Reviews | Welcome to the Big Ten, UCLA and USC, I already hate you.

And that’s important, because while UCLA head football coach Chip Kelly is doing about $4.7 million per yearthe women’s rowing school head coach earns around $100,000 in a city with some of the highest housing costs in America. To stay competitive, both UCLA and USC must be able to hire not just top-notch head coaches, but also assistant coaches and directors of sports information — and those staff must be able to afford a home. . TV money could help.

What makes the Big Ten so lucrative compared to, say, even the highly profitable SEC? Brown told me that it not only contains major media markets, like Chicago and Detroit, but fans of Big Ten teams live all over the country, distributing itself across America in ways fans at other conferences often don’t. Coupled with the Big Ten’s list of research universities, Brown said, the moves actually made a lot of sense. “If you’re a provost at USC, you’d rather be able to say, ‘We’re a comparable institution to Michigan, Wisconsin, and Illinois. “” More than Mississippi State, he said. (This is no affront to Mississippi State, an excellent university that has tried for decades to keep people from ringing cowbells. at football games before giving up. clang.)

But Brown told me that this decision, while seemingly sensible, still makes him sad. He mentioned that the journey will be incredibly difficult for the athletes. Imagine trying to get from Ann Arbor to Los Angeles for a midweek track meet and coming back with finals looming. But more importantly, he worries that conferences that aren’t tied to a specific region or filled with schools that have historical rivalries with each other will lack the intimacy that makes college sports fun. “I think part of what makes college sports, like not just football, but college sports, a unique and fun business for consumers and fans, is that it’s not really the NFL. . It’s very provincial. I didn’t go to the Cleveland Cavaliers. I went to Ohio State,” he said.

I understand. Part of the reason I love college sports is that when you say you’re a Michigan fan and you meet an Ohio State fan, you immediately have a rapport (okay, based on rivalry). And if you grew up in the Midwest, you’re sure to know people who attended virtually every Big Ten college, making it kind of a family affair. I may not have met you yet, but if you’ve been to Penn State, I already have a lot to discuss with you. But I didn’t grow up with anyone who went to UCLA, and I personally only know one USC graduate.

“When you look at the rivalries and where college sports are most unique, high-energy, and exciting, that’s where you have that closeness. It’s the The holy war where every church congregation is full of Utah and BYU fans. It’s the egg bowlBrown said, referring to the annual rivalry game between Ole Miss and Mississippi State. “The game is not just about football. It’s a matter of religion, culture, class and Mississippi. And when we break these things down in the name of trying to reach the biggest casual audience, I’m afraid you’re undermining the whole value proposition and what makes it interesting. And then eventually it becomes something like baby NFL And then people will realize, ‘If I’m going to watch the baby NFL, I’d rather watch the NFL where all the players are good.'”