Duck fan here who witnessed the great Beavs/Cougars game last night. Really glad to see the Beavers win. I think we can all agree that the demise of the original PAC12 was a sad event. The pieces seem to be in place for the new incarnation to be successful. Here's wishing for the best.
Are you the duck fan who wears your green jersey so we all take notice? With all the WAZZU drunken fans doing some rumbling, most of Beaver nation would have liked to kicked your can. Sorry but with hard feelings why the need to come to our house and be so obnoxious? Game day opponent I get it.
Larry any sort of charity is based on intention not attention. Leaving the stadium and heading back to our tailgating friends , I was not the first to comment on this.
I have a dual allegiance to OSU and Wazzu, where I sit on an advisory board at the former, and am an adjunct at the latter. I wore a Wazzu hat to the game, and witnessed nothing but light ribbing and pleasant exchanges all day. It was a great game.
I was in attendance and at a tailgate that was about 60/40 Beavers/Cougars. It was a great atmosphere all day long. It was the reason many of us fell in love with college football and don't really care about the NFL. The regional rivalry that has history and means something.
All shopping malls needed the big anchor stores but they also needed the little guys as much.
And so it is with college football. It needs the little guys, the Oregon States, the Vanderbilts and the Rutgers because it just isn’t the same without them. The big schools need to remember this or they are going to end up where the large shopping malls are today!
Acme Café is a good place to eat… When they’re actually open. Since Covid, restaurants are having a tough time in Salem. If you do go again, get the chicken waffles, they are pretty amazing.
Every seventy years: in the 1950s Oklahoma football was the deal. Peg and I, with her sister and Dan , her husband, a KU alum, went to Lawrence to the UO KU game. Johnny Hadl (Chargers) and Gayle Sayers (Bears) led KU to a 14-7 late game win! Rock Chalk Jay Hawk! Fond memories (and we stayed off the field!)
My daughter went to KU 15 years ago. In her time, KU was non-existent as a football program. KSU was relevant but KU was off the map. How they have turned it around this year! Same for Indiana which had a terrible football program, but a great basketball team for most of the past 60 years. It shows that some attention, and money, can make a big difference in Div 1 football
Acme is a great place! At one time is was a fantastic deli too. I wish she would have been the hire instead of GK. Perhaps we wouldn’t have to be talking about a rebuild of the PAC….
Thanks for sharing your conversation with the Commissioner John.
Yes, it was Heidi's delicatessen for many years. I've probably run into you there, Jen, just like I've probably run into you at Minto. BTW, this time of year I'm known for my long deep red coat on the trails in case you spot me there. I'm at Minto even more than at Acme.
Same with me re: going to Acme😊 we usually like to old school at White’s for breakfast! I’ll keep my eyes out for a lady in red next time I’m at minto- we usually park at the dog lot and then I do the meadow walk loop to the 3rd lot, and more often than not, I’m listening to John’s radio show from the day before!
I'm sure we've crossed paths. There are a lot of us regulars down there that we see all the time. We are so fortunate to have such a place like Minto at our doorstep.
If it’s “best of the west” and we are operating with the assumption that power schools are out, then it’s UNLV. I don’t see other viable options if the intent is to stay western part of the USA, I mean maybe an argument for Nevada or New Mexico could be made, but the media upside there seems mediocre, as do the athletic budgets.
I still think UNLV, Tulane, and Memphis are targets. As is UTSA.
John, everything she said to you makes sense to me for the mid to longer haul. We are fortunate.
All the negative talk about the conference is dead yada yada seems to come from people who never rebuilt or started up anything. Of course it will never be what it was. It will be the best it can be, which will be better than the naysayers think.
So happy we have Teresa Gould at the helm. Wisdom and humanity make for excellent leadership.
Acme's in our neck of Salem and husband and I eat breakfast there frequently. Great folks and great Denver omelette. I'd have said 'hey' had I seen you there.
Watching the Cal - Standard game with the ACC logo on the field- where the Pacific Ocean is literally a few miles from both schools made me cringe. What if Cal and Stanford were to come to the PAC 12 (putting their academia rankings aside)?
I didn't even know the Big Game of the USC-UCLA game were being played yesterday. Out of sight, out of mind.
And the Big Ten stuffed the SoCal schools into the 7:30 p.m. timeslot, what an insult and probably the first time that game has ever been played at night.
I specifically remember a late afternoon / night game for USC-UCLA on Thanksgiving weekend 1975 (Friday night, I think). It stuck in memory because I was at my college girlfriend of the quarter's house watching with her dad. LOL!
