By Christian Cullen, Staff Writer

I feel lucky to live in a golden era of sports. It’s been felt in football, with players like Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers duking it out every Sunday. In basketball, with a transition period in the NBA to the love of the three, Steph Curry hoists up another 40-footer that hits the net. A great era of college football — also in transition as it moved from the BCS to the playoff — has given us classics every week, especially with the SEC on CBS. 

As a Cubs fan, I have been particularly fond of this era of baseball, as I got to see my team finally win it all. As I try to not be blinded by nostalgia, I cannot help but feel that these great eras are being tarnished. And they are being tarnished not by any on-field effort, in spite of what many think about defense in the NBA today, but instead by the love for money of those who run the differing professional and nominally amateur leagues. 

My mind goes first to college football. A new round of realignment has created massive super conferences, with a whole lot of matchups that no one can really get excited about. Who is going to have a stake in Rutgers versus USC aside from students of those respective schools? 

A large draw for college football was the regional nature of the games. It mattered when the games were played because it determined if you would get bragging rights over your rivals down the road. We are seeing a lot of rivalries dying this year. Bedlam may not survive realignment, as Oklahoma leaves their former rival in the Big-12 as they head on to greener pastures in the SEC. 

The PAC-12 itself, a conference with an age in the triple digits, had to essentially fold. I noticed a lot of social media posts at the end of the year reminiscing on the current conferences with a somber tone about the coming changes. I still do not think there are many people who are hyped up for this round of realignment. 

So, who is? 

TV executives. These new super conferences will bring in a massive amount of TV deals. For all the USC versus Rutgers games we will see, we are also going to get matchups like Michigan versus Washington or Oregon versus Ohio State. These matchups are exciting, but are they worth it in the end? I would say no.

These changes in college football will also reverberate through college basketball, but the realignment sets up another worry: the increasing price of tickets. Separate from controversy about people selling student tickets for the Crosstown Shootout last semester, ticket prices for quality games have risen way too far. It should not cost an arm and a leg to go see a good basketball game. For all the hubbub about people selling tickets at high prices, they were selling them at market value. I know the root of the issue is that people were selling tickets they got for free, but it also highlights a major issue in college sports: The average fan may be priced out of seeing their favorite teams play. 

The professional leagues are also dealing with ticket problems but in their own unique way. There are ticket issues, but the main source of greed tends to be in the area surrounding the team. We have witnessed a few different teams leave areas with rabid fan bases for reasons that essentially boil down to money. 

John Fisher is taking the A’s to Las Vegas, claiming lack of fan interest after purposefully torpedoing his team. When the A’s did a “reverse boycott,” aka a show of fan support, they were so loud the players had issues hearing each other on the field. The Spanos family moved the Chargers from San Diego to Los Angeles, becoming more known for their empty stadiums than anything the team has done on the field. The Washington Wizards and Capitals may soon be heading for Arlington, out of the DC metro proper. 

In all of these examples, you see owners pitching massive developments, with the goal of making the area a hub of a city. While that much remains to be seen, it has to be acknowledged that many of the relocation efforts in this decade remain focused on maximizing the bottom line.

I have hope for the next area of sports, but I do worry about the money involved. I hope to be able to afford to go to different games, whether it’s college football, college basketball, the NFL, the NBA or whatever may rise up. But, for the time being, the trend indicates that going to see a good game is going to cost a good bit of money. And hopefully whoever is running your team doesn’t see greener pastures on the horizon.