Big East, Big 12 & SEC: Money for Changing Conferences but No Money for Players

At a time when college presidents are resisting the payment of stipends to scholar athletes, Texas A&M and Missouri have agreed to pay $12.4 million each to leave the Big 12 and join the SEC in July 2012.

Something seems so wrong about this. BCS schools can afford to buy themselves out of contracts for millions, but won’t spend one dime to provide even a minimum stipend to athletes generating revenues, in many cases, of more than $80 million a year.

Texas A&M and Missouri are not alone in the shifting landscape of college football conferences. West Virginia joined the Big 12 in October 2010 and sued the Big East in Virginia to get out of the conference without waiting the contractually required 27 months.

Meanwhile, the Big East filed its own lawsuit in Rhode Island. Each sought home court advantage known in the law biz as "forum shopping."

West Virginia, on the road, in Rhode Island would be a prohibitive underdog. Conversely, the Big East would not fare any better in Virginia.

It looked like it was going to be a home and home series until the Charleston West Virginia Daily Mail leaked the settlement revealing that West Virginia contributed $11 million and the Big 12 covering the balance.

West Virginia athletic director Oliver Luck said West Virginia could receive about $18 million to $19 million a year in television payouts, more than double past revenues playing in the Big East.

Luck, the father of QB Andrew Luck, also stressed that no state or taxpayer funds, tuition or academic support money will be used to pay the settlement. Luck claimed that all funds will come from private sources and independently generated athletic revenues.

It seems to me that if colleges can generate funds from private sources and independently generated athletic revenues to buy their way out of conferences, the same private sources could arguably help fund stipends to college football players.

Why is this so important to college football fans? It seems that most NCAA violations arise from players that come from disadvantaged families where even a $3,000 a year stipend during the academic year would have a dramatic affect on their lives.

The rash of college football players being arrested for burglaries, stealing laptop computers and even credit card related mischief has increased dramatically as the economy has tanked.

Why has it increased so dramatically? It's because low income families cannot afford to send money to their children living in college on scholarship.

In the case of athletes in the Pac-12, where the conference limits meals to once a day, the hardship is even greater.

Conferences telling fans that a college scholarship is amble compensation for risking a player’s health while experiencing multiple and often debilitating orthopedic injuries, isn’t being received well.

NCAA member schools are beginning to look like the classic fat cat from the depression, who smoked cigars holding bottles of champagne while the families of many of their best student athletes are struggling at the poverty line.

College presidents have adopted Mitt Romney’s position that "I'm not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there."

Fans don’t see a safety net for college football players from disadvantaged homes. Nor do fans see any likelihood that college presidents will find a heart and correct this injustice. As long as they can get away with the status quo, there will be no change.