“Money, it’s a crime. Share it fairly, but don’t take a slice of my pie.” – Pink Floyd’s “Money”

College sports represents, on the whole, good things. I’m talking about things like school pride, loyalty and the furthering of education as a basic human right. However, college sports does have its problems, many of which start and end with money. 

The latest round of conference expansion (and in several cases, contraction) is purely centered on profit. How much money can be made, and for how long? Call it the Great Money Grab of 2011. 

Witness what we’ve seen so far: Texas starts its own $300 million network with ESPN. A&M leaves for the SEC, and the other Big 12 (now nine) eye each other nervously while keeping one hand on the telephone. The Pac-12 almost poaches four Big 12 schools.

Conference reshuffling threatens stability across the country, as everybody tries to grab a seat before the music stops. Oh, and USC and Ohio State, two of the top five entities in college sports, are found guilty of bad behavior on an epic scale, as their star players accepted cash and improper benefits.

Cash? Go figure. It’s been a heck of a year.

Just focus for a minute on the real issue, and by far the biggest issue, facing the college sports world today: the drastic inequality in revenues of college sports programs. It is a tug-of-war between the haves and the have-nots. 

And don’t tell any fan his alma mater is in the latter category. The aforementioned loyalty and pride come into play in a big way, as no one wants to acknowledge that his school and its teams do not actually belong among the very elite in college sports, both in terms of exposure and compensation – certainly not when you’ve spent the best four (or five or six) years of your life at said institution, with its ever-increasing tuition. 

It’s dadgum blasphemy to say that MY ol’ stompin’ ground won’t have a seat at the table when the money round starts.

We are presented with a free-for-all where every school is looking to set itself up for the foreseeable future with the best possible deal. It is, as Texas A&M President R. Bowen Loftin said, “a 100-year decision.”

The economic woes the country has experienced over the last three years have a lot to do with the current situation, as well. With the pressure on to find ways of generating revenues independent of the individual schools, conference affiliation and the annual payouts become more important than ever. 

While second-tier bowl games pay out an average of a million bucks, each BCS bowl game pays out 10 times that or more. 

Now, consider if a conference has TWO teams that make the BCS, and the slice of the pie that each of the conference’s members can expect. That’s a lot of Power Bars. And it’s never been more important to keep that kind of company.

Consider that as of last year, only 14 athletics departments in the FBS (formerly Division 1) made money. Not a single one in the FCS (formerly Division 2) made a profit. And you thought that $100 game ticket you bought drives the game. Not hardly.

The losers in this oversized game of “Hungry, Hungry Hippos” are the college athletes and the rivalries. A&M’s move to the SEC obliterates long-standing rivalries with regional foes Texas Tech, Baylor and even archrival Texas.

The majority of Big 12 championships across all sports have largely come down to the Aggies and the Longhorns, so a non-conference December men’s basketball matchup won’t really have the same cache as it does in, say, February.

The athletic departments are then left to ponder how to shuffle their teams and players further away for longer periods of time to accommodate their new conference members. Instead of a short trip to Waco or Austin, it’s Tuscaloosa or Starkville. 

The players themselves, meanwhile, must add this extensive travel burden to their already packed schedules. They are full-time students, remember.

What we’re seeing in college athletics right now is largely reflective in what we’re seeing in society as a whole. The rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer and the gap between the two has never been wider.

Folks, that’s a recipe for some conflict, and in the end, there will be clear winners and losers among the schools. When the dust settles, just hope the school you root for is on the right side.

Matt Mitchell is a weekend sports anchor/reporter for KVUE Sports. For more information, contact him at mmitchell@kvue.com.