New Conference re-alignment thread

[Saulbadguy]

The old one has AIDS.

Anyways, Chip Brown from Orangebloods.com reports OU may apply to the Pac-12 by the end of the month.

Oklahoma will apply for membership to the Pac-12 before the end of the month, and Oklahoma State is expected to follow suit, a source close to OU's administration told Orangebloods.com.

Even though Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott said Friday the Pac-12 was not interested in expansion at this time, OU's board of regents is fed up with the instability in the Big 12, the source said.

The OU board of regents will meet within two weeks to formalize plans to apply for membership to the Pac-12, the source said.

Messages left Sunday night with OU athletic director Joe Castiglione and Oklahoma State athletic director Mike Holder were not immediately returned.

If OU follows through with what appears to be a unanimous sentiment on the seven-member Oklahoma board of regents to leave the Big 12, realignment in college athletics could be heating back up. OU's application would be matched by an application from Oklahoma State, the source said, even though OSU president Burns Hargis and mega-booster Boone Pickens both voiced their support for the Big 12 last Thursday.

There is differing sentiment about if the Pac-12 presidents and chancellors are ready to expand again after bringing in Colorado and Utah last year and landing $3 billion TV contracts from Fox and ESPN. Colorado president Bruce Benson told reporters last week CU would be opposed to any expansion that might bring about east and west divisions in the Pac-12.

Currently, there are north and south divisions in the Pac-12. If OU and OSU were to join, Larry Scott would have to get creative.

Scott's orginal plan last summer was to bring in Colorado, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State and put them in an eastern division with Arizona and Arizona State. The old Pac-8 schools (USC, UCLA, Cal, Stanford, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington and Washington State) were to be in the west division.

Colorado made the move in June 2010, but when Texas A&M was not on board to go west, the Big 12 came back together with the help of its television partners (ABC/ESPN and Fox).

If Oklahoma and Oklahoma State were accepted into the Pac-12, there would undoubtedly be a hope by Larry Scott that Texas would join the league. But Texas sources have indicated UT is determined to hang onto the Longhorn Network, which would not be permissible in the Pac-12 in its current form.

Texas sources continue to indicate to Orangebloods.com that if the Big 12 falls apart, the Longhorns would consider "all options."

Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe held an emergency conference call 10 days ago with league presidents excluding Oklahoma, Texas and Texas A&M and asked the other league presidents to "work on Texas" because Beebe didn't think the Pac-12 would take Oklahoma without Texas.

Now, it appears OU is willing to take its chances with the Pac-12 with or without Texas.

There seemed to be a temporary pause in any possible shifting of the college athletics' landscape when Baylor led a charge to tie up Texas A&M's move to the Southeastern Conference in legal red tape. BU refused to waive its right to sue the SEC over A&M's departure from the Big 12, and the SEC said it would not admit Texas A&M until it had been cleared of any potential lawsuits.

Baylor, Kansas and Iowa State have indicated they will not waive their right to sue the SEC.

It's unclear if an application by OU to the Pac-12 would draw the same threats of litigation against the Pac-12 from those Big 12 schools.

Stay tuned.

[RustShack]

“One of major issues right now is that ESPN offer is low and Oregon and Washington want unequal sharing. They want a certain percentage more. Numbers don’t make survival possible within the conference. Big fracture within the conference and other schools won’t budge.“

[GloucesterChief]

That sounds like typical UW arrogance.

[Sassy Squatch]

ESPN is offering 24 million per school per year. yeesh.

[Prison Bitch]

I think the B12 gets 20m

[KChiefs1]

John Canzano:

Spoiler!

The Novo theater in Los Angeles has some very cool acts on the schedule. Brian McKnight and Lupe Fiasco will play the venue in coming months. But the headliner on Friday at Pac-12 Conference Media Day will be George Kliavkoff.

I’m dying to see his performance.

Said one conference insider: “It’s George’s stage.”

I just wish the conference commissioner was sharing with his bosses. The Pac-12 CEO Group is compromised of a dozen presidents and chancellors of the respective universities. They hold the votes and make the decisions, but what they don’t often do is step up and speak out. I’d like to hear from them more often on matters relating to the conference.

Kliavkoff’s speech will be the most anticipated and attended in the history of the conference’s annual football hype-fest. If he wants to win it, he’ll need to do more than cast a strong presence. He’ll need to get candid and share his vision.

Last month, the Pac-12 got ditched by UCLA and USC, tentpoles of the very market that Friday’s event is held in. The conference is now in crisis-management mode, seeking a path forward while engaged in a 30-day negotiating window with ESPN and Fox.

Blame Kliavkoff for the splintering of the Pac-12?

I guess. He was the commissioner of record when the Big Ten poached two key properties. But as one current athletic director told me, “What is George supposed to do when USC lies to his face?”

The troubles for the Pac-12 were born well beyond Kliavkoff’s first 365 days on the job. The presidents and chancellors who enabled and tolerated the act of ex-commissioner Larry Scott hold a large share of the blame. He overspent, failed to adequately position the Pac-12, and got lapped by the SEC and Big Ten in the race for media-rights dollars.

Scott put the Pac-12 on a perilous path, while sipping a glass of Dom Pérignon on a chartered flight. But the presidents and chancellors who hired Scott and left him unsupervised for a decade are equally culpable. Many of them are long gone, though. Only UCLA’s Gene Block and Arizona State’s Michael Crow are still around. I’d love to hear an explanation from that duo on Friday.

