SI: With NCAA Embroiled in Chaos, Notre Dame’s Swarbrick Calls Division I Breakup ‘Inevitable’

[WindyCityGopher]

Notre Dame AD Jack Swarbrick says total Division I realignment is ‘inevitable’ - Sports Illustrated​

Wholesale change is unavoidable in college athletics. The Fighting Irish athletic director thinks a total realignment of Division I is coming with it.

www.si.com

Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick told Sports Illustrated that he believes the breakup of college sports at the NCAA Division I level is “inevitable,” and puts a potential target date on that seismic change as the mid-2030s. Swarbrick also said there are “so many” schools trying to leave their current conferences, but they’re handcuffed by existing contracts.

 

[Holy Man]

Notre Dame AD Jack Swarbrick says total Division I realignment is ‘inevitable’ - Sports Illustrated​

Wholesale change is unavoidable in college athletics. The Fighting Irish athletic director thinks a total realignment of Division I is coming with it.

www.si.com

Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick told Sports Illustrated that he believes the breakup of college sports at the NCAA Division I level is “inevitable,” and puts a potential target date on that seismic change as the mid-2030s. Swarbrick also said there are “so many” schools trying to leave their current conferences, but they’re handcuffed by existing contracts.

A more than a decade in advance prediction isn’t a prediction. It’s a guess that a lot of people have been making for years. This is not news. Any reasonable observer sees that college sports will split between those that can compete for the money and those who will revert to sports as an extra activity tied closely with education. There will be a lot more of those than Power 5’s. The hoops tournament as we know it will die and likely become an open tournament with the 96 or so semi pro teams left. I think everyone will be the worse for it.

 

[Plato]

No matter the future, which no one can predict, college basketball is so much more entertaining than watching an NBA game.

 

[Gophers_4life]

What I think is correct, and what I would like to see happen, but I'm not sure that it will, is this:

let football be its own thing. Leave basketball alone.


I don't think basketball is anywhere near the problem.


Let every DI conference stay intact, as is, and simply have it that no main, multisport conference can sponsor football, anymore. Football programs form their own alliances and conferences, separate from the main conferences.

 

[Off-GridTNgopher]

Miami just paid a kid 800k college hoops is JUST as bad as football.....

What I think is correct, and what I would like to see happen, but I'm not sure that it will, is this:

let football be its own thing. Leave basketball alone.


I don't think basketball is anywhere near the problem.


Let every DI conference stay intact, as is, and simply have it that no main, multisport conference can sponsor football, anymore. Football programs form their own alliances and conferences, separate from the main conferences.

 

[Gophers_4life]

Miami just paid a kid 800k college hoops is JUST as bad as football.....

I understand, and I don't disagree.


But did that help all the teams that got upset in this past March Madness? In fact, I think it was one of the most interesting MM's in a while, so long as you weren't a fan of a major team that lost!

It's just different, in basketball than football.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

If you read the whole article mentioned in the OP, the Notre Dame AD said he thinks a potential realignment could happen in the mid-2030's because that is when some of the big media rights deals come up for renegotiation. I believe the SEC football deal ends in 2034 or sometime like that.

the implication in the article is that some teams want to get out of their current conference deals, but they don't want to lose the media money.

as others have noted, the big question is whether Football would go its own way and leave basketball in the current conference structure. and that, in large part, could be driven by media deals.

 

[bga1]

Miami just paid a kid 800k college hoops is JUST as bad as football.....

Yep- with fewer players you can buy a team for a few million a year

 

[Gophers_4life]

Yep- with fewer players you can buy a team for a few million a year

Will your millionaires then not lose to that St Peter's team, though?

Basketball is different than football.

 

[Some guy]

Miami just paid a kid 800k college hoops is JUST as bad as football.....

Basketball worse than football.
Only a couple of schools can buy 50 guys to try to win in football. The number of teams who could buy 5-8 guys to try to win in basketball is a lot more

 

[Some guy]

Will your millionaires then not lose to that St Peter's team, though?

Basketball is different than football.

That’s true. The difference between 1 and 45 is a lot smaller in basketball when playing 1 game series