The USC athletic dept source was a bit arrogant and childish. I mean, communication works in both directions, so if the unequal split was such a huge deal to them, maybe they should have made a proposal to Kliavkoff. It’s like a spouse saying, “Sorry you couldn’t read my mind, I’m outta here.”
To just run off without trying to find a solution tells me they had done the math and knew there was no way the PAC could come close, so they didn’t even bother asking. In that case, just own that you are making a mercenary move and don’t try to blame the conference.
I can see the logic behind unequal revenue splits, but man that's a hard one. OTOH, if you're OSU or WSU is taking less worth it to keep the conference intact? However, letting the school that earned it keep a larger share of the post season revenue is a no-brainer to me.
So SDSU slots in even with Utah? Take ‘em. Yesterday. Interestingly, look how joining P12 helped Utah, both athletically and academically. But these myopic presidents very well could screw this up.
We need to get Mr. Thompson to run those numbers SDSU, Houston, UNLV, SMU and Boise for reference!
Nate Silver/fivethirtyeight has a good coumn up today, attempting to objectively apply criteria/scoring to any expansion decision by the Big 10. Worth the read.
Just as a wise bet repeated/compounded over several years can lead to a windfall; a poor bet repeated over several years can lead to financial ruin and possible disaster. It's quite sadly-sobering to compare the anticipated media rights values for the "left over" Pac-12 members in the next cycle with the current media rights values (granted with USC & UCLA included) as discussed in John's excellent series of articles from 3½ years ago ("Left out: How Larry Scott and the Pac-12 continue to lose ground in the college football arms race" see: https://www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregonian/john_canzano/2018/11/pac-12-larry-scott-leftout-part1.html ).
Larry Scott was the captain who plotted the course that brought the conference to where it is today. But in my opinion, the ultimate blame lies with the mostly-clueless University Presidents/Chancellors in the Pac-12 CEO Group who had ample opportunity to fire Scott (or at least, rein Scott in) and force a change in course. Instead, their inability to listen to outside voices (or at bare minimum, to the pleas of their A.D.s) most-likely will precipitate the dismantling (and thereby, demise) of the conference. Not aground yet, but the sound of rocks scraping the hull is deafening...
I think it’s all moot because Big 10 is going to go after Oregon, Washington and the 2 Bay Area schools eventually. What would really help is that Oregon or Washington made some noise by making the playoffs this year. Then the Big 10 might make the jump of inviting those 4 into the fold.
Thanks again for keeping us in the loop. At my advanced point on the arc of life, nostalgia always kicks in at this point and says "remember when it was all about how our team was going to do Saturday afternoon?' Who are we and how did we get here? Man! PS the Beavers and Cougs don't deserve this (family time) "stuff". Play on John!
Great article. I have to admit after reading this I have come to the conclusion the Pac 12 is not going to make it and that is really sad being growing up in Oregon and Washington. I currently live in the SE and besides a couple of schools it is different here and I finally admit the Pac 12 has a long way to go. The revenue difference is just too much and as soon as the Big 10 wants to expand Oregon, Washington and perhaps a couple others will jump. No questions asked and it's just a matter of time as USC and UCLA will need a western division. Mostly I'm sad about it especially OSU and WSU but the arrogance and ineptness of the Pac 12 presidents put the conference in this position.
Simple business and they have been outmaneuvered over and over. They had a chance to position themselves in Texas and the Central time zone when the Big 12 was weak. Couldn't execute and the end is near. I hope I'm wrong and all the remaining teams plus a couple new ones are around for many years, but I don't see it.
I don't think the big 10 will add anymore teams for acouple of years. But if they do maybe the left overs could put-up a decent conference example: if worse come to worse I wonder what a conference similar to this would be worth (give or take a member like Memphis or Hawaii)
The USC athletic dept source was a bit arrogant and childish. I mean, communication works in both directions, so if the unequal split was such a huge deal to them, maybe they should have made a proposal to Kliavkoff. It’s like a spouse saying, “Sorry you couldn’t read my mind, I’m outta here.”
To just run off without trying to find a solution tells me they had done the math and knew there was no way the PAC could come close, so they didn’t even bother asking. In that case, just own that you are making a mercenary move and don’t try to blame the conference.
I can see the logic behind unequal revenue splits, but man that's a hard one. OTOH, if you're OSU or WSU is taking less worth it to keep the conference intact? However, letting the school that earned it keep a larger share of the post season revenue is a no-brainer to me.
So SDSU slots in even with Utah? Take ‘em. Yesterday. Interestingly, look how joining P12 helped Utah, both athletically and academically. But these myopic presidents very well could screw this up.
We need to get Mr. Thompson to run those numbers SDSU, Houston, UNLV, SMU and Boise for reference!
Nate Silver/fivethirtyeight has a good coumn up today, attempting to objectively apply criteria/scoring to any expansion decision by the Big 10. Worth the read.
Just as a wise bet repeated/compounded over several years can lead to a windfall; a poor bet repeated over several years can lead to financial ruin and possible disaster. It's quite sadly-sobering to compare the anticipated media rights values for the "left over" Pac-12 members in the next cycle with the current media rights values (granted with USC & UCLA included) as discussed in John's excellent series of articles from 3½ years ago ("Left out: How Larry Scott and the Pac-12 continue to lose ground in the college football arms race" see: https://www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregonian/john_canzano/2018/11/pac-12-larry-scott-leftout-part1.html ).
Larry Scott was the captain who plotted the course that brought the conference to where it is today. But in my opinion, the ultimate blame lies with the mostly-clueless University Presidents/Chancellors in the Pac-12 CEO Group who had ample opportunity to fire Scott (or at least, rein Scott in) and force a change in course. Instead, their inability to listen to outside voices (or at bare minimum, to the pleas of their A.D.s) most-likely will precipitate the dismantling (and thereby, demise) of the conference. Not aground yet, but the sound of rocks scraping the hull is deafening...
I think it’s all moot because Big 10 is going to go after Oregon, Washington and the 2 Bay Area schools eventually. What would really help is that Oregon or Washington made some noise by making the playoffs this year. Then the Big 10 might make the jump of inviting those 4 into the fold.
Thanks again for keeping us in the loop. At my advanced point on the arc of life, nostalgia always kicks in at this point and says "remember when it was all about how our team was going to do Saturday afternoon?' Who are we and how did we get here? Man! PS the Beavers and Cougs don't deserve this (family time) "stuff". Play on John!
Great article. I have to admit after reading this I have come to the conclusion the Pac 12 is not going to make it and that is really sad being growing up in Oregon and Washington. I currently live in the SE and besides a couple of schools it is different here and I finally admit the Pac 12 has a long way to go. The revenue difference is just too much and as soon as the Big 10 wants to expand Oregon, Washington and perhaps a couple others will jump. No questions asked and it's just a matter of time as USC and UCLA will need a western division. Mostly I'm sad about it especially OSU and WSU but the arrogance and ineptness of the Pac 12 presidents put the conference in this position.
Simple business and they have been outmaneuvered over and over. They had a chance to position themselves in Texas and the Central time zone when the Big 12 was weak. Couldn't execute and the end is near. I hope I'm wrong and all the remaining teams plus a couple new ones are around for many years, but I don't see it.
I don't think the big 10 will add anymore teams for acouple of years. But if they do maybe the left overs could put-up a decent conference example: if worse come to worse I wonder what a conference similar to this would be worth (give or take a member like Memphis or Hawaii)
The Pac South West
Oregon State
WAZZU
SDSU
Fresno State
Boise State
Colorado State
SMU
UTSA
Tulsa