Business and College Sports

That is my BCS-ish pun for the day. No, I am not feeling particularly creative.

Deal with it.

My kinda, sorta uncle directed me to this Dan Wetzel column for Yahoo! about Boise State and its struggle to find an opponent for an open date in 2011.

The gist: Allegedly, Boise State is willing to play any team — on the road — without scheduling a return date to Boise in the future, which is pretty rare. As UCF fans are now supremely aware, non-conference series are normally set up in either as the home-and-home variety (the Miami series, for example) or the home-and-two-home kind (Texas).

The Broncos are, Wetzel writes, willing to play anyone anywhere, and the accepting team would not have to play an away game, which is a pretty good deal, except for, you know, having to play Boise State. So far, the athletic director says, they have been rebuffed on fronts. I am not sure I entirely believe that, but whatever.

The Broncos’ conundrum is one that shouldn’t be a surprise, considering the ongoing shift college athletics have been taking toward becoming business entities.

Winning remains the most important thing, to be sure, but a close second is making the most money. It’s why it makes no sense for big schools to schedule Boise State. The teams the Broncos want to play, they have no trouble selling out their home games, and most will rely on success within their respective conferences to increase chances of a favorable bowl bid for their share of conference-related earnings.

And playing Boise State doesn’t jibe with those goals.

There is no need to bring in challenging opponents to derail potentially profitable seasons. The only upside is beating Boise State in a non-conference contest, a win much easier to accomplish against, say, Coastal Carolina.

So Boise State might be right to be upset about not getting the opponents it says it wants, but those potential opponents are not wrong for not wanting to play them. And there is nothing anyone can do about it. Boise State wants to break out of the current business model, do something different and experiment.

The current establishment is, of course, reluctant to change its ways, considering how fucking rich everyone is getting.

But thoughts of business and college sports (it’s called a call-back, folks! *rim shot) always brings me to UCF, my kinda, sorta almost, maybe, but not really, alma mater.