Assuming Oregon and Washington are still holding out for the Big Ten, and the California schools are probably not interested, that leaves Oregon State and Washington State, I think.
I’m not sure can assume that UofO will wait for B1G. The rumors looked like Oregon could be the one to jump.
Nothing in realignment is forever.
As long as UO or UW signs the GoR and is willing to wait out the next media cycle (or pay a shit-ton of money), I think the B12 would be clear-eyed and planning ahead for their eventual departure. OUT’s leaving very much changed the culture of the conference.
WSU’s only chance is jumping before someone else at this point. They bring a disproportionately large media presence, but aren’t going to ever be picked over Washington. If they stay too much longer it’s just going down with the sinking ship
Get fucked, geography? The new conferences are making increasingly less sense.
They’re effectively exercises in media exploitation at this point, and they will be as long as media companies will pay a premium for “sticky” live viewing. The athletes and coaches want to compete at the highest level possible, and the presidents want increased exposure to donors and prospective students and faculty, along with a self-sustaining (and ego-boosting) athletic department budget.
I’m honestly at the point of saying split the athletics off from schools completely. It’s just fucking stupid. I love that athletes can get paid for what they do (and strongly advocate for it; fuck the NCAA’s bullshit), but with the hours athletes put in, and the little time they can put toward school itself, it’s really just professional sport by another name. Have the schools do school, and sports be handled by professional organisations like they are in Europe and the rest of the world.
100% agree. Especially the revenue sports, but really all scholarship sports:
- You have responsibilities outside your credited coursework
- You have close management
- You have time commitments
- You are judged on your performance (though in the P5 you can’t officially lose a scholarship due to performance if the effort is still there, even the effort level is judged by the aforementioned manager)
- You receive valuable consideration for your services.
I know that scholarships are treated different than ordinary income for tax purposes, but that’s not the same thing as it not being compensation. If it walks like a duck and swims like a duck and quacks’ like a duck, then it’s a a fuckin’ JOB, lol. Pay them and make it work.
It’s a half measure, but the one think I liked about the Booker et al NIL bill is it at least included provision for a lifetime scholarship. You might see fewer “communications” or “general studies” majors if the players at least knew that they could putter along with the minimum course-load and kick things into gear after their eligibility was up. Not that every player is an EE major waiting to happen, but you can’t tell me everybody wants to do one of the three majors you see on the opening lineups.
Yeah…when I was being recruited for hockey, I was upfront with schools that I wanted to do comp sci or aero eng, and most of them recoiled. I did get a couple of offers, but sustained a major injury in my last year of juniors which fucked it all up.
Tl;dr schools mostly don’t like athletes who actually give a shit about their future. They just want $$$.
USC making the double move
