Throughout the college football offseason, realignment dominated much of the discussion as the Pac-12 Conference struggled to come to terms on a new media deal. As a result, the conference is currently left with just four teams heading into the 2024 season, which many are indicating will end its time among the Power Five and, perhaps, its existence altogether. UCLA, USC, Oregon and Washington are joining the Big Ten Conference in 2024, while Arizona, Arizona State and Utah will be members of the Big 12 Conference. In total, the Pac-12 has currently lost eight of its 12 teams heading into next season, reshaping the college football landscape for years to come.
On this weekend’s edition of College GameDay, ESPN aired a segment discussing the dwindling regionalization of college football. Throughout the piece, there were lines such as, “It feels like the game as we love it is destroying itself to save itself,” and, “College football as a regional game of rivalries is fading from memory.” The entirety of the segment, voiced by Wright Thompson, was played on 610 Sports Radio in Kansas City, Kan., during which show hosts Bob Fescoe and Josh Klingler discussed the irony of the top rightsholder airing such a feature.
“The game is not destroying itself,” Fescoe said on Monday morning’s edition of Fescoe in the Morning. “ESPN is destroying the game.”
ESPN has part of the Big 12 broadcast rights and exclusive media deals with the SEC and Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). The network had a chance to renew its Big Ten package; however, it ultimately decided that the SEC was a better value proposition, according to recent comments made by ESPN President of Content Burke Magnus to Barrett Sports Media. Momentum is reportedly increasing towards a move that would see it add existing Pac-12 members UC Berkley and Stanford in addition to Southern Methodist University, a current member of the AAC
“We kind of liked those Saturdays where there were rivalry games,” Fescoe said. “Now there aren’t, [and] we need to get those back. You know what we need to do? Smaller conferences; more regionalized; and get the rivalries back. Oh, you mean where we were a decade ago, sir?”
“Before you guys stepped in and offered up everybody a bunch of money to move around,” added Klingler.
Fescoe discussed the termination of rivalry matchups such as Texas-Texas A&M and Kansas-Missouri because of contracts from television networks. Airing such a segment, he expressed, is insulting to the intelligence of college football fans. Furthermore, it draws questions about how objectively the network can cover the teams and conferences without interfering with business interests. As a result, there was considerable pushback towards the piece on social media.
“You are the reason why we’re here,” Fescoe said, addressing ESPN. “Look in the mirror and understand you’re the problem in all of this. The only problem in college athletics right now is ESPN… or FOX. Well, FOX went along with it because ESPN led the charge.”
“ESPN cannot lament it,” Klingler added. “They are the ones that cannot. They can’t say, ‘We wish it was how it was.’ You cannot produce a piece like that because you’re the source.”
This is a comical take. Putting the blame for all of the recent college athletics moves solely at the feet of ESPN is laughable at best and while letting Fox slide for the most recent cycle is brazenly irresponsible at worst.
Media companies are run to make money and they make decisions in their best interests. It’s literally why they exist. The NCAA is hands off on all decision-making with its most lucrative and impactful sport (outside of meaningless recruiting penalties, to be fair). The NCAA has no decision-making power (at their own choosing) over how they crown a champion, how they disperse TV rights, no jurisdiction over the postseason, conference alignment, schedules etc. They even beg Congress to do their dirty work to enforce the rules they think are best. These are all the reasons why the NCAA literally exists, and they are a ghost.
So, in the vacuum, the power is in the hands of the conferences and thus the biggest, most powerful schools within them. The schools did this to themselves.