In the last two years, four schools have left the Big 12 Conference and willingly paid large sums in exit fees for the right to do so.
Contrastly, the Southeastern Conference has no exit fees, meaning any member school could leave at any time without financial penalty.
Yet, no schools have departed the SEC in this age of rampant conference swapping.
Why? South Carolina president Dr. Harris Pastides provided the reasons.
"There are three things to know about the Southeastern Conference," Pastides told the Board of Trustees' Intercollegiate Athletics Committee last Friday. "It's the best athletics conference from a competitive standpoint in America and it raises the most money for its member institutions. Those are two pretty good things."
The third reason? Unlike some leagues, all conference schools are created equally with the same amount of influence in creating policy.
The opportunity to join a league with 14 equal voices was one of the key motivations for the decisions by Texas A&M and Missouri to eagerly leave the Big 12 Conference - by all accounts a conference by Texas off the field - and cheerfully join the SEC.
"What is often overlooked is that I believe the SEC is the most democratic conference," Pastides told the committee. "I had comments from the new representatives (Texas A&M and Missouri) saying it wasn't like this before. We get together and debate things and talk about things and agree to share. That's a very positive thing. The integration of Missouri and Texas A&M is going quite well."
Conference schools divided over $240 million at the spring meetings in Destin, Fla., with the average distribution exceeding $20 million per school for the 2011-12 fiscal year.
"Our financial position in the conference is very positive," Pastides said. "We can look forward to maintaining our position as a well-funded conference and a democratic conference that does very well at sharing."
The strong leadership shown by SEC commissioner Mike Slive has prevented the more powerful schools like Alabama and Florida from overrunning the league, and convinced them to view the SEC as brothers in arms.
In short, those schools realize any conference is only as strong as its weakest link.
"We're in the room with the Alabamas and people who win the national championship (in football) and they never lament the fact they don't walk away with a bigger bundle (of money) than the other members of the conference," Pastides said. "We're very, very lucky to be there. We have a great commissioner and a great group of universities. There is a lot of harmony within the conference even with some difficult and complicated decisions."
Pastides reiterated the vote by the league's 14 schools confirmed USC and Texas A&M will become permanent opponents in football starting in 2013, even though he advocated the elimination of permanent cross-division opponents.
"I preferred to see more rotation," Pastides said. "Also, the distance between our two schools, with us being the most eastern and they being the most western school in the conference (was a factor). But I made sure the president of Texas A&M knew it had nothing to do with our affection for his fine university. We look forward to creating a new tradition and a new rivalry together."
Pastides told the Board the proposal by Steve Spurrier (and another proposal by Board member Chuck Allen) to count only divisional games in the overall conference record or give greater weight to divisional games "didn't have a lot of traction", but was discussed by the coaches and presidents.
"At least it was heard," Pastides said. "I was happy and proud of both Mr. Allen and Coach Spurrier for putting something on the table that got some consideration. Ultimately, the response was we're all equal. In most sports, you look at the overall record except for tie-breaker situations.
"There was not enough momentum in favor of creating a new paradigm of how the East and West determined their winner. But it was good that the University of South Carolina had something to say about it. The conversation was stimulating and positive, I would say."
Of course, most of the talk in Destin, Fla., between the coaches and the presidents during their separate meetings concerned the dynamics of the future four-team playoff. Most likely, a playoff will be in place for the 2014 season.
"I assure you, there will be a football playoff," Pastides said. "It's just a matter of exactly what it will be. A four-team playoff is likely the way it will work. The way it would work is it would follow the completion of the bowl games. There would be a national championship game thereafter. It's not a done deal by any means. But it's fair to say all the conferences are talking and thinking and approving of something like this."
Pastides said the new 'championship' bowl game pitting teams from the SEC and Big 12 against each other will probably be played on New Year's Day along with the Rose Bowl.
"We haven't decided where this new bowl game will exactly be played or what it will be called, but we think it will be a premier football game for the American people," Pastides said. "We think they will look at that bowl game like they do the Rose Bowl. They will wake up on New Year's Day, watch a parade and get ready to see two great football games. That will begin another great tradition."
link: http://southcarolina...76796&PT=4&PR=2
Contrastly, the Southeastern Conference has no exit fees, meaning any member school could leave at any time without financial penalty.
