Although schools moving conferences has been a hot topic over the past few years, the temperature on conference realignment burst the mercury yesterday with the news that the Big Ten was looking to expand if the Pac 12 crumbled, Florida State President Richard McCullough saying they will leave the ACC without major changes to the revenue model, among other big topics. For those hoping to see Gonzaga leave the WCC, all of the news has been rather dispiriting.
Gonzaga had its fair share of this talk in recent years, after looking into a shift to the Mountain West Conference and, more recently, floated as a theoretical pick-up for the Big 12.
The latter portion there has been a sort of dream scenario for Gonzaga fans who are sick and tired of the Bulldogs in the West Coast Conference. The Big 12 is the premier basketball conference. It is a completely weird fit on every other aspect–size and location of partner schools. But to compete against the likes of Kansas and Baylor offsets any of those concerns.
The dream was conceived by Big 12 Commish Brett Yormack, who sees basketball as an undervalued asset in the realm of college sports. However, with the quick addition of Colorado to the Big 12 while the Pac 12 appears to slowly crumble in front of our eyes, and schools such as Arizona and Arizona State thrown around as possible additions, we can note Yormack’s dream as a noble one that ultimately can’t get past the one true rule in college athletics: Football rules the roost.
That doesn’t mean by any stretch that the dream of Gonzaga competing in a conference other than the WCC is dead. At this exact moment in time, it is not something we should expect to bear witness to. There are bigger fish to fry at the moment–entire schools of fish. And all of it is coming down to a bunch of people who only want to make more money. History of rivalries be damned. Time zones are a man-made construct. The only thing that matters in life is money. The real national champion isn’t the team hoisting the trophy–it is the school that earns the most from its media rights deals.
I’ve been long reluctant to peg Gonzaga as changing conferences as necessary for their “survival,” as it sometimes gets bandied about by die-hard fans. Because proof is a vital ingredient of pudding, Gonzaga has clearly shown it can succeed in its current setup: Four No. 1 seeds in the past six years and two national championship appearances make it hard to suggest otherwise.
I’m also reluctant to assert that anything would be different if Gonzaga had not been in the WCC. Gonzaga didn’t lose against UNC in 2017 and Baylor in 2021 because they don’t play as tough of competition in March as the rest. Someone is welcome to believe that, of course, but there is no way to use that altered timeline theory and state it as if it were some sort of fact. Could it have played a part? Sure. Can we prove that in any way? Nope.
The one thing I am not as reluctant to assert is that Gonzaga will potentially lose its relevancy on the national stage if it stays in the WCC. And the reason for this is the crux of all of this conference realignment nonsense is the same reason that SEC Idiot Greg Sankey wants to expand the NCAA Tournament–these moves make a bunch of people more rich.
If the Big 12 goes from 12 members to 16 members, what is to stop it from scheduling 22 conference games instead of 18? The Big 10 already plays 20 conference games. If they absorb the likes of Washington, Oregon, Cal, and Stanford, that is more games to get on national media outlets. More games = more money.
And that is where all of this conference realignment aka bloat becomes a bad thing–not just for Gonzaga but for all of the other little guys in the room. There are only so many games in a season. Gonzaga’s ability to schedule premier non-conference games is what ensures a potential No. 1 seed in March after the doldrums of WCC play are finished.
The NCAA Tournament is one of the holy grails of sports. As big of a moneymaker as it is, it still pales in comparison to the amount of revenue brought in by college football. CBS’s deal to broadcast March Madness is worth $1.1 billion for 67 total games. ESPN currently pays roughly $470 million for the College Football Playoff broadcast rights. That value will skyrocket after the CFP expands to 12 teams, with some throwing around a number of over $2 billion.
That is the monumental difference in sums we are talking about here. And that is why it is important to note that for all of this conference madness that is happening, Gonzaga, as a school without a football team, is not a major player and has little leverage in conversations.
As hard as it is to do so, as Gonzaga fans, we are forced to sit on the sidelines and watch this happen from afar. That isn’t to say Gonzaga will be stuck in the WCC forever. For the time being, however, the dust on the football scrum needs to settle before we can take a top-level view at where the Zags fit in all of this.
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