I think the 4 corner schools will and should. Move to the big 12! The pac 12 brand is not good right now. They can't even pick the best expansion candidates. Boise state and fresno have way better national brands than smu or sandiego state.
I think an interesting and different article would ask Cal readers to respond to the following questions:
1. Should Cal and other Pac 10 (new status) schools try to enter the Big 10 conference or stay in their current conference, and why for each answer?
2. Should the Pac 10 schools expand its conference and, if so, by how many schools?
3, If the Pac 10 expands its conference by two schools, which are the two schools that should be selected and why. A longer list is OK so long as the are listed in order of preference.
If this question is posed to readers I am willing to post my answers to these questions very early to spur other readers to do the same. I have already written on this subject but am willing to repeat myself. Spoiler alert -- I am in favor of not trying to get into he Big 10 and have a list of the best two schools the Pac 10 should add to their conference and why.
Arizona and ASU belong in the Big 10. There is no alumni market for the Big 12 or Mountain West teams here. There is a huge, and growing Big 10 alumni network in Arizona. If it’s about having games people want to watch, then that’s the answer. These states aren’t like Midwestern states where different schools can easily drive to each other’s games. The distances are really far here. Will common sense prevail? Probably not.
A good topic for an article would be to ask for suggestions as to how to increase football attendance. Would get lots of comments. Then WriteForCaliofrnia could send them to Jim Knowlton and ask him to comment on them in terms of whether he would seriously consider them and give them a try. Actually, a commission should be established to discuss that topic. Maybe some of you narjetubg types could participate in that group call, maybe after work hours. I'd go for flashlight stunts for a night game, because it has probably been ages since that was done and promote it by asking parents to bring their kids. But there must be much better ideas int there than that.
Where cal really failed in the last decade was a failure to attract “t-shirt” fans. The majority of the eyes on USC and UCLA’s games are in LA, are fans, but are not alumni. This is where the money is in a large market.
We absolutely should be doing everything we can to fill the east bay football void left by the raiders. Hell run promotions for a free cal hat if you show up in raiders gear, have a “black hole” night, do something to attract non-alumni and alumni alike.
1) Herbstreit feels the college playoffs are going to have 12 - 16 teams. Cal could easily get into that field if they win the Pac 12 with a decent record. We might be dropped in a new Div 1AA category if we play in the Mountain West, but who knows how that will work. I think this shows how important it is to stay in the Pac 12, but that depends on whether Oregon and Washington leave the conference (and/or Utah, Arizona, ASU, and Colorado.
2) Not really relevant, but the article mention about how good the football facilities are at lesser known schools such as Purdue and Indiana. Implication is that a, maybe, our facilities are not close to top notch, though many prospective players visiting Cal have said how good our facilities are. So I don't know if the article is correct and, anyway, it didn't mention anything about Cal's facilities.
Again, other good, and I believe long, articles about college football goings on in 247Sports.
BTW, here's an article showing five year average attendance in the Pac 12 and the percentage of that average attendance to capacity. Our attendance percentage of 69% is right being UCLA's of 70%.
We are the public university with arguably the best academic reputation and research in the country. I get us not being the belle of the ball given how awful our game day experience has been and the lukewarm support of our students, but I’m somewhat shocked we are just down there with Waxzu and Oregon state
As an okie let's merge both Big 12 and PAC 12 for a super conference. Everybody is in and add UNLV for Vegas then go after ACC to complete a 32 mega conference.
Good comment from another blog. See the third to last paragraph, which mentions that Cal could either end up combining with the Big Ten or combine with some Mountain West teams (which I take very likely to mean the Pac 12 gets two or more Mountain West teams to join the Pac 12, most likely two).
The concern over long road trips for non-football sports is a legitimate major concern, which Knowlton mentions.
eastcoastcal said:
From the premium board:
Quote:
I was at the event. Well attended, good energy. Knowlton did address the USC/UCLA situation. He said he had been on about 75 conference calls and had more last night after the event. He said they would move forward with the programs that want to be in the PAC-12.
He also said he spoke to the Chancellor more than any other time since he has been at CAL.
