THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: USC, UCLA left for the cash — and left their fans behind

I’m angry.

There are a million things wrong with this disgusting spectacle, this ugly picture of supposedly honorable universities dragging their semi-pro football programs from one conference to another.

As anyone who hasn’t been in Antarctica for a decade surely knows by now, every decision in this terribly unpleasant sport of musical chairs is about money.

How can they squeeze out just a few more bucks?

That’s the mantra of even the biggest and richest schools in America.

I mean, the University of Southern California isn’t exactly hurting for cash.

But what the hell?

Why not screw all your partners and go for more?

By now, every school in every conference is looking for a way to dump its brothers and search out a better deal.

I hate it.

However, one part of this unseemly drama makes me madder than everything else.

None of these universities — count ‘em, NONE — seem to give a damn about the fans who support their cash-flow thrills in the first place.

IT’S SIMPLY taken for granted that supporters, alums, boosters and all the rest will be thrilled if you haul a team based in Los Angeles to the other side of the nation.

Question: What does it do for Joe Fan?

Groups of longtime supporters who made a trek to Stanford, Cal, or one of the Arizona schools every year can now enjoy the excitement of spending weeks — or thousands of dollars — on a slog to Rutgers in Piscataway, N.J.

Hey, what fun!

Load up the van.

Do you think that USC or UCLA thought about this part of the equation for one second?

You know, before going over the spread sheets that prove there are larger checks inbound over the next few years?

Not too long ago, I was working in the Midwest when Missouri also packed up and headed for the cash.

Mizzou dumped the Big 12 for the mega-wealthy SEC, and fans who had routinely been making easy drives to Kansas, K-State, Iowa State and even the Oklahoma schools suddenly were asked to move their tailgate parties over a thousand miles to places like Gainesville and Athens.

What chafes me even more is that I’ve never heard from any of these university spokespeople about their fans — the loyalists who fill these massive stadiums.

BUT WAIT …

Southern Cal apparently has taken some notice of its ticket-buying public.

Rather than appeasing these folks for dragging them the entire width of the nation, though, USC is giving them another gratuitous punch to the jaw.

Check out this slice of news from Front Office Sports …

“In joining the Big Ten, USC and UCLA will enjoy a major boost in revenue from media rights — but their football ticket prices could also climb significantly.

“Their average ticket price could increase 25-30 percent in 2024, when the Bruins and Trojans officially become Big Ten members, according to TickPick brand manager Kyle Zorn.”

That’s right.

Not only will it be tougher to attend games, the ones people do reach by dog sled will be more expensive.

That cost will apply to games at home, too.

That matchup with Maryland or Minnesota will cost USC and UCLA supporters more than they’ve been spending to watch longtime rivalry battles against Stanford and Oregon.

We don’t even need to check numbers from school to school.

University presidents and administrators have been making these conference calculations as nothing more than strict business decisions — and to hell with the customers who’ve made them popular in the first place.

Somebody, anybody … should be screaming on behalf of the fans.

The whole thing is disgraceful.

Email: scameron@cdapress.com

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press three times each week. He also writes Zags Tracker, a commentary on Gonzaga basketball which is published weekly during the season, beginning in October.

Steve suggests you take his opinions in the spirit of a Jimmy Buffett song: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.”