Matador Move Came Down to Dollars, Sense

Big Sky.

Big West.

Big Deal.

We don’t mean that facetiously. For once, Cal State Northridge athletic officials aren’t trying to jam a square peg into a round hole.

Northridge’s signed, sealed and delivered move from the Big Sky Conference to the Big West, starting in 2001-02, is the most sensible decision about athletics the school could have made.

It could have happened four years ago, when Cal Poly San Luis Obispo joined the Big West, beating Northridge to the punch.

At that time, San Luis Obispo athletic administrators pursued membership in the Big West more aggressively and was better prepared than Northridge.

The Matadors, bent on emphasizing football, went into the Big Sky in 1996 with their sights on becoming a legitimate program in one of the premier Division I-AA conferences.

But the people most directly involved in that decision, now gone from the university, forgot one crucial factor: Northridge really couldn’t afford it.

Nobody stopped to check the coffers, which are usually bare at Northridge, before sending plane loads of athletes, coaches and staff to games in Montana, Idaho, Washington and other Big Sky outposts.

The cost of such prestige became prohibitive.

With a revamped 10-team Big West that includes eight California schools, Northridge’s travel budget will get a substantial break.

And the Matadors will save even more when Idaho and Utah State, which are shopping around for football-playing conferences, leave the Big West. Those two schools and San Luis Obispo are the only Big West members with football teams.

Which means Northridge football likely goes independent after next season, its last in the Big Sky. San Luis Obispo also is a I-AA independent.

The geographical makeup of the Big West in a couple of years will help ease the financial burden on Northridge’s athletic department, but don’t expect many other benefits.

Those who believe a Big West comprised of California schools will magically create rivalries haven’t checked the cold, hard numbers.

This men’s basketball season, the four schools with the worst average home attendance in the Big West are Cal State Fullerton at 777, UC Irvine (1,674), Long Beach State (2,095) and UC Santa Barbara (2,308).

Only 1,661 were at Irvine’s 5,000-seat Bren Events Center to watch the Anteaters lose to Fullerton, 76-74, on Jan. 26. So much for “natural” rivalries.

Oh, sure, the Matadors could gain more TV exposure, since teams in the basketball-oriented Big West show up in regional and sometimes national telecasts a few times each season. That would bring additional income, too.

It also means Northridge must consider building a bona fide basketball arena to replace its undersized and nondescript gym, hidden inside an academic building and found only by sheer luck.

And, while they are at it, spend a few bucks upgrading or rebuilding the baseball facilities. The Matadors, very competitive in Division I, are forced to play on a field that is utterly embarrassing.

Interestingly, Northridge officials claim they still plan to build an on-campus football stadium, although no one understands why.

The harsh reality is Northridge never has been able to raise funds for a football stadium and probably never will, so perhaps shifting the focus to a basketball arena and a baseball stadium makes more sense for the Big West Matadors.

They can start with the money they’ll save on trips they no longer will take to Big Sky country.

There’s the real Big Deal.