Reacting in June 2022 to the then-shocking news of UCLA and USC leaving the Pac-12 Conference for the longtime-Rose-Bowl-rival Big Ten, Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated wrote, "It makes sense, but it also sucks." Things, particularly for the Pac-12, have only gotten suckier since.
The 108-year-old conference has lost six more members, including five last Friday alone, and is down to just four schools. The era of the coast-to-coast conference is here, and to borrow Forde's year-old question, at what cost?
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On Monday, NCAA president Charlie Baker broke a tradition of silence for the association by weighing in on matters of conference realignment. In doing so, he joined a growing chorus of critics who question the decisions being made at the conference level and their potential impact on athlete travel and time away from academics.
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“I share concerns about the impact that the recent spate of conference realignment activities will have on student-athletes’ well-being," Baker said in a statement to SI. "The recent conference moves highlight what I found during my review of the issues facing the NCAA — the growing gap between well-resourced Division I schools and the rest of the division is highly disruptive for all of DI and college sports overall. I believe DI university and college presidents, commissioners and the NCAA should work together to explore ways to address the impact this growing gap is having on student-athlete well-being and the competitive equity issues across the division.”
"It's unusual, if not unprecedented, for an active NCAA president to comment critically on realignment moves within the association's membership," Forde wrote Monday. "Baker and the NCAA have no official role in conference membership, so his ability to impact what's happening in that realm is limited. But his concerns echo much of what has been said in the aftermath of the raiding of the Pac-12, which aroused a coast-to-coast outcry. These are massive decisions that will affect member schools and their athletes for years to come, with seemingly little regard for anything other than increased profit."
Forde went on to point out that Baker's release of his review findings last week "was largely lost in the clamor over realignment."
"College sports remains in a period of dramatic transformation, and the NCAA must evolve in response to and anticipation of these changes," Baker said in a statement last week. "We can no longer pretend things are as they always have been — and our new way of doing business will ready the national office to move forward with urgency, purpose and a plan. I believe the results of this review provide a compelling and detailed vision that every NCAA action should anchor to."
