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College sports are, almost undeniably, in a worse place now than they were a decade or two again.
You can blame the NCAA. You can blame conferences, and you can blame school administrators. But the fact is, that’s just the reality.
The good news is, the Big Ten and SEC have decided to come to the rescue* (*further ring college athletics dry for every penny possible) by forming an “advisory group” aimed at surveying the ever changing college sports landscape.
NEWS: Big Ten & SEC are creating a joint advisory group of presidents & ADs in an urgent mission to find solutions & steer college sports into the future.
“Pressures are mounting,” SEC’s Greg Sankey tells @YahooSports. “We are not going to be status quo.”
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) February 2, 2024
” The Big Ten Conference and Southeastern Conference today announced the formation of a joint advisory group of university presidents, chancellors, and athletics directors to address the significant challenges facing college athletics and the opportunities for betterment of the student- athlete experience,” a press release from the Big Ten stated.
“These challenges, including but not limited to recent court decisions, pending litigation, a patchwork of state laws, and complex governance proposals, compel the two conferences to take a leadership role in developing solutions for a sustainable future of college sports.
“The advisory group will engage with other constituencies as necessary, including consultation with student-athletes and other key leadership groups from within both conferences.”
Now, you may think to yourself “that sounds familiar.
That’s because it does!
The Big Ten tried to form a similar partnership with ACC and Pac-12 less than three years ago.
How’d that work out?
Well, the Pac-12 no longer exists and the ACC is not likely to exist beyond 2030. And that may be an optimistic view of things.
More likely, this will serve as a further consolidation of power by the two conferences who already rule the roost in college athletics.
How does this benefit fans? Well, it likely doesn’t.
But the good news is that it could make member schools of those conferences more money. Which is all anybody really cares about anyway, right?
Those schools hoping to avoid being left behind better hop on board soon. Because the train appears to be leaving the station.