Here is my moonshot, out of the box and Hail Mary idea to save the Pac12.
Pac12 and MWC fully merge into a 20 team league called the PMWC.
Set the league up with a European style soccer regulation format, this could help keep things interesting for teams that aren’t going to make a bowl game and gives teams and fans of those programs something late in the season to keep them engaged.
Do not allow any programs within the PMWC to schedule any OOC games with USC or UCLA in any sports.
In fact, try to schedule as many conference games as possible within the conference to keep conference dollars going to other athletic departments. So the lower tier regulated teams would make up the B or C games of the OOC schedule.
Have a neutral site game schedule for every Saturday at SoFi stadium and make sure it starts 30 minutes before the ucla or usc home game. The 30 minutes before will help fuck up LA traffic to make it more difficult for ucla and usc and other big 10 fans make it on time to those games.
Take a smaller TV contract of 4 or 5 years to try to prove the concept of this new league. Sell all the Olympic/non revenue sports to a streaming service. Put some of the lower tiered football game matchups on the streaming service. Try for a TV contract with CBS for top tier games or the week. Allow for the top tier games to be made available immediately on streaming once the game ends on CBS.
I still think some sort of merger with the ACC would get the presidents in line. You can retain what's left of the west coast rivalries and join forces with programs that make sense from culturally, academically and athletically.
You could merge in that you only schedule A type games for OOC matchups against one another, also only play bowl games against one another. Something similar to the Big10/ACC basketball tournament. Maybe even hold some of those games at big neutral site events.
Yup, although not sure why you would have to have bowl matchups against one another. You could have a PAC/ACC playoff, possibly even a two game one (more money!) with the winner assured an invite to the natty playoffs.
They can do a scheduling alliance but if the ACC merges or adds teams it triggers options to opt out of their GoR which means Clemson, FSU, Miami and UNC are gone within minutes.
This is really a great idea. It's innovative and interesting and would offer something that the other conferences don't have. Relegation games are also an interesting way to raise interest around games that would otherwise be ignored...and would ensure that the teams in the premier bracket are investing in football. It also makes a path to grab more viewership without completely compromising on quality. Just hope Cal would not be relegated!
I'm good with this, we need to monopolize west coast football as much as possible. But are the slapdicks in charge going to recommend this? And which out of conference games would we schedule? I think our only hope would be conferences like the ACC, MAC, Sunbelt and others. The others must only come out here for USC and UCLA, or would we be playing them too?
Fuck ucla and usc from now until the end of time. We never play them ever again, in any sport.
If the Big10 were collapsing and usc and ucla no longer had a home and came crawling back to us over hot coals and broken glass begging for a cup of water because they were dying of thirst, I still wouldn’t give them my piss to drink.
Let's brain storm more. How else can we screw these bastards? I think a well orchestrated negative PR campaign could help. I don't think most people (who don't follow college football closely) are aware of what is happening...and the repercussions it has for many west coast families that have student athletes.
At the least, I think there should be political pressure for the B1G A$$holes to remediate the damages they created. As much as I despise the B1G A$$holes and Little 14, scooping up the rest of the flagship Pac programs is probably the right thing to do, at this point, unless we do something bold like GoldenSD81 has suggested. Otherwise we find a way to sue the shit out them.
To add on to this, I think both the MWC and Pac12 need this to work or else both conferences will be regulated to G5 and second or third class program status. They will become a de facto farm league to the Big10/SEC/Big12/ACC where underrated 3* players will develop for a few years and then transfer out. It would be a complete athletic drain.
Really all west coast and western football is facing an existential crisis if the Pac12 collapses. Sure the 4 and 5 stars could still go to USC/UCLA or elsewhere but some of those kids actually want to stay home and play closer to home so that their friends and family can watch them play locally or easily drive or take a quick flight to an away game. West coast and western HSFB be heavily impacted.
Having only usc and ucla as the only P5 programs in the entire west coast and west isn’t a sustainable model and will negatively impact all of CFB as a whole.
Have you counted the eyeballs of the markets that would be involved in this scenario? I ask simply because that's what the TV powers will need to do in order to value it for a contract.
