They come together as the last vestige of hope to save the honor and purity of the most popular part of our American education system: college football. That's how nobly the leaders of the newly formed and boringly named "Alliance" described their mission Tuesday, anyway.
In reality, the commissioners of the Big Ten, Pac-12, and Atlantic Coast Conferences formed their little group in a panic. The Alliance is a counterattack to the successful power- and money-grab the Southeastern Conference and ESPN executed on the sport last month.
The Alliance is destined to fail, by the way. But you have to admire the all-out efforts people are willing to make when greed and gluttony are on the line.
We're getting a firsthand finance lesson about unfettered capitalism. This is what a multibillion-dollar industry looks like without boundaries, guidance, oversight, or leaders. So far, it's the Wild West.
So much is happening so quickly. Here's a little primer: The Supreme Court struck down the NCAA's founding principle of amateurism, saying it's not right to make billions on the backs of unpaid labor. Name, image, and likeness laws now allow athletes to market themselves and get paid. The NCAA has been castrated and is organizing a constitutional convention. And plans are in the works to expand the College Football Playoff.
The SEC, with ESPN's help and blessing, stole power players Texas and Oklahoma from the Big 12 so all the power and all the money of the sport would funnel to the conference.
The SEC claimed ownership of the sport. And then, on Tuesday came the Alliance.
(Cue in superhero music.) "What became clear in our conversations is that our institutions share values, interests and the genuine and dedicated commitment to the educational commitments of our world-class institutions," ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said.
"We need to make sure we have shared values, we keep academics first, we keep our integrity, our honor and our collaboration together," Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren said.
Wow. The stench was high. The three conferences are basically forming a voting bloc that will allow them to keep the SEC from making all the rules and deciding how to split up billions of dollars. So, say, the vote comes up on what to do with the College Football Playoff, the Alliance might be able to stop the SEC from tipping the tournament its way.
The Alliance members also will have their football teams schedule each other as a means of getting more attractive TV games.
It's a good try, thrown together in five weeks since the SEC stole Texas and Oklahoma. Rich guys in suits act fast when their corner offices are in jeopardy.
Why will this never work? Because, as the saying goes, there is no honor among thieves. These three commissioners use words like honor and integrity and collaboration. But that sounds like a punch line coming out of their mouths.
They weren't worried about the SEC and ESPN hoarding all the money because that would take away from education. No, they are worried about being left out.
Meanwhile, the Alliance left out the one other power conference: The Big 12. Why is that? Because the Big 12 without Texas and Oklahoma doesn't turn on TVs. The Big 12 will die soon.
TV is apparently one of the Alliance's shared values.
They are motivated only by following the dollar. This is about self-preservation.
At the same time they're angry that the SEC stole Texas and Oklahoma, they're also kicking themselves for not thinking of it first. Meanwhile, they also were panicked that the SEC might come after their most valuable pieces, too.
The Alliance doesn't have the power to fight off the SEC or ESPN, and not only that, it doesn't have the will to hold the Alliance together. As soon as the SEC comes after one of theirs, look out.
When you operate on greed, you become vulnerable to someone else's greed.
That doesn't sound quite as noble as the cause the Alliance members are claiming. In fact, their whole commitment to each other is done on a handshake with no contract.
"It's about trust," Phillips said. "It's about, we've looked each other in the eye. We've made an agreement. If that's (a contract) what it takes to get something considerable done, then we've lost our way."
College sports lost its way? Go figure.It's official. Big Ten college football will return in October.
The Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors announced Wednesday after a unanimous vote that the conference's football season will resume on the weekend of Oct. 23-24. The announcement follows reports that a proposal had been approved for the league to resume play and a hot mic moment from the University of Nebraska's president suggesting an announcement was imminent.
Each school is to play eight games in a nine-week window, with the league title game tentatively set for Dec. 19, the Journal Sentinel reported. The decision on whether fans will be able to attend the games will likely be left up to individual schools.
In August, the Big Ten voted to postpone all college sports, including football, because of concerns over the coronavirus pandemic. The Pac-12 presidents and chancellors soon followed suit, also voting to postpone its own fall sports season.
