NCAA Conference Chaos Leaves Most Fans Unfazed: Sportico/Harris Poll
With the latest convulsions of college conference realignment having pushed the Pac-12 to the verge of death—and stranding programs like Cal and Stanford—Americans’ response is a collective shrug.
A survey conducted this month by Sportico and The Harris Poll, in the immediate wake of Oregon’s and Washington’s decision to ditch the Pac-12 for the Big Ten in 2024, found that 55% of U.S. adults familiar with conference realignment did not feel as if it had impacted their enjoyment of college sports. Indeed, more members of that cohort (26%) said that conference realignment had actually enhanced their enjoyment, as compared to 18% who felt it had diminished it.
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67% of Americans Favor Paying College Athletes: Sportico/Harris Poll
As part of our survey, The Harris Poll asked respondents whether conference realignment was a “problem in college sports,” to which 68% of those who follow college sports either strongly or somewhat agreed. That was less than the 71% who thought the lack of equal opportunities for female athletes constituted an ongoing problem and the 70% who expressed concern over the lack of a uniform NIL policy.
At the same time, three-fifths (60%) agreed that college sports would be better off if the wealthier and more powerful conferences were spun off from the NCAA.
These results come from an online survey The Harris Poll conducted from Aug. 11 to Aug. 13 among a nationally representative sample of 2,018 U.S. adults.
The prospect of emerging super conferences like the Big Ten and SEC separating from the rest of Division I has been a growing topic of conversation over the last several years. In 2020, the Knight Commission, the NCAA-friendly college athletics reform group, proposed the creation of a new governance entity funded by College Football Playoff revenues that would oversee all aspects of FBS football.
Since 2021, Oklahoma and Texas announced they would be leaving the Big 12 for the SEC; the Big 12 added independent member BYU along with Cincinnati, Houston and UCF from the American Athletic Conference; the AAC plucked Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, North Texas, Rice, UAB and UTSA from Conference USA; USC and UCLA agreed to leave the Pac-12 for the Big Ten, while Colorado took a bid to the Big 12. The machinations have now left the Pac-12, the 108-year-old league, teetering on the brink of extinction, while also threatening the long-term stability of the ACC.
Meanwhile, as Sportico reported last week, our survey found a sizable majority of Americans in support of further expanding college athlete economic opportunities beyond NIL, including 67% of respondents who were okay with schools directly compensating athletes.
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