Thru 2011 there had been 8 night games. Including 2010 and 2011. For many years they both played at the Coliseum and that location may have been a detriment to night game possibilities? There have been 5 games at 5:00 since 2012, and the 2016 game was 7:30.
Sadly, power 4 > new pac 12. I hope it happens someday but a year in the ACC has given Cal better exposure and TV visibility than the last 10 years in the PAC.
Also the Atlantic jokes are getting tired. It's a name. So is "pac-12," a conference without 12 teams, big 10, big 12, etc. All the names are brands without their former meaning. Time to get over it.
Add NMSU as the No. 9 all-sports member. Make them a 50% rights fee offer, bump it by 10% each year. They'd take it, and there would be half a share out there to divide among the other tems (declining by 10% each year).
Cruces is growing, easy access via El Paso airport. They have baseball, soccer, volleyball, golf, softball, the sports the new Pac-12 needs beyond football and hoops. The ninth add isn't going to move the rights-fee needle at all, so stay in the West.
Nobody in Texas care a bit about Texas State and/or UTSA. It's all Aggies or Longhorns, with a few in the Panhandle being loyal to TTU. Tulane is an afterthought in Louisiana, everybody who goes there is from someplace else.
Leave the MWC alone, we've taken enough. Settle the lawsuit, kiss and make up. Both conferences will need each other for scheduling in all sports in 2026 and beyond and it makes no sense for the two best Western conferences to be feuding.
NMSU is barely a Div 1 program. I have been to Las Cruces. It is smaller than Corvallis with no Portland and Salem nearby. Smaller than the Cache Valley (Utah State) which I think is too small a market for the PAC12. There is hardly an audience there in Las Cruces. Pass.
The population of Las Cruces is 115,000. That's almost twice as big as Corvallis and Logan, and comparable to Corvallis/Albany.
Las Cruces is 45 miles away from El Paso, which has a metro area population of almost 900,000, or triple the size of Eugene/Salem.
At this point, the Pac-12 just needs a 9th all-sports program. NMSU is a Western university that fills the bill and would be thrilled to join us, as opposed to Tulane and Memphis, who have nothing in common with Western schools and would bail at the next opportunity.
Thanks John, I loved this article. I feel very optimistic about the conference and feel that they hired the right person for the job; someone that has passion for the project, not someone where it's just a job.
Remember way back when NFL was only game. The AFL came and NFL was still only game in town. But AFL got bigger and eventually public demanded the two champions play and we get Super Bowl. Even now the lower ranked schools pop up,with an upset of on of big boys.
Let the big boys go off and little guys come together. Little guys refuse to even play the big guys, get your own national champion and eventually the public will demand a game between big boy champion and little guy champion. No one west of Rocky Mountains will even bother watching UCLA or USC if they are consistently under .500 playing the big boys. You need regional rivalries to get media numbers. I wish the deserters nothing but losses.
This may be exactly what's coming in 2026. The CFP as currently structured only exists for two years. At least allowing the little guys in the CFP part. The SEC and B1G and most of the little guys will want to continue to play. The little guys need the money from the body bag games and the big boys want the gate and concession revenues.
We've already heard squawking about Boise State getting in the way of P4 teams access to the CFP. It's only going to grow louder and I believe the little guys will have their chair pulled for the 2026 CFP contract.
Duck fan here who witnessed the great Beavs/Cougars game last night. Really glad to see the Beavers win. I think we can all agree that the demise of the original PAC12 was a sad event. The pieces seem to be in place for the new incarnation to be successful. Here's wishing for the best.
Thanks. I have lots of friends who are ducks, There are not all bad.
Are you the duck fan who wears your green jersey so we all take notice? With all the WAZZU drunken fans doing some rumbling, most of Beaver nation would have liked to kicked your can. Sorry but with hard feelings why the need to come to our house and be so obnoxious? Game day opponent I get it.
It's rather sad when some people are so filled with anger that they can't recognize a simple act of kindness.
Larry any sort of charity is based on intention not attention. Leaving the stadium and heading back to our tailgating friends , I was not the first to comment on this.
My comment wasn't charity. It was kindness and respect. I don't know what you witnessed, but fools will be fools, and they are best ignored.
I have a dual allegiance to OSU and Wazzu, where I sit on an advisory board at the former, and am an adjunct at the latter. I wore a Wazzu hat to the game, and witnessed nothing but light ribbing and pleasant exchanges all day. It was a great game.
