Making Money Jumping Ship

Recently Oklahoma and Texas announced they were joining the SEC (South East Conference), or maybe the SEC announced that Texas and Oklahoma were joining the conference. I don’t remember and it doesn’t matter. What is important is Oklahoma and Texas are leaving the Big Twelve Conference for greener (read as, more profitable) pastures.

It wasn’t all that long ago that Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Baylor left the Southwest Conference to join the Big Eight. It was decided to rename the conference The Big 12, because there were now 12 teams. It caused some bitterness, not the new name, but the potential shift of power. Many people felt that having four teams from one state gave them a unique edge when votes were cast. Apparently voting is an important component of being in an athletic conference. Imagine how many problems it caused in The SWC which was, for many years, 7 teams from Texas and Arkansas.

It boiled and blistered and seethed until Nebraska left for the Big 10, which, despite having 12 to 14 teams, decided to keep the name Big Ten. Colorado split for the PAC 10, who picked up another team and became the PAC 12. Finally, Missouri and Texas A&M left for the SEC, who remained the SEC.

This caused an identity crisis in the BIG 12, they were reduced to eight teams.  Thinking fast they poached West Virginia from the Big East and TCU from the Mountain West giving them 10 teams, which isn’t 12, but close enough.

West Virginia was glad for the offer, because the ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference) had just raided the Big East and took several teams, including Louisville, Pitt, and, Syracuse, making the Big East considerably smaller and causing no problems for the ACC who were smart enough to eschew numerical designators entirely when naming their conference.

But, now Oklahoma and Texas are going to the SEC. It has been viewed as the first step in an athletics arms race. The Big Ten (14 teams), The PAC 12 (12 teams) and the ACC (15 teams) have announced a partnership to counter the SEC (14 teams when OU and TU join) expansion. I’m not sure what that means and I have a sinking feeling it isn’t nearly as exciting as it sounds. It conjures images of football teams clambering aboard trains to the frontier to defend the borders against the godless hordes from the SEC, desperate last stands in Kansas, Illinois, on a line of demarcation somewhere between Louisville (ACC) and Lexington (home of Kentucky, SEC), being held safe by a reinforced battalion of Nittany Lions, Buckeyes, Orangemen and Cornhuskers. No, it probably means once or twice a year they’ll all get together and say awful things about Alabama (SEC), a school whose winning streak is enviable.

Anyway, this is the opening week of college football. I probably won’t watch any, but I’ll think about all the time and money wasted on such a silly thing and I’ll mow the lawn, if it isn’t raining, and look forward to Labor Day, a day of rest.

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This post is republished on Medium.

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