This is a death spiral for Cal if they don't get invited to the Big 10. Their athletic dept will not be able to stay afloat financially. What a disaster from Larry Scott and really all of the Pac 12 chancellors to go along with his awful leadership (or lack thereof). It's so brutal that it's all unraveled like this.
The Incredible Shrinking Pac 12
- Thread starter colhenrylives
- Start date
How many people actually watch Stanford & CAL Football games? They play in empty stadiums (tiny stadiums) and you can almost never find them on TV. They are not really a part of big time college football from a business standpoint.
Yeah this would be a disaster for Cal. If the Big10 doesn’t call they may actually have to look to the Mountain West. Or possibly downgrade to the FCS.
I’d actually like to see the creation of a California league:
San Diego State, Fresno State, San Jose State, Cal, Stanford, UC Davis, Sac State, Cal Poly, and possibly Reno and UNLV.
That would ruin Cal forever, the TV money for that league would be literally peanuts and would force Cal to cut their athletic program in half
They play in huge stadiums actually and every single of their game is nationally televised wtf u talking about ? Attendance being kinda crappy yes but their actual stadiums are huge
I think Cal needs to cut their athletic program in half. The landscape of college football has changed and Cal has not prioritized its athletic program.
They can’t even successfully recruit the top Bay Area/NorCal athletes. They operate too much like an IVY league school which doesn’t equate to Big Time College football!
Hopefully the Big 10 throws them a bone.
Cal athletics isn’t about not having a ton of non revenue Olympic sports, it’s their MO
"San Francisco State going to the Pac-12! " Go Gators! Lol. -Courtesy Twitter:
They would probably have to downsize and run an athletic program that is similar to UC Davis
Mostly my bad and PAC 12 is available for most people if you have Xfinity……but sure most games are my bad
In terms of college sports in general, I wish they had separated out football from the conference structure. A lot of these moves make some sense for football but are really going to hurt other sports
Yes!…. It’s crazy to think of all the travel for the other sports!…. And Take Stanford Baseball for example…. They have been to 3 straight CWS and are one of the country’s best programs…. Who will they play now?…..
I could see a School like Stanford going Independent like Notre Dame for FB because they could put a good schedule together and there would be some TV value in that….
But what becomes of all their other sports that are at the top of the country?….
They could have broken up the programs between the Big 12 and Big 10 for FB and left the Conference in tact for the other sports…. My guess is though the money would not allow that…..
I have to sign up for a free trial the 3 times usc was playing on there
The elephant in the room is that this is part of the trend of successful people and companies leaving California or in this case separating from us. Can’t blame sports organizations like Oakland A’s going where there are less taxes and regulations and you can make money. Larry Scott and Pac 12 deserve blame for their ineptitude but Gavin and the California Covid shutdown gave a lot of people the reason to look at moving away. The Big 10 and Big 12 are offering better options. California needs to wake up and make some changes or we will continue to be left behind. The irony is CA started the NIL revolution and college sports is now all in on free market outcomes. Everyone is following the money rather than their stated values.
I never made the connection between state and the current news. That said, I don't think that is the driving force. I think there were big missteps by those in leadership. In the very first round of realignment, I think Texas and Oklahoma were rumored to the Pac 12 and the league arrogently said they weren't needed. Then they bungled the TV deals when those were blowing up and becoming the thing that drove conference moves. You do both of those things better and the Pac-12 might be in that No. 2 spot to the SEC.
And something that makes West Coast teams less desireable for TV deals is a general lack of attention they drive from fan bases. The typical UCLA/USC/Oregon fan is much less a fanatic than a Texas/Alabama/Ohio State fan. And that has been true for a long time.
All good comments. And accurate. Mostly. And there's this fact: Only 17 percent of the nation's TV-viewing-eyeballs dwell wast of the Rockies. Combine that stat with a two- or three-hour time difference to the east and you have a dangerous formula indeed.
The Pac12 actively recruited Texas and Oklahoma and some other schools in a bid to get the conference up to 16 teams. Ultimately only Utah and Colorado were added as the other schools, including Texas and Oklahoma, decided not to join. The conference did not arrogantly decide they weren't needed, Texas and Oklahoma decided they did not need the conference. And eventually they decided they did not need the Big 12. They desired the siren call of the SEC, where they will not see the success they've had in the Big 12. But they'll get more money. The only thing that matters is money.
