How Does Conference Realignment Affect Women's Soccer?

Chicago State moving conferences...again...now to the NEC.

At least there's a major airport nearby. Not fun travel in this one.

 

Pretty sad indeed. Or even tragic for college sports in general. I find it disgusting that pure greed is now dominating and is trashing the notion of collegial sports. (Not to worry. It's "just business" Got to get those millions to succeed!)

And just for icing on the cake, I assume, kind readers, that everyone is aware that now a number of football drunk universities are now profiting (potentially millions per year) from gambling by allowing ads in all of their promotional efforts to students, staff, and alumni, praising the fun of betting and encouraging them to bet often using their cell phones). The Michigan State AD says: "The opportunity to partner with Caesars, a leading force in the sports and entertainment industry, will help enhance gameday experiences for Spartan fans and provide significant resources to support the growing needs of each of our varsity programs.” And, of course, the universities will allow the betting companies to educate young men and women about how to bet responsibly while at the same time making available all of the exciting ways they could bet and win money. (Gosh, do these football universities also send out frequent promotions to train students exciting ways to do research and write papers?) And parents footing the bill for college would be thrilled to know that their 18 to 22 year olds are seeing ads for betting all over campus. To my knowledge starting in 2021 about 25 universities are now involved, and a small backlash has begun focusing on the vulnerability of young bettors and some of the betting companies have stopped soliciting colleges if students are a target.

The above is just a note about what can happen when when $$ greed rules over the whole notion of college and university. We soccer fans(and other Olympic sports at colleges and universities) also are dragged into looking at this morass. Is there any chance that a solution to the three "conferences" who started this and then even the ACC was forced into taking on California schools and now next year there will be 4 coast to coast "conferences" until a new paradigm solves the greed problem.
Sad to see the PAC 12 go and most everyone seems to think that the ACC will be next in that its television market just can't compete.

 

Nothing screams Northeast Conference like Chicago. Make it stop Ponchat!

 

If you have not seen or heard about this, the story is below, this is real and a game-changer! The NCAA is reacting to a lawsuit from athletes, claiming ALL the revenue is based on their NIL and students deserve a bigger share of the Billions not just the thousands.

This would effectively separate the BCS schools getting the big TV revenue from everyone else. And would also affect the distribution or trickle down of revenue to everyone else in all 3 divisions.


NCAA proposing new college athletics subdivision rooted in direct athlete compensation

https://sports.yahoo.com/ncaa-propo...in-direct-athlete-compensation-145051537.html

 

Call me old school, but I’ve always thought that providing an education to fall back on, the opportunity to fine tune your skills, and the ability to showcase those skills for a potential pro career was worth quite a bit. I have no problem with an 18 year old who thinks they’ve got what it takes to make the jump straight to the pros and skip college. But if they don’t go that route, paying them is absurd. Having said that, I have no problem with kids making money on their own. Advertising. Jersey sales. Signing autographs. It just shouldn’t come from the school or boosters.

This proposal is idiotic, but not surprising, given the idiotic decisions made for conference realignment and the transfer portal. They’ve ruined college basketball and football. They’re now working on the rest of the sports. Greed does kill.

 

Agree with that generally @KeepitontheDeck

Not many readers here are getting paid to think about the exact solution or model every day for hours and hours but college sports is facing a big decision point.

Stay in the "amateur" realm as an extension of the educational process/system or just become a more entrenched minor league or farm system for the pros.

The problem is the middle ground, where we are, is super profitable and those with the money are making the rules. I think it's interesting how baseball has developed a completely separate and multi-level minor league system that runs parallel with college baseball. Soccer is developing that system slowly as well (mainly for the men). But Pro football and basketball seem fine letting US colleges prepare their pros and that "collusion" has poisoned the system. You notice all the pro sports "PA"s support more money in the college system. Funny that it's not their money! The pro leagues don't want to commit to run minor leagues like baseball when someone is already doing it for them.

Paying players is already tipping the scales within the BCS and any plan to increase payments could easily lead to the crazy competition that could bankrupt some schools and athletic departments. At a time when higher education generally is as unpopular as ever with the supply of students decreasing steadily for a generation (aka the demographic cliff). Even Flagship P5s are having budget issues (AZ, WVU, Rutgers, Wisconsin, long list). Are they really going to raise tuition and fees to buy trucks for football players?