What’s the value of the market for just about the entire west and west coast college football. Negotiate it not as an individual market but basically an entire region.
You would basically have the entire TV markets of the following states: Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Arizona, Hawaii, and New Mexico. You would be splitting the markets in Colorado, Utah, and California.
America is built on monopolies, the PMWC would just about a complete physical monopoly on all CFB in the west. They would also control any and all OOC games so they would be able to dictate which non PMWC programs get exposure to the west.
At the same time your hopefully eroding ucla and usc so when the TV deals come back up for renewal you have weakened the Big10 and strengthened the PMWC position.
I think North and South Dakota State should be added as well. They have been giving teams a hard time for years now. If they get up to 24 teams, the top 8, middle 8, and bottom 8 can play each other in 7 conference games. get up to 9 by playing one of each depending on where they place in those divisions.
Crazy, crazy, I know. But I think crazy ideas are needed in order to survive.
Fuck it! Why not! I actually think this idea of 24 and splitting into 3 tiered regulated leagues is a good one.
Then we could even have a reverse Ted Lasso show for Apple TV where an out of his element and washed up British football coach comes to the US to coach a down on their luck New Mexico squad that has been regulated in the PMWC.
Being from the Central Valley, I would like to point out that, despite being more sparsely populated, the Central Valley is more interested in and dedicated to traditional sports and has a gross population that makes a much more involved and loyal fanbase than most urban contrasts. Even FSU rival alum in The Valley would rally for FSU as matter of regional pride. Everyone there knows or is connected to a FSU grad.
The USC-UCLA hold on the Los Angeles TV market has to be eaten away for this to work. The numbers don't favor the West against the other regions of the US (only 80 million people total) against the other regions (South has about 125 million and North+Midwest has 125 million).
A PAC-MW fusion that locks out other conferences for non-conference games with a relegation system would be interesting though. Too bad it won't happen.
Absolutely you would need to cut into the LA market and it could work, especially if usc and ucla struggle and more people start to watch the Rams and Chargers.
Look we’ll simply add SDSU, the university of Anchorage, and the university of Hawaii. That should assert our dominance as the most pacific of all the conferences.
What else is there to say besides WE ARE FUCKED!!!!!!! So long, Cal Football and Athletics. It was a good run but in the end, inept leadership and events beyond our control have led to this moment. Prepare to become the west coast version of the University of Chicago (still UC), a.k.a., "Where fun goes to die". I just hope that FUCLA and U$C freeze their asses off every winter and get absolutely pummeled in the Big 10. Sorry I'm bitter but going to football games and rooting for Cal was just an absolutely amazing experience that has left me with many fond memories. Rooting for Cal faculty to win a Nobel Prize every October is fun but it isn't quite the same as spending a Saturday rooting/praying for the Golden Bears. Sayonara, Pac-12.
There's still too much money in athletics and football to let it go. Plus they have Memorial they only recently renovated and need to pay off forever. (I can only imagine the amount of campus and City of Berkeley BS it would take to ever repurpose that particular real estate.) It will never be the same as it was and could get very weird. We will for sure always be playing from even further behind financially than nearly all the rest of the competition and may be bad forever as result, but Cal Athletics and football aren't going away.
It is the end in that other Cal sports would need to be cut because our athletic department revenue would decrease. So if you care about both Cal football and other non revenue sports it kind of is.
Pac12 is about to go out in a whimper. 25 years of incompetent and complacent leadership by 3 commissioners and numerous ADs/chancellors have led to this moment.
GSD81's idea is a great one. It might be the first regulation system in college football implemented on the division 1 scale. The Top teams will play each other in 9 conference games while the bottom 10 will do the same. The teams with the best records will go to the following divisions accordingly.
I have another addition though. Add North and South Dakota State as well. They have been beating the paste out of teams for years. The PAC will have to be bold if they want this to work.
The problem for Cal, Stanford, UW and OU is that the Big Ten wants to fully integrate USC and UCLA before adding them. As I have written before on this site, when a school is added, it joins both the Big 10 Conference and the Big 10 Academic Alliance. The latter, which is the real payoff for the faculties, takes more time to set up. The four top metro areas that attract the graduates of ALL 14 Big 10 universities are NYC, DC, LA and SF. The Big 10's expansion is based on where it has a strong base of viewers. Rest assured, SF is on the wish list and the Big 10 will move once USC and UCLA are fully integrated into both the Alliance and the Conference. Unfortunately, the timing has been thrown off by Colorado's departure.
