NCAA President Charlie Baker Says He Has 'Concerns' About Conference Realignment

Charlie Baker has made an official statement about the NCAA conference realignment situation.

The NCAA president released the statement to Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated and called the recent developments concerning.

"I share concerns about the impact that the recent spate of conference realignment activities will have on student-athletes' well-being," Baker said in the statement. "The recent conference moves highlight what I found during my review of the issues facing the NCAA—the growing gap between well-resourced Division I schools and the rest of the division is highly disruptive for all of D-I and college sports overall. I believe D-I university and college presidents, commissioners and the NCAA should work together to explore ways to address the impact this growing gap is having on student-athlete well-being and the competitive equity issues across the division."

The former governor of Massachusetts began his position with the NCAA in March, taking over for Mark Emmert after the latter had served in the position for 12 years.

The major dominos of the realignment began when Texas and Oklahoma announced a move to the SEC starting in 2025 and USC and UCLA announced a move to the Big Ten starting in 2024. Both of these announcements preceded Baker's term, but the dismantling of the Pac-12 has materialized in a matter of weeks.

Colorado started the trend by announcing a move to the Big-12 in late July, and it was soon joined by Utah, Arizona and Arizona State. Oregon and Washington also decided to bolt for the Big Ten, and all of this turned the once sturdy Pac-12 into a Pac-4 that is spiraling toward dissolution.

The four remaining schools, Stanford, Cal Berkeley, Oregon State and Washington State, are now desperately searching for what's next, and the landscape of college sports is set to be very confusing. The travel implications with the Big 12 haven't changed much, but the Big Ten is another story.

The conference will now span coast to coast with conference games between schools like Oregon and Rutgers. This has caused concern from athletes at these schools, given just how draining the travel will be.

Baker's statement is the first he has made on the situation, and navigating this new reality will be a major narrative going into his first full academic year in the position.