PAC12 Got Screwed

[Art Vandelay]

This is absolutely true. They tolerate sports only to the extent they had to.

Recently I had a conversation with a highly educated person about colleges. She was convinced that Clemson is a crappy college. Then she was surprised when I showed her it's a very respectable #70 on US News--especially for a public school. (BYU is #77.) Her reason for thinking that? Clemson has a great football program is in South Carolina, and southerns speak funny.

FIFY. It may or may not be true of your friend, but I guarantee it is true with a lot of highly educated people above, or to the west of the Mason-Dixon

[Uncle Ted]

Yikes. Should have gobbled up Texas and Oklahoma and killed the Big12 when it had the chance.

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LOL@Coloarado

Maybe they should expand the "Group of Five" conferences to six and let the PAC-12 in.

[Lost Student]

Maybe this will help the PAC 12 find religion?

Mike Bohn on Pac-12's struggles: "Everything is on the table."

[wapiti]

Mike Bohn on Pac-12's struggles: "Everything is on the table."

Would love to see USC join us in independence. I wonder what that would look like? Would the other PAC schools give them the silent treatment like the MWC did to BYU? I'm guessing the MWC would gladly take their other non-football programs.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

The Pac 12 needs a winner. USC hasn’t been relevant for a decade and Oregon has never been able to seal the deal. Washington had a one year then middled back. TV sets and people show up for championship teams, it makes the other teams around you more interesting and ranked higher. It’s been 16 years since the P12 wore the crown. Obviously I hope it is Oregon, but if a team in the conference rises to that level or not will be the biggest influence in the future value of the broadcasts. USC, Oregon, Washington winning a title would make a huge draw on TV and attendance. The same is true in basketball, some good teams that get to a final four or even a title game, but never the title.

Does everyone really think that all the sports fans on the west coast just died? No they are fair weather and the weather isn’t great. It’s enjoyable weather, with lots of good games and balanced teams, but it isn’t great.

[wapiti]

Andy Staples has an article in the Athletic today about the possibility of the Big 12 raiding the Pac 12 in the reverse of what the Pac 10 tried in 2010. The Big 12's model with each school selling its own 3rd tier rights would appeal to the bigger brands in the PAC 12. And the combination of Texas, OU, USC, UCLA, and potentially Oregon and UW would get premium dollar for the conference tier 1 and tier 2 rights.

The specific proposal is the Big 12 adding USC, UCLA, UO, UW, ASU, and UA. But I could see that going a number of ways. I would think that Stanford's location, academic prestige, and national brand would be more valuable than Arizona. I'm pretty sure if the Big 12 is driving they will leave out Colorado with a smile. I would enjoy that. There could be political problems with UW, UO, or UCLA leaving a state school brother.

I don't know what will happen in the next round of realignment. But with the widening gap between the Pac 12 and the other P5's, something is going to happen with that conference. A Big 12 raid is the most logical and not that far-fetched.

https://theathletic.com/1652568/2020...na-state-ucla/

[Uncle Ted]

Andy Staples has an article in the Athletic today about the possibility of the Big 12 raiding the Pac 12 in the reverse of what the Pac 10 tried in 2010. The Big 12's model with each school selling its own 3rd tier rights would appeal to the bigger brands in the PAC 12. And the combination of Texas, OU, USC, UCLA, and potentially Oregon and UW would get premium dollar for the conference tier 1 and tier 2 rights.

The specific proposal is the Big 12 adding USC, UCLA, UO, UW, ASU, and UA. But I could see that going a number of ways. I would think that Stanford's location, academic prestige, and national brand would be more valuable than Arizona. I'm pretty sure if the Big 12 is driving they will leave out Colorado with a smile. I would enjoy that. There could be political problems with UW, UO, or UCLA leaving a state school brother.

I don't know what will happen in the next round of realignment. But with the widening gap between the Pac 12 and the other P5's, something is going to happen with that conference. A Big 12 raid is the most logical and not that far-fetched.

https://theathletic.com/1652568/2020...na-state-ucla/

LOL@CU.

UW and UO seem like they are a little too far out of the way. The Big 12 should go after USC/UCLA, ASU/UA, and Utah/BYU. The "Big 16" name has a nice ring to it.

Edit: Make that USC/Stanford instead of USC/UCLA State employees from CA can't travel to a good number of Big 12 states because of their liberal fruitcake laws.

[CardiacCoug]

https://collegefootballtalk.nbcsport...irus-pandemic/

[Uncle Ted]

https://collegefootballtalk.nbcsport...irus-pandemic/

Oh, Larry Scott is only getting $4.2 million... that sucks for him.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

Oh, Larry Scott is only getting $4.2 million... that sucks for him.

You, like everyone else in the world that has ever watched a sporting event or looked up sports on the interwebs, must have never heard of the women’s pro tennis league he was running that we were so lucky to steal him away from!

[Color Me Badd Fan]

LOL@CU.

UW and UO seem like they are a little too far out of the way. The Big 12 should go after USC/UCLA, ASU/UA, and Utah/BYU. The "Big 16" name has a nice ring to it.

Edit: Make that USC/Stanford instead of USC/UCLA State employees from CA can't travel to a good number of Big 12 states because of their liberal fruitcake laws.

I think they'd want all four California schools and one of each from Washington, Oregon and Arizona. To me, those would clearly be UW, UO and ASU. Unless the bridges are completely burned and/or they don't care about having an odd number of members, CU would naturally be the last team. Unfortunately, it's not completely outside the realm of possibility that they screw CU and take on Utah given some recent success in football.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

I think they'd want all four California schools and one of each from Washington, Oregon and Arizona. To me, those would clearly be UW, UO and ASU. Unless the bridges are completely burned and/or they don't care about having an odd number of members, CU would naturally be the last team. Unfortunately, it's not completely outside the realm of possibility that they screw CU and take on Utah given some recent success in football.

I would suspect the opposite. Arizona basketball is probably the most recognizable basketball product, UCLA perhaps but history is turning into ancient history for the Bruins. Meanwhile ASU doesn’t even draw in Phoenix. I LOVE Herm, I think they will be the best team in the South and maybe the whole conference for the next few years, but I believe Arizona would add a lot more value from a conference addition standpoint.

That said I have on very good authority that unless faced with financial survival, not just falling behind other leagues, Oregon and OSU aren’t splitting up.