Break-ups are always hard. Seeing couples who everyone thought would stay together forever just breaks people’s hearts. The National Collegiate Athletic Association is split into different conferences based on where colleges are located. These conferences include the American Conference, Atlantic Coast Conference, Southeastern Conference, Big 12, Big Ten, Conference USA, Mid American, Mountain West, Pac-12, SEC, and the Sun Belt. The Pacific-12, of Pac-12, consists of schools like Oregon University, The University Of Colorado, Washington University, The University Of Southern California and some more.
These colleges all decided to split, and multiple are going to different conferences causing chaos across the college sports world. The Pac-12 should not split. If the Pac-12 Conference split up, the money they would lose and the stress gained would be more than the new money made from new TV channels.
This split will cause the amount of mileage to double and even triple the amount these colleges normally had to do. For example, schools in California now will have to travel all the way to Maryland and vice versa just for one game. This can cause lots of stress on college students who already have to deal with the stress of becoming an adult, and being a college student. According to Soumya V Panchagnula, a family medicine specialist, excessive travel can lead to conditions such as obesity, and insomnia. “For the average American the more they travel the sicker they are,” Panchagnula said. These conditions can take tolls on the human body and cause illnesses and even death.
The second reason that the Pac-12 shouldn’t split up is the cost of the split. The financial factor associated with travel is also a lot. Colleges having to move people and equipment across the country is costly. Also students need to eat food which also costs money. Colleges can’t use all their funds on just sports. The influx in sports money would destroy the economy of some of these colleges. For example a flight at Allegiant Airlines from the University Of Southern California to Ohio State University, is $145.00. A college football team has 125 active traveling players. Which means for just the players not including coaching staff, media, and families there and back is $36,250.00 alone. This is more than any other game USC has had to travel to.
The last reason is the chaos of scheduling sports events. Certain colleges have specific sports based on where they are located. For example colleges in the Western part of America have summer sports like swimming and canoeing, while schools in the Eastern part have more cold sports like hockey and ice skating. Now, due to the mix up of conferences, sports may not have a schedule because there will be no opponent to play. This isn’t fair to the young adults who came to college to play the sport that they love, and spend money on.
Even though all of this is happening there is some light to this situation. The schools will generate a lot more national recognition and television money by joining other broadcasts. The Western schools broadcasting isn’t as popular as schools in the South and the East. By generating more money, schools can pay for the expenses of traveling, and use the other profits for different aspects of their school.
The best solution to all of this is the Pac-12 staying together, and providing more streaming options and services so they can bring in more money. Therefore universities don’t have to worry about losing money. Students don’t have to worry about a massive change or losing their scholarships. The Pac-12 should stay together and not disperse to keep balance in the college sports world.