Being a commissioner isn’t easy business. But as Don Draper once famously ranted, “That’s what the money’s for!” Kliavkoff will be paid well to stand out front on Friday and absorb the hit that his predecessor and those university presidents lined up for him.

Kliavkoff likes a good scrap. One of his staff members who observed him jousting with a reporter in March at the Pac-12 basketball tournaments told me that the commissioner likes to mix it up. He’ll get his shot on Friday. The Pac-12 has been knocked down and dragged around the ring in the last few weeks. Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren broke the so-called “alliance” with a secret haymaker blow. Kliavkoff’s job now is to get himself up off the canvas and punch back.

Why the Pac-12 didn’t deviate from this path years ago is puzzling. Navigate — a data and consulting firm that contracts with major college conferences — published a report in March that laid it all out.

It projected the Pac-12’s total media rights payouts to members would eclipse the Big 12’s by 2026.




Great news for the Pac-12, but the chart also noted the surging revenue of the SEC and Big Ten. It was a giant, waving, red flag. One that had been waving in the Pac-12’s face for several years.

This is the trajectory Kliavkoff inherited. If you’re spinning the circumstances positively, it’s evident that the new commissioner has an opportunity to come up with new, innovative ideas that close the gap. If you’re spinning negative, you have to wonder, is it too late?

I suspect this will be the last Pac-12 Media Day held in Los Angeles. I think Las Vegas is a good bet to host the event in future. Kliavkoff still lives there and is well connected. He referred to it as “the sports capital of the world,” last March.

The Novo is a fine venue. It will have two stages, one for Pac-12 players and the other for coaches. They’ll speak all day. But Kliavkoff will make the opening remarks. He’ll be alone up there. I can’t wait to hear what he has to say.

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[RustShack]

Originally Posted by Prison Bitch

I think the B12 gets 20m

50-60 is the projection.

[ChiTown]

This thread gets more reeruned by the day....

[Prison Bitch]

Originally Posted by KChiefs1

John Canzano:

Spoiler!

The Novo theater in Los Angeles has some very cool acts on the schedule. Brian McKnight and Lupe Fiasco will play the venue in coming months. But the headliner on Friday at Pac-12 Conference Media Day will be George Kliavkoff.

I’m dying to see his performance.

Said one conference insider: “It’s George’s stage.”

I just wish the conference commissioner was sharing with his bosses. The Pac-12 CEO Group is compromised of a dozen presidents and chancellors of the respective universities. They hold the votes and make the decisions, but what they don’t often do is step up and speak out. I’d like to hear from them more often on matters relating to the conference.

Kliavkoff’s speech will be the most anticipated and attended in the history of the conference’s annual football hype-fest. If he wants to win it, he’ll need to do more than cast a strong presence. He’ll need to get candid and share his vision.

Last month, the Pac-12 got ditched by UCLA and USC, tentpoles of the very market that Friday’s event is held in. The conference is now in crisis-management mode, seeking a path forward while engaged in a 30-day negotiating window with ESPN and Fox.

Blame Kliavkoff for the splintering of the Pac-12?

I guess. He was the commissioner of record when the Big Ten poached two key properties. But as one current athletic director told me, “What is George supposed to do when USC lies to his face?”

The troubles for the Pac-12 were born well beyond Kliavkoff’s first 365 days on the job. The presidents and chancellors who enabled and tolerated the act of ex-commissioner Larry Scott hold a large share of the blame. He overspent, failed to adequately position the Pac-12, and got lapped by the SEC and Big Ten in the race for media-rights dollars.

Scott put the Pac-12 on a perilous path, while sipping a glass of Dom Pérignon on a chartered flight. But the presidents and chancellors who hired Scott and left him unsupervised for a decade are equally culpable. Many of them are long gone, though. Only UCLA’s Gene Block and Arizona State’s Michael Crow are still around. I’d love to hear an explanation from that duo on Friday.

Being a commissioner isn’t easy business. But as Don Draper once famously ranted, “That’s what the money’s for!” Kliavkoff will be paid well to stand out front on Friday and absorb the hit that his predecessor and those university presidents lined up for him.

Kliavkoff likes a good scrap. One of his staff members who observed him jousting with a reporter in March at the Pac-12 basketball tournaments told me that the commissioner likes to mix it up. He’ll get his shot on Friday. The Pac-12 has been knocked down and dragged around the ring in the last few weeks. Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren broke the so-called “alliance” with a secret haymaker blow. Kliavkoff’s job now is to get himself up off the canvas and punch back.

Why the Pac-12 didn’t deviate from this path years ago is puzzling. Navigate — a data and consulting firm that contracts with major college conferences — published a report in March that laid it all out.

It projected the Pac-12’s total media rights payouts to members would eclipse the Big 12’s by 2026.




Great news for the Pac-12, but the chart also noted the surging revenue of the SEC and Big Ten. It was a giant, waving, red flag. One that had been waving in the Pac-12’s face for several years.

This is the trajectory Kliavkoff inherited. If you’re spinning the circumstances positively, it’s evident that the new commissioner has an opportunity to come up with new, innovative ideas that close the gap. If you’re spinning negative, you have to wonder, is it too late?

I suspect this will be the last Pac-12 Media Day held in Los Angeles. I think Las Vegas is a good bet to host the event in future. Kliavkoff still lives there and is well connected. He referred to it as “the sports capital of the world,” last March.

The Novo is a fine venue. It will have two stages, one for Pac-12 players and