Colorado, Arizona to Big 12?

Lot of contradicting reports and rumors right now.

PAC-10 folks are insisting the remaining 10 members are sticking together and are just waiting for the TV deal to be finalized and then all 10 will sign off on the deal which will include a GOR.

Only its not clear yet what are the details of that TV deal, how much money they are getting, or how many years it will last, or what tv network/streaming services are involved. Until that is finalized, nothing is certain.

But the fact that no teams have officially bailed already on the PAC to join the Big 12 is a sign that the PAC members do really want to stick together if they can come up with a deal that matches or is reasonably close to the Big 12 deal, and if the Big Ten does not grab anybody else.

Cal, Stanford, Wash, Ore, Utah, Col, Ariz and now Ariz St are all AAU members. Academically they are stronger than the Big 12. Throw in geography and history, they would rather stay together, unless....
 
If the TV deal looks solid and close to what the Big 12 deal looks like, then I suspect they will need a blood oath with a looong grant of media rights along the lines of what the ACC did. It is essentially a poison pill to ensure that no one can afford to leave. If I am Oregon and Washington or Stanford, I sign the deal. Who knows when and for who the Big10 will ever come calling. It does not seem like a priority. Better to have a solid second tier conference than a third tier conference if ASU and Colorado bail. In the words of Ben Franklin, "we can either all hang together or assuredly we will all hang separately."

I hope the Pac 12/10 members stick together. They have much more in common with each other than they do with the Big 12. They can add SDSU and maybe they could coax Boise or BYU that they fit better in the Pac12.

I would rather have 5 smaller conferences than 4 megaconferences. At some point it is too big to be a conference.
 
I heard that the networks already advised the conference that adding W and O was not going to create a bigger contract. And more importantly the Presidents don't want more expasion
 
Hawkboys said:
Is this like getting a dreaded vote of confidence from the AD or GM?
Click to expand...
Time will tell. I do think most of the schools prefer to stay together. The PAC 12 has much higher academic standards and geographical fit. They just want to be in the same ballpark money-wise. I do think Colorado is much more likely to bolt than AZ.
 
How long will it be before old-school conference labels such as Big Ten, etc go away?

They really have no relevance anymore with all the expansion and poaching.
 
Once the academic pre-requisites are met, the consideration for future expansion of the B10 comes down to TV revenue.
Incremental eyeball revenue > current institutional revenue share.
Not sure CO or AZ would meet that hurdle.
More likely:
ND
UNC
UVA
ASU
UW
Cal
Miami
 
SCHawkeye2 said:
Once the academic pre-requisites are met, the consideration for future expansion of the B10 comes down to TV revenue.
Incremental eyeball revenue > current institutional revenue share.
Not sure CO or AZ would meet that hurdle.
More likely:
ND
UNC
UVA
ASU
UW
Cal
Miami
Click to expand...
I would think AZ would fit if ASU would. AZ is in Tucson but plenty of fans in the great Phoenix market. AZ is also academically on par with ASU (though I was surprised to see ASU ranked so high. admissions there used to require a fogged mirror and not much more).

Curiously enough, one piece I read said neither ASU or Arizona were the most frequently searched college football team in the state. It was tOSU.
 
Look up the Pac TV numbers - ASU is at or near the bottom pretty consistently. Surprisingly - Utah is one of the top TV draws in the Pac and is also a big research institution. I think that we might be surprised and find that Utah is much higher in the discussion than we might give them credit for.
 
Caven said:
Look up the Pac TV numbers - ASU is at or near the bottom pretty consistently. Surprisingly - Utah is one of the top TV draws in the Pac and is also a big research institution. I think that we might be surprised and find that Utah is much higher in the discussion than we might give them credit for.
Click to expand...

I hadn't thought about them because they are such a recent addition to the P5 that I refuse to recognize them as such, but they seem decent. Problem is the state is too small, but it is growing insanely fast, way faster than anything in the Big 10 footprint.
 
Everyone always overlooks one aspect of all of this - academic research. I know that there is a lot of money in the sports media rights contracts but that pales in comparison to the academic research benefits. I have a friend that part of their job is to write research grant proposals and the synergy that they gained working within the Big 10 and the extra grant money received/overhead money saved as a direct result of being a part of the Big 10 research network makes the money that the athletic department brings in look like chump change.
 
Caven said:
Everyone always overlooks one aspect of all of this - academic research. I know that there is a lot of money in the sports media rights contracts but that pales in comparison to the academic research benefits. I have a friend that part of their job is to write research grant proposals and the synergy that they gained working within the Big 10 and the extra grant money received/overhead money saved as a direct result of being a part of the Big 10 research network makes the money that the athletic department brings in look like chump change.
Click to expand...
That has no bearing on sports. Everything is about TV market.
 
hawkdrummer1 said:
TV $ drives it for sure, but the Presidents still have some say when it comes to affiliations. Some.
Click to expand...
I understand the concept but power 5 conference affiliation is a purely sports money-driven thing today. Utah being a leading research institution with a ton of money isn't going to impact sports conference revenue or collective funding/spending.

In other words, Utah can desire to be a B1G member all it wants because of the added money they'd get, but they don't bring anything to the table themselves as far as generating revenue.

Back before P5 conferences made and spent billions of dollars a year on two individual sports, prestige and things like AAU membership were pieces to every school's puzzle of membership. But those days are looooong gone.

This is the era of semi-pro college sports and if you aren't a major player in that world with an ability to put butts in arena/stadium seats or get millions of people to watch games on TV, you ain't gonna be part of the B1G or SEC. Ain't happening.
 
Fryowa said:
In other words, Utah can desire to be a B1G member all it wants because of the added money they'd get, but they don't bring anything to the table themselves as far as generating revenue.
Click to expand...
I've heard this is why Oregon and UWash haven't been invited either. Even together, they won't impact TV contracts at all. And will only divide the pie more between teams. I do think they have to bring in 2 more PST teams just help UCLA and USC's travel requirements and they might be the best options out that way.
 
Caven said:
Everyone always overlooks one aspect of all of this - academic research. I know that there is a lot of money in the sports media rights contracts but that pales in comparison to the academic research benefits. I have a friend that part of their job is to write research grant proposals and the synergy that they gained working within the Big 10 and the extra grant money received/overhead money saved as a direct result of being a part of the Big 10 research network makes the money that the athletic department brings in look like chump change.
Click to expand...
Yup
 
Hawkboys said:
I've heard this is why Oregon and UWash haven't been invited either. Even together, they won't impact TV contracts at all. And will only divide the pie more between teams. I do think they have to bring in 2 more PST teams just help UCLA and USC's travel requirements and they might be the best options out that way.
Click to expand...
If that's the bar, there aren't many schools left outside of a blatant raid of another conference/market like Texas or Florida that would check off all the boxes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Share this page

Top