RIP Pacified athletic conference

[Viva]

A combo of greed and pure incompetence from the PAC...

No, 100% pure incompetence.

Failure to develop a reasonable revenue sharing arrangement, failure to build value in the member institutions, failure to protect it's most valuable franchises, failure to add Texas/Oklahoma, etc...

On that last point- The Big 12 was ripe for the picking and the PAC-12 ends up with Colorado! No Texas, no OU, no Nebraska, not even A&M with their alumni network and research facilities.

I guess Utah more than made up for that.

Of course some of the member institutions did their fair share to fuck things up- e.g.: Stanford adamantly pushing for equal revenue sharing. That deal is largely why USC and fucla left the conference, and why Texas and Oklahoma declined to join.

The Pac-12 actually demanded that Texas contribute $15MM annually from its Long Horn Network (an ESPN deal)!

Think the Pac-12 might be in a better positions had it negotiated a way to allow Texas, OU, Texas Tech and Oklahoma St. join? Adding Texas likely would have likely facilitated a far bigger ESPN deal for the conference in whole.

The networks want to pay more and more $$$ for access to great product/franchises, and not the mediocre shit-fuck that the Pac-12 evolved into.

[fatnslow]

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.

This is the beginning of the end for those sports, every slowly,one at a time. Many will become club teams where they have to self fund.

[old goat]

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.

For Cal softball, as an example, over half the games last season were non conference. I expect UCLA, as an example, will still be playing Cal, it just won't be a conference game. In Rugby Cal--a frequent national champion and runner up last season--plays in a 4 team conference. 8 out of 38 games were in conference. Cal water polo--champs last 2 seasons--is similar.
I'm not sure how much the additional traveling has to do with conference realignment. When the UCLA has to travel to Columbus that will be a stretch--certainly not good for so called student athletes.

Part of what's going on with the Pac 12 is that basically people on the west coast don't care as much about sports in general and college football in general. We went to Cal-Stanford at Stanford one year--Goff vs McCaffery. Plenty of empty seats. Not a lot of noise. Most of the enthusiasm was from the kids staring at each other over the Axe. (Stanford won, Goff threw for a shitload.) If a 'Bama alum had the misfortune of having a kid go to Stanford and decided to catch a game they would be shocked.

[TahoeJ]

Part of what's going on with the Pac 12 is that basically people on the west coast don't care as much about sports in general

Nah, for NorCal anyway, we just don't care about college sports. Pretty rabid following for pro teams (and many championships and/or very close) over the last few decades for the Warriors, 49ers, SF Giants, etc. Even the lowly (but now much better) Sacramento Kings have die-hard fans.

[gravitylover]

Nah, for NorCal anyway, we just don't care about college sports. Pretty rabid following for pro teams (and many championships and/or very close) over the last few decades for the Warriors, 49ers, SF Giants, etc. Even the lowly (but now much better) Sacramento Kings have die-hard fans.

Perennially mediocre teams always do. Hey, I've been a Mets fan since 1969 through thick and thin. LFGM!

[The Reverend Floater]

Nah, for NorCal anyway, we just don't care about college sports. Pretty rabid following for pro teams (and many championships and/or very close) over the last few decades for the Warriors, 49ers, SF Giants, etc. Even the lowly (but now much better) Sacramento Kings have die-hard fans.

Are you really saying NorCal peeps don't follow college sports?

Sent from my SM-S918U1 using Tapatalk

[TahoeJ]

Are you really saying NorCal peeps don't follow college sports?

No, I'm say we follow them way less intensely than in some other regions and there's more focus on pro teams.

[altacoup]

The SoCal schools are in the same boat. Very much fair weather fans. When fucla or the university of spoiled children are good the whole city shows up. When they suck the stadiums are half full.


Sent from my iPad using TGR Forums

[SchralphMacchio]

I started grad school at Cal during the Rodgers Lynch years and I moved to Eugene right at the start of the Herbert years, any B1G cities looking for a future HOF QB wanna pay me a signing bonus to relocate in your city? Warning, my relocation may cause your school to leave its athletic conference.

[mcski]

Nah, for NorCal anyway, we just don't care about college sports. Pretty rabid following for pro teams (and many championships and/or very close) over the last few decades for the Warriors, 49ers, SF Giants, etc. Even the lowly (but now much better) Sacramento Kings have die-hard fans.

If that were true, Oakland would still have the raiders and the As wouldn’t be leaving. CA is all about the fair weather. Nothing wrong w that. We have a lot to choose from so if a team is good everyone jumps on the bandwagon. If they suck, attendance is dowwwwwwwn. No comparison between the hardcore base percentage in CA vs the east and nothing wrong w that. Ca doesn’t give a real fuck unless the team is winning - college or pro

[::: :::]

With the national consolidation, the product will be diluted as there’s sure to be plenty of 2-4 loss teams making the playoff.

