"It's about the bag."

Colorado's Deion Sanders isn't wrong. Of course, conference realignment is all about money. Is that bad? It's not the worst thing, unless you're in a non-revenue-producing sport

However you feel about Deion Sanders, listen up to what he recently said about conference expansion and realignment:

“All this is about money, you know that,” the Colorado coach said. “It’s about the bag. Everybody’s chasing the bag. Then you get mad at players when they chase it…How do grownups get mad at players when the colleges are chasing it?”

It used to be that I’d cover a college football or basketball game  and need to take a quick shower shortly thereafter. The athletes were being used as indentured servants; that is, unless their top players were being remunerated under the table with no-show jobs or hundred-dollar handshakes. As for the purported grownups, they were feeding at the TV fees trough, getting fat and happy and pivoting whenever a richer conference alignment came along with an offer.

It just seemed…dirty.

And one sided.

Today, college sports feel like pro sports, and while college sports might have lost a bit of its tradition and soul this past week, it feels like they are finally moving toward being completely honest about what they are:

A multi-billion dollar business where almost everybody – coaches, athletes, administrators, etc – is compensated.