Finally, he said they did not want to put our student-athletes in such a horrible traveling position.
It is a fair point, the closest school to USC/UCLA is Nebraska (1500 miles away).
I think we all view this from a football perspective and forget that it is the entire athletic department. Does hoops go to the east coast for a week and play 3-4 games?
The travel issue is what makes me think the Big Ten is not done. Maybe they get 4 more teams out west and then the travel is lessened but then you have a 20 team league. So you have (2) ten team divisions?- sounds a lot like the Big 10, Pac10 before all of this re-alignment.
Anyhow, I think we either end up in the Big 10 to secure the Bay Area with Stanford or we are combining with some Mountain West teams.
If Knowlton is indeed preparing and informing alums & the school that we do not intend to join the Big 10 because of travel, that is an indefensible position. I cannot for the life of me fathom why we would "move forward with the programs that want to be in the PAC-12". We will lose money and the conference is dead. I truly hope this was more of a lawyer-answer that doesn't really have any meaning. It is Big 10 or bust. Obviously the travel situation sucks but its even worse for USC/UCLA and there's no better option.
If we stay in the Pac, I'm probably done watching Cal tbh
I mean, isn't that easy for us to say sitting on our phones at home? If I were a student-athlete not in men's BB or FB, I would absolutely hate the idea of regular travel to the midwest and beyond just to compete. Almost every student-athlete outside of the revenue sports by necessity has to take the student part seriously, and I don't think it's fair to dismiss concerns about them out of hand.
If corner schools move huskies and oregon will bolt immediately
I think the 4 corner schools will and should. Move to the big 12! The pac 12 brand is not good right now. They can't even pick the best expansion candidates. Boise state and fresno have way better national brands than smu or sandiego state.
If what is said about big 12 poaching the four Pac-12 schools then the conference would be over . Stanford would go to Big Ten for sure
Stanford and Notre Dame are the two schools the Big Ten want to complete their conference
The PAC 6 should form a division in the Mountain West.
Gobears49
I think an interesting and different article would ask Cal readers to respond to the following questions:
1. Should Cal and other Pac 10 (new status) schools try to enter the Big 10 conference or stay in their current conference, and why for each answer?
2. Should the Pac 10 schools expand its conference and, if so, by how many schools?
3, If the Pac 10 expands its conference by two schools, which are the two schools that should be selected and why. A longer list is OK so long as the are listed in order of preference.
If this question is posed to readers I am willing to post my answers to these questions very early to spur other readers to do the same. I have already written on this subject but am willing to repeat myself. Spoiler alert -- I am in favor of not trying to get into he Big 10 and have a list of the best two schools the Pac 10 should add to their conference and why.
Arizona and ASU belong in the Big 10. There is no alumni market for the Big 12 or Mountain West teams here. There is a huge, and growing Big 10 alumni network in Arizona. If it’s about having games people want to watch, then that’s the answer. These states aren’t like Midwestern states where different schools can easily drive to each other’s games. The distances are really far here. Will common sense prevail? Probably not.
Gobears49
A good topic for an article would be to ask for suggestions as to how to increase football attendance. Would get lots of comments. Then WriteForCaliofrnia could send them to Jim Knowlton and ask him to comment on them in terms of whether he would seriously consider them and give them a try. Actually, a commission should be established to discuss that topic. Maybe some of you narjetubg types could participate in that group call, maybe after work hours. I'd go for flashlight stunts for a night game, because it has probably been ages since that was done and promote it by asking parents to bring their kids. But there must be much better ideas int there than that.
Cal better have watched NASCAR at Sonoma because they need to get the hell in gear and get off pit road while SC and UCLA lap us on track.
Where cal really failed in the last decade was a failure to attract “t-shirt” fans. The majority of the eyes on USC and UCLA’s games are in LA, are fans, but are not alumni. This is where the money is in a large market.
We absolutely should be doing everything we can to fill the east bay football void left by the raiders. Hell run promotions for a free cal hat if you show up in raiders gear, have a “black hole” night, do something to attract non-alumni and alumni alike.
