RIP Pacified athletic conference

[SchralphMacchio]

Sad day for west coast D1 sports.
Y’all think Arizona and West Virginia can afford to be flying players back and forth and Rutgers being able to afford flying them to Los Angeles on the regular?
Are we still pretending these players are students?

[lowsparkco]

I’m UGA alum, but I’ve been living in Oregon for the last 10 years. I hate to see the Pac12 implode. Seems like a permanent solution to a temporary problem. USC, Stanford, Oregon, UCLA each have historically competed on a national level in decades past. Seems shortsighted to blow it all up over a few years of lackluster competition.

[Stu Gotz]

Seems like the end game is the P5 conferences just create a super conference and leave the NCAA.

[SumJongGuy]

It sure looks like all the future Big12/16 teams have only ONE Natty between them post WW2.. Baylor. I may be missing something. Ok State claims one in the late 40s by default, think the game was cancelled due to WW2 so they never actually won it..

PAC should have just stayed together and outright merged with them

[I Skied Bandini Mountain]

All over a time zone.

[bagtagley]

WVU has been in the Big 12 since the Big Least conference was dissolved. Putting all the obvious dumb shit aside, losing long-time rivalries for teams you’ve never cared about is the worst part. Ten years later I didn’t start caring, I just watch fewer games.

[SchralphMacchio]

I don’t know enough about how the money flows at the conference and team level, but I do wonder how much of this is a result of the players being able to earn money off their name and likeness. Who they are playing on a regular basis and how much exposure those games are getting obviously affects the value of the licensing deals they can sign, which affects the recruiting draw that coaches can sell. “Hey, you can get that big exposure playing against Michigan but then the day after the game be hanging at Hermosa Beach with hot chicks with fake boobs in a corvette convertible you bought with your shoe deal.”


Also I live in Eugene and our stupid airport ain’t even close to ready for this.

[I Skied Bandini Mountain]

Man, Hermosa beach was just awesome back in the day.

[k2skier112]

Gerrymandering of college sports
Money ruins everything

[The SnowShow]

College football has become just shitty minor league football at this point. Fucking sucks.

[TahoeJ]

College football has become just shitty minor league football at this point. Fucking sucks.

Agreed - I've pretty much lost all interest over the past several years. And now these assholes are essentially ruining it for all of the other college sports. This period will be looked at as the beginning of a steep decline for viewer interest (outside of maybe the SEC teams regional markets) 15+ years from now.

[esseff]

Its all about media rights and each schools $ piece of the conference pie as it relates to a broadcast contract. The conference has been mismanaged for a decade; once the last ESPN contract expired. Now, each 'quality' school expects to receive north of $35m a year from the conference contract . That was not in the picture for the P12 with the pathetic Apple streaming proposal (requiring schools help to push 'subscriptions.' Plus, how are you going to recruit a blue chipper by telling him & his parents he will get great exposure on streaming?

A good read and quite truthful. https://theathletic.com/4748641/2023...ngton-big-ten/

[TahoeJ]

Yeah, I think we can all agree it's a short term money grab that is logical, but they might be killing the sport to a certain degree in the long run. College sports was built on a foundation of regional rivalries.

[Viva]

The truth is that no one needs the PAC-12, a conference that doesn't look after the best interests of its members, and hasn't for a long time.

[altacoup]

One of the big differences and advantages that College football has had over other sports is the importance of going undefeated. By making each game matter so much, the value of each game was massively increased. With the national consolidation, the product will be diluted as there’s sure to be plenty of 2-4 loss teams making the playoff. In turn this makes every game less desirable and fewer people will tune in. TV execs are ruining the product in return for short term gains. Pretty much the definition of capitalism in the US since the 80s.

[old goat]

I’m UGA alum, but I’ve been living in Oregon for the last 10 years. I hate to see the Pac12 implode. Seems like a permanent solution to a temporary problem. USC, Stanford, Oregon, UCLA each have historically competed on a national level in decades past. Seems shortsighted to blow it all up over a few years of lackluster competition.

Hey, Cal won the Rose Bowl--over Alabanma no less--in 1938

Agreed - I've pretty much lost all interest over the past several years. And now these assholes are essentially ruining it for all of the other college sports. This period will be looked at as the beginning of a steep decline for viewer interest (outside of maybe the SEC teams regional markets) 15+ years from now.

The conferences only really matter for football, and to a lesser extent basketball. Expect to see more nonconference games, like the minor sports.

What's funny to me is all the comments in the articles I've read about this blaming it on the university presidents, as if this were a major concern of theirs. The president's job is to raise money. Cal has an annual budget of about 3 billion dollars, of which the profit from football is about 5 million.

[mcski]

The truth is that no one needs the NCAA, a conference that doesn't look after the best interests of its members, and hasn't for a long time.

FIFY

[SchralphMacchio]

I’m absolutely positive that somewhere in the pits of Methregon, someone is thinking,

“If Oregon can be part of the Big 10 then why can’t Josephine County be part of Idaho?”

[Tri-Ungulate]

I wonder why they can't keep the conferences the same for all sports except football and basketball. Why make swimmers, gymnasts, track & field, crew, lacrosse, etc. travel across the fucking continent just to serve the interests of the big 2 moneymakers?

[alias_rice]

I wonder why they can't keep the conferences the same for all sports except football and basketball. Why make swimmers, gymnasts, track & field, crew, lacrosse, etc. travel across the fucking continent just to serve the interests of the big 2 moneymakers?

My thoughts as well. Imagine being a softball player from the west coast and now you have to travel to NJ for 3 games while trying to pass classes.

A combo of greed and pure incompetence from the PAC killed 100 years of history. Pretty sad really. Plus now I have to road trip to Lubbock and Ames instead of Seattle and LA. At least the BBQ should be good.

[TahoeJ]

Hey, Cal won the Rose Bowl--over Alabanma no less--in 1938

The conferences only really matter for football, and to a lesser extent basketball.

As a Cal alumni (you too?) with multiple friends whose kids are currently attending and participating in other sports, I assure you this is not the case and all of this mess is screwing things up and they've already been forced to travel much more in recent years as a result. It's only going to get worse. Same deal for Stanford.

[KQ]

I don't get it at all. Does this mean no more Apple Cup? WTF? This kind of shit belongs in my "what are you too old to deal with anymore?" thread.

[MultiVerse]

This should be the official 2023 College Football Thread. RIP PAC-12. Go big, Big XII Utes!

[Tri-Ungulate]

Yeah, but this thread is also kinda about the collateral damage to the other sports under the collegiate aegis. I consider myself Cal alumni (even though I didn't eventually graduate form there) and wifey is Stafnurd, so it does hit home.

[MultiVerse]

The Total Carnage & Collateral Damage 2023 College Football Thread