Wow, nobody wants to come close to the money they want. Arizona St. is probably going to make it final. Looks like we might keep SMU.
Big12 to sign new media rights deal with ESPN and Fox
- Thread starter lawpoke87
- Start date
Yep. We had this discussion during the whole PAC/Big merger talks. There’s nothing below the top 4 teams and the schools are financially incapable of sustaining athletics without a benchmark pay day. But the product they offer doesn’t meet that value. And some of the schools are more than $100 million in debt. FOX has been over paying for inventory in the 9pm EST time slot for twenty years just to keep the ten or twelve games they did want. The rumor out there about Tulane being in play for the PAC tells you everything you need to know.
The Apple thing makes sense. They are still stinging from Amazon getting the NFL and Apple being on the sideline because they lacked the expertise and structure that Amazon brought to the NFL. Amazon had the more complete business plan and early buy in from leading industry types looking for a new home. Apple was basically told to build it out and prove you can do it, then let’s talk. Many observers believe that is why they added MLS at a widely predicted massive loss. Adding some regional college football would let them prove themselves capable of game day operations then try again with the NFL
Last edited:
One of the issues being discussed by the Pac12 Presidents and Regents is student enrollment. Schools like Arizona, Arizona St, Oregon, etc… rely heavily on students from California. What effect will belonging to a conference based in the central US have on attracting California students. The possibility of those Pac-12 schools taking the revenue hit athletically to maintain their California connection is very real.
Color me skeptical. That may be the dressing to avoid public embarrassment.
California girls aren’t going to ASU for the football. And the California boys are going there for the California girls. Nobody is going to Arizona for the football scene.
You might have an argument with a party school and Top 15 program like Oregon.
But that’s concern for alumni donations, not attracting students. Oregon is really the last school always in the Top 20 that depends upon ticket sales and donor gifts under $50,000 to balance the operating books without going hat in hand to Knight.
Us and SMU should be jumping to the MWC and we can force the AAC/C-USA/Sun Belt into being one conference again.
Does the Big XII take Arizona, Arizona St, Colorado, and Utah? Where does that leave Oregon (the best and most $ generating school left in the Pac 10/12/14) to go? Is Oregon State forced to be tied to Oregon? What do Washington and WASU do?
Does the Pac 10/12/14 in a desperate attempt to keep their name and $$$ start poaching a ton of MWC schools as it sort of would make sense for Washington and WASU, Oregon, and Oregon State, Cal and Stanford to be in that market with many of those schools. If that happens us and SMU are sort of stuck I suspect along with Memphis.
I’m still under the belief that the Pac-12 bites the bullet and accepts less money and stays intact. They will pivot to being a conference who didn’t sellout to corporate media choosing instead to focus on the quality of student life for its athletes imo. We should know in the next few weeks.
I don't think so. I think the Cal BoR may revisit their approval to UCLA because this will certainly hamper their flagship school of the UCal system to operate an athletic program...it's not like the regents can promise more money from the legislature since California has some serious money issues and athletics is not going to be a priority for their state schools.
Are you suggesting the Cal BoR rescinds their approval of UCLA moving to the Big10?
The chaos which would following would be epic. As always I’m rooting for chaos.
They won't do that, it's done. But that chaos would be amusing. Big 10 would probably just take Oregon.
