dperry
Postdoc
Posts: 2214
Loc: Houston, TX
Reg: 11-24-04
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07-24-21 09:39 PM - Post#325485
Well, I was going to wait a while longer for my grand return to the board, but the press of events moves me to post earlier. As P38 noted on the off-topic board, Texas and Oklahoma want to leave the Big 12 for the SEC. There are already rumors that Clemson, Florida St., Michigan, and Ohio State want to join them. On the other hand, given that the 'Horns and Sooners would owe big penalties for leaving the Big 12 early, and forces are marshalling in the Texas legislature to block the move, maybe the SEC takes OK St., Texas Tech, TCU, and Baylor instead to buy off all concerned. In any case, it seems very likely that we are in for another round of conference musical chairs: Kansas is already allegedly chatting up the Increasingly Innumerate Alliance of Mostly Midwestern Universities.  I have been predicting for some time that the difference in interests between the big-time and small-time programs and the tension between the amateur ideal and the pressures of increasing revenue were going to tear the NCAA apart as soon as the big-time schools felt confident enough to go on their own. Between this news, the NIL ruling (which may well be applied to other aspects of the athlete-college relationship), and the expansion of the football playoffs, it's become clear that we are moving towards an at least quasi-professional model of college sports, that the big teams are going to need more money to stay competitive, and that they are increasingly willing to act independently from the NCAA. I definitely think we are going to see a major reconstruction of college sports within the decade, and unfortunately, I don't think the Ivies will be in the top level of basketball when that happens. My hope is that there will be individual bodies for each sport, and we will be able to continue in the upper echelon in those sports where we are competitive (hockey, lacrosse, etc.), but if not, I then have to question the future of Ivy athletics in general. We are already in a dangerous situation, with an increasing amount of resources and admission spots being devoted to sports despite increasing lack of interest from the institutions as a whole. If we get dropped to a lower level in all sports, I have to wonder if there won't be a lot of pressure on administrations to drop or at least severely curtail sports. I think we need to enjoy every season of DI hoops we have from now on out, because there's no guarantee it will continue for a whole lot longer.
David Perry
Penn '92
"Hail, Alma Mater/Thy sons cheer thee now
To thee, Pennsylvania/All rivals must bow!!!" |
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