I don't claim any particular expertise with conference alignments, but I dearly hope the NorCal and PNW teams stay together. I hadn't thought of the idea GoldenSD81 offers, but it's less crazy than others I've seen. What a mess.
I know it’s not the right fit, but CAL needs to grab a spot in The BIG 12. I think the days days of culteral fit are now over. PAC-12 is looking at religious schools as replacements and only 1/3 of our most important ties to the conference is still there. We don’t add the value that Oregon or WShington add and the mountain west is just as bad of a fit as the new Pac-12 or the Big-12. Get the guaranteed Big 12 TV dollars and start looking at the BIG 10 next time around.
Also, with Texas and Oklahoma gone there is no juggernaut in the Big 12. With good coaching and increased Texas recruiting we have viable path to a conference championship and an expanded playoff.
Nothing new here. This conference have been on death's door since university of southern california, los angeles and university of southern california left the conference.
In the article previously referenced by Heino, Larry Scott had help aiming for the iceberg. Pat Haden nixed the idea of Oklahoma and Texas joining.
Hmmm... they did not want real competition, maybe? Easier to pad one's record from year to year?
Fast forward to now, USC locks the helm on course for the iceberg, clears the bridge, and jumps ship, along with our younger sister. If Texas and Oklahoma, along with OSU and Texas Tech, were established since 2011 or so in the PAC 16, the LA schools might not have been motivated to depart and, if they had, it would be more endurable.
When USC and UCLA left, they took about 50% (yes, half) of the conference's media value with them, with no replacement schools available to make up that loss. GK is not perfect, but it seems to me that his negotiating power/options after the USC/UCLA departure severely shrunk.
At this point I don't trust that Kliavkoff can make a deal. He seems in over his head. If one happens it might include a large portion of streaming which actually is not all that bad for fans and be better for the lesser games than the poorly distributed Pac-12 Network.
Wow, revisionist history in an SI article. The reporting from that time, had UT & OU pretending they had interest in joining the PAC in order to drive up interest & their value for the SEC which was their real & only target. They were never coming west, and the PAC execs (incl good 'ol Larry), to save face, made it sound like it was their decision not to pursue them any further.
Texas also wanted to keep its home TV network (Longhorn) and wanted a bigger % share than the equal pro-rata that the Pac always had. USC said, sure, and we want a bigger share too. The Pac said no to both.
Edited to add: Larry Scott's biggest failure was believing himself to be the next Roone Arledge and a big media mogul. Instead of focusing on the sports on teh field, he tried to compete with espn and Fox to build a sports network, which belied common sense. Unfortunately, the Presidents signed off on that pie-in-the-sky idea.
Yes the loss of visibility on the Pac-12 network and shunting to late night games put a big dent in exposure. And not just external exposure because when your own alumni want your product and they can't easily watch it in many parts of the country... that's just bad business.
"To answer Miller's question 12 years later; yes. And they are losing with a chance of no return. Scott hasn't been employed by the Pac-12 since 2021, but his decisions for the conference feel as if he is still leading the charge."
I said since day one, this pac 12 commish is completely incompetent . How can everyone else stand by and watch this clown? It started with SDSU and now CO, they see how this guy is completely lost. He will burn down the pac 12 as we know it! Get him out , now.
I've been largely supportive until this week. In hindsight the SDSU fumbling was just that and not some machiavellean play that I hoped it was. I think it's also likely that he is having a difficult time negotiating between 10 presidents who are not aligned, and some of whom are in denial and unrealistic in their hopes that the current conference model can hold without making bold changes (ie., adding schools that might not jibe reputational with the previous model). I wouldn't want his job, though he's clearly made some costly strategic and PR errors all on his own.
The shot that was heard on Jun 30, 2022, when it was learned that USC and UCLA were leaving was when the conference needed to kick it in the ass and do something big. Not only did nothing big get done, it would seem that nothing and less got done.
