football held the only say on conference realignment. Yes that is correct; the alignments will be in effect for all sports. NCAA basketball would make their own splash; however, as they approved the expansion of the NCAA tournament from 65 teams to 68.
The first round will now be conducted as four games, as two games will include the lowest-seeded teams playing for the right to enter the tournament, while the remaining two games will see what would be the last four teams out of the tournament, play their way back in.
Now, after all this one must ask a simple question: why? Maybe the NCAA now has a conscious soul and decided to give even more teams the right to play for a championship. Maybe conference realignment will even up the playing field against the big boys (the SEC).
Sadly, neither is the case. The answer is much simpler than that; if I may quote The O’Jays on this one: money, money, money.
Utah’s move to the Pac-10 could give the school a $10 million plus increase in TV revenue, which would be huge for a school that has been somewhat overlooked in recent years. According to some sources, the Big Ten and SEC are set to make over $3 billion from current deals.
With some of these deals in place, expansion and realignment was clearly sparked by the search for bigger revenue.
In my eyes, the greed is not as associated with college football as it is basketball. The epitome of greed shines on the college basketball expansion. If you research every expansion supporter’s reason for this, they will tell you it makes the tournament even more exciting. Let’s dissect this.
March Madness is by far one of the most anticipated events in the United States on a yearly basis, as it brings the NCAA billions of dollars.
To make it more exciting by adding games means it will bring more viewers to early round competition. The NCAA played this to perfection as TV sponsorship throughout the event is through the roof and the expansion of such a thing will only lead to more money.
The NCAA tournament has a stronghold on the business side as the tournament brings in 90 percent of the NCAA’s total revenue. I am obviously a sports’ purist as I believe this is all greed.
Expanding uncontrollably will inevitably take away any meaning to making the tournament. Being selected to play in March is supposed to be an award for a team’s great success throughout a tough season. Now, it is simply appreciation for making the NCAA tournament a financial giant.
After all this ranting; however, the NCAA still smiles as they know that I will be on my couch in March watching every second of the tournament. That is power, and the NCAA cannot get enough.
Email: tabdalla@uab.edu
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