A6 BAKER CITY HERALD • TUESDAY, JULY 5, 2022
SPORTS
COLLEGE ATHLETICS
Conference realignment makes another seismic shift
BY JOHN MARSHALL
Associated Press
Conference realignment in college
sports has been going on since 1984,
when the Supreme Court invalidated
the NCAA’s national television con-
tract for football.
The conference juggling has gone
through ebbs and flows through
the years since, from small schools
bumping up to bigger leagues to
power programs switching to other
major conferences.
The latest move, Southern Cali-
fornia and UCLA bolting the Pac-
12 for the Big Ten, could be part of
a tectonic shift. Not just because of
the marquee schools involved, but
because it happened at a time when
the NCAA is looking to take a more
decentralized approach to govern-
ing college athletics, handing more
power to schools and conferences.
“You might think this is more seis-
mic because it’s involving wealthier
schools — and arguably it is — but
also it’s seismic because of the under-
pinnings of the system, the founda-
tions of the system, are being chal-
lenged at a time when the financial
structure is exploding,” Smith Col-
lege economics professor Andrew
Zimbalist said Friday. “It may have
larger ramifications, but it is a pro-
cess that’s been ongoing.”
The decisions by USC and UCLA
to join the Big Ten in 2024 come
Serena Morones for The Oregonian/oregonlive, File
Oregon State’s Champ Flemings (2) goes up for the ball against Oregon’s Verone
McKinley III (23) as the Beavers visit the No. 11 Ducks in their annual college football
rivalry game on Saturday, Nov. 27, 2021, at Autzen Stadium in Eugene.
roughly a year after Texas and Okla-
homa announced they were leaving
the Big 12 for the Southeastern Con-
ference.
While surprising, even to Pac-12
officials, the announcement Thurs-
day, June 30 gives the Los Angeles
schools stability and exposure in a
shifting collegiate sports landscape.
“It’s huge for our student athletes,
just from a national exposure per-
spective,” UCLA athletic director
Martin Jarmond said. “They’re go-
ing compete at the highest level in
a major elite conference in different
time zones. UCLA is always national,
but now we have the ability for stu-
dent athletes to showcase their talent
across the country. That’s exciting.”
For all the other benefits, the bot-
tom line to the defections is the bot-
tom line.
The SEC has become a college
football behemoth that distributed
$54.6 million to each of its member
schools in the 2021 fiscal year. The
Big Ten has tried to keep up and had
a per-school distribution of $46.1
million last year.
The Pac-12 had the lowest distri-
bution number among Power Five
schools, paying its member institu-
tions $19.8 million in 2021.
At the core, it’s all about the TV.
The SEC has a $3 billion deal with
ESPN that’s set to kick in in 2024 and
the Big Ten is currently negotiating a
massive media rights deal. The Pac-
12 has floundered when it comes to
TV as the conference’s network has
struggled to gain footing while many
of its games are played late at night.
With costs to run college athletic
programs have climbed in recent
years, exacerbated by the pandemic,
moving to an even bigger conference
provides more financial stability. For
the Big Ten, adding UCLA and USC
gives the conference a foothold in the
nation’s second-largest media market.
“Money talks,” said Tom McMil-
len, President and CEO of Lead1,
which represents Football Bowl Sub-
division athletic directors and pro-
grams. “I was on the board of regents
when Maryland jumped in to the Big
Ten and there were all kinds of ar-
guments about it was academics and
it was this and that, but ultimately it
came down to money. I think that’s
the same case here.”
The defections will create two
mega conferences that will hold the
majority of power and money, leav-
ing the rest of leagues scrambling to
keep up.
The tiering could stratify even
more if the SEC and the Big Ten con-
tinue to expand, which could be the
next step.
The future power structure could
consist of two, maybe three mega
conferences of up to 20 schools at
the top, with the Power Five joining
the Group of Five conferences in the
tier below but still above the Football
Championship Subdivision.
More schools in the Pac-12 and
Big 12, along with the ACC, could
look to bolt for more stability.
Conferences losing members likely
will face two options: combining
with another league to form a mega
conference of their own or expand
on the current membership. The
Pac-12 it plans to take the expansion
route, issuing a statement on Friday
that said it is exploring all expansion
options.
“You have exploding costs on one
end and your revenue sources are
being decimated, which is a tremen-
dous pressure,” Zimbalist said. “On
the other hand, what do you do?
Well, something pretty radical I think
is going to have to happen.”
Uncertainty is the only thing that’s
certain at this point.
Branden Grace wins LIV Golf’s first US tournament
Event, which
attracted
protesters, was
played near
Portland
BY ANNE M. PETERSON
Associated Press
NORTH PLAINS — Bran-
den Grace won LIV Golf’s
first stop on American soil,
an event that drew critics and
protestors alike because of
the upstart series’ funding by
Saudi Arabia.
Grace closed with a 7-un-
der 65 on Saturday, July 2 to
finish at 13 under in the 54-
hole tournament at Pumpkin
Ridge Golf Club. The 34-year-
old South African won $4
million.
The fledgling LIV series,
fronted by CEO Greg Norman
and funded by Saudi Arabia’s
sovereign wealth fund, aims to
challenge the PGA Tour. It has
lured some players, includ-
ing Dustin Johnson, Brooks
Koepka and Phil Mickelson,
with the promise of big sign-
ing bonuses, hefty prize purses
and fewer events.
Grace beat Mexico’s Carlos
Ortiz by two strokes.