1. If the conference wants to be a conference before it gets picked apart, the only moves left are either a big one or a drastic one.
2. If Cal wants a hope of relevance to modern college football, it needs to find an appropriate suitor of a conference or hope that the conference it is already in does something big. See option 1.
And it should be obvious by now what putting any hope in this conference will get you.
Here is my moonshot, out of the box and Hail Mary idea to save the Pac12.
Pac12 and MWC fully merge into a 20 team league called the PMWC.
Set the league up with a European style soccer regulation format, this could help keep things interesting for teams that aren’t going to make a bowl game and gives teams and fans of those programs something late in the season to keep them engaged.
Do not allow any programs within the PMWC to schedule any OOC games with USC or UCLA in any sports.
In fact, try to schedule as many conference games as possible within the conference to keep conference dollars going to other athletic departments. So the lower tier regulated teams would make up the B or C games of the OOC schedule.
Have a neutral site game schedule for every Saturday at SoFi stadium and make sure it starts 30 minutes before the ucla or usc home game. The 30 minutes before will help fuck up LA traffic to make it more difficult for ucla and usc and other big 10 fans make it on time to those games.
Take a smaller TV contract of 4 or 5 years to try to prove the concept of this new league. Sell all the Olympic/non revenue sports to a streaming service. Put some of the lower tiered football game matchups on the streaming service. Try for a TV contract with CBS for top tier games or the week. Allow for the top tier games to be made available immediately on streaming once the game ends on CBS.
IMO, merging with the Mountain West will downgrade the Pac from P5 to G5 status.
Under normal circumstances I would totally agree but the reality is we are on the verge of being regulated to G5 status at the moment.
I still think some sort of merger with the ACC would get the presidents in line. You can retain what's left of the west coast rivalries and join forces with programs that make sense from culturally, academically and athletically.
You could merge in that you only schedule A type games for OOC matchups against one another, also only play bowl games against one another. Something similar to the Big10/ACC basketball tournament. Maybe even hold some of those games at big neutral site events.
Yup, although not sure why you would have to have bowl matchups against one another. You could have a PAC/ACC playoff, possibly even a two game one (more money!) with the winner assured an invite to the natty playoffs.
Because hate and spite are a powerful drug.
Hah. . . or we can just go all '91 Citrus Bowl on them.
They can do a scheduling alliance but if the ACC merges or adds teams it triggers options to opt out of their GoR which means Clemson, FSU, Miami and UNC are gone within minutes.
Both ideas makes sense and that serves to underscore how sad the PAC12 has become.
This is really a great idea. It's innovative and interesting and would offer something that the other conferences don't have. Relegation games are also an interesting way to raise interest around games that would otherwise be ignored...and would ensure that the teams in the premier bracket are investing in football. It also makes a path to grab more viewership without completely compromising on quality. Just hope Cal would not be relegated!
This idea is too creative for ac-12’s powers at play
I'm good with this, we need to monopolize west coast football as much as possible. But are the slapdicks in charge going to recommend this? And which out of conference games would we schedule? I think our only hope would be conferences like the ACC, MAC, Sunbelt and others. The others must only come out here for USC and UCLA, or would we be playing them too?
Fuck ucla and usc from now until the end of time. We never play them ever again, in any sport.
If the Big10 were collapsing and usc and ucla no longer had a home and came crawling back to us over hot coals and broken glass begging for a cup of water because they were dying of thirst, I still wouldn’t give them my piss to drink.
No, no, no, this is a blood grudge.
Let's brain storm more. How else can we screw these bastards? I think a well orchestrated negative PR campaign could help. I don't think most people (who don't follow college football closely) are aware of what is happening...and the repercussions it has for many west coast families that have student athletes.
At the least, I think there should be political pressure for the B1G A$$holes to remediate the damages they created. As much as I despise the B1G A$$holes and Little 14, scooping up the rest of the flagship Pac programs is probably the right thing to do, at this point, unless we do something bold like GoldenSD81 has suggested. Otherwise we find a way to sue the shit out them.
100% agree. I could give a shit less about the both of them. But this grudge as justified as it is will not save the football program we love.
But who would we play? Just anyone who isn't from the B1G or the XII? And would the mountain west be willing to merge?