How is an 18-team conference going to have either an entire season or a conference champ? The season is only so long…

[SkiBall]

Gerrymandering of college sports
Money ruins everything

This.
Growing up on the Pac10, er, 12, this would have been devastating to me as a kid. Nowadays it is more a disappointed shrug. The money, one-n-done in basketball, Chip at UCLA. Not a lot to get excited about anymore.

[SchralphMacchio]

Growing up on the Pac10, er, 12, this would have been devastating to me as a kid.

Same, I wasn’t huge into college sports but man New Years was a special day. I grew up 15 mins from the Rose Bowl, worked on our city’s parade float as a kid, and it was always so fun waking up to the parade, watching the PAC10 and BIG10 champ marching bands, and then game coverage starting. Ended up going to college literally right down the road from the Rose Bowl and living in Old Town Pasadena for a year.

[old goat]

No, I'm say we follow them way less intensely than in some other regions and there's more focus on pro teams.

Which is why the Pac X didn't have a big TV contract. Plus the time gap means fewer east coast eyeballs.

[esseff]

Cal recruiting is hampered....both in blue chip players and coaching. Wilcox is an exception.

They won't reduce the 'standard' for the student part of the athlete like many other schools. Their PC world of 'equality and opportunity for all' has put some really bad coaches in head jobs.

If that were true, Oakland would still have the raiders and the As wouldn’t be leaving. CA is all about the fair weather. Nothing wrong w that. We have a lot to choose from so if a team is good everyone jumps on the bandwagon. If they suck, attendance is dowwwwwwwn. No comparison between the hardcore base percentage in CA vs the east and nothing wrong w that. Ca doesn’t give a real fuck unless the team is winning - college or pro

[I Skied Bandini Mountain]

And there's the red hatter hot take fresh off of blaming the US women's loss on "woke".

[The AD]

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.

Totally agree. At this point I think the solution might be to break college football off as a separate entity. Run that like a minor league pro sport and let the other sports continue as they did before the NCAA turned into just another money grubbing entity.

[SkiBall]

Totally agree. At this point I think the solution might be to break college football off as a separate entity. Run that like a minor league pro sport and let the other sports continue as they did before the NCAA turned into just another money grubbing entity.

They would have to raise tuitions for all the money lost. Or not. I dunno, I am just a Cal St product. And our sports sucked, but it was a lot cheaper.

[The AD]

They would have to raise tuitions for all the money lost. Or not. I dunno, I am just a Cal St product. And our sports sucked, but it was a lot cheaper.

It would still be college athletics, so the colleges themselves would have a stake in it, it just wouldn't be part of the current NCAA structure.

[snapt]

I, for one, am excited to see the Ducks play OSU and Michigan hopefully on a more consistent basis.

NorCal has loads of diehard SC and UCLA faithful and more than its share of Duck fans (UC Eugene). These former Pac schools all travel well, I'll still be watching.

[old goat]

Cal recruiting is hampered....both in blue chip players and coaching. Wilcox is an exception.

They won't reduce the 'standard' for the student part of the athlete like many other schools. Their PC world of 'equality and opportunity for all' has put some really bad coaches in head jobs.

Last I looked, a couple of years ago, Cal's grad rate for football sucked. As opposed to Stanford, which was strong.

[dunfree]

Which is why the Pac X didn't have a big TV contract. Plus the time gap means fewer east coast eyeballs.

It had a decent TV contract, that didn’t get renewed. The Big10 & SEC are the leagues with the big tv contracts which might reflect other differences too, like cable TV users

[The Reverend Floater]

Larry Scott straight up shanked the PAC 12. If you want a villain, it's definitely him. Everything after was fallout.

Sent from my SM-S918U1 using Tapatalk

[fatnslow]

Larry Scott straight up shanked the PAC 12. If you want a villain, it's definitely him. Everything after was fallout.

Sent from my SM-S918U1 using Tapatalk

Big ol swing and a miss with the PAC-12 network. It had a very low chance of working and clearly was the gateway to selling hand jobs at the truck stop for the lower tier teams.

[fatnslow]

The SoCal schools are in the same boat. Very much fair weather fans. When fucla or the university of spoiled children are good the whole city shows up. When they suck the stadiums are half full.


Sent from my iPad using TGR Forums

It's never about game ticket sales. TV market size and ad revenue dictate everything and BOTH USC and UCLA have a larger market than the rest of the conference put together.