Considering the way things have gone in 2020, is anything out of the realm of possibility anymore?
Offended by the results of the recent Presidential election, and unhappy with the Supreme Court’s refusal to entertain the idea of reversing those results, some politicians in Texas (and elsewhere) have begun to openly float the idea of secession – as in breaking away from the progressive-leaning USA and forming their own more conservative-leaning independent nation.
Don’t laugh.
They even have a hashtag: #Texit.
This means they’re serious. Even Rush Limbaugh, the voice of conservative grievance, mentioned the idea.
If you thought this kind of bickering ended with the Civil War, you haven’t been paying attention. Yes, the Supreme Court laid down the law after that epic North v South conflict that none of the 50 states can simply decide to leave on their own. But that was more than 150 years ago. Perhaps the current court would rule differently? Certainly a lot of politicians would like them to. Secession has been mentioned by folks on both sides of the ever widening political divide for many many years.
If Texas (and other deeply conservative states that favor a form of “nationalism”) got together and wanted to successfully break off from the United States of America in order to form their own more perfect-er union, they could follow the model of the Republic of San Marino, an independent country surrounded by Italy in southern Europe. San Marino has successfully ruled itself since a treaty guaranteed its continuing independence from the Italian state in 1862. They have their own government and everything. Sounds like the perfect model.
Secession isn’t happening next week or next month. But just for argument’s sake, let’s say it’s possible. What might that look like, and how would it impact sports?
Could cities in the newly minted “Texmerica,” we’ll call it, still have professional sports teams that compete with the New York’s, Chicago’s and LA’s of this country? The answer to that is obviously yes, given that Canadian-based teams already have a big place in the North American sports landscape. But it would mean that the Dallas Cowboys couldn’t really be “America’s Team” anymore…since they’d no longer be part of America.
“Texmerica’s Team” has a nice ring to it.
Professional athletes have grown accustomed to dealing with international travel, so that would be no big deal, as long as they and their family members didn’t try to cross the border illegally…or in some cases, try to take up full time residence. Chances are, that would be frowned upon in Texmerica.
Many of them might actually choose to move to a place where state and federal taxes – if they existed at all – would be lower and the temperatures generally higher. Of course many of the things they’ve gotten used to having – and maybe even take for granted in the U.S. – things like the US Postal Service, Social Security, how to deal with natural disasters, and protection from the U.S. Military just to name a few, wouldn’t be so readily available in Texmerica.
There’s a tradeoff.
The bigger question is really how the formation of Texmerica would impact sports at the collegiate level. While many foreign students attend colleges in the US and compete in the NCAA, no foreign universities do. If Texas left the union, and took say, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and a couple others along with them, would that mean that the Southeastern Conference and the Big 12 could no longer be part of the American college football and basketball picture?
How could we still have the Power Five in football and the New Year’s Six Bowl games?
And who would be eligible for March Madness?
Talk about realignment.
Could these two neighboring countries – one that maintains a full-fledged democracy, and the other that would likely favor a more segregated form of leadership – coexist well enough to agree on maintaining the sports status quo – at both levels – the way we would all want? Even if they did, there are bound to be issues that arise. When does the quest for ultimate authority over things like the location of championship events, the distribution of vast amounts of revenue and broadcasting rights impact the events themselves…plus the rights of the student athletes and the integrity of the games?
And as for international competition, would there be separate Olympic teams, for example? Remember, Puerto Rico is a US territory, but they field a team separately from the US in the World Baseball Classic.
Would there be “Team USA” and “Team Texmerica?” There’d have to be, right? San Marino athletes aren’t part of the Italian Olympic team.
But if the current political climate is any indication, Texmerica and the USA would more likely end up functioning like Haiti and the Dominican Republic do, which is to say, not that great. Those two nations share an island, and their border is a river. Of course the Texmerican people would largely support that river being accompanied by a “big beautiful border wall,” which itself doesn’t do much for peaceful relations.
Right off the bat, Texmerica would have a whole lot of issues to deal with that would be far more important than sports. But again, if you’re speculating based on the current political climate, sports might be the only thing that would keep the two nations from going to war.
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