My respect is growing for the Ivy's, and the Patriot League and even the Big East that didn't drink the football bowl kool-aid to try to protect the integrity of their mission as universities.

Soccer folks involved in the P4 just need to buckle up!

 

Only going off the release, it seems that the push for Chicago State to have an FCS football team could be a motivating factor for the move. Yes, geographically it makes zero sense.

But, as mentioned previously about a the NEC and ASUN comparison, what conference really wants Chicago State anyway?

 

NCAA President Baker was just on the Mens Soccer Final broadcast talking about reforms. i.e. allowing for health insurance expansion for all Divisions. Recapturing control of NIL with consumer "protections" for athletes. but then allowing the schools to distribute the NIL revenue through a trust fund each school would establish and fund.

Some other takes around the D1 powers.
Not everyone is onboard, or going to be "all about the money". If you lose the Federal anti-trust exemption from Congress by admitting athletes should be paid, then Everyone may have to pay. Imagine every student-athlete in all divisions being able to claim a minimum wage? I think that is a big big fear.

This from the Pitt AD -

Putting a finer point on the NCAA's efforts with Congress is Pittsburgh Athletic Director Heather Lyke, an ACC representative on the NCAA Division I Council.

She told On3 that it is "really important to get a bill and to get antitrust protection. Keep kids as students and protect all of college sports. If we start paying them, Division II and III [are at risk], and how do you even keep all of Division I together? So many people couldn't afford it."

 

Maybe they will all become "interns"!

 

FSU is taking legal action against ACC Grant of Rights. Long and expensive battle ahead? Will be interesting to see who is backing this move financially for FSU and if they are actually able to make an exit.

On the opposite coast, Oregon State and Washington State officially become affiliate members of WCC for next two years in WoSo until they figure out if/how to rebuild PAC 12.

 

Once the move to make college athletes employees in a couple of years the future powers of college soccer (men’s and women’s) will be those universities who are members of the P2 (SEC and B1G), unless there are regulations in place which cap salaries so that most schools can truly compete. Which won’t happen. The NCAA doesn’t have the will power and Congress doesn’t have the interest to delve to such a depth in the matter. The football revenues from the networks will drive everything. The existing revenue gaps have already made a difference in “minor” sports. Go visit every SEC campus and marvel at the baseball palaces and other athletics facilities. The revenue gaps between those two conferences and the others is only going to get much larger. Once those monies become available to formally employ athletes the two conferences will dominate every sport that they are interested in dominating.

 

SEC doesn’t have men’s soccer so I imagine it will be a while before they all really compete on soccer specific facilities (with exceptions). South Carolina had been the most consistently good/best SEC team for years now and their facilities are dreadful. Teams like Arkansas and Alabama are making a big push though and you can see where the money is trickling down. Georgia is really the one to keep an eye on in the SEC though in my mind. SEC and Big 10 definitely have a $$$ advantage now, but I don’t see a future where it’s just SEC and Big 10 dominating every sport. ACC still has the biggest basketball properties (for now). You also have to want to go to school/live in Nebraska/Alabama/Arkansas/Mississippi . Money will definitely buy a lot, but only so much.

 

What are the "PAs" you are referring to in pro sports?

 

Right now football and basketball players are not only getting full, four-year academic scholarships--which includes of course housing, food, medical care, tutoring, counseling and coaching---plus NIL money. And some think athletic department revenue should be shared with them (and other student-athletes) as well. It's ludicrous. But the P5 schools and conferences have all sold out to the TV networks and TV money--and to commercialism generally. And has they seek to further lengthen the football season with a bigger playoff tourney, it becomes harder to argue against the fact that student-athletes should be paid. It's all very American: when something is successful, we love squeezing every penny out of it and running it into the ground. The NCAA needs some very good lawyers or it will all get even more stupid and ridiculous than it is now. And tampering is rampant.

 

PA is Player Association. Their union.

The pro players are generally happy having colleges run a minor league for them so the NFL and NBA don't have to do it, and so pay for it.

