USC, UCLA to join the Big Ten

Damn. What a working day yesterday. Prior to yesterday, I would have claimed that UCLA and USC joining the B1G was possibly the past meeting realignment on earth that could materialize. Oh, how a few hours and some excellent Television funds can transform all the things.

With the realignment madness, it’s challenging to predict how prolonged the latest meeting structure will past, as all of the educational facilities with any affect in the NCAA head toward the SEC and the Large 10 (is Clemson upcoming? Or is Dabo far too prideful to place his staff in entrance of that competitiveness? Anyways, that’s beside the level). Soccer comes initial, alongside with the money that inevitably follows it. Which is the way it is normally been, and because the activity tends to make exponentially much more dollars than virtually any other higher education athletic software at the the vast majority of Ability 5 colleges, it would make perception to observe football.

Is it what’s most effective for the sport? Arguably not. There’s a lot of lamenting in the CFB Twitter universe going on, and understandably so. Conferences relaxation at the heart of the sport, and with ongoing debates more than an expanded playoff with computerized convention title bids, the foreseeable future of the countrywide championship is also thrown into darkness with this unparalleled move. But as significantly as I enjoy soccer, and as substantially as there is to be mentioned about it (and that I will, at some place, say about it), I do want to converse about all the other sports for just a minute. The sports with out the football finances, without the need of football’s program, with no the advantages that, in most eventualities, accompany getting on the football workforce that might not always use to other pupil-athletes.

Soccer teams enjoy as soon as a 7 days for twelve months a 12 months. To place the USC and UCLA volleyball, basketball, softball, lacrosse, baseball, and many other groups into a scenario in which they will now have to fly cross-country just about every other time they want to participate in a meeting sport (which will make up the bulk of their schedules) is enormously disrespectful to all those scholar athletes and, really frankly, legitimizes the argument that NCAA sports activities ought to be professionalized. That variety of journey is only demanded from skilled athletes, not youngsters attempting to get a degree they’ll will need right after college while they play the activity they like.

The “student” component of “student-athlete” will be shunted apart as they acquire four- or 5-hour flights each individual week through their respective seasons. They’ll consistently be missing class, they’ll possible be exhausted from this kind of extreme journey to the midwest and east coast, and it will just take a toll on anyone included. For Large 10 schools, it could be somewhat less difficult, as they can basically plan back again-to-again online games against the two California schools on a one journey out west, but that is nevertheless rather a vacation, and will be a scheduling feat if they are in a position to pull it off.

There are far a lot more articles or blog posts to be penned, far much more consequences to think about, much far more factors to be introduced up. But for now, I ask – will not any one consider of the UCLA volleyball workforce?