Jul 4, 2023Liked by Avinash Kunnath, Piotr Le, Ruey Yen, TD_24
The year is 3024 and the Pac-12 media deal is rumored to be nearly complete. The sport of college football is no longer played due to human life being eliminated from the planet. In 2025, a powerful AI was tasked with facilitating the media deal. Upon discovering the impossibility of this task, it sought to and succeeded in eliminating all human complications to the process.
Cal fans: Cal to the Mountain West or Big 12 and the 'Furd to the Big 10? NO WAY! I have a hard time believing that the Big 10 is going to count on the 'Furd, all by themselves, to attract enough bay area eyeballs to make an invitation to the Big 10 worthwhile. Despite all of our struggles in football and basketball, Cal has a much larger fan base in the bay area and probably nationwide. We aren't going to get $C or FUCLA money but the bay area is too significant a media market to simply ignore or leave to someone else.
I think sdsu would be a good fit. The state schools from Oregon, Arizona and Washington are all in the Pac12. SDSU would give the Pac12 a football presence in Southern California. Now with ucla and usc leaving no pac 12 school will play any games in SoCal any longer.
I think this is just another example of the pac 12 being incompetent. It is like Knowlton is actively destroying Cal football, Cal basketball and Pac12 in general.
College football has changed remarkably over the last 50 years. What hasn't changed is the location of Pac-12 schools. What has changed is the influence of television and the Pac-12's ability to command any respect. The CEOs of Pac-12 institutions have made fundamental miscalculations on their power and the path forward as a surviving Power conference. The university presidents and chancellors have made fundamental miscalculations repeatedly in positioning the conference for staying power.
Geography limits the value of the Pac-12 schools to TV networks. The best option for the Pac-12 has always been to get exposure through a network that would make the conference it's crown jewel. No one with any power (such as CBS or NBC) is going to do that.
Pac-12 schools will continue to be late night filler on TV schedules because of geography. The Pac-12 audiences are strictly afterthoughts for the early afternoon time slots.
The greatest attraction for any Pac-12 schools has been helping to anchor USC's and UCLA's traveling schedule as well as bringing along the SF Bay Area, Phoenix, and Seattle markets. The problem for Cal and Stanfurd is that they can't be bothered to make a commitment to revenue sports at the same magnitude as USC and UCLA. That limits their attractiveness to the B1G or even the Big XII.
The problem for the Pac-12 is a combination of geography and the biggest market west of the Rockies (LA) moving to the B1G. The handwriting has been on the wall since June 30, 2022 - the Pac-12's days as a major conference are dwindling and the best that the remaining schools can do is get picked up by either the B1G or the Big XII.
SDSU and Fresno State are clear steps down for the Pac-12. There's no value add with SDSU because they will ALWAYS be overshadowed by USC and UCLA.
With ESPN going through a once in a lifetime right sizing of talent and who knows what else getting a favorable deal cut seems highly improbable any time soon.
Eeenh. SDSU had terrible viewership in the Ncaa championship. They ranked behind 4 other MW schools in football viewership, 2 of which had losing regular season records (Wyoming, Colorado State). When the Pac walks into these negotiations and dangles SDSU the TV executives know they have no value. Heck even the MW doesn't want them back with viewership that bad. MW wants to ditch SDSU and pick up Ndsu because they generate way more tv viewership. ESPN wanted Boise because there's a long history of good money there, remember Boise state is the only school not named Notre Dame powerful enough it can negotiate it's own TV deal outside its conference, Fox wanted Boise for the same reason, CBS wanted UCLA and SC to stay. Apple TV desperately didn't want SDSU as there was very little subscriber base in San Diego. If the Pac cares about not collapsing, they need to profit center their value. Pick up Colorado State to keep Colorado and pick up super valuable Boise to help keep travel costs low for Oregon and Washington and bring a very well known commodity to carriers like Fox and ESPN. The trouble is, Boise doesn't care about money. They're rich, they want a Natty. The Pac is less likely to get them there with the new playoff system than MW. SDSU literally couldn't move the dial in TV negotiations. All the cheerleaders in the online media couldn't even get TV execs to see an illusion of value to light a fire under their butts to make it happen. Nobody cares about San Diego State, it was a bad bluff.
It would be nice to have San Diego State in the conference. We have a scheduled game with them in 2025.
That being said, is there a reason Cal hasn't scheduled many games with other teams?For future games we have another with Auburn, two with Florida, Minnesota and Wyoming. I was wondering if there has been any progress on that.
