Archie’s Wry Hook: Big Sky Conference takes a giant leap backward

The Big Sky Conference announced this week the first wave of several likely cost-saving moves. The changes—given the nation’s ominous economy and the college campuses throughout it—would seem like a solid contribution from the Big Sky offices in Ogden, Utah.

But perhaps it’s the wastrel in me that vehemently opposes at least a portion of the changes designed to save each of the nine schools in the conference a mere $46,000.

The most significant of these changes will dramatically alter the way the conference shapes out in volleyball and men’s and women’s basketball—which just happen to be the three most competitive sports for Portland State.

The league decided to schedule those three sports to play their conference games on Friday and Saturday nights for the upcoming year. In the past, the conference had used a Thursday through Saturday format for teams, allowing a travel and rest day in between two road games for teams.

The change to the Friday through Saturday format is only compounded by the fact that the league voted to disallow teams from using air travel on road trips less than 450 miles.

Let’s run through what a Big Sky opponent’s schedule might look like next season in its trip to the South Park Blocks and to play Eastern Washington, who has and will likely continue to serve as the conference’s playing partner:

A mid-to-late flight on Thursday evening into Portland, followed by a shoot-around at the Stott Center. The next day, there would be a game against the Vikings, with a likely tip time around 7 p.m. and the game ending around 9 p.m.

This would allow for a few minutes to shower and eat, then a five-and-a-half hour bus ride to Cheney, Wash. The arrival time would be no earlier than 3 a.m. to 4 a.m. The team would rest on Saturday and then prepare for a game against Eastern Washington at 7 p.m.

The trip sounds exhaustive even from a fan’s—or reporter’s—perspective and we are certainly not playing in the actual game.

The road trips will not necessarily get easier when teams head to Montana, as nearly 350 miles separate the Montana schools from each other. The lack of time that teams will have in between games will make for some dicey situations, especially with the weather in some of the states that comprise the conference.

Throughout the country, colleges are being asked to do some self-examining and make some changes in their budget and operating costs.

But while other schools are making reductions to their marketing programs, or reducing the amount of travel that teams will have for non-conference games, the Big Sky is dramatically changing the competitive balance in the league.

The schedule modification will provide a ridiculously favorable home court advantage for all the teams in the conference.

When Portland State—or a different conference team—makes it to the NCAA tournament next March and their conference record is 9-7 because they lost seven of their eight road games due to this inefficient change, their NCAA seeding will be affected.

The long-term stability of financial matters regarding sports is not in question.

The Big Sky Conference should be doing their part to improve the quality of the product and the marketing of its teams, not making a winning road record nearly impossible.