The NCAA Conference Realignments Pushes Student-Athletes to Adjust
As the NCAA conferences evolve, student-athletes must do the same.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) conferences continues to reshuffle – this brings great change for student-athletes to adapt.
These new adjustments adds more layers to the strenuous recruiting process. Recruiting is already filled with its share of due diligence, for all parties involved. Now athletes and their parents have more to contemplate.
It all boils down to what the athlete desires to receive out of their college experience. It can range from obtaining a specific education, playing for a particular program or coach, being close to home, playing time, the opportunity to go professional, and many more.
Oregon, Washington, USC, and UCLA are set to join the Big Ten Conference in 2024. This move expands the brand of the Big Ten conference.
Marty Kaufman, Executive Senior Associate Director of Athletics, University of Illinois, says, “Illinois student-athletes now have the opportunity to compete, travel, and have experiences that they were not able to have before – by traveling to the North West and Los Angeles next year.”
Being able to travel across the country to play the sport that you love is a memorable experience and quite a blessing.
As with anything, there are pros and cons to these new expansions. Traveling to competitions in-season, while taking classes was already demanding; now, a school like Arizona will have to travel to Florida and West Virginia to compete. This change will increase the challenge of a student-athlete to maintain time, mental health, and balance.
“There is a lot of travel in-season that could impact how often they are in class and that would have to be moderated,” adds Kaufman.
With the new Name Image and Likeness (NIL) rule, players can now accept money from businesses in exchange for businesses using the athlete’s likeness to promote their products or services.
As conferences realign and expand their national exposure, this also gives players the opportunity to reach larger audiences, which enlarges their visibility for athletes to make more money.
The future of collegiate athletics is filled with excitement, opportunity, and challenges – players must be clear on what they want, have a plan, execute, and stay open to receiving the lessons that are meant to be learned along the way to their destiny. No matter what conference athletes play in, it is up to them to adapt and transform to reach their full potential.
I agree, the student-athlete has a unique advantage now and more broad experience with those additions to Big 10conference.
Having many options could lead to poor decision making. On the other hand, as we know could lead to promising compensation when we played.
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