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So how bad off is the Pac?

WoadBlue

Hall of Famer
Aug 15, 2008
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For years, it has been clear that among the Power 5 conferences, the Pac has the smallest number of total TV viewers in both revenue sports. In fact, the Pac is a distant 5th in both. Making that worse is the fact that the Pacific Coast is a region losing devoted viewers of college sports, seemingly annually, to Professional sports. That trend shows no sign of letting up, much less reversing. The Pac could drop below the AAC in total viewers within a decade

And that means that the Pac is, far and away, the most overpaid conference (the ACC is the most underpaid).

Knowing those things, a few years ago I decided that to get back to its glory days of having large numbers of fans as well as winning, the Pac needed to add 4 schools located in Central Time (the time zone with by far the most college sports fans), at least one of which is a National Name Brand in football and at least one of which is a National Name Brand in basketball.

If the Pac had pulled off such a move, which would have killed the Big XII, the Pac would be riding high into the future. But the Pac's bad attitudes, shall we say, toward middle America meant it would rebuff a very good shot to land Oklahoma, which likely would have drawn Kansas. And now we have people saying things like I said several years ago: the Pac is up the creek with no paddle.

FishDuck is an Oregon sports site. At the end of March, it had an article titled Demise of the Pac 12 Could Bring Rise of the Big 16. That article opens with a reference to an Andy Staples article from early March. Staples noted that the many Pac issues, many of which seem insurmountable, could means that the Big XII might be able to poach from the Pac. Staples goes so far as to see SC as possibly leading a group of 6 Pac schools to make a Big XVI.

SC is the only true National Name Brand football program in the Pac. If SC were to leave the Pac, the Pac would lose its status. SC leaving the Pac for the Big XVI would be like Miami leaving the Big East: every BE football member wanted out into any Major conference.

But Staples is an SEC guy. What does he know about the Pac? Darren Perkins knows the Pac and is an Oregon Duck. And Perkins thinks that Staples makes sense. Perkins even names the 6 he thinks the Big XII should target: SC, UCLA, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, and AZ State. He asserts that that Big XVI would be better at both revenue sports than the Pac or the Big XII ever were and would be wealthier than either. Perkins is so worried that the Pac's problems could drag down Oregon that he not only likes this idea that would kill the Pac or reduce it to WAC status; he is so open to it that he doesn't mention the need to get Eastern Time WVU out so a 7th Pac team could join.

That's a guy whose school has Nike money.

Will the loss of the 2020 season push the Pac over the ledge? Is Texas preparing a power grab?
 
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Going west has no long term value.
We once believed that it took large numbers to support a network. The SEC has proven that to be false. In fact the SEC could probably lose a couple of members without any effect on their network revenue.
So why would the Big 12 want to invest in the west coast?
The PAC already turned down ESPN which automatically spelled it's demise (see the BE).
ESPN now has 39 teams at it's disposal, why add more? Those 39 just need to be shuffled around to gain maximum exposure.
A Big 12 with the addition of Missouri, Arkansas and Louisville could provide ESPN with a third formidable conference to not only control collegiate football viewing but basketball as well.
Sounds like the folks in Oregon are looking for a life raft just like West Virginia did so many years ago.
 
Going west has no long term value.
We once believed that it took large numbers to support a network. The SEC has proven that to be false. In fact the SEC could probably lose a couple of members without any effect on their network revenue.
So why would the Big 12 want to invest in the west coast?
The PAC already turned down ESPN which automatically spelled it's demise (see the BE).
ESPN now has 39 teams at it's disposal, why add more? Those 39 just need to be shuffled around to gain maximum exposure.
A Big 12 with the addition of Missouri, Arkansas and Louisville could provide ESPN with a third formidable conference to not only control collegiate football viewing but basketball as well.
Sounds like the folks in Oregon are looking for a life raft just like West Virginia did so many years ago.
The Pacific coast is losing fans by the droves, it seems. So it would not be wise to try to absorb the Pac. But the Los Angeles TV market is extremely powerful - it is the reason the Pac is so grossly overpaid. If the Big XII could get SC and UCLA, the addition would be huge. My guess is that to get that pair, the Big XII would have to take Arizona and Arizona State to serve as a geographic bridge.
 
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