With college sports more in disarray than ever, Big Ten left searching for answers
The SCORE act is dead and there's discord everywhere as college sports' leaders seek help from anywhere they can get it.
RANCHO PALOS VERDES, Calif. — Within a lavish conference room here on Tuesday morning, Big Ten university presidents and chancellors gathered for another scheduled meeting. This one came with the casual — but likely intentional – mention of a comment made from a man 1,800 miles away: Iowa State athletic director Jamie Pollard.
A day earlier, while speaking to local reporters in Iowa about the SEC and Big Ten’s potential NCAA breakaway discussions, Pollard suggested that the other FBS conference should just “let’em go. ” If the four leagues cannot agree on changes to the College Sports Commission, they just might. Pollard’s comment jarred those here and resulted in a mention within the meeting room from the Big Ten commissioner himself — yet another sign of division among the four power conferences, two of them financially pulling away from the others.
“We thought 350 [schools] in Division I was too many, then 130 [in FBS] was too many and now it turns out that 65 [power conference schools] is too many,” said one Big Ten athletic director. “It only works if you self-govern. ” In the final days of the Big Ten’s four-day administrative meetings, university presidents and chancellors and their athletic directors dug in on the topic du jour: What new-fangled idea will college sports executives come up with this time to attempt to regulate the industry?
A conference-only governing model away from the NCAA? An increase in the revenue-share cap and luxury tax? Collective bargaining?
Continue to the original source for the full article.