Canzano: The old Pac-12 was the tipping point
"Butterfly Effect" is real.
I have all sorts of fun ideas for the Pac-12 Conference. For example, it could roll out a coffin on Wednesday, pause for a beat, and then have Commissioner Teresa Gould pop out of the thing, and say, “As we were saying before we were rudely interrupted…”
Except there’s nothing funny about the death of the 108-year-old conference. The forces that killed the league snatched the LA schools off the Pac-12’s table, seizing the most valuable media market. Then, they kicked the legs out by taking Oregon and Washington. Everyone ran for the hills. It was a systematic takedown, orchestrated by college football Saturday’s biggest media partners.
College sports are not in a healthy place.
I’d argue the downfall of the old Pac-12 was a major tipping point. Maybe THE biggest inflection point. Gould’s conference begins again (in a reconsistuted and inspired form) on July 1. She recently told me that looking back is a waste of her energy. But 72 hours before the reboot, I’m interested in the “Butterfly Effect” that killing off the Pac-12 caused.
Can it be reversed?