95 Comments
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GoldenSD81's avatar

Perhaps the Saudis would like or be interested in a LIV style college football league?

O.Overall's avatar

Yesterday: the Axe

Tomorrow: Bone Saw!

goldenone's avatar

Pac-12 partner: Saudi Arabia sovereign wealth fund

GoldenBear88's avatar

I like it. And women would have to wear burkas to all athletic events!

GoldenSD81's avatar

We would have more money than all the other CFB conferences combined.

GoldenSD81's avatar

You can’t make this shit up. The Pac is a complete joke at this moment.

Just fucking merge with the MWC and call it a career.

Jimmy Chitwood's avatar

This is the unfortunate result of incompetent leadership at the highest levels.

GoldenSD81's avatar

Decades of incompetent leadership at the Pac10/12.

It started with Hansen, continued with Scott and now we have the equivalent of James Buchanan as the commissioner of the Pac12.

calpaladin's avatar

Goddamn golden. Commission Buchanan indeed. I love this site and my fellow Cal alumni. Colorado can go to hell and I hope all their students and alumni get another STD on top of the ones they already have.

GoldenSD81's avatar

I’m just happy I was able to put my U.S. History degree to good use today for everyone’s amusement.

ak_A_bear's avatar

Too bad , George does not have a beard.

Oski Disciple's avatar

That's the funniest comment on WFC I've read in ages. Literally LOL'd.

bearspot's avatar

“merge with the MWC”

Yup. Do it now. Stop the pussy-footing and go big or go home.

Bluehenbear's avatar

I’m gonna love the road trips to Fresno.

GoldenSD81's avatar

Seriously, just grab the best of the bunch of the MWC schools at this point.

bearspot's avatar

So sick of this cherry-picking. Get the barrel and take all the remaining cherries. and be the bastard with the biggest barrel.

CalBear91's avatar

Good riddance. Was a strange marriage anyway. The Pac to me is always the teams that are in the Pacific Time Zone. If Utah bolts, fine. I'd rather be the Pac 8 than have the Boise State's of the world join. I'm fine with SDSU. Not a fan of SMU. If I have to live with not playing the shitty SoCal schools annually, then so be it. The Bear does not quit, the Bear will not die. The Pac is not the Bear. Go Bears!

KetamineCal's avatar

Reports last week that a deal was imminent so Colorado may be reacting to all the numbers. SDSU deadline already passed on June 30 (exit fee doubled).

Colorado leaving wouldn't be terminal by itself but we can see the dominos.

ShanghaiDave93's avatar

So at this rate we might have a shot at winning the PAC (whatever), with Cal and Stanford as the last ones in the league.

Merge with the Ivy League? I’d travel to a road game at Harvard, Yale, Columbia, etc.

TD_24's avatar

the frequent flier miles would be insane

SadBear's avatar

Ivy League won't want to merge with a public school, it's the antithesis of their culture

OC Bear's avatar

Cornell actually has a few land grant (aka "contract") colleges. Regardless of the travel logistics, such a plan would never work as teh Ivies support athletics out of their general funds. Their TV contract rights barely covers teh cost of turning on the lights. Cal cannot continue 31 sports other than remaining a P5 school. (Harvard has ~40 varsity programs, but then Harvard has more money than most countries around the world.)

Rugbear's avatar

Fuck em. They left because they won't have to compete with the likes of Utah, Oregon, UW and CAL for the conference championship after USC and FUCLA leave. The Big 12 blows; inferior competition after Texas and Oklahoma leave, and even with their recruiting they have not been at the top of the heap. We'll see if TCU, Baylor, can keep their winning ways. As for the rest, including Houston, Okie State and Cincy, meh... I'll bet our PAC 9 will have more top 25 teams at the end of the 2024 season than the BIG12.

GoldenSD81's avatar

They left because this conference still doesn’t have a media deal in place and our commissioner keeps bullshitting them and everyone else that he has one that will be revealed any day now.

It isn’t about top 25 teams at the end of this season, it’s about having a secured multi million dollar contract for your program going forward.

Pac can’t offer any financial security beyond this year, Colorado jumped to the best and most secure offer to save themselves before any other school could. They have a smart AD, we have an idiot AD.

Rugbear's avatar

I don't agree. They could have waited to see what the PAC12 media deal will be and then walked if they didn't like it; the Big12 would have taken Colorado anytime. The news on the PAC media rights deal has been that as time goes on the terms of the deal get better for the PAC. Only time will tell.

KetamineCal's avatar

I'm a bit worried that CU did see the top level numbers and moved. This could just be an indirect way of saying "don't expect an announcement on media day" or might mean something.

https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/38031370/source-pac-12-media-rights-deal-expected-future

There's a guy named Greg Swaim making some specific claims but he seems like a sketchy source.

Rugbear's avatar

I don't think there are any top numbers yet to be seen. If they are so bad that a losing program in the Denver media market decides to bail, I would think that UW and Oregon would have gone to the Big10

GoldenSD81's avatar

I think CU finally realized that Commissioner Buchanan wasn’t able to get a very good deal and that the Big12 deal was worth more money and the Big12 is more stable than the Pac leftovers. They called his bluff and he folded his hand. Reports are trickling out that the Pac leftovers media deal isn’t good and it won’t get better over time.

