By Sam Murray
With college basketball season in full form only weeks before March Madness, the issue of conference realignment in college sports always becomes a major topic.
Over the past five years, all of the major college sport conferences have added or lost schools to other conferences.
The ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, PAC 12, SEC, and the Big East conference have all seen changes in which universities are competing in their conference.
“It is hard to keep up with what school is playing in what conference now a day,” said freshman John Hardin.
“I remember when the ACC only had 9 teams, but in a few years it will be up to 16.”
Basically, the major athletic conferences in college athletics have all expanded in order to create more revenue.
The more schools that play in your conference, the more money that conference is going to make over a period of time. That is why the ACC is adding schools like Louisville, Pittsburgh, and Notre Dame.
This year was the first year that Texas A&M and Missouri participated in the SEC.
By expanding the conferences like this, we are starting to see an interesting travel issue that is created by adding schools.
SEC, stands for the Southeastern Athletic Conference. By looking at a map you can easily tell that Universities like Texas A&M and Missouri are not schools located in the southeast. But money is the biggest reason why schools will make a sacrifice like increase in travel for games.
Texas A&M and Missouri will generate much more revenue by playing their athletic events in the SEC than they did in the Big 12 Conference.
All of the conference changes have students wondering if our local North Carolina universities will be changing conferences.
“I always get worried that Duke, UNC or NC State will leave the ACC,” said freshman Craig Wilson.
“The ACC is such a good conference and it would be crazy if the local schools split up.”
Although it is very unlikely that any of the three Triangle schools will leave the ACC, it is hard to keep up with who is in what conference today.
The amount of money that these universities make because of college football and basketball is changing how schools look at the conference they play in.
It is no longer about pride or rivalry games. It is strictly about how we can profit the most.