Here’s today’s challenge: Try to say, “Division I-A college football and basketball is all about education” without a smirk creasing your face. Come on, try it. Keep a straight face for five seconds.
I know; it’s impossible. Anyone who thought big-time college sports operated from any philosophy other than profit-at-all-costs (PAAC), has had to change their tune after the recent money grab in college football. School presidents — whose athletic departments operate under a non-profit tax-exempt status — are selling out their conference peers, chucking decades-old rivalries, ignoring geographical considerations, forgetting about the impact on basketball and other sports, and basing conference affiliation decisions solely on revenue projections. See ESPN “Football Kills Big East Basketball Tradition.”
Former Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese had this to say about the feeding frenzy that is conference realignment, “College football has taken control of everything that’s going on. All of these moves are about football and money and greed. I’m embarrassed about the whole thing, and not just because it’s affected the Big East. It just seems things such as integrity, loyalty and congeniality are gone.”
–- Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans
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