Yet, no schools have departed the SEC in this age of rampant conference swapping.
Why? South Carolina president Dr. Harris Pastides provided the reasons.
"There are three things to know about the Southeastern Conference," Pastides told the Board of Trustees' Intercollegiate Athletics Committee last Friday. "It's the best athletics conference from a competitive standpoint in America and it raises the most money for its member institutions. Those are two pretty good things."
The third reason? Unlike some leagues, all conference schools are created equally with the same amount of influence in creating policy.
The opportunity to join a league with 14 equal voices was one of the key motivations for the decisions by Texas A&M and Missouri to eagerly leave the Big 12 Conference - by all accounts a conference by Texas off the field - and cheerfully join the SEC.
"What is often overlooked is that I believe the SEC is the most democratic conference," Pastides told the committee. "I had comments from the new representatives (Texas A&M and Missouri) saying it wasn't like this before. We get together and debate things and talk about things and agree to share. That's a very positive thing. The integration of Missouri and Texas A&M is going quite well."
Conference schools divided over $240 million at the spring meetings in Destin, Fla., with the average distribution exceeding $20 million per school for the 2011-12 fiscal year.
"Our financial position in the conference is very positive," Pastides said. "We can look forward to maintaining our position as a well-funded conference and a democratic conference that does very well at sharing."
The strong leadership shown by SEC commissioner Mike Slive has prevented the more powerful schools like Alabama and Florida from overrunning the league, and convinced them to view the SEC as brothers in arms.
In short, those schools realize any conference is only as strong as its weakest link.
"We're in the room with the Alabamas and people who win the national championship (in football) and they never lament the fact they don't walk away with a bigger bundle (of money) than the other members of the conference," Pastides said. "We're very, very lucky to be there. We have a great commissioner and a great group of universities. There is a lot of harmony within the conference even with some difficult and complicated decisions."
Pastides reiterated the vote by the league's 14 schools confirmed USC and Texas A&M will become permanent opponents in football starting in 2013, even though he advocated the elimination of permanent cross-division opponents.
"I preferred to see more rotation," Pastides said. "Also, the distance between our two schools, with us being the most eastern and they being the most western school in the conference (was a factor). But I made sure the president of Texas A&M knew it had nothing to do with our affection for his fine university. We look forward to creating a new tradition and a new rivalry together."
Pastides told the Board the proposal by Steve Spurrier (and another proposal by Board member Chuck Allen) to count only divisional games in the overall conference record or give greater weight to divisional games "didn't have a lot of traction", but was discussed by the coaches and presidents.
"At least it was heard," Pastides said. "I was happy and proud of both Mr. Allen and Coach Spurrier for putting something on the table that got some consideration. Ultimately, the response was we're all equal. In most sports, you look at the overall record except for tie-breaker situations.
"There was not enough momentum in favor of creating a new paradigm of how the East and West determined their winner. But it was good that the University of South Carolina had something to say about it. The conversation was stimulating and positive, I would say."
Of course, most of the talk in Destin, Fla., between the coaches and the presidents during their separate meetings concerned the dynamics of the future four-team playoff. Most likely, a playoff will be in place for the 2014 season.
"I assure you, there will be a football playoff," Pastides said. "It's just a matter of exactly what it will be. A four-team playoff is likely the way it will work. The way it would work is it would follow the completion of the bowl games. There would be a national championship game thereafter. It's not a done deal by any means. But it's fair to say all the conferences are talking and thinking and approving of something like this."
Pastides said the new 'championship' bowl game pitting teams from the SEC and Big 12 against each other will probably be played on New Year's Day along with the Rose Bowl.
"We haven't decided where this new bowl game will exactly be played or what it will be called, but we think it will be a premier football game for the American people," Pastides said. "We think they will look at that bowl game like they do the Rose Bowl. They will wake up on New Year's Day, watch a parade and get ready to see two great football games. That will begin another great tradition."
link: http://southcarolina...76796&PT=4&PR=2
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