Yes, anyone that isn’t Big10. Actually playing the Big12 would be fine.
Yeah, there has to be someone we can prove we are just as good as if not better and the Big XII would be a good punching bag for that
To add on to this, I think both the MWC and Pac12 need this to work or else both conferences will be regulated to G5 and second or third class program status. They will become a de facto farm league to the Big10/SEC/Big12/ACC where underrated 3* players will develop for a few years and then transfer out. It would be a complete athletic drain.
Really all west coast and western football is facing an existential crisis if the Pac12 collapses. Sure the 4 and 5 stars could still go to USC/UCLA or elsewhere but some of those kids actually want to stay home and play closer to home so that their friends and family can watch them play locally or easily drive or take a quick flight to an away game. West coast and western HSFB be heavily impacted.
Having only usc and ucla as the only P5 programs in the entire west coast and west isn’t a sustainable model and will negatively impact all of CFB as a whole.
Have you counted the eyeballs of the markets that would be involved in this scenario? I ask simply because that's what the TV powers will need to do in order to value it for a contract.
What’s the value of the market for just about the entire west and west coast college football. Negotiate it not as an individual market but basically an entire region.
You would basically have the entire TV markets of the following states: Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Arizona, Hawaii, and New Mexico. You would be splitting the markets in Colorado, Utah, and California.
America is built on monopolies, the PMWC would just about a complete physical monopoly on all CFB in the west. They would also control any and all OOC games so they would be able to dictate which non PMWC programs get exposure to the west.
At the same time your hopefully eroding ucla and usc so when the TV deals come back up for renewal you have weakened the Big10 and strengthened the PMWC position.
Nevada as well
I knew I forgot someone, yes Nevada as well.
Even in states that we don’t control the whole market, the PMWC would have more teams represented in each state:
Utah: UU, USU vs BYU
Colorado: CSU, Air Force vs Colorado
California: Cal, SDSU, SJSU, FSU, vs USC, UCLA
People like to say demographics is destiny, well the number of students and future alumni would dwarf that of the rival in state schools.
I think North and South Dakota State should be added as well. They have been giving teams a hard time for years now. If they get up to 24 teams, the top 8, middle 8, and bottom 8 can play each other in 7 conference games. get up to 9 by playing one of each depending on where they place in those divisions.
Crazy, crazy, I know. But I think crazy ideas are needed in order to survive.
Fuck it! Why not! I actually think this idea of 24 and splitting into 3 tiered regulated leagues is a good one.
Then we could even have a reverse Ted Lasso show for Apple TV where an out of his element and washed up British football coach comes to the US to coach a down on their luck New Mexico squad that has been regulated in the PMWC.
We can call it Avery Smith.
Yes, the "pan et circi" factor. Make it entertaining; let a champion emerge.
So tired of Tommy Trojan being our "Champion."
What problem?
#GoBears
#PACpocalypse12
Being from the Central Valley, I would like to point out that, despite being more sparsely populated, the Central Valley is more interested in and dedicated to traditional sports and has a gross population that makes a much more involved and loyal fanbase than most urban contrasts. Even FSU rival alum in The Valley would rally for FSU as matter of regional pride. Everyone there knows or is connected to a FSU grad.
What problem?
#GoBears
#PACpocalypse12
The USC-UCLA hold on the Los Angeles TV market has to be eaten away for this to work. The numbers don't favor the West against the other regions of the US (only 80 million people total) against the other regions (South has about 125 million and North+Midwest has 125 million).
A PAC-MW fusion that locks out other conferences for non-conference games with a relegation system would be interesting though. Too bad it won't happen.
Here's a crazy idea.
To get back the L.A. market, we sponsor football programs at U.C. Irvine, Riverside, Northridge, C.S.U.L.A., and Long Beach State.
Too much? ;)
LMU and Pepperdine too! Get that private school money involved
Absolutely you would need to cut into the LA market and it could work, especially if usc and ucla struggle and more people start to watch the Rams and Chargers.
No one cares about the Chargers anymore
*Throws away San Diego Supercharger song.
RIP Chargers
https://youtu.be/l5BCMFu1Y94
Look we’ll simply add SDSU, the university of Anchorage, and the university of Hawaii. That should assert our dominance as the most pacific of all the conferences.
