[NU Sports] Another domino, not the last one yet?

[Jonathan Hodges]

Quote from Sen. Hatch on Utah's officially announced admission into the
Pac-10 today "the legal concerns that many have expressed about the BCS...
won't just go away because of today's news." (as reported by NU alum & SI
writer Stewart Mandel on twitter).

I believe Utah is the big winner in this round of conference musical chairs,
as it is the only school that has moved into an automatic BCS conference
from a "mid-major" conference.  It will also get a 10-fold revenue increase
thanks to moving into the Pac-10 (which will indeed be renamed, it's
commissioner announced today).  Yes, Nebraska and the Big Ten were
"winners," but Utah won by the most.

Also, I don't think that conference expansion will lead to the death of the
BCS like so many on this list believe (at least not in the short term).  The
fact is that member schools are still tied closely with the current bowl
system, the "mid-majors" and FCS teams they like to play (in valuable home
games), and the NCAA.  I don't see 4 "super-conferences" forming and
breaking off from the NCAA any time soon (i.e. within the next 50 years).
And as long as they are still members of the NCAA, a playoff will not happen
(instituting a playoff would require a majority of ALL Div. I football
schools to approve the additional games, that won't happen without more
equal revenue sharing like in basketball, and the BCS schools won't let that
happen).

It's clear that conference re-alignment will continue (maybe as early as
next year), but everyone will be very careful moving forward not as to
disrupt the establishment too much.  Any major change will have to be driven
externally, and I don't think enough people in the legislature are willing
to do something about it, particularly right now (I also don't think that a
challenge would stand up in the courts, and even putting together a
challenge would take more effort than is currently available).

Jonathan



On Thu, Jun 17, 2010 at 3:09 PM, Peter Warner <pcw at warnerpatents.com> wrote:

> One good thing from all this is that Orin Hatch will likely now shut his
> big
> trap about government intervention in the BCS and going to a play-off
> system
> for football (which I believe would only hurt The Big Ten in the long run
> in
> holding its invite to The Rose Bowl).  However, we still have Obama's big
> trap to deal with on the issue.
>
> Peter Warner
>
>
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