 

They have definitely sold out. The networks own college sports currently and into the foreseeable future. But the revenue sharing push comes from a different arena than the networks. It’s coming from the courts, including the Supreme Court’s majority opinions in recent years. It’s going to happen and soon. We just don’t know the timing, structure and parameters yet.

 

I tend to go a bit wild in my imaginations, so you are probably more correct than me. I was careful to limit my prediction to “every sport they are interested in dominating”. Men’s and Women’s soccer might not make the cut…but maybe they will. Men’s basketball definitely will.

 

The irony is that the NCAA would not allow postseason tournaments in Oregon for decades,because the state had college sports betting as part of their lottery system to help fund education.

at the same time, they had no issue with sports betting in Vegas.

 

Here is one interesting effect of the upcoming conference realignment, from the NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Annual Report:

"Starting August 1, 2024, the composition [of the Division I Women's Soccer Committee] will include ten members which must include one [each] from the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC; three members from the seven highest ranked conferences using the success factor (not including the previously mentioned four) and the final three slots will be from the remaining conferences. A minimum of 50 percent of the committee members must be administrators."

Previously, 6 of the 10 members had to represent Football Bowl Subdivision schools and 4 Football Championship Subdivision or other schools. The FBS schools are the schools in the ACC, Big Twelve, American, Big Ten, CUSA, Mid-American, Mountain West, Pac 12 [still?], SEC, and Sun Belt conferences, plus Army, Navy, Liberty, and Notre Dame.

The change seems to emphasize that from an NCAA perspective, there now are the four Power conferences and then everybody else.

By the way, does anyone know what the "success factor" is for women's soccer?

 

Geeze, Chris, if you don't know what the "success factor " is, how do you expect any of us to know it?

 

It appears that the “success factor” has mostly to do with first being a P4, then being an FBS school.

where there were previously four spots reserved for FCS and other schools, the number reserved for these schools in now 3.
So FBS effective dominance on the committee has potentially gone from 60% of th votes to 70% for a class of schools that comprise about 33% of D1.

and real success is now being one of the P4 conferences who have guaranteed membership on the committee. I don’t believe that was ever guaranteed before.

 

I found the definition for the "Success Factor," which is in a Bylaw amendment the NCAA adopted first applicable to the coming year:

21.10.6.3.1.3.17 Women's Soccer Committee. The Women's Soccer Committee shall consist of 10 members, including one member from each of the conferences named in Bylaw 9.2.2.1.1 that is eligible for automatic qualification [the Power 5, but down to the Power 4 since the Pac 12 will not be eligible for automatic qualification], three members from the seven highest ranked other conferences based on soccer success and the remaining members from the remaining conferences. Soccer success is defined as total conference appearances plus total conference wins in the previous five NCAA championships. The committee shall include a representative from each of the five Division I women's soccer regions. Not more than two members of the committee may be appointed from the same region.
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This raises some interesting questions. Read literally, the Success Factor is based on the 2019 through 2023 NCAA Tournaments, which includes the 2020 Covid-affected 48-team Tournament in which some conferences did not participate. Also, when teams that participated in a Tournament change conferences, which conference do they get credited to, the one they were in when they played in the Tournament or the one they presently are in? It probably is the former, but if conference strength is what they want to value then it probably should be the latter. Also, what happens if there is a tie for the 7th position in the seven-conference group? Which conference is part of that group and which conferences go into the remaining 19 group?

Assuming that the rule means literally the last five Tournaments, which would be 2019 through 2023, and that teams are credited to the conferences they were in at the time they recorded a Success Factor score, we have the following:

One committee member each for the ACC, Big Ten, Big Twelve, and SEC.

Three members altogether from the following seven conferences (in order of Soccer Success): West Coast, Big East, Ivy, American, Atlantic Ten, and Sun Belt, along with one of Colonial, Northeast, WAC, Horizon, Mountain West, and Conference USA, all of which are tied for the seventh spot. [Note: The WCC has a better Soccer Success score over these years than the Big Twelve, even when Washington State and Oregon State are not included in the WCC where they will be playing for the time being.]

Three members altogether from the other 19 conferences.

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It would seem that definition favors large conferences over small conferences.

and regardless whethe the WCC would jump over the B12 by that definition, the B12 has a guaranteed spot.