Now that the NCAA gymnastics season is over, I'm wondering where we netted out with the whole topic of conference realignment. My questions are:
- Where did all of the teams end up for 2025 and beyond? For example, did Oregon State find a home?
- Which teams are the "winners and losers", money-wise? I'm no expert (that is an understatement) but I understand that some conferences have more money than others, which would mean that teams in those conferences get more money. So what does that mean for gymnastics? Better uniforms? More swag? Better travel budgets? Higher coach salaries, so potentially better coaches? I guess I don't truly understand what the costs are to run a college gymnastics program, and what the implications are for teams that ended up in a richer/poorer conference.
- Does the whole issue of geographically dispersed conferences *really* matter in the sport of gymnastics? As I understand it, teams don't really have to have that many conference competitions in a given season. Do they have to have any, other than conference championships? It's not like a sport like baseball where there are midweek games for weeks on end. And it's not like it *really* matters for ranking purposes who each team competes against during the regular season, either. I'm curious what the true impact will be.
