Abstract
College athletic competition constitutes a significant aspect of life in the United States. Virtually, every institution of higher learning fields intercollegiate teams in a multitude of sporting activities. Most colleges and universities join an organization, a conference of similar institutions, to enhance competition. Some also join single-sport conferences in order to participate in sports that their principal conferences do not accommodate. All conferences have names, often place-based names. Many place-based names convey their conference locations well; others fail in this regard. This essay examines the names of all 184 baccalaureate-level conferences in the United States, excludes those conference names that do not have a place basis, and divides the remaining conferences into two categories: those whose names are place appropriate and those that are not.
Highlights
Sportswriter Frank Deford (2012) said, “ ... as badly as athletic conferences flunk arithmetic, they do no better with geography”
This essay examines the names of all 184 baccalaureate-level conferences in the United States, excludes those conference names that do not have a place basis, and divides the remaining conferences
When the conference name specifies a directional component (52 of 91 or 57%), the members all stand in that portion of the country, as in the case of the Big West Conference, Little East Conference, and Northeast Fencing Conference
Summary
Sportswriter Frank Deford (2012) said, “ ... as badly as athletic conferences flunk arithmetic, they do no better with geography” (para. 2). A conference whose name at one time accurately defined its sphere of athletic competition can become frozen and outdated as the membership roll of the conference shifts to accommodate new entrants and says farewell to those schools that depart. Such incongruity is the case as well with place names that no longer reflect the wishes of the population that occupies the area or the landscape characteristics that might have suggested the outdated name. Nonsectarian groups like the Atlantic Coast Conference of yachting clubs (The New York Times 1906), Lone Star Conference of journeymen stone cutters (El Paso Herald 1909), and Mountain-West Conference of electrical and electronic engineers (Tucson Daily Citizen 1971) have used “conference” in their names
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