Don’t Expect Conferences to Care More About Others

College league can't care more about other leagues than what their own can accomplish

Author:
Andy Hodges
Updated:
Jul 4, 2022 2:43 AM EDT
Original:
Jul 3, 2022

In this story:

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Maybe now people will start to realize the harsh reality of college sports that's now completely out in the open.

National pundits can wail all they want about Your Heroes' class schedules and the like until they are blue in the face but it's just for their tender little feelings.

College athletics has been a brutal business for 100 years. Everybody can just see it better now.

Quite frankly, if it's not one of the sports producing revenue the school isn't too worried about what they think and shouldn't. They don't matter in the pecking order.

Fan-CWS Stanford — Razorback fans during a 17-2 win over Stanford on Saturday afternoon. (Crant Osborne / allHOGS Images)

It's all about the real tradition that will never go away: good old-fashioned capitalism.

Professional sports owners have admitted it for years. Their entire structure is about making money and it's the primary concern for everyone involved.

Now college sports is apparently going the same direction.

Some fans will moan and groan. Most will continue to watch because they can afford to do that on the television.

Just as I was told by an Arkansas official several years ago, they don't care about the fans in the regular seats. As long as they keep the premium seats full and present a good few hours on television they make money and the rest doesn't matter.

Some have told me they don't really need the media. A former Razorbacks high-ranking administration member actually considered eliminating the press box and just having spots for radio and television broadcasters. He was serious.

The UA told Coca-Cola they wanted to go back in that direction and ended up making a better deal to change from the off-brand that was sponsoring the Hogs for a decade.

That's been part of a campaign of Hunter Yurachek as athletics director to engage more with the rank-and-file fan.

Hunter Yurchaek-CWS Ole Miss — Arkansas athletics director Hunter Yurachek on the field in Omaha at the Razorbacks' game against Ole Miss in the College World Series. (Crant Osborne / allHOGS Images)

In the end, though, the bottom line matters.

Success in football and basketball is the greatest marketing tool for any big-time university and that's where the real money comes in ... recruiting new freshmen.

Winning games in Razorback Stadium and Bud Walton Arena makes high school seniors want to be part of that experience and they want to be that crowd storming the field after a win over Texas and partying on Dickson St.

To accomplish that, schools need to be at the highest level and that's going to the NFL Lite league that is starting to look like a Big Ten and SEC with probably more than the 16 members they will have soon.

Forget tradition, which is nothing more than a fond look at history.

Whether you like it or not, all that will change.

Which is called the inevitable evolution of progress.