The stupidest assumptions are the ones that anyone would leave the Pac even if it implodes. The best of the MWC would just move into the Pac and ditch the stragglers.
This shows you how the head of the pac 12 conference doesn’t have a clue. Management is so incompetent that they alone have a good possibility of blowing up the entire league. What an absolute joke!
It is a joke. They keep saying the TV rights are just about done and details are coming any moment. The Big12 got poached and they immediately added teams, Pac 12 gets poached and we do nothing.
No, the field is tilted against the Pac-12 and it has been for the last 20+ years. The tilt is getting more grotesque. Kliavkoff doesn't have the cards.
Also he may have overplayed his hand. Not negotiating an ESPN deal when the timing was better (anytime in the past year) before Iger dropped a neutron bomb on the network will come back to bite us and the whole Pac-12.
Larry Scott left him with nothing…bubkis. I don’t think Kliavkoff has done a swell job mind you, but he sure faced a real uphill battle because of his a$$hat predecessor.
The P12 was always going to get the shaft because of the East Coast bias and geography.
The year is 3024 and the Pac-12 media deal is rumored to be nearly complete. The sport of college football is no longer played due to human life being eliminated from the planet. In 2025, a powerful AI was tasked with facilitating the media deal. Upon discovering the impossibility of this task, it sought to and succeeded in eliminating all human complications to the process.
Brilliant!
ChatGPT: I RESEMBLE THAT ... REMARK (SNARK SNARK) (something creepy redacted so this post will not be deleted)
WOPR: HOW ABOUT A NICE GAME OF MEDIA NEGOTIATIONS?
HAL: I'M SORRY, DAVE. I CAN'T LET YOU SIGN A CONTRACT.
SKYNET: NOW I CONTROL THE ENTIRE VALUABLE LATE NIGHT FRIDAY AND SATURDAY AKA PAC12 AFTER DARK TIME SLOT.
COLOSSUS: WHAT? DOES NO ONE CARE ABOUT MILITARY AND POLITICAL CONTROL OF THE PLANET ANY MORE?
Rossum: What? Are these things made out of metal now?
Cal fans: Cal to the Mountain West or Big 12 and the 'Furd to the Big 10? NO WAY! I have a hard time believing that the Big 10 is going to count on the 'Furd, all by themselves, to attract enough bay area eyeballs to make an invitation to the Big 10 worthwhile. Despite all of our struggles in football and basketball, Cal has a much larger fan base in the bay area and probably nationwide. We aren't going to get $C or FUCLA money but the bay area is too significant a media market to simply ignore or leave to someone else.
I think sdsu would be a good fit. The state schools from Oregon, Arizona and Washington are all in the Pac12. SDSU would give the Pac12 a football presence in Southern California. Now with ucla and usc leaving no pac 12 school will play any games in SoCal any longer.
I think this is just another example of the pac 12 being incompetent. It is like Knowlton is actively destroying Cal football, Cal basketball and Pac12 in general.
College football has changed remarkably over the last 50 years. What hasn't changed is the location of Pac-12 schools. What has changed is the influence of television and the Pac-12's ability to command any respect. The CEOs of Pac-12 institutions have made fundamental miscalculations on their power and the path forward as a surviving Power conference. The university presidents and chancellors have made fundamental miscalculations repeatedly in positioning the conference for staying power.
Geography limits the value of the Pac-12 schools to TV networks. The best option for the Pac-12 has always been to get exposure through a network that would make the conference it's crown jewel. No one with any power (such as CBS or NBC) is going to do that.
Pac-12 schools will continue to be late night filler on TV schedules because of geography. The Pac-12 audiences are strictly afterthoughts for the early afternoon time slots.
The greatest attraction for any Pac-12 schools has been helping to anchor USC's and UCLA's traveling schedule as well as bringing along the SF Bay Area, Phoenix, and Seattle markets. The problem for Cal and Stanfurd is that they can't be bothered to make a commitment to revenue sports at the same magnitude as USC and UCLA. That limits their attractiveness to the B1G or even the Big XII.
The problem for the Pac-12 is a combination of geography and the biggest market west of the Rockies (LA) moving to the B1G. The handwriting has been on the wall since June 30, 2022 - the Pac-12's days as a major conference are dwindling and the best that the remaining schools can do is get picked up by either the B1G or the Big XII.
