We thought, owing to the coast-to-coast overspread of college sports conferences, that it would be a matter of time before one of them, because of their collective excellence or economic clout, would execute a takeover of a particular sport.
At least within a few years.
But if you look at what happened last weekend in NCAA Division I women’s soccer, we have our first takeover.
It is one you might have expected: the Atlantic Coast Conference in women’s soccer. Yep, the entire Final Four this year are from the ACC.
The quartet of sides facing off this weekend in the 2024 College Cup are ones with great histories. North Carolina is a team with nearly two dozen national championships. Stanford, a new ACC entrant, has won three titles.
Wake Forest and Duke, however, have never won a national title in women’s soccer. The universities have each one men’s College Cup, and they are looking for a first championship on the distaff side.
I get the feeling that this one tournament is going to be the starting point of a long and uncomfortable conversation about the direction college sports are taking. I think we’re going to see more of this.
