Method again at first of February, when information first broke concerning the Huge Ten and Southeastern Convention forming a “joint advisory board” to deal with urgent points in faculty sports activities, the leaders of the 2 leagues wished individuals to know: This isn’t an influence play. It was merely an aligning of leaders within the two strongest conferences to attempt to steer the enterprise by way of the turbulent waters of our time.
There was no intent to secede from the NCAA, they mentioned. No intent to stroll away from their fellow Division I conferences—significantly the Huge 12 and Atlantic Coast, the opposite two energy leagues. Don’t go leaping to paranoid conclusions. Belief us. Actually. We would like what’s finest for everybody.
Such harmless occasions these have been, method again on Feb. 2.
4 weeks later, the Huge Ten and SEC are performing just like the robber barons they claimed to not be.
There was information Wednesday {that a} proposed growth of the Faculty Soccer Playoff from 12 to 14 groups was circulating that included not less than three assured bids for the Huge Ten and SEC, with two for the ACC and Huge 12 and one for a Group of 5 workforce. And right here’s the factor: That was a step again from the preliminary thought broached by Huge Ten commissioner Tony Petitti of 4 automated bids every for his league and SEC. That was obnoxious.
Associated: SEC, Huge Ten Would Profit From Newest CFP 14-Staff Mannequin
Then got here Thursday, when extra information leaked of the CFP proposals below dialogue for 2026 and past. Sources affirm to Sports activities Illustrated that the most recent push, for a 14-team playoff format that might give the highest two groups byes and pit the opposite 12 in first-round video games, the Huge Ten and SEC need the byes assured for his or her leagues. Yahoo Sports activities first reported the proposal.
That is next-level gluttony. And next-level cowardice.
The 2 strongest conferences in America are scared to compete. They wish to start each season with benefits in-built—essentially the most bids, the simplest playoff path—with out proving it on the sector. They could properly find yourself with these advantages, however not less than earn them. As an alternative, the richest of the wealthy need the most important tax breaks.
Predictably and understandably, a lot of the remainder of faculty soccer is appalled. That is unchecked greed in motion, an additional mocking of aggressive steadiness and a nationally cohesive sport. It’s crass and offensive and unapologetically so.
When you’re the Atlantic Coast Convention, there may be each motive to be outraged. That convention produced 5 top-two seeds within the four-team playoff period, the second most of any league. The SEC had eight, most of any convention (9 when you rely future member Oklahoma Sooners). The Huge Ten had 4 (six when you rely future members Oregon Geese and Washington Huskies). The Huge 12 had one, however none going ahead after the departures of Oklahoma and the Texas Longhorns.
The Clemson Tigers and Florida State Seminoles, amongst others within the ACC, at the moment are supposed to easily cede a useful first-round playoff bye as a result of the Huge Ten and SEC say so?
Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports activities
The Huge 12 is likely to be extra inclined to simply accept a deal that ensures two playoff spots, even when it surrenders the possibility for a top-two seed and first-round bye. When you subtract the SEC-bound Sooners and their No. 2 seed in ’17, the league by no means had anybody seeded increased than third. (Being a No. 3 labored for TCU two seasons in the past, when the Horned Frogs beat the Michigan Wolverines to make the title sport, however there have been no byes available then.)
Commissioner Brett Yormark is an aggressive marketer however not a reckless gambler. He took the bird-in-the-hand strategy to Huge 12 media rights negotiations, accepting a deal shortly in late ’22 with out pushing for an excessive amount of—and within the course of leaping the road forward of the Pac-12. It proved to be a grasp stroke for the Huge 12 and a dangerous consequence for the Pac-12, hastening its demise. So it wouldn’t be a shock to see Yormark play ball with giving the Huge Ten and SEC most favored nation standing if it helped his league get two assured playoff bids.
However right here’s the query: When does the appeasement sport finish with these two gluttons? When do they cease asking for extra? When do they cease bullying the remainder of faculty athletics into acquiescence?
A suspicious particular person may suppose that these continued grabs for extra colleges, more cash, extra playoff spots and extra energy is to check the saturation level for the remainder of faculty athletics. Sooner or later, the remainder of the leagues—and the NCAA—might give up to fatigue and easily wave the Huge Ten and SEC out the door, on their approach to arrange their very own AFC/NFC fiefdom. It is likely to be what they need however are reluctant to outright declare.
Don’t suppose these two aren’t discussing it. This was surprisingly tucked into the nineteenth paragraph of this ESPN.com story Wednesday evening: “One high-ranking official concerned within the discussions instructed ESPN on Wednesday that the presidents and chancellors in each the SEC and Huge Ten are having conversations about whether or not to proceed their NCAA membership. It’s a transfer that might influence and will probably derail the TV settlement.”
ESPN quoted the identical supply saying: “These conversations are taking place,” including some really feel “fairly strongly about pulling away. I’d say very strongly.”
Such a transfer would assuredly tear asunder the all-comers NCAA basketball tournaments, two of the crown jewels of the American sporting calendar. It might additional imperil Olympic sports activities and the American Olympic motion, with colleges prone to be pressured to chop sports activities. It might finish the custom of true nationwide championships, with the SEC and Huge Ten presumably creating their very own NFC vs. AFC playoff and everybody else competing for a unique title.
It might, in brief, be catastrophic for anybody and everybody who likes what faculty sports activities has all the time been. However the energy brokers within the Huge Ten and SEC merely won’t care about any of that. They’re not guardians of the sport; they’re manipulators of the sport.
Simply means extra? No, they only need extra. And an excessive amount of isn’t sufficient.