Wow - this is incredibly surprising. There is big money in NCAA coverage but this action is beyond what I could have guessed.
Merc News Pac 12 collapse now imminent
www.mercurynews.com
Merc News Pac 12 collapse now imminent
Pac-12 collapse: 12 strategic blunders that led to Doomsday
From creating the Pac-12 Networks to refusing an ESPN lifeboat, the 108-year-old Conference of Champions erred repeatedly.
www.mercurynews.com
There is a paywall, with the Merc. The PD ran it too, so this might work?Wow - this is incredibly surprising. There is big money in NCAA coverage but this action is beyond what I could have guessed.
Merc News Pac 12 collapse now imminent
Pac-12 collapse: 12 strategic blunders that led to Doomsday
From creating the Pac-12 Networks to refusing an ESPN lifeboat, the 108-year-old Conference of Champions erred repeatedly.
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I agree, but I think the importance of football was already being shown in the late 80’s / early 90’s when the Big East was grappling with the pigskin issue (in an elite made foe hoops conference).
The Olympic sports, with the exception of men's basketball, should probably compete locally. Especially since they don't generate money in most cases.
Sac State and Davis could both become BCS schools. I also imagine that Cal Poly could as well. A California league could help rebrand West Coast football.
It makes no sense to travel out of state to play football unless Big $$$ is to be made.
Since all of the schools are close in proximity, I imagine that ticket sales would surely improve!
Sacramento, Davis, Fresno, Berkeley, San Jose, Reno, and San Luis Obispo are all close in proximity. I imagine that these games would draw nice crowds.
Yeah but with the way that things are going it’s going to be more cost effective if all of the California schools compete against each other. You could certainly save money and rebuild in the process.
Sac State and Davis could both become BCS schools. I also imagine that Cal Poly could as well. A California league could help rebrand West Coast football.
It makes no sense to travel out of state to play football unless Big $$$ is to be made.
Since all of the schools are close in proximity, I imagine that ticket sales would surely improve!
Sacramento, Davis, Fresno, Berkeley, San Jose, Reno, and San Luis Obispo are all close in proximity. I imagine that these games would draw nice crowds.
Thats just not happen. To much money to invest. Look at how many CSU’s (LB, CSF, Chico, SF, Sonoma etc.) and other programs (Menlo, SCU, SMC) dropped football latee 80’s to early 90’s. And none of it has or is coming back. Thats just a reality.
History can be written by multiple people, but there is some reporting that said the Pac-12 said no to expansion.
Larry Scott: 'We could have expanded'
A day after conference expansion Armageddon was avoided with the Pac-12 taking a pass on Oklahoma and Texas, commissioner Larry Scott was in good cheer.
That is true. Just seems where that was the start, now it is full speed ahead on football
The chief difference is that all of the schools that I mentioned survived the 80’s and 90’s and currently have football programs. Also California has grown immensely since the 80’s/90’s.
Good point… California doesn’t treat their collegiate football teams like professional entities. The SEC and Big 10 have done a great job of doing so.
The Big 10 took USC and UCLA. They actively pursued the LA market and are “moving in” to California.
Will be interesting to see how this all shakes out:
Courtesy Twitter: “in case you for got - The following schools have ALREADY filed the paperwork asking to join the
@pac12
@ColoradoStateU
@GoAztecs
@SMU
@UNLVathletics
@GreenWaveFB
@USFFootball
@TigersAthletics
@BroncoSportsFB
@FresnoStateFB
@TulsaFootball
@RiceFootball
@NMStateFootball”
Courtesy Twitter: “in case you for got - The following schools have ALREADY filed the paperwork asking to join the
@pac12
@ColoradoStateU
@GoAztecs
@SMU
@UNLVathletics
@GreenWaveFB
@USFFootball
@TigersAthletics
@BroncoSportsFB
@FresnoStateFB
@TulsaFootball
@RiceFootball
@NMStateFootball”
It's been a number of years since this happened so what I remember may not be complete. However, I would not be surprised if Larry Scott made the pitch to add all these teams and then tried to save face when he saw they weren't interested. This is only a guess, and only the principle characters know.History can be written by multiple people, but there is some reporting that said the Pac-12 said no to expansion.
Larry Scott: 'We could have expanded'
A day after conference expansion Armageddon was avoided with the Pac-12 taking a pass on Oklahoma and Texas, commissioner Larry Scott was in good cheer.www.espn.com
