College Football: Expansion Talk Still Overshadowing Season

The seismic rumbles sent out of Dallas on Saturday night had little to do with LSU’s demolition of Oregon in the mega match up of Top Five teams on college football’s opening weekend.  They were not created by the Tigers’ raucous fanbase or the obligatory SEC chant. 

In the heart of the Lone Star State with Cowboys Stadium as the backdrop, the biggest story that emerged from the first premier non-conference game of the 2011 season was the media chatter floating around about the potential demise of the Big 12.

Instead of worrying about his league's dismal Week 1 performance, Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott spent the better part of his weekend discussing, and for the most part not denying, the potential for the Pac-12 to add Oklahoma and other schools from the endangered species that appears to be the Big 12 conference.

In fairness to Scott, it was the Sooners who reached out to his conference.  With Texas A&M expected to finalize their departure from the Big 12 to the SEC this week, once again the fate of the Big 12 rests with what Texas decides to do next. 

Sadly, after the longest offseason in the history of college football, even though the season has finally arrived, the headlines will still be dominated by college football’s version of a reality television drama. 

So while school presidents like those at Oklahoma and Texas A&M maneuver in a metaphorical manner similar to an extramarital affair, forgive me in advance while I bash them for interrupting the season that scores of fans like myself have patiently waited for what seems like an eternity. 

The fact that the Texas state legislature is a footnote during college football season makes me want to throw up my lunch from the third grade. 

I’m sure NFL fans would feel similar if they hear anyone mention DeMaurice Smith, Arthur Boylan or anyone else associated with the league’s summer lockout that held football fans hostage for months. 

Fans and media alike should still be reveling in the brilliance of Baylor’s Robert Griffin III, or Auburn’s heart-stopping, beautifully executed onside kick that sparked their escape from a catastrophic defeat.  

Yet going into the second week of the season, college football, as we know it, is preparing to undergo a face-lift of epic proportions. 

It is clear that college football’s exploding popularity makes the business side of the sport equal to a corporate-style structure that promotes a financially aggressive strategy for school presidents and athletic directors across the nation.    

What’s also clear is the unfortunate reality that a sport so ripe and pure with tradition is fading into nothing more than a façade for a bunch of hungry cash-grabbing, pseudo-politicians claiming that their actions represent the best interests of the schools they represent and nothing more. 

Because of that, I've come to the sobering reality that in today's college football, business trumps pleasure.