Bye Bye Big 12! Hold onto your seat cushions, the Big 12 will soon be defunct. And what is the root cause of the demise of what has been a hallowed athletic conference boasting powerhouse football, men's basketball, baseball, track and field, women's basketball, swimming and cross country teams for decades? TV money, or just money. It's all about the Benjamins. But hold on, is it really that smart in the long term for Nebraska and Colorado and the Texas/Oklahoma combine to cut and run now? From this distance and with an admitted lack of understanding of the legal implications I don't think so. Here's why.
Everyone knows football is the big dog. They command the television markets in the US, hands down. But what does the financial picture look like in ten or twenty years-assuming Iran hasn't pulled the plug on all of us? Here are some things to contemplate. Football goes away, I mean completely as we know it today; pro, college and high school. And why? Two words, head injuries! The impact of medical science determining that after one concussion, a person is destined to experience diminution of the quality and quantity of their LIFE with a second concussion! How many parents or even bullet proof young people are going to want to risk certain life threatening consequences for the sake of Bubba and the Tailgaters (and that ain't no music group)? If you want to kill something as the old addage goes "take the head and the rest will follow" pretty much says it all. Football is just too violent for its own good. But if you try to take away the violence...uh oh! What you got then? SOCCER. Ouch.
But the violence problem resulting in inexorable brain damage after ONE CONCUSSION isn't the only problem-fatal though it may be. How about the burgeoning international popularity of basketball? Which brings me back to various institutions deep sixing the Big 12. The implications for KU and it's glorious basketball program are gigantic. They got no home dude. Of yeah they'll get picked up at some point but it won't go down the way anyone who cares about KU or basketball wants. Unless...here's a thought...KU...goes out on its own and with other powerful basketball schools establishes its own conference, one based solely on HOOP!
Here's how this could go down. KU contacts the richest basketball institutions in the country with not so rich or downright bankrupt football traditions like of say, KENTUCKY, SYRACUSE, UCONN, DUKE, UCLA, NORTH CAROLINA, LOUISVILLE, INDIANA, MICHIGAN STATE to go with the Hawks and form the American Basketball Conference. The television contract (ABC nee ESPN) they could generate for their games would be huge. Heck, with the NCAA penalties USC is facing maybe they'd opt in too. C ya Kiffin!
And there are a lot of other teams that would love to get in such a prestigious conference. Would they drop football you ask? Have their medical staff consider the implications of trying to prevent concussions when two 6 foot 5 inch 275 lb hell bent 20 year old young men hurtling at one another at roughly 4.4 forty yard speed collide. Let's see what could be done to assure said gladiators will be able to sit in the bleachers at their kids' high school graduation rather than view it from a chair with chrome wheels.
What will the future hold for football and it's position of economic pre eminence in 2010? Can't say for sure but you have to admit the two headed monster of head injuries and growing popularity ($$$ value)of basketball internationally in a world shrinking by the nano second does give pause. Could KU lead a movement to create a national athletic conference intent on cornering the men's college basketball market, and position itself for the potential demise of intercollegiate football. Up here in the cheapseats we think it could happen! But then again, we thought Shaq would be a dud in the NBA. Go figure.
No comments:
Post a Comment