I am a avid sports fan, constantly reviewing every story on ESPN like my life depended on it. I grew up rooting for four different teams; the New York Yankees, the New York Giants, Syracuse Men's Basketball, and the New York Knicks. Those are the only teams I care about, my day can be made by a win and my week can be ruined by a loss. I probably care about sports too seriously, but they are just an integral part of my life. In fact my fondest childhood memories are because of sports. I remember watching the 1998 World Series with my dad, every pitch being the most important moment of my life. I remember setting aside my school project, the first of many instances, to watch the Giants crush the Minnesota Vikings in the 2000 NFC Championship game. I remember the Knicks crazy run to the 1999 NBA Finals as an 8 seed, the first time I learned of the excitement of watching an underdog. I remember Syracuse's magical title run in 2003 and how I was so excited I couldn't sleep so I watched the replays over and over again. Sports have given me some moments that I will be eternally grateful for, which makes what I'm about to type even harder.
Syracuse University Athletics will move from the Big East Conference, of which it was a founding member, to the Atlantic Coastal Conference (ACC). This may not seem like such a big deal, colleges move to different conferences all of the time. Conferences are formed and the are dissolved, that's the way college athletics have operated for decades. Yet, I can't help but have a bad taste in my mouth from this switch. Syracuse goes hand in hand with the Big East, to me they are one in the same. In the NCAA tournament when Syracuse in eliminated I root for the Big East. I have always took pride in having a school in the Big East conference. I love the tradition, the rich history of former college basketball dynasties meeting on the court. I love watching old school Big East games in the days when the refs would let the players play and big men dominated the paint with a ferocity that was unmatched. I love rooting for a conference that always seemed to work harder then the others. The Big East wasn't the flashiest conference, but goddammit it was the toughest. That's the style of basketball I love the most. I love low scoring slugfests where defense is the name of the game and every position counts. Unfortunately Syracuse is going to the flashiest and most hyped of all basketball conferences, the ACC. The decision wasn't made because its a better conference, its not, it was made for the oldest reason in the world, money.
The ACC is a bigger football conference than the Big East, that's why Miami, Boston College and Virginia Tech left the Big East for the ACC. Football brings in more money to universities than basketball does, so the move wasn't decided on by anything else than profit. The Syracuse Men's football team currently brings in about $3,851,951 in profit to the University, the basketball team is much more profitable by bringing in about $10,223,094 in revenue. However, the top profit generating college programs are all football programs, while the ACC is not yet as profitable as the SEC, Big 12 or even Big 10, it is still more profitable than the Big East. The University doesn't care about tradition or history. They don't care about the great rivalries that will be lost, all they care about is their bottom line.
This is the cold hard truth about sports, as much as a team will tell you that they care about you (the fan) they really don't. They know that you will still watch games on TV, still pay to go to the games and still buy their merchandise. Sports is a business and like all business's they want to make money. But sports are more than just another mechanism to make money. Sports are embedded into the very fabric of our culture. They can build relationships between people who otherwise wouldn't speak to each other. There is a collective unity when you go to a sporting event, a connection with your fellow man that you rarely ever feel in this world. Sports belong to the fans more than anyone else, us fans are the ones who really generate the revenue that owners and universities collect. We care so passionately about the outcome of a game that we forget that the people who run the show only care about money. Which is way I will no longer follow the Syracuse Men's Basketball team. The University has made it loud and clear that tradition, loyalty, and history doesn't mean as much as their rate of profit. I will still watch college basketball, I will just be a man without a team. So much of life as an Economics major is all about making profit that I need some sort of escape. I need an outlet where I can just forget about the problems in the world. Except whenever I will watch a Syracuse game I will be reminded that all of life is under the control of money and profits. I refuse to believe this, I can' accept this if I want to remain sane. Sports is more than just money and Syracuse University Athletics has forgotten that so I will have to forget them.
This is the cold hard truth about sports, as much as a team will tell you that they care about you (the fan) they really don't. They know that you will still watch games on TV, still pay to go to the games and still buy their merchandise. Sports is a business and like all business's they want to make money. But sports are more than just another mechanism to make money. Sports are embedded into the very fabric of our culture. They can build relationships between people who otherwise wouldn't speak to each other. There is a collective unity when you go to a sporting event, a connection with your fellow man that you rarely ever feel in this world. Sports belong to the fans more than anyone else, us fans are the ones who really generate the revenue that owners and universities collect. We care so passionately about the outcome of a game that we forget that the people who run the show only care about money. Which is way I will no longer follow the Syracuse Men's Basketball team. The University has made it loud and clear that tradition, loyalty, and history doesn't mean as much as their rate of profit. I will still watch college basketball, I will just be a man without a team. So much of life as an Economics major is all about making profit that I need some sort of escape. I need an outlet where I can just forget about the problems in the world. Except whenever I will watch a Syracuse game I will be reminded that all of life is under the control of money and profits. I refuse to believe this, I can' accept this if I want to remain sane. Sports is more than just money and Syracuse University Athletics has forgotten that so I will have to forget them.
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