I see what you did there. 🕊️
Left out the Marianas and American Samoa.
Had to be reasonable with travel distances.
What else is there to say besides WE ARE FUCKED!!!!!!! So long, Cal Football and Athletics. It was a good run but in the end, inept leadership and events beyond our control have led to this moment. Prepare to become the west coast version of the University of Chicago (still UC), a.k.a., "Where fun goes to die". I just hope that FUCLA and U$C freeze their asses off every winter and get absolutely pummeled in the Big 10. Sorry I'm bitter but going to football games and rooting for Cal was just an absolutely amazing experience that has left me with many fond memories. Rooting for Cal faculty to win a Nobel Prize every October is fun but it isn't quite the same as spending a Saturday rooting/praying for the Golden Bears. Sayonara, Pac-12.
There's still too much money in athletics and football to let it go. Plus they have Memorial they only recently renovated and need to pay off forever. (I can only imagine the amount of campus and City of Berkeley BS it would take to ever repurpose that particular real estate.) It will never be the same as it was and could get very weird. We will for sure always be playing from even further behind financially than nearly all the rest of the competition and may be bad forever as result, but Cal Athletics and football aren't going away.
Isn't CMS a protected Historical Landmark?
If not, it should be.
NO WE CANT LET IT DIE. I WONT LIVE A LIFE WITH CAL IN THE MOUNTAIN WEST
People want to pretend that it is, but... Cal in the Mountain West isn't the end of the world.
It is the end in that other Cal sports would need to be cut because our athletic department revenue would decrease. So if you care about both Cal football and other non revenue sports it kind of is.
That’s true.
Pac12 is about to go out in a whimper. 25 years of incompetent and complacent leadership by 3 commissioners and numerous ADs/chancellors have led to this moment.
Sooner we accept this and make a move the better.
Kliavkoff whistling past the Pac graveyard.
https://twitter.com/BadBoyOfScoops/status/1684707106912440320?s=19
Even if this tweet makes it sound more of a done deal than it is, UofA is definitely the next target. https://twitter.com/TucsonStar/status/1684753552554504192?s=19
GSD81's idea is a great one. It might be the first regulation system in college football implemented on the division 1 scale. The Top teams will play each other in 9 conference games while the bottom 10 will do the same. The teams with the best records will go to the following divisions accordingly.
I have another addition though. Add North and South Dakota State as well. They have been beating the paste out of teams for years. The PAC will have to be bold if they want this to work.
The problem for Cal, Stanford, UW and OU is that the Big Ten wants to fully integrate USC and UCLA before adding them. As I have written before on this site, when a school is added, it joins both the Big 10 Conference and the Big 10 Academic Alliance. The latter, which is the real payoff for the faculties, takes more time to set up. The four top metro areas that attract the graduates of ALL 14 Big 10 universities are NYC, DC, LA and SF. The Big 10's expansion is based on where it has a strong base of viewers. Rest assured, SF is on the wish list and the Big 10 will move once USC and UCLA are fully integrated into both the Alliance and the Conference. Unfortunately, the timing has been thrown off by Colorado's departure.
Or not. USC frat-boy Fox execs saw #2 nation tv market money & jumped on it. The Big 10's expansion is based on this, nothing else.
I don't claim any particular expertise with conference alignments, but I dearly hope the NorCal and PNW teams stay together. I hadn't thought of the idea GoldenSD81 offers, but it's less crazy than others I've seen. What a mess.
I know it’s not the right fit, but CAL needs to grab a spot in The BIG 12. I think the days days of culteral fit are now over. PAC-12 is looking at religious schools as replacements and only 1/3 of our most important ties to the conference is still there. We don’t add the value that Oregon or WShington add and the mountain west is just as bad of a fit as the new Pac-12 or the Big-12. Get the guaranteed Big 12 TV dollars and start looking at the BIG 10 next time around.
Also, with Texas and Oklahoma gone there is no juggernaut in the Big 12. With good coaching and increased Texas recruiting we have viable path to a conference championship and an expanded playoff.
Nothing new here. This conference have been on death's door since university of southern california, los angeles and university of southern california left the conference.