“Played flawless golf, played
really, really well when I
needed to do something spe-
cial and came up and man-
aged to pull it out,” Grace said.
“But just what a great day, it
was amazing to come here,
this new format, this new ev-
erything is amazing and ev-
erybody here is having a blast.”
Ortiz, ranked No. 119 in the
world, shot a 69. Johnson (71)
finished four back with Pat-
rick Reed (67).
The 48-man field in Ore-
gon competed for a $20 mil-
lion purse, with an additional
$5 million prize fund for a
team competition. There was
no cut and even the last-place
finisher earned a payday of
$120,000. Charl Schwartzel
won the tour’s inaugural event
outside of London (and the
team portion) and pocketed
$4.75 million.
The Four Aces team, led by
Johnson, won the team com-
petition at Pumpkin Ridge.
LIV Golf also announced
Saturday that English player
Pat Casey has joined the se-
ries. Casey, 44, has won three
times on the PGA Tour and
15 times on the European
Tour, and is ranked No. 26 in
the world. He has not played
a tournament round since
March because of injuries.
The PGA Tour has re-
sponded to the upstart tour
by suspending every active
member who competed in the
first LIV event. Those who
played in Oregon were also
suspended unless they resign
their tour memberships.
LIV Golf has been dogged
by criticism since its inception,
well before it came to tiny
North Plains, about 20 miles
west of downtown Portland.
The city’s mayor and 10 fel-
low mayors from nearby com-
munities wrote the course’s
Texas-based owner weeks ago,
objecting that the event did
not align with community val-
ues because of Saudi Arabia’s
human rights abuses, includ-
ing the murder of journalist
Jamal Khashoggi.
A group of families whose
loved ones were killed by the
terrorist attack on Sept. 11
came to North Plains on the
tournament’s opening day to
protest the event. Fifteen of
the 19 hijackers on that day in
2001 were Saudi citizens. The
group plans a more sizeable
demonstration for the next
stop at Bedminster in New
Jersey.
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden of Or-
egon called out the tour for
“sportswashing” to detract
from Saudi Arabia’s human
rights record. Wyden pointed
to the 2016 hit-and-run death
of 15-year-old Fallon Smart
in Portland. A Saudi national
was accused in the case but
vanished before trial, and U.S.
officials believe he was spirited
out of the country with the
help of the Saudi government.
A protestor at the entrance on
Friday held a sign that read
“Fallon Smart, 2000-2016.”
The players faced tough
questions before the tourna-
ment about their involvement,
with most reciting pat answers
and maintaining that golf can
be a ‘‘force for good.” Others
complained about the struc-
ture and grind of the PGA
Tour.
LIV Golf touts that it’s “golf,
but louder.” In addition to the
simultaneous team competi-
tion, the tournaments feature
shotgun starts, interactive fan
activities and hip-hop blaring
on the driving range.
Crowds on Saturday were
better than Thursday and Fri-
day. LIV Golf said it was a sell-
out, but would not reveal the
number of tickets sold.
The tour’s next event is set
for July 29-31 at Trump Na-
tional Golf Club Bedminster.
Casey is expected to join at
that time.
WIMBLEDON TENNIS
Djokovic advances to quarterfinals
BY HOWARD FENDRICH
AP Tennis Writer
WIMBLEDON, England
— Even knowing what an
unusual Wimbledon this has
been, what with so many un-
expected results and new
faces popping up, and so few
top seeds — and major cham-
pions — remaining, surely
Novak Djokovic would not
lose to a wild-card entry mak-
ing his Grand Slam debut,
would he?
If it did not quite seem
plausible, it did at least be-
come vaguely possible a tad
past 9:30 p.m. on Sunday
night, July 3 under the closed
roof at Centre Court, when
25-year-old Dutchman Tim
van Rijthoven — ranking:
104th; lifetime tour-level vic-
tories: eight, all in the past
month — had the temerity
to smack a 133 mph ace past
Djokovic and tie their fourth-
round match at a set apiece.
All of nine minutes later,
the time it took Djokovic to
grab 12 of the next 15 points,
and the next three games,
both plausibility and possibil-
ity took a hike. Soon enough,
the third set was his, and not
much later, so was the fourth,
and the match, a 6-2, 4-6, 6-1,
6-2 result that gave the tour-
nament’s No. 1 seed a 25th
consecutive grass-court vic-
tory at the All England Club
and a place in his 13th Wim-
bledon quarterfinal.
“Novak did his Novak
thing,” van Rijthoven said,
“and played very, very well. He
had all the answers.”
Beforehand, van Rijtho-
ven had said: “I’ll go into that
match thinking I can win.”
Might have still had that sense
Sunday evening. If only briefly.
Eventually, the only
true question was whether
Djokovic would wrap this one
up in time, because there is an
11 p.m. curfew. Running up
against that would have re-
quired them to resume Mon-
day, July 4.
“Whew. I am lucky,”
Djokovic said after closing the
deal with 20 minutes to spare.
“It’s never really pleasant if you
can’t finish the match in the
same day. Glad I did.”
They did not begin playing
until 8 p.m., in part due to a
delay of roughly an hour at the
start of this special afternoon
— the first time in history the
tournament’s middle Sunday
held scheduled play — while
a ceremony was held to honor
the 100 years of Centre Court.
Djokovic, who questioned
after his victory why matches
generally begin so late in the
main stadium, was among the
many past champions who
took part, joking to the crowd
when it was his turn to speak,
“Gosh, I feel more nervous
than when I’m playing.”
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