I was in attendance and at a tailgate that was about 60/40 Beavers/Cougars. It was a great atmosphere all day long. It was the reason many of us fell in love with college football and don't really care about the NFL. The regional rivalry that has history and means something.
Come on TC. Beaver fan and alumni here. Larry was being positive. No need to be bitter. I am optimistic about the future of the PAC 12.
How about finding a way to give credit to the respectful Wazzu, Ducks, Beavs fans?
Drunk obnoxious people are simply drunk obnoxious people. Nothing more.
Get over your hard-on. Don't waste your energy
I appreciate that the Commissioner is willing to get out and mingle with the fans. What a change from her predecessors.
All shopping malls needed the big anchor stores but they also needed the little guys as much.
And so it is with college football. It needs the little guys, the Oregon States, the Vanderbilts and the Rutgers because it just isn’t the same without them. The big schools need to remember this or they are going to end up where the large shopping malls are today!
? The little schools ?
Rutgers - 68,000 totalenrollment
Oregon State - 33,000 total enrollment
University of Georgia - 37,000 total enrollment
University of Tennessee - 28,000 total enrollment
Notre Dame - under 9000 total enrollment
Forgot the biggest one of all Central Florida
Didn't forget anything, just wanted to provide some examples.
Sure, but soon enough the “big schools” will number no more than 20-40. And then everyone else. And to me that is just sad.
Acme Café is a good place to eat… When they’re actually open. Since Covid, restaurants are having a tough time in Salem. If you do go again, get the chicken waffles, they are pretty amazing.
Place was amazing.
Great interview. I feel a lot better that Gould is in charge.
Every seventy years: in the 1950s Oklahoma football was the deal. Peg and I, with her sister and Dan , her husband, a KU alum, went to Lawrence to the UO KU game. Johnny Hadl (Chargers) and Gayle Sayers (Bears) led KU to a 14-7 late game win! Rock Chalk Jay Hawk! Fond memories (and we stayed off the field!)
Just sayin’, Charlie
My daughter went to KU 15 years ago. In her time, KU was non-existent as a football program. KSU was relevant but KU was off the map. How they have turned it around this year! Same for Indiana which had a terrible football program, but a great basketball team for most of the past 60 years. It shows that some attention, and money, can make a big difference in Div 1 football
You mean OU vs KU just sayin', Charlie
Acme is a great place! At one time is was a fantastic deli too. I wish she would have been the hire instead of GK. Perhaps we wouldn’t have to be talking about a rebuild of the PAC….
Thanks for sharing your conversation with the Commissioner John.
Yes, it was Heidi's delicatessen for many years. I've probably run into you there, Jen, just like I've probably run into you at Minto. BTW, this time of year I'm known for my long deep red coat on the trails in case you spot me there. I'm at Minto even more than at Acme.
Jean,
Same with me re: going to Acme😊 we usually like to old school at White’s for breakfast! I’ll keep my eyes out for a lady in red next time I’m at minto- we usually park at the dog lot and then I do the meadow walk loop to the 3rd lot, and more often than not, I’m listening to John’s radio show from the day before!
I'm sure we've crossed paths. There are a lot of us regulars down there that we see all the time. We are so fortunate to have such a place like Minto at our doorstep.
If it’s “best of the west” and we are operating with the assumption that power schools are out, then it’s UNLV. I don’t see other viable options if the intent is to stay western part of the USA, I mean maybe an argument for Nevada or New Mexico could be made, but the media upside there seems mediocre, as do the athletic budgets.
I still think UNLV, Tulane, and Memphis are targets. As is UTSA.
But we’ll see….
Think the TV partners get the ultimate vote, but your logic holds up.
Memphis, Tulane, Rice, North Texas and UTSA would be great adds.
John, everything she said to you makes sense to me for the mid to longer haul. We are fortunate.
All the negative talk about the conference is dead yada yada seems to come from people who never rebuilt or started up anything. Of course it will never be what it was. It will be the best it can be, which will be better than the naysayers think.
So happy we have Teresa Gould at the helm. Wisdom and humanity make for excellent leadership.
Acme's in our neck of Salem and husband and I eat breakfast there frequently. Great folks and great Denver omelette. I'd have said 'hey' had I seen you there.
Go Gould!
Watching the Cal - Standard game with the ACC logo on the field- where the Pacific Ocean is literally a few miles from both schools made me cringe. What if Cal and Stanford were to come to the PAC 12 (putting their academia rankings aside)?
But they call me a dreamer …
I didn't even know the Big Game of the USC-UCLA game were being played yesterday. Out of sight, out of mind.