More like, the conference was given a serious diagnosis but with enough time to seek treatment, but instead chose to try a paleo diet instead.
Fast forward... death's door
Yeah, the incompetence and/or arrogance displayed by P12 leadership and CEO group is simply stunning. Stunning.
In the article previously referenced by Heino, Larry Scott had help aiming for the iceberg. Pat Haden nixed the idea of Oklahoma and Texas joining.
Hmmm... they did not want real competition, maybe? Easier to pad one's record from year to year?
Fast forward to now, USC locks the helm on course for the iceberg, clears the bridge, and jumps ship, along with our younger sister. If Texas and Oklahoma, along with OSU and Texas Tech, were established since 2011 or so in the PAC 16, the LA schools might not have been motivated to depart and, if they had, it would be more endurable.
When USC and UCLA left, they took about 50% (yes, half) of the conference's media value with them, with no replacement schools available to make up that loss. GK is not perfect, but it seems to me that his negotiating power/options after the USC/UCLA departure severely shrunk.
At this point I don't trust that Kliavkoff can make a deal. He seems in over his head. If one happens it might include a large portion of streaming which actually is not all that bad for fans and be better for the lesser games than the poorly distributed Pac-12 Network.
What will this mean for Cal as it, through no fault of its own may or may not be able to pay off bonds sold to retrofit XMS?
Didn't think anybody could be worse than Larry Scott, but here we are.
https://www.si.com/college/stanford/football/looking-back-at-the-time-larry-scott-opted-to-not-add-texas-and-oklahoma-to-the-pac-12
Wow, revisionist history in an SI article. The reporting from that time, had UT & OU pretending they had interest in joining the PAC in order to drive up interest & their value for the SEC which was their real & only target. They were never coming west, and the PAC execs (incl good 'ol Larry), to save face, made it sound like it was their decision not to pursue them any further.
Texas also wanted to keep its home TV network (Longhorn) and wanted a bigger % share than the equal pro-rata that the Pac always had. USC said, sure, and we want a bigger share too. The Pac said no to both.
Edited to add: Larry Scott's biggest failure was believing himself to be the next Roone Arledge and a big media mogul. Instead of focusing on the sports on teh field, he tried to compete with espn and Fox to build a sports network, which belied common sense. Unfortunately, the Presidents signed off on that pie-in-the-sky idea.
Yes the loss of visibility on the Pac-12 network and shunting to late night games put a big dent in exposure. And not just external exposure because when your own alumni want your product and they can't easily watch it in many parts of the country... that's just bad business.
Great article.
Pretty much sums it up.
"To answer Miller's question 12 years later; yes. And they are losing with a chance of no return. Scott hasn't been employed by the Pac-12 since 2021, but his decisions for the conference feel as if he is still leading the charge."
What problem?
#GoBears
#PACpocalypse12
What's Ted Miller up to nowadays
Found this. Apparently he's living in the desert and still between jobs. LOL
https://twitter.com/TedMillerRK?s=20
I said since day one, this pac 12 commish is completely incompetent . How can everyone else stand by and watch this clown? It started with SDSU and now CO, they see how this guy is completely lost. He will burn down the pac 12 as we know it! Get him out , now.
I've been largely supportive until this week. In hindsight the SDSU fumbling was just that and not some machiavellean play that I hoped it was. I think it's also likely that he is having a difficult time negotiating between 10 presidents who are not aligned, and some of whom are in denial and unrealistic in their hopes that the current conference model can hold without making bold changes (ie., adding schools that might not jibe reputational with the previous model). I wouldn't want his job, though he's clearly made some costly strategic and PR errors all on his own.
The shot that was heard on Jun 30, 2022, when it was learned that USC and UCLA were leaving was when the conference needed to kick it in the ass and do something big. Not only did nothing big get done, it would seem that nothing and less got done.
1. If the conference wants to be a conference before it gets picked apart, the only moves left are either a big one or a drastic one.
2. If Cal wants a hope of relevance to modern college football, it needs to find an appropriate suitor of a conference or hope that the conference it is already in does something big. See option 1.
And it should be obvious by now what putting any hope in this conference will get you.