row Z

I hope the Pac stays together as well. By the way, if the conference does fold, my version of the history book will place a huge portion of the blame on UCLA. They held the key to keeping things together. They were more aligned with the other public universities in the conference in terms of mission than USC was. They held the key to keeping rivalries with other Calfornia schools intact. They did not need to sell their souls for the money. As I understand it from the NYT article several months ago, the Pac was going to offer them a disproportionate share to stay. UCLA could have sent the message that conference realignment for TV money only is not the best path, and could have let USC choke on the long distance travel as the solo member of the B1G. UCLA knows this too, because Chancelor Block sent a letter to UW President Cauce apologizing: "I wanted to send you a personal note to express my sincere apologies that I was unable to share information with you before the public announcement. I am truly sorry about this. This was an extremely difficult decision for UCLA — and personally anguishing. I and many others in our Bruin community greatly enjoy the traditions and friendly rivalries that exist within our conference. I want to express the deep respect that I have for you, our other Pac-12 colleagues, and for the conference leadership.” UCLA blew it. They had a chance to lead here, and they just fell in line with big brother and went for the money. I did not expect more from USC, but I did expect more from UCLA. Lame.

This article from KSL Sports in Salt Lake City says that Pac12 media negotiations should land a deal in the range of what the Big12 got, and that demise of the conference is not imminent. https://kslsports.com/499432/opinion-making-sense-of-the-latest-pac-12-media-rights-rumors/

Thanks AZGreg, I posted the wrong link.

deleted post

does this mean something? i have no idea.

What are your sources saying about which teams are leaving?

It is indeed mostly gloom and doom. I was going to try to summarize the main points, but I am not sure it is worth it. The most recent Wilner / Canzano podcast was more positive. The last 10 minutes are so are about media rights negotiation status.

New article from Chris Vannini at the Athletic: https://theathletic.com/4239583/2023/02/22/college-football-streaming-tv-deals/?source=pulsenewsletter&campaign=6190251

The replies to that tweet are pretty negative, but wouldn't Apple be a comparable streaming platform to Amazon? If the compensation is good, I think Apple could be fine.

This Forbes article has a more positive view of the Pac12 mediation negotiations: https://www.forbes.com/sites/zengernews/2023/02/09/how-the-new-pac-12-media-deal-gets-done---three-things-leaders-need-to-know/amp/

Interesting that UCLA still has those B1G games on their schedule.

yeah, possibly a mistake by the AD. Certainly need to try to negotiate a larger buyout for games with B1G teams going forward. UW had Wisconsin cancel a series a while back as well. Michigan also moved back their visit to Seattle several years ... I wonder if a cancellation is coming there as well.

Ohio State cancels home and home series with UW for 2024-25. Thanks for nothing, arrogant bastards. https://komonews.com/sports/nikos-sports-zone/washington-sports-seattle-football-big-10-pac-12-west-coast-california-usc-ucla-power-5-why-is-ohio-state-canceling-series-of-games-with-washington-huskies

good news, guys ...

Thanks for that link. I am sure there are contingency plans being discussed in all of the Pac12 athletic department, if the offers Kliavkoff gets are not financially attractive. At some point, it may come down to whether a Pac12 school can do better than Kliavkoff's offer outside the Pac12. It seems unlikely to me that that will be the case, given that the Big10 is not looking for more teams, and the Big12 only got $31M per school. Will ASU really make more joining the Big12 than staying with UW, Oregon, Utah, Cal, Stanford and all of our late night time slots? I kind of doubt it.

Where are you seeing these developments? I have not seen anything about ASU wavering on my normal message board sources or the Athletic. Hope its not true. Would think that Pac12 schools should stay united at least long enough to hear what the media offer is from traditional networks and from Amazon. I don't think we are there yet.

Your version of a rebuilt 20 team Big12 would cool. I could enjoy that. I read something on a Cal board that Amazon is looking at sports as a loss leader for more Amazon Prime subscriptions. So, it might be Amazon pushing for more schools in larger population areas like DFW. If financial deal from Amazon is fat enough, i guess adding SMU and SDSU would be ok, although I think we could use a partner for both of those schools. Would take some time getting used to in any event.

I have seen support for the logic behind adding SMU from a couple of sources, including Wilner and Canzano on their most recent podcast. On paper, the Dallas Fort Worth area is a valuable market for tv, high school football is strong and will result in better conference recruiting in Texas, SMU has a big endowment and is eager to spend on football, they have already made big moves with NIL and the portal, and the school is well ranked academically. But, all of this requires projecting their fit in the conference in the future, because today it just seems like a big step down from Big12 schools we thumbed our nose at (including BYU, OK State, Texas Tech etc.).

SMU makes very little sense to me, other than the Dallas market I guess. There is virtually no fanbase for SMU. Man, it looks like the Pac12 played musical chairs with the Big12 and got absolutely housed.

Good to know. This guy has no credibility?

I have no idea if what these streamers from Utah are saying about the Pac12 tv negotiations is accurate ... but if it is things are not going well: 1) tv offer of $250M, $25M per school; 2) schools divided on whether to consider selling all tier 1 rights to a streamer like Amazon (UW, Oregon, AZ, ASU against selling to streamer). I have

Ahhh, employing the old the reverse jinx i see. This off season has been way too positive for my normal glass half-empty outlook. There is a trap door somewhere, i can feel it.

This is going to be a wild season. Really looking forward to it. Going to try to see at least a couple of UW games. Too bad the LA schools are punking out. Honestly, i think we all could have had it pretty good if they had stuck around under Kliavkoff and the new tv deal. Oh well, enjoy this parting kick to the nuts on your way out (hopefully) ...

Yes, Beavs have a really nice schedule: only difficult back-to-back is UW and Oregon at the end. They are in a good spot to contend. Oregon also has a good schedule. No difficult back-to-back, and a bye before UW. UW has the toughest schedule among the contenders, IMO, because of the schedule in November: @USC, Utah, Beavs, Cougs. Almost impossible to get out of that unscathed.