I'm going to pretend I'm an ND fan and write to their AD not to join Big 10. Signed, GoIrish49
Gobears49
Lots of good articles in 247Sports about happenings about the football conferences. Here's probably the best one.
https://247sports.com/LongFormArticle/College-football-realignment-Kirk-Herbstreit-predicts-wild-future-after-USC-UCLA-move-to-Big-Ten-189613756/#1916877_1
Two points that I found interesting.
1) Herbstreit feels the college playoffs are going to have 12 - 16 teams. Cal could easily get into that field if they win the Pac 12 with a decent record. We might be dropped in a new Div 1AA category if we play in the Mountain West, but who knows how that will work. I think this shows how important it is to stay in the Pac 12, but that depends on whether Oregon and Washington leave the conference (and/or Utah, Arizona, ASU, and Colorado.
2) Not really relevant, but the article mention about how good the football facilities are at lesser known schools such as Purdue and Indiana. Implication is that a, maybe, our facilities are not close to top notch, though many prospective players visiting Cal have said how good our facilities are. So I don't know if the article is correct and, anyway, it didn't mention anything about Cal's facilities.
Again, other good, and I believe long, articles about college football goings on in 247Sports.
BTW, here's an article showing five year average attendance in the Pac 12 and the percentage of that average attendance to capacity. Our attendance percentage of 69% is right being UCLA's of 70%.
https://www.pacifictakes.com/2020/5/27/21272206/pac-12-football-ranking-teams-attendance-5-year-oregon-washington-usc-ucla-colorado-arizona-stanford
We are the public university with arguably the best academic reputation and research in the country. I get us not being the belle of the ball given how awful our game day experience has been and the lukewarm support of our students, but I’m somewhat shocked we are just down there with Waxzu and Oregon state
As an okie let's merge both Big 12 and PAC 12 for a super conference. Everybody is in and add UNLV for Vegas then go after ACC to complete a 32 mega conference.
Gobears49
Good comment from another blog. See the third to last paragraph, which mentions that Cal could either end up combining with the Big Ten or combine with some Mountain West teams (which I take very likely to mean the Pac 12 gets two or more Mountain West teams to join the Pac 12, most likely two).
The concern over long road trips for non-football sports is a legitimate major concern, which Knowlton mentions.
eastcoastcal said:
From the premium board:
Quote:
I was at the event. Well attended, good energy. Knowlton did address the USC/UCLA situation. He said he had been on about 75 conference calls and had more last night after the event. He said they would move forward with the programs that want to be in the PAC-12.
He also said he spoke to the Chancellor more than any other time since he has been at CAL.
Finally, he said they did not want to put our student-athletes in such a horrible traveling position.
It is a fair point, the closest school to USC/UCLA is Nebraska (1500 miles away).
I think we all view this from a football perspective and forget that it is the entire athletic department. Does hoops go to the east coast for a week and play 3-4 games?
The travel issue is what makes me think the Big Ten is not done. Maybe they get 4 more teams out west and then the travel is lessened but then you have a 20 team league. So you have (2) ten team divisions?- sounds a lot like the Big 10, Pac10 before all of this re-alignment.
Anyhow, I think we either end up in the Big 10 to secure the Bay Area with Stanford or we are combining with some Mountain West teams.
If Knowlton is indeed preparing and informing alums & the school that we do not intend to join the Big 10 because of travel, that is an indefensible position. I cannot for the life of me fathom why we would "move forward with the programs that want to be in the PAC-12". We will lose money and the conference is dead. I truly hope this was more of a lawyer-answer that doesn't really have any meaning. It is Big 10 or bust. Obviously the travel situation sucks but its even worse for USC/UCLA and there's no better option.
If we stay in the Pac, I'm probably done watching Cal tbh
I mean, isn't that easy for us to say sitting on our phones at home? If I were a student-athlete not in men's BB or FB, I would absolutely hate the idea of regular travel to the midwest and beyond just to compete. Almost every student-athlete outside of the revenue sports by necessity has to take the student part seriously, and I don't think it's fair to dismiss concerns about them out of hand.
We will not go quietly into the night, we will not vanish without a fight! Today we celebrate our independence from the tyranny of the Pac12!!!!!