The Big Ten's statement announcing the resumed play indicates student-athletes, coaches, trainers, and anyone else on the field for practice and games will undergo daily antigen testing for COVID-19. The decision to play was reportedly made after hours of deliberation Sunday afternoon in cooperation with the Big Ten Return to Competition Task Force, a team of medical experts that established rules and procedures to maintain the health and safety of the teams.
"Everyone associated with the Big Ten should be very proud of the groundbreaking steps that are now being taken to better protect the health and safety of the student-athletes and surrounding communities," Dr. Jim Borchers, the head team physician at Ohio State University and co-chair of the Return to Competition Task Force medical subcommittee, said.
"Our focus with the Task Force over the last six weeks was to ensure the health and safety of our student-athletes. Our goal has always been to return to competition so all student-athletes can realize their dream of competing in the sports they love," Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren said. "We are incredibly grateful for the collaborative work that our Return to Competition Task Force have accomplished to ensure the health, safety and wellness of student-athletes, coaches and administrators."
Daily testing for football will begin by Sept. 30. Other Big Ten college sports will also require testing protocols before they may return to play. The Big Ten will soon announce updates on men's and women's basketball, men's ice hockey, men's and women's swimming and diving, wrestling, and other winter sports.
The Pac-12 is also in discussion to return to play this year. ESPN reported that the "most aggressive" return plan is looking at mid-to-late November to see play return. The Pac-12 has partnered with Quidel Corporation, an FDA-approved rapid tests manufacturer, to prepare to test student-athletes daily for the coronavirus. However, schools in California and Oregon are dependent on state public officials to be cleared to resume play.
Penn State's director of athletic medicine said Monday that roughly one-third of Big Ten athletes who have tested positive for COVID-19 have heart inflammation, according to the Centre Daily Times.
Dr. Wayne Sebastianelli said during a State College Area school board of directors meeting that 30% to 35% of the infected athletes showed signs of myocarditis on their MRIs. Concern over the condition was at least part of the reason the Big Ten canceled its fall football season.
"When we looked at our COVID-positive athletes, whether they were symptomatic or not, 30% to roughly 35% of their heart muscles (were) inflamed," Sebastianelli said, the Centre Daily Times reported. "And we really just don't know what to do with it right now. It's still very early in the infection. Some of that has led to the Pac-12 and the Big Ten's decision to sort of put a hiatus on what's happening."
Myocarditis, Sebastianelli said, can have a noticeable impact on an athlete's performance capacity, and can be potentially fatal if it is not treated in a timely manner.
"You could have a very high-level athlete who's got a very superior VO2 max and cardiac output who gets infected with COVID and can drop his or her VO2 max and cardiac output just by 10%, and that could make them go from elite status to average status," Sebastianelli said. "We don't know that. We don't know how long that's going to last.
"What we have seen when people have been studied with cardiac MRI scans — symptomatic and asymptomatic COVID infections — is a level of inflammation in cardiac muscle that is just alarming," Sebastianelli continued.
The Big Ten released its fall football schedule on Aug. 5, with plans for a 10-game season beginning in early September. Six days later, the conference totally changed course, canceling the fall season and expressing hope that they could play in the spring.
At the time of the cancellation, Commissioner Kevin Warren explained to ESPN that concerns over testing and contact tracing capacity, as well as an increased number of cases, led to the cancellation.
"Trends have not improved, they've become worse," Warren told ESPN in August. "You add that up, and you're getting ready to go into more formal practice, it's just a level of not only concerns, but unknown risks are large. When you're dealing with the health of human beings, it's serious."
Between the release of the schedule and the sudden cancelation, a notable report came out — a report published by ESPN one day before the cancelation detailing concerns about myocarditis, which at that time had been found in five Big Ten athletes.
Interestingly, while Warren has canceled football for the Big Ten, his own son is set to play this fall at Mississippi State. The SEC, ACC, and Big 12 conferences did not cancel their fall schedules.
Virtually all sports are hostage to the conundrums faced by a changing media landscape.
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