Big expectation

The Temple News is happy to learn the university is now an all-sports member of the Big East Conference. It’s a major victory for Temple.  Not every student cares about sports, but it will be hard to ignore the impact this move will have on the entire university community in the coming months.

The university will receive more revenue, which will hopefully reduce the need to subsidize athletics with millions of dollars. Students will be able to see more elite competition at Lincoln Financial Field and the Liacouras Center.  Make no bones about it, Rutgers and Connecticut are more exciting draws than Bowling Green and St. Bonaventure. Fan attendance has been fickle during the years and now that Temple is in an elite conference, there should not be any excuses for fans not to attend games throughout the season.

Before spring break, The Temple News gave athletics a to-do list to pursue if it became a member of the Big East. Now that Temple is in the Big East, here is the list again:

First and foremost, the focus should be on helping student athletes, specifically athletes that have to be walk-ons because their team cannot provide the maximum number of scholarships because of a lack of funding. With more money coming in from television deals and bowl payouts, this issue should solve itself.

The second item is a commitment to reducing the university’s subsidy to athletics. The Temple News understands that Temple will inevitably have to give certain coaches and administrators a pay raise in order to pay them at a rate commensurate with his or her peers in the Big East to retain them. However, the university should not be too liberal when it comes to athletic spending just because of new revenue streams. As a member of the Big East, the subsidy should be shrinking, not growing.

Now that Temple is in the Big East, the university will have to step up its game – both on and off the field.