Collateral damage: How realignment could impact the NCAA, taxpayers and Cotton Bowl
June 11, 2010
Staff Reports
A look at the effects conference realignment may have beyond the college football programs directly involved:
• The NCAA: Some are starting to wonder if the football-driven conference changes may mean the end of the NCAA as we know it.
Dick Weiss, columnist for the New York Daily News writes, "The NCAA most likely will operate at the behest of these entitled 64 universities that can regulate and share their revenue at their own discretion. The NCAA essentially will soon realize it is only a service provider to the power players in college athletics, taking a page fromNotre Dame football, which has maintained its independent status because it has become must-see TV."
• Athletic departments: With this much money at stake and state-run educational institutions involved, public officials are paying attention to realignment, too.
Some U.S. Congress members are looking at whether athletic departments should lose their tax exempt status.
And representatives of states that have institutions that may be split up are contemplating getting involved.
Iowa is in a unique position, with one school in the Big 12 (Iowa State) and one in the Big Ten (Iowa). Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said his staff is checking to determine "what can be done from a non-profit, anti-trust standpoint" about the looming realignment, AOL's Politics Daily reports. Sen. Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat, said he was "opposed to the kind of mischief that's going on" with the Big Ten and Pac-10, but wasn't sure if Congress should meddle in the matter.
Texas State Rep. Dan Branch (R-Dallas), chairman of the Higher Education Committee, did not rule out a hearing on where the Texas schools should go in realignment. "I think it's premature until some of these dominoes fall to dive into the middle of this," said Branch, the Austin American-Statesman reports.
But U.S. Rep Chet Edwards of Texas and state Rep. Jim Dunnam have been pushing for hearings and want the state's Big 12 schools to publicly disclose what options they are considering, the Austin paper reports.
"The current Big 12 debate should not be what's best for just Baylor, or just UT," Dunnam told the newspaper. "The center of discussion should be what's best for Texas as a whole, and the debate should be conducted in public, not back rooms."
• The Cotton Bowl: The Big 12 is the anchor conference for the Cotton Bowl, which makes the institution one possible loser if the league dissolves. However, Cotton Bowl president Rick Baker is trying to remain optimistic, hoping that a huge shift gives his bowl a chance to get on par with the Rose, Fiesta, Sugar and Orange bowls. He says the shifting landscape could create an opportunity for another BCS bowl if realignment creates space for more at-large teams in the postseason.
"If there is major change, which it looks like there could be, we feel we're positioned well for the future, whatever postseason college football ends up being down the road," Barber told ESPN Dallas. "We would prefer the Big 12 to stay intact or as close to what it is now as possible. We play in arguably the finest football facility in the country [the new Cowboys Stadium], we have a great title sponsor in AT&T and we are in the fourth-largest TV market. We feel we're going to be relevant in postseason college football."