University of Michigan regent gives brutally honest thoughts on conference expansion
The world of college sports blew up more than ever last week when there was a mass exodus from the Pac-12.
The Pac-12, which represented the premier schools on the West Coast, saw six teams bolt for other conferences. The headliners were, of course, Oregon and Washington leaving for the Big Ten, but Colorado, Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah departed for the Big 12. There are now only four schools remaining in the Pac-12 as of the 2024 season.
University of Michigan regent Jordan Acker took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to give his thoughts on conference realignment and expansion. There are real-world repercussions for student-athletes and nefarious reasons why expansion happened in the first place. You can read the entire thread below.
Prologue
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
Acker is happy with the Michigan leadership
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
Welcoming Oregon and Washington
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
Why expansion is really happening
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
The true logistics involved after expansion
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
Admonishing the NCAA
This is where I find the @NCAA and its behavior so wildly offensive. If this alleged oversight body, which claims it is high and mighty every time it runs to Congress demanding action, really cared about student athletes, they'd get this nonsense under control.
— Jordan Acker (@JordanAckerMI) August 6, 2023
Why the NCAA is ridiculous
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
The NCAA is full of 'mall cops'
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
Brutal assessment of the NCAA
Instead, it sits around policing minor violations while 115 year old conferences are simply blown up.
— Jordan Acker (@JordanAckerMI) August 6, 2023
College sports jumping the shark
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
Why it's absurd to get Congress involved
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
No thought of the student-athletes
Instead, the concern was that every school would continue to get what they had. The students, who are not allowed to be employees or collect revenue sharing, while the schools are hyper focused on their own percentages. In what world does that make sense?
— Jordan Acker (@JordanAckerMI) August 6, 2023
The NCAA/school hypocrisy
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
College sports is truly a business
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
The solution that benefits student-athletes
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
