From first to Southworst

Sporting News, The, Dec 6, 1993 by Kirk Bohls

Something's terribly wrong when you can't give away football tickets in Texas. And that's exactly where the Southwest Conference stands. Recently an all-sports radio station in Dallas couldn't get rid of a contest prize - two tickets to the Houston-Texas Christian game. The winner wanted to trade the prize - for Mavericks tickets. Something is out of whack in the SWC and, if something isn't done, the it might soon find itself out of business.

From 1960 through '77, the conference was propped up by dynasties at Texas and Arkansas. One of the two figured in the SWC championship - either shared or outright - in all but four of those 18 seasons. Since then, although Texas A&M has been dominating, the league has had a revolving door at the throne.

Arkansas, which won the conference crown in 1989 and '90, left for the Southeastern Conference, abandoning a league that is in failing health because of lagging attendance, an ongoing and losing battle with professional sports, sluggish leadership, and a respect for tradition that borders on blind loyalty.

"The words |tradition' and |We've always done it that way' - I don't ever want to hear those words again," says Texas associate athletic director Chris Plonsky, a former associate commissioner of the Big East Conference.

The day TCU and Houston couldn't give away tickets, Ohio State-Penn State drew 95,060 on a bitterly cold afternoon in Columbus. Georgia-Florida had more than 80,000.

"This isn't a banner football season," SWC Commissioner Steve Hatchell says. "We have a difficult period, but that doesn't mean the league is coming apart. It's been far too doom and gloomy in the state in some circles. The only thing we're missing is having some success. And the crowds will follow."

And they won't have far to go. One of the problems facing the SWC is availability. The fact of the matter is that the cluster of eight teams in one state is more a stranglehold than a strength. All the teams play within 560 miles of one another. Consequently, the games are too accessible.

Every other major conference is spread out over several states. That means more television sets, higher ticket sales, more available corporate sponsors. To correct that problem, the SWC simply must expand.

The league has pressed and should continue to press the Big Eight for a merger. A year ago, it voted down a bid by Tulane - a private school - to join the SWC. Other football independents such as Louisville and Memphis State crave admission but, although they would be welcome additions for basketball, they are not likely to be accepted because of their academic reputations.

Ever since Arkansas bolted for the SEC - where it is making $2 million more than it did in the SWC - the SWC has cast longing glances to the Big Eight, but its every flirtation has been rebuffed.

Big Eight basketball coaches were unanimously opposed to such a merger, figuring they have nothing to gain and everything to lose from joining a conference that last year placed two teams in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, both of whom were gone by lunch. Without the Razorbacks, SWC basketball has even less to offer.

Big Eight football coaches are equally reluctant. They don't want to share their Orange Bowl wealth, and, with perennial Top 25 programs, the Big Eight is operating with a stronger hand.

Of course, the SWC could offer the Big Eight a bigger slice of the financial pie. Specifically, the Big Eight could take home more money from intersectional televised games, be given flat guarantees for Big Eight/SWC games and receive more of the bowl and NCAA Tournament revenue until the SWC produces a like number of contenders in each sport.

There are other forces that could push the two together. Should the Big Ten Conference siphon off Missouri, as has been strongly rumored, and the Pacific 10 Conference grab Colorado, the Big Eight might be more receptive.

"There are a lot of ties between the two," Big Eight Commissioner Carl James says. "We have strong ties with our faculty and staff. A lot of our CEOs went to school in the SWC. As far as new re-alignment, though, nothing's there."

But for college football experts outside the two leagues, the question is more one of when than who.

"(The SWC) has to merge with a pretty big league for them to go on," ESPN analyst Beano Cook says. "They have to merge with the Big Eight They could have a championship game in the Alamodome."

The integration of church and state is another problem. The SWC is the only conference with more than two private schools, which have lower enrollment numbers than public schools. Which means smaller alumni bases, lower ticket sales and smaller donations. On the field, there are fewer walk-ons and few top recruits. State schools sell their programs as ones that can enhance a player's pro opportunities because of contacts in the business world.

Administrators at the SWC private schools are on record as saying they regularly carry athletic deficits from $1 million to almost $2.6 million a year.