Mad scramble for conference realignment - so what's this all about and why is it happening now?

The news is filled with stories of Colorado and other Big 12 schools jumping to the Pac-10 and Nebraska jumping to the Big Ten, and other frenzied conference moves, along with the anguish of what might happen to those left behind.

But most of the stories won't say what's behind all this...
some people already know and some are talking about it...and pretty much this is all happening right now due to THREE factors...money, politics, current ecomony and the driection it's going...

I have read a lot of the opinions and done some digging.....and here's what I think. It's simply, it's plain, and it is understandable.

Obviously one of the factors is MONEY - and maybe the biggest factor overall. But the money has been a factor in college sports for decades, and there's been previously - no mad scramble like we're seeing. There's been a stability in conferences with very little change for decades. So of course I agree money is the issue, but let's pinpoint the other two reasons that explain why it's happening NOW and steamrolling!

College sports have come to be so much about money gradually, but it's the economy that has suddenly put the clamps on the budgets at universities and the available money has dried up quickly -- money to recruit, money to pay the top coaches, and money to use even under the table - and I think you know what I mean if you've been following the stories of scandals at USC and Kansas lately.

Fact # 1 is that almost ALL college athletic departments lose money and are NOT self-sufficient in funding. However - the programs that have big time football, big time football fans, and big time football boosters that give money - generally DO have the money and are not in any trouble - although many of the boosters give money to funds that are NOT used elsewhere in the university -- but only on sports.
Many football programs do generate the big time bucks. But the schools whose fans are mainly basketball fans just don't have that kind of money - are you listening, Kansas?

So - here's what has happened that brings these headlines of conference realignment to the front pages now...

--Political correctness, special interest groups, and pressure on legislators has caused a whole lot of schools to start up and promote sports that are HUGE money losers, especially women's sports. Let's face it - there just isn't a single women's sports program at any school that makes money, and virtually all are HUGE money drains -- and then indirectly those women's sports cause other men's sports to fail for lack of $$. Add to that - some schools cannot start up new men's programs that MIGHT make money (like FGCU is working on trying to get football started) or else, due to title IX, they'll also have to start more, new, money-losing women's programs to satisfy the Title IX requirements.

So all this crap over the past couple decades for the sake of political correctness has put the drain on schools' budgets and they're hanging by a thread in many cases.

--Then - along comes the budget woes....specifically the massive overspending by the governments both federal and state....now this only started within the past couple years...so with the massive overspending on giveaways, stimuluses (actually stimuli), and social garbage including the wasteful health care and jobs giveaways - there's suddenly no money left and sudden tight cutbacks are being issued towards the schools.
States are going broke - in case you haven't read the news....California is going first, but it'll be followed by most of the other states...
but even now the call is out to cut back on spending at schools.

Despite tuition hikes - schools are in trouble so their sports programs take the biggest past of the hit...
Don't buy it?? just read any newspaper, almost any day...
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2010-05-25-tuition25_ST_N.htm
http://www.pbn.com/detail/50317.html
http://www.wsaw.com/news/headlines/95911394.html?ref=394

http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20100606/EDIT05/306069953/1147/EDIT07

The money that schools' athletic programs have been relying on that come from the taxpayer pockets - the money that many people keep trying to convince you doesn't exist - the money they are skimming away from the the citizens and students when they pay tuition...all that money is suddenly drying up and it just isn't there any more. Trust me - this is gonna hurt those public schools way worse, because this is money they have been sucking on for decades all the while denying they're taking it and claiming they are using their own "self-sufficient" funds!

So -- you have the sudden merger of bith increased burdens on athletic departments due to the political correctness crap, and the downturn in the economy so that some season ticket buyers are cutting back and well and booster support, then the recent government wasteful giveaways and the public funds have dried up...and bingo -- the schools MUST look for more revenue sources...
and the lure of the BIGGER EAST COAST, WEST COAST, and Big Ten (big city markets) dollars all of a sudden become very, very attractive to those programs who can make the jump -- which is mainly those programs with the BIG football fan base and appeal.

The whole conference realignment thing sadly - closely resembles the panic and frenzy that's seen when a massive throng of starving 3rd-World people is suddenly given food off the back of a humanitarian aid truck....


So, yes you can blame greed -- but the greed has always been there, the money has always been there...but the trigger that is making it all happen NOW as if something's about to fall off a cliff....is the liberal political correctness that caused so many athletic departments, even at big schools, to buckle under the ridiculous requirements to fund sports that are huge money losers, and then the sudden economic woes brought about by the enormously wasteful government spending that has sent the entire land into an economic downspin.
http://westernfarmpress.com/mag/farming_california_going_broke/

Keep in mind, most people are smarter, most people are frugal, and most have not spent wastefully - so most people can last a little longer without thinking of bankruptcy...
But most governments are out of money, and they've raped the taxpayers so much over the years there's virtually no place left to turn to get more money....
You can't turn to Europe, they're all going bankrupt as well. You can't hike the taxes much more, the people are literally beginning to revolt and those in government actually ARE fearful of the "Tea Party"-type anti-government voices, and the liberal government's lust to keep handing out money to perverts, criminals, lazy people, do-nothings, and many others who simply do not deserve the handouts, virtually guarantees the whole government situation isn't going to get better without a total overhaul of who is there in Washington, Springfield, etc...

But this is about college sports....and yet the sudden moves are all about what is happening behind the scenes....the money at most of the BIG public schools (take Nebraska for instance) is drying up...and those AD's like the Kansas guy who are drawing those $4 million salaries have to begin looking for more wealth and right now it's sitting in a few certain locations like the Big Ten and Pac-10.
The Big 12 - with local markets like Lawrence, KS & Manhattan, KS simply don't have the pull to call the shots any more......

How's this going to affect Bradley - well...a whole lot less than it might affect a few nearby public schools.
Bradley has a HUGE backing from fans and boosters and has never gotten itself drunk and addicted to public funds. Those schools who have and who do NOT have the means to get funded when the cutbacks arrive are going to be hurting...
Those few, constantly whiney fans who blubber at the possibility that maybe ONE Bradley game every year or two might be held on campus simply don't understand what's behind this. If the fans (like the ones griping) always want to just be on the take and demand they be served by the sports programs, then they are living in a dream world. The schools HAVE TO look at other options...every other option...that can help solidify their finances in the future.

Those who whined for years about BU not having an on-campus arena, now are the exact same whiney fans who are crying over the possibility that some of the games might actually be played there. It's kinda funny, really....what would they rather have, maybe the possibility that Bradley would have to drop other sports? Maybe the possibility that BU would have to raise ticket prices more? Or scale back to a D-II-level program??
Nope - if you want to prepare for the coming money crisis, then BU is doing the right thing...they are good at balancing the $$ without using public money and taxpayer dollars that are soon going to dry up, and they are already working on a plan to be more efficient in the future with the money.
The great donors who do give substantial support to Bradley are being treated very well........and that's why they are being given preferential treatment in many areas. People still just don't get it....if you call yourself a Bradley fan then give them support...don't just sit and complain.....the more you sit and complain, the more you both define yourself as NOT really being a Bradley fan and the more you get left out of the future plans at BU.

Boston Celtics beat LA Lakers to go up 3 games to 2...
chack some facts about Kevin Eastman here...
http://twitter.com/xb7