Price of Realignment: The Ruin of College Football
By Avery Saylor
The Lone Star Showdown is undisputedly one of the most historic and defining rivalries in all of college football. Every year, Texas (University of Texas at Austin) and Texas A&M would play on Thanksgiving weekend, and for many Americans, the game became as important to the holiday as the Thanksgiving turkey itself. This rivalry rooted itself in the identity of the Big 12 conference and in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) itself.
However, in 2012, Texas A&M left the Big 12 conference for the Southeastern Conference (SEC), and this rivalry came to an end, leaving students, alumni, and fans stranded, although the Lone Star Showdown was reunified with another realignment in 2024 when Texas moved to the SEC. Many other rivalries are left permanently damaged from realignment, such as Nebraska versus Oklahoma, which disbanded when Nebraksa left for the Big 10 in 2011.
Conference realignments weaken the longstanding tradition and the historical rivals that are the foundations of college football. Realignments prove to be harmful to student athletes and demonstrate a complete disregard for their welfare.
It comes as no surprise that conference realignments are driven by the interest of money and not by the interest of its athletes or the culture of the sport itself. Many schools realign for television revenue. It’s quite simple: the more big name schools a conference has, the more exciting matchups they have, which means more television revenue because more people will watch these games.
However, the recent 2024 realignment is unlike anything we have seen before. It is in danger of ruining college football altogether because it sets up for the creation of “super conferences.” If there is one conference to blame for this, it is the SEC.
Before 2024, the SEC was already considered one of, if not the best, conferences in college football, but that was not enough. It is always about more money. So, the SEC grabbed both the Oklahoma Sooners and the Texas Longhorns from the Big 12 in 2024. These schools are not even based in the southeast, so the Southeastern Conference does not live up to its name anymore.
Some people might think, “Who cares if a team moves conference? What’s the big deal?” Teams moving away from their original conference and going to conferences in different regions defeats the whole purpose of why they were made.
Conferences were created to be composed of specific regions to facilitate local rivalries because proximity meant schools shared history, similar levels of talent, and competition to make the game more exciting for fans. Conferences all have their own unique set of rules and scheduling to cater to the regions they encompass. Having different rules means that teams in these regions develop their own unique playing style. For instance, the SEC is known for its aggressive, physical defense, while the Big 12 is known for fast-paced offenses.
Realigning teams into different conferences means that football teams will have to adjust to the playing styles of different conferences, which could prove difficult due to the talent level they possess and which part of the team they invest the most money in.
Due to realignment, almost all teams are transferring to fast-tempo offenses, and the uniqueness of each conference’s playing style that defined their region and history is slowly fading into the background. One of the unique things fans especially loved about college football was the variety in playing styles the conferences exhibited, which made it unique from professional leagues like the NFL, and the loss of these styles has left many fans frustrated and bored.
Another big incentive for local conferences is the benefit of the athletes. With conferences realigning, local conferences are now expanding across regions and even across the nation. Student-athletes face longer trips to and from games, which can have many negative impacts on their life on and off the field.
In the 2024 realignment, the Big 10 added USC, Oregon, and UCLA. Now, for a team like Penn State, instead of hopping on a plane and flying the short trip to face Ohio State, they now hop on a plane and fly across the nation to a different time zone to face UCLA. This leaves athletes jet lagged, fatigued, and disoriented for games, which gives the home team an unfair advantage.
Let’s be honest, UCLA’s 42-37 win would not have happened if the Nittany Lions had not had to fly to a different time zone and play mere hours after landing. (And no, that is not just me coping as a Penn State fan.)
These athletes are also students, which means the added travel time forces them to sacrifice their academics and social lives in college, causing more mental health strain. There is no case where the realignment of conferences to span across regions is beneficial for the athletes.
It is a complete disregard for student welfare for financial gain, despite the statement the NCAA gave, stating that conferences exist to “govern competition in a fair, safe, equitable and sportsmanlike manner, and to integrate intercollegiate athletics into higher education so that the educational experience of the student-athlete is paramount.”
Conference realignment has gotten so out of hand that the NCAA’s mission statement doesn’t even apply to conferences like the Big 10 or SEC anymore. These conferences are desperately trying to become “super conferences” at the expense of their traditions, athletes, and fans.
The bottom line is that the use of conference realignment has only been for a greedy and money-driven purpose, and, in the process, is destroying the culture and history of college football so much that fans might not be interested in the sport that defines college athletics much longer.
