A New Chapter for College Athletics

Story & Photo by Morgan Hill – Staff Reporter

  A new era of college athletics is changing the landscape of sports forever. Here is the latest news on how conference realignment and the transfer portal are affecting collegiate athletics. With new regulations and contracts on the table, this past offseason has been very active.

   “…those big schools like Oregon and Washington moving out of the Pac 12 it’s kind of weird because next year there won’t be a Pac 12, it’s just kind of going to be nothing because all of those big major schools are just spreading out and just leaving conferences,” Nathan Smith, sophomore, said.

   This new era has different perspectives on how the transfer portal regulations are being used. Many have varying opinions on its true effects.

   “… for scholarships and people trying to commit in state and that school is moving out of a major conference, they might not be able to play major games at that particular school,” Smith said.

    With realignment as a growing impact on college athletics, the impacts of it can be very pivotal to an athlete’s career.

   “I think it is going to create new rivalries. You know how people are talking about how it’s changed with teams who have never been in the same conference playing each other now,” Jason Jones, football coach, said.

   With the transfer portal becoming more of an open concept in college athletics it will also affect the entirety of a sport which can affect its image globally.

   “…I just think what a lot of people thought that the portal when it opened would be for a lot of the elite players but obviously that’s not the case because you have a school like Colorado who is not an elite program, who can get kids and now they are making waves across college football,” Jones said.

   Moving forward through a different time can be tough when no one knows what the future holds. Many have reported possible NFL-like structured conferences but no actions have been taken towards that so far.

   “…everybody is trying to get affiliated with somebody and eventually, I think it will be three super conferences and they’re going to be the ones that have all the major teams in them,” Jones said.

   All of this makes for one incredible and exciting athletic year for college sports that will be noteworthy to watch and keep up with.