James Satterfield
First, who didn’t know that those five conferences were the most powerful? Just how did the powerful become so powerful is perhaps a better question. Can anyone recall a little power move more than 20 years ago called an SEC championship game? That game continues to fashion how conferences are steadily being shaped (check out SEC Storied on ESPN). The SEC model has influenced the formation of six other conference championships to be held in later years, which meant movement or invitations directed to the schools with the right kind of athletic presence, ultimately leading to powerful athletic programs that now comprise the Power Five.
Now, all things being equal, and in this case it is not, the specific commonality between the schools in the Power Five is powerful football programs. Does that mean that those conferences in the new structure become more powerful because of football and the money they could possibly earn? Probably. It is a very simple economic formula; people watch football, media conglomerates like when people watch events. In fact, we predict that more power conferences may form and more schools may be invited to join the current Power Five structure. However, we also predict an institution’s social and, most importantly, economic profile will have to be above reproach. Notice we left out academics; although we always have believed institutional academics and athletics do not exist to do the same thing; the new structure solidifies that argument for us.
Ultimately we wanted to share some of our insights about what one might consider when sifting through discussions about this new Power Conference.
Robin L. Hughes
1. Amateur sport, professional business. This is high stakes athletics, and, albeit amateur, it is handled as a professional business. There are no trophies doled out for effort and more importantly no media contracts for athletic human interest stories, those run on ESPN’s Outside the Lines.
2. Competitive sports 101. In sports, the goal is to win. No one competes for second place. In fact, most blue chip athletes have a significant amount of agility, mobility mixed with a little hostility. Winning and losing are parts of the game. But just try and remember who finished second to UConn in the NCAA basketball tournament last year; it just might take you a second.
3. Divisions look a little different. We also know that conferences tend to share some similarities. They move and they change. Even at the high school level we see movement among the number of A’s depending on the state. Perhaps the Power Five move means that those conferences and others who want to join may be classified as another division altogether—one day. This organizational tactic allows for a probationary period to determine suitability. Moreover, it allows for the consistent line to be drawn in the sand.
