University of Colorado athletes and coaches weigh the financial and mental impact of conference realignment
The CU Buffaloes are just weeks away from kicking off their final season in the Pac-12 Conference, and teams will need to weigh the financial impacts of the move with the mental health effects the change will have on the student-athletes.
As the University of Colorado makes more money from television rights in the new conference, much of the focus has been on the football and men's basketball teams. However, the move will change almost every team in Boulder.
Long trips from campus will take teams as far away as West Virginia and Florida, increasing travel times and time away from the classroom.
"There's definitely a sense of uncertainly," Taylor Simpson, a junior setter on the CU volleyball team, said. "We definitely don't know what days we'll be playing, when we'll be traveling, how much school we'll be missing but I think most of us here are pretty confident in the skills we've developed."
While players say the chance to play in new cities and at new venues is exciting, a lot of attention is turning to potential negative effects on academics and mental health.
CU Boulder has a Psychological Help and Performance center, and an academic support center that every student-athlete at the university can access, but a lot of universities don't have a similar setup.
"First things first, we're taken care of and our student athletes are taken care of at CU better than probably anywhere else in the country," head soccer coach Danny Sanchez said. "It's off the charts, the amount of professionals we have available to them."
Only time will tell what the real impact of nationwide conferences is, but in the meantime, athletes and coaches alike are preparing to balance winning, academics, and mental health.
"They're students first and they have a lot of support," head volleyball coach Jesse Mahoney said. "We're not going to put them in a situation that's not healthy for them even though we're going to do what we can to be successful."