TD_24's avatar

i audibly laughed at the reference at commissioner Buchanan

mrjpark's avatar

The Big 12 apparently gave them a deadline to make a decision, and they chose. Not surprised since this is exactly what they did when they came to the Pac-12. They're an underwhelming program that can't seem to commit to anyone.

Justbear's avatar

Pac-whatever number conference won't be much different when Oregon and Washington leave.

TKE Prytanis 79's avatar

What Rug said...wonder the role Sanders had in this....

PawlOski's avatar

I doubt he had any frankly. This is about ensuring a stable financial future for their athletics program.

Jimmy Chitwood's avatar

Prime will be coaching in the SEC or ACC by ‘25.

jakewebs's avatar

Prime will be out of the job or coaching at some classy school like Liberty after going 2-10 and reports of hazing and an extremely toxic environment emerge.

Jimmy Chitwood's avatar

While I would love to see it because to hell with Colorado and Deion, it’s just not happening. Fully expect him to go a respectable 4-8, then bowl with a 6-6 in year 2 and get hired on at Georgia Tech or Ole Miss when Kiffin bolts back to the NFL.

Rugbear's avatar

My guess is Prime wanted to stay in PAC. He won't run from competition.

KetamineCal's avatar

He's more about running to the bank.

GoldenBear88's avatar

The Pac is dead.....Long live....I don't know. What comes next? Is it possible that Cal Athletics will cease to exist? Aside from alums, who is going to pay to watch us? Who are we going to play? This is bad. Football and Sports Gods, pray for us.

Badgerman's avatar

If today's rumor reported by Sportskeeda is true, the PAC-12 TV deal is $12 million less than the Big 12 and includes only 20% linear coverage. This, plus the rumor that the CW network wants to air PAC-12 games on Tuesday and Wednesday nights was probably enough to trigger CU's decision to leave, but I suspect there is more to this story.

PawlOski's avatar

The road to the playoff got better?

jakewebs's avatar

Well I suppose there is some logic in being the first mover (or third at this point I guess), but IF a grant of rights had shored up the conference aligning with the PAC10 still seems a better move than the Big 12. Either the media deal was shaping up to be horrific and/or they had intel suggesting that there were others poised to move.

Tyler Tomei's avatar

Remaining rational and using logic...Cal is going to be ok...If CU is worth a 31.7 million share to the b12 then certainly Cal is worth that and probably more. We now just have to wait and see if the B1G/ACC will offer or if SDSU can get a similar number to the B12 number if they join. If not, we are going to be playing across the dustbowl with the B12l but it's not doomsday "off to the MWC" for Cal.

Justbear's avatar

Cal isn't worth that much

Tyler Tomei's avatar

Lol they are worth more than CU, it's why they were even mentioned as a target for B1G expansion.

calpaladin's avatar

I think Cal's value is more as a venue for Bay Area B1G alumni to watch local games. Apparently, there are a lot of those bastards in NorCal.

Badgerman's avatar

You are right! There are a huge number of Big 10 alumni in the Bay Area. If, as I have, you were to attend a football game at Maryland or Rutgers, you would see that the stadiums are full of Big 10 alumni from the visiting teams. Cal would be able to fill Memorial Stadium and pay off the loans.

OC Bear's avatar

Not likely,. The B12 gotta sweetheart TV agreement that says any Power 5 school that joins will get the same $ share. So, if Cal wanted to join the B12, we'd get 31.7 too. No more.

goldenone's avatar

I watched the Kliavkoff speech with great interest. He basically spent most of it covering his you know what. He remarked that he loves Las Vegas and is from Las Vegas. That's why we are stuck with all events there rather than the largest media hub in the country outside of NYC. Meanwhile the deal remains elusive. He lacks charisma and apparently negotiating chops. As time goes on the asset he is representing keeps losing value. He should go back to his casino background.

mrjpark's avatar

Holding the events in the Bay Area would be a waste of conference money.

goldenone's avatar

I mean LA where media day has been

mrjpark's avatar

Similarly expensive. My company is throwing a convention in LA and the union requirements and general cost of business/regulations is staggering in comparison to other states.

goldenone's avatar

Just add SDSU and there are 10 schools. Wait that ship has sailed.

Justbear's avatar

I thought the commissioner said there's nothing to worry about

ShowtimeBruin's avatar

I imagine the actual numbers were released and confirmed what everyone except Wilner and Canzano expected: $15-$20 million payout with 80% streaming only. It goes to show just how much value the Los Angeles schools brought to the PAC-12 and why the Big Ten wanted them. I expect the Big Ten will soon expand to Cal and Stanford. They might not get anything close to full revenue share (maybe ever) but it will be far more than what any other conference can provide.

ak_A_bear's avatar

Back in 2008 I moved to Golden, CO (old Golden), having lived/worked in NCA, OR, WA, & AK entire life. Did so for “better” position.

Well, I didn’t like the work while cautiously adjusting to the lifestyle. Work was the deal breaker so after 8 months landed a new one in Coeur D’ Alene where I instantly felt better, more at home. Realized I was conditioned for west coast, PNWest and that was that.

That said, I basically felt the addition of UCO was too contrived and an awkward fit yet considered Utah a better fit. Whilst they’re years in the PAC 12, I never warmed up to UCO. Made the fiasco in Boulder last year more irritating.