And the Big Ten stuffed the SoCal schools into the 7:30 p.m. timeslot, what an insult and probably the first time that game has ever been played at night.
I'm surprised you didn't know those games were on given your rich knowledge of the USC-UCLA game...
I specifically remember a late afternoon / night game for USC-UCLA on Thanksgiving weekend 1975 (Friday night, I think). It stuck in memory because I was at my college girlfriend of the quarter's house watching with her dad. LOL!
Thru 2011 there had been 8 night games. Including 2010 and 2011. For many years they both played at the Coliseum and that location may have been a detriment to night game possibilities? There have been 5 games at 5:00 since 2012, and the 2016 game was 7:30.
Sadly, power 4 > new pac 12. I hope it happens someday but a year in the ACC has given Cal better exposure and TV visibility than the last 10 years in the PAC.
Also the Atlantic jokes are getting tired. It's a name. So is "pac-12," a conference without 12 teams, big 10, big 12, etc. All the names are brands without their former meaning. Time to get over it.
They want nothing to do with the current PAC members. They fit better with the East Coast given the secret connections.
Shh you're not supposed to talk about the secret connections!!!!!!!
Take Memphis, but not Tulane. Too much travel.
Add NMSU as the No. 9 all-sports member. Make them a 50% rights fee offer, bump it by 10% each year. They'd take it, and there would be half a share out there to divide among the other tems (declining by 10% each year).
Cruces is growing, easy access via El Paso airport. They have baseball, soccer, volleyball, golf, softball, the sports the new Pac-12 needs beyond football and hoops. The ninth add isn't going to move the rights-fee needle at all, so stay in the West.
Nobody in Texas care a bit about Texas State and/or UTSA. It's all Aggies or Longhorns, with a few in the Panhandle being loyal to TTU. Tulane is an afterthought in Louisiana, everybody who goes there is from someplace else.
Leave the MWC alone, we've taken enough. Settle the lawsuit, kiss and make up. Both conferences will need each other for scheduling in all sports in 2026 and beyond and it makes no sense for the two best Western conferences to be feuding.
Memphis and Tulane are less than 400 miles apart. Why is one too far but the other okay?
Don't need to travel that far twice.
I mean, NMSU is not a good bet at all. Even the Mountain West is steering clear of them. If you dip into New Mexico, the only choice is UNM.
Pac-12 doesn't want or need either New Mexico school. No thank you.
SMU would have an issue with your comment. And those oil billionaires have a top 20 team in the first year in the Big 12.
SMU barely draws 25k per game. It's a Texas destination for students who aren't from Texas.
(SMU is in the ACC.)
NMSU is barely a Div 1 program. I have been to Las Cruces. It is smaller than Corvallis with no Portland and Salem nearby. Smaller than the Cache Valley (Utah State) which I think is too small a market for the PAC12. There is hardly an audience there in Las Cruces. Pass.
The population of Las Cruces is 115,000. That's almost twice as big as Corvallis and Logan, and comparable to Corvallis/Albany.
Las Cruces is 45 miles away from El Paso, which has a metro area population of almost 900,000, or triple the size of Eugene/Salem.
At this point, the Pac-12 just needs a 9th all-sports program. NMSU is a Western university that fills the bill and would be thrilled to join us, as opposed to Tulane and Memphis, who have nothing in common with Western schools and would bail at the next opportunity.
Thanks John, I loved this article. I feel very optimistic about the conference and feel that they hired the right person for the job; someone that has passion for the project, not someone where it's just a job.
Remember way back when NFL was only game. The AFL came and NFL was still only game in town. But AFL got bigger and eventually public demanded the two champions play and we get Super Bowl. Even now the lower ranked schools pop up,with an upset of on of big boys.
Let the big boys go off and little guys come together. Little guys refuse to even play the big guys, get your own national champion and eventually the public will demand a game between big boy champion and little guy champion. No one west of Rocky Mountains will even bother watching UCLA or USC if they are consistently under .500 playing the big boys. You need regional rivalries to get media numbers. I wish the deserters nothing but losses.
This may be exactly what's coming in 2026. The CFP as currently structured only exists for two years. At least allowing the little guys in the CFP part. The SEC and B1G and most of the little guys will want to continue to play. The little guys need the money from the body bag games and the big boys want the gate and concession revenues.
We've already heard squawking about Boise State getting in the way of P4 teams access to the CFP. It's only going to grow louder and I believe the little guys will have their chair pulled for the 2026 CFP contract.
Nifty column...
He’s a gem ain’t he?