As Big Ten expands and Pac-12 implodes, a financial reckoning shakes college athletics

One of the most unintentionally and patently absurd moments in sports history took place two years ago this month in response to a thunderclap that shook college sports.

In a panic move to news that Big 12 standard-bearers Texas and Oklahoma were bolting for the SEC, commissioners from the Big Ten, Pac-12 and ACC announced a partnership in solidarity that became known as the "Alliance." The triumvirate professed a desire for stability in a fast-changing climate.

Except, the three conference leaders failed to put whatever they agreed to in writing.

"It's about trust," ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips said that day. "We've looked each other in the eye."

That declaration was laugh-out-loud naive, knowing what we knew then and even more so now.

Two years later …

The Big Ten has effectively killed the Pac-12.

The ACC is facing a crisis with nervous and agitated Florida State officials openly discussing defection.

The last vestiges of a Pollyanna notion of tradition and geography providing order in college sports have been sandblasted from existence by the seductive power of TV money. The cannibalism between major conferences has turned the entire enterprise into a real-life game of "Survivor."

It's as if industry leaders are using Gordon Gekko's words as their compass: Greed is good.

The Big Ten (soon-to-be 18) severely wounded the Pac-12 by poaching USC and UCLA last summer. The Big Ten went back for seconds on Friday with the Pac-12 clinging to survival after Colorado, Arizona, Arizona State and Utah shifted their allegiance to the Big 12.

Oregon and Washington wisely accepted the Big Ten's life preserver as the ship sank and will join the league in 2024.

The driving force behind this chaos is money, of course. Those in leadership positions are using three Fs to guide decision-making: Football, Footprint and Finances.

Modern media rights deals have soared so astronomically that if TV executives tell conferences to jump, they'll ask if they should jump off one foot or two.

The gap between the rich (Big Ten and SEC) and less rich (everyone else) has grown so wide in revenue distribution that greed and envy have created a game of musical chairs with schools swapping conferences.

The University of Minnesota provides a snapshot of that changing financial landscape. In the past decade, the rise of revenue from media rights deals and Big Ten profit-sharing distributions for bowl games and NCAA tournament appearances in the Gophers athletic department budget has been dramatic.

In 2012 the Gophers reported $25.3 million from those sources, which amounted to 30.3% of total revenue. For 2022, that number was $60.8 million and accounted for 45%.

ESPN projects annual distribution to increase to about $70 million for Big Ten schools that receive a full share under new TV pacts and expanded football playoffs.

Only the SEC resides in that neighborhood financially, leaving other conferences feeling as if they are racing Usain Bolt while carrying a sofa. The financial disparity sparked a rather remarkable edict from Florida State President Richard McCullough, who told his board of trustees that receiving $30 million less annually than the SEC and Big Ten in distribution creates an "existential crisis."

"I believe FSU will have to, at some point, consider very seriously leaving the ACC unless there were a radical change to the revenue distribution," McCullough said.

I have been a proponent of Big Ten expansion primarily because of the novelty and excitement that comes with adding schools with brand names. But it's hard not to feel a little dismayed at how much has changed so quickly and what has been lost in the process.

Long-standing rivalries have ceased. The Big Ten's Midwest footprint now stretches from sea to shining sea, making team travel exponentially more complicated and expensive for schools and time-consuming for student-athletes.

Anyone who doubts that student-athletes will experience more challenges in balancing school and sports in the new Big Ten is being blinded by dollar signs.

It also feels crass to shrug with complete disregard at the destruction of an entire conference. The Pac-12 created its own demise with a series of missteps, and now what becomes of its remaining members is anyone's guess.

Fans will need a flowchart to keep track of and remember all the changes in conference makeup. To think, at some point, Rutgers will play Oregon in a Big Ten football game.

Strange times, indeed. And only the naive believe expansion will stop here at 18 schools.