College Football: The Latest Frontier of Haves and Have-Nots

In today’s Sunday Times is an incredible story about ESPN and its influence on college football. It’s one of those dazzling long-reads with fascinating details and several themes explored throughout. I found it particularly compelling to read about the rise of TCU and Boise State, through working with ESPN, and the fall of less-exciting teams and conferences, like New Mexico State and the WAC.

I shake my head with much of the nation at all of the conference realignment news — Maryland and Rutgers to the Big Ten for a total of 14 teams?? — but I never connected the dots: this article highlights the significance of ESPN in shaping those changes.

The Worldwide Leader has led college football to follow the national economic trend, where our country is plagued with Haves and Have Nots. As a result, our top colleges are fighting for a piece of the ESPN pie at the expense of more pressing matters.