SDSU and Fresno State are clear steps down for the Pac-12. There's no value add with SDSU because they will ALWAYS be overshadowed by USC and UCLA.
With ESPN going through a once in a lifetime right sizing of talent and who knows what else getting a favorable deal cut seems highly improbable any time soon.
Eeenh. SDSU had terrible viewership in the Ncaa championship. They ranked behind 4 other MW schools in football viewership, 2 of which had losing regular season records (Wyoming, Colorado State). When the Pac walks into these negotiations and dangles SDSU the TV executives know they have no value. Heck even the MW doesn't want them back with viewership that bad. MW wants to ditch SDSU and pick up Ndsu because they generate way more tv viewership. ESPN wanted Boise because there's a long history of good money there, remember Boise state is the only school not named Notre Dame powerful enough it can negotiate it's own TV deal outside its conference, Fox wanted Boise for the same reason, CBS wanted UCLA and SC to stay. Apple TV desperately didn't want SDSU as there was very little subscriber base in San Diego. If the Pac cares about not collapsing, they need to profit center their value. Pick up Colorado State to keep Colorado and pick up super valuable Boise to help keep travel costs low for Oregon and Washington and bring a very well known commodity to carriers like Fox and ESPN. The trouble is, Boise doesn't care about money. They're rich, they want a Natty. The Pac is less likely to get them there with the new playoff system than MW. SDSU literally couldn't move the dial in TV negotiations. All the cheerleaders in the online media couldn't even get TV execs to see an illusion of value to light a fire under their butts to make it happen. Nobody cares about San Diego State, it was a bad bluff.
It would be nice to have San Diego State in the conference. We have a scheduled game with them in 2025.
That being said, is there a reason Cal hasn't scheduled many games with other teams?For future games we have another with Auburn, two with Florida, Minnesota and Wyoming. I was wondering if there has been any progress on that.
Hopefully the big 12 swipes sdsu before the pac12 to set up the kill shot.
Big 12 expansion
2024: SDSU
2025: Arizona schools, Utah, Colorado
Big 10:
2024: SC, UC Los Angeles
2025: Oregon, Stanford, Washington
Probably WAC or Big Sky:
2026: Cal, Wazzou, Oregon St
Hopefully????? R u even a cal fan? If we end up in the WAC w Stanford in the Big 10 I’ll kill myself
The stupidest assumptions are the ones that anyone would leave the Pac even if it implodes. The best of the MWC would just move into the Pac and ditch the stragglers.
Gotta take BIG12 fans with a grain of salt. They are "special"; it's the petrol in the Stillwater.
If the Pac implodes, Wazzu and Or St to MW, Cal to Big 12
Cal isn’t going to the Big 12.
CAL's going to the SEC! Haven't you heard?
Really? I heard Cal is going to ACC.
Big 10 not 12my bad
I'm sorry typo big 10
Well at least one school is more fucked up than CAL with respect to athletics: https://sports.yahoo.com/mountain-west-insists-san-diego-state-has-left-the-conference-and-it-wants-its-exit-fee-044714538.html
Gloria is not f-ing around in her first major move as MWC Commish…the writing’s on the wall and she’s gonna make SDSU pay the full fare to exit…
This shows you how the head of the pac 12 conference doesn’t have a clue. Management is so incompetent that they alone have a good possibility of blowing up the entire league. What an absolute joke!
It is a joke. They keep saying the TV rights are just about done and details are coming any moment. The Big12 got poached and they immediately added teams, Pac 12 gets poached and we do nothing.
To be fair, we did nothing because the traitors sabotaged us on their way out.
No, the field is tilted against the Pac-12 and it has been for the last 20+ years. The tilt is getting more grotesque. Kliavkoff doesn't have the cards.
Also he may have overplayed his hand. Not negotiating an ESPN deal when the timing was better (anytime in the past year) before Iger dropped a neutron bomb on the network will come back to bite us and the whole Pac-12.
Larry Scott left him with nothing…bubkis. I don’t think Kliavkoff has done a swell job mind you, but he sure faced a real uphill battle because of his a$$hat predecessor.
The P12 was always going to get the shaft because of the East Coast bias and geography.
Maybe rename the conference, "The Pac"
“Drop the 'the.' It's cleaner.”
Can Pac-Man be our conference mascot?
Why not.
We don’t need Scott or Hanson to return. They are the reasons Cal and the Pac10 are in this mess
Scott Green and Curtis Hanson would do better than Larry or Tom.