I forgot to stick this in the loser update update, but it may merit a separate post anyway.
Someone (I forget who; it may have been the bloggers at Jimbo’s old site) alerted me to Taylor Branch’s “The Shame of College Sports” in the October issue of The Atlantic.
I think this is worth your attention, even though it is long. I’m still digesting the article, but there’s quite a bit of interesting material in it about the NCAA’s past (and current) legal battles; the information Branch brings out makes me more convinced that we’ll see the end of the NCAA in the next decade.
All it would take is eight or so of the really big powerhouse schools deciding to band together and flip off the NCAA.
That was more or less my idea for SuperConference America.
Yep. Lawrence and Joe pretty much hit it on the head.
Really, what’s the NCAA going to do if eight or so schools defect? What’s the worst threat they have to offer? “If you play games against the Super Conference America schools, we’ll…sanction you! We’ll take away your TV money! That’s the ticket!”
At which point:
1) The schools start filing lawsuits and getting Congress to hold hearings, which makes the NCAA’s ground even more shaky…
2) “So what? Go ahead, keep our TV money. We’re getting a better deal from Super Conference America, anyway!”