Michigan regent offers great insights on NCAA failures, travel problems and more
Jordan Acker is someone you very likely had never heard of before this weekend, unless you live in Ann Arbor or the state of Michigan.
Acker, a member of the University of Michigan Board of Regents, has been taking in the news along with the rest of us about the new West Coast schools joining the Big Ten Conference.
There also is speculation the Atlantic Coast Conference might invite two schools from the San Francisco Bay Area, Stanford and Cal-Berkeley. Arizona State and Arizona have just joined the Big 12 and will make road trips to Morgantown, West Virginia, and Ames, Iowa.
Travel for athletes is accepted as part of the big-money world of college sports, but whereas it’s part of the price for football and men’s basketball players, the Olympic sport athletes plainly did not sign up for professional-level travel in sports where their income-producing opportunities are limited.
Acker’s thread is timely, detailed and informative. It’s worth reading. Wolverines Wire knows this, but we’re going to make sure you get to read the full thread as well.
Here it is, in full:
HONEST THOUGHTS
So I've been holding my tongue for a couple days on the conference realignment, Round 2023. But now its nap time on the shores of beautiful Lake Walloon in Northern Michigan so here goes…
— Jordan Acker (@JordanAckerMI) August 6, 2023
NEED TO LEAD
Lets get the good stuff and the disclaimers out of the way: I have a tremendous respect for @SantaJOno and Warde Manuel when it comes to protecting the interests of the University of Michigan. Full stop. They are my guys, and I'm proud of the work they do.
— Jordan Acker (@JordanAckerMI) August 6, 2023
WELCOME THE NEW BIG TEN
I also want to welcome @uoregon and @UW to the Big Ten Conference. They are tremendous institutions with fantastic fan bases, and I know they'll love coming to places like Ann Arbor, Madison, and Iowa City.
— Jordan Acker (@JordanAckerMI) August 6, 2023
HARSH TRUTHS
But lets face some facts here: this expansion, like the several before it, has zero to do with the caliber of the school, the impact it would have on student athletes, tradition or rivalry. It has everything to do with TV dollars. But everyone knows that.
— Jordan Acker (@JordanAckerMI) August 6, 2023
TRAVEL PROBLEMS
It's utterly indefensible on any other grounds. FACT: It will take less time for our student athletes in non-chartered travel to go from Ann Arbor to London than it will to Eugene. Should we consider adding University College London to add another TV window? (Dont give any ideas)
— Jordan Acker (@JordanAckerMI) August 6, 2023
PRIORITIES
Instead, they run around finding minor violations while ignoring the VERY real impact that a weeknight competition in Seattle would have on student athletes with classes in College Park.
— Jordan Acker (@JordanAckerMI) August 6, 2023
NCAA FAILURE
They're mall cops that are way in over their heads. The TV execs do their jobs, the Presidents protect their institutions. If the @NCAA were a real oversight body, it would be the grown up in the room.
— Jordan Acker (@JordanAckerMI) August 6, 2023
EYE NOT ON THE BALL
Instead, it sits around policing minor violations while 115 year old conferences are simply blown up.
— Jordan Acker (@JordanAckerMI) August 6, 2023
MISGUIDED
Now, lets get to the heart of it: these college leaders, from the Big Ten, to the SEC, to the ACC and beyond, again talking about how the biggest threats to college sports are the transfer portal and NIL, and then go transfer portal a conference in a week in August.
— Jordan Acker (@JordanAckerMI) August 6, 2023
SUBSTANCE
If the Arguments for Congressional action had no merit before, now they look positively silly. In what world should student athletes be given a bigger grind (with almost no say into this massive change) with ZERO of the TV dollars going in their pockets?
— Jordan Acker (@JordanAckerMI) August 6, 2023
REGIONALISM
It's not the lack of caring about regionalism and rivalry that get me (as a fan, of course they do). It's the enormous hypocrisy of claiming the NCAA or its member institutions remotely care about student athlete welfare when they're in front of congress..
— Jordan Acker (@JordanAckerMI) August 6, 2023
CONGRESS
While showing just absolute utter disregard for it when it comes to conference expansion. Congress should judge these leaders by their actions, and not by the words: It acts like a business, and should be treated like a business on all aspects, including compensation.
— Jordan Acker (@JordanAckerMI) August 6, 2023
EMPIRE EXPOSED
The entire empire has no clothes. If the NCAA and its member institutions were actually even somewhat concerned about fairness, today would be a good day to start moving toward a revenue share.
The second best day would be tomorrow.
— Jordan Acker (@JordanAckerMI) August 6, 2023