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Conference realignment has overtaken college sports, and it’s having a major effect on both revenue and non-revenue teams. While major football and basketball programs can afford to travel comfortably, the same can’t be said for the majority of NCAA squads.
Stanford’s volleyball team will soon find out first-hand the toll that will be taken during upcoming cross-country trips. The Cardinal are set to travel more than any other fall sports team in the nation!
Stanford boasts one of the top volleyball squads in Division I, ranking No. 2 in the country amid a 7-0 start to the 2024 season. The program’s won three national titles since 2016 with the most recent coming in 2019.
They’ll expect to compete for the crown once again this year, but circumstances beyond their control could put them at a disadvantage!
The Cardinal will travel nearly 34,000 miles this fall.
Conference realignment is making Stanford volleyball put in MILES this season 🤯 pic.twitter.com/GGI7if3Imc
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) September 13, 2024
For reference, the trip from the East to West Coasts is a little shy of 3,000 miles. Stanford will do it more than 10x over this season!
And that’s even with the team pulling double duty against closely located opponents while making stops on the East Coast.
Absurdity!
The Cardinal joined the ACC this offseason, a move that offered a jarring visual considering the California based university is now competing with programs largely located on the Atlantic Coast.
Again, this is a non-revenue sport! It doesn’t have many of the luxuries seen with the football and basketball teams.
Conference realignment is tied to money.
That’s no secret!
Television contracts sparked the movement as the Big 10, Big 12, SEC and ACC each added new schools.
The PAC 12 was the conference hit the hardest as it saw 10 of 12 members bolt for greener pastures. Stanford and Cal landed in the ACC, a league that fit in terms of academics, but was out of place in every other way imaginable.
Each of those newly placed teams on the West Coast will see an uptick in travel, something that was addressed when news of the moves was made public.
Solutions included sharing flights with rival teams and allowing student-athletes early access to courses to better help them manage their athletic and academic commitments.
That said, the added travel will be a huge burden on the players as well as a detriment to the environment.
Many around the country offered suggestions for expansion costs, with Chip Kelly believing football should be looked at differently than other sports. After all, it was the driving factor in conference realignment in the first place.
Unfortunately, we won’t see that happen in the 2024-25 athletic season.
Stanford’s volleyball team will pay the price!