Sports Issues: Colleges Switching Conferences

The College Conference issue started when Nebraska decided to go to the Big Ten about a year and a half ago. Their movement out of the Big Twelve caused Texas A & M to leave also, but they left for the SEC. The Big 12 then looked for a couple teams to replace the 2 that had left, and they selected West Virginia and TCU, two Big East teams at the time, to be in the conference. Nebraska’s movement caused many teams to switch conferences, and now no college is ever certain if they will be in the same conference by this time in the next year or so.

The conference switching has also destroyed many old rivalries like the Texas A & M vs. Texas rivalry. The Aggies had played the Longhorns for  118 years before A & M decided to leave for the SEC last year. With many more teams on the move to switch conferences, many other rivalries will be destroyed and forgotten.

The conference switching has also destroyed powerful conferences. Last year, the Big East had 17 teams for basketball and 9 for football. Once TCU and West Virginia left, it triggered Syracuse and Pittsburgh to leave also for the ACC. Just a week ago, Rutgers left the Big East for the Big Ten. Now, Louisville, UConn, Cincinnati, and South Florida could all be leaving for the ACC.  If the conference switching keeps going on in the next few years, the Big East might not even exist.

If I could do something about this issue, my choice would be to make everything go back to the way it was. Traditional rivalries would still occur, and conferences would never have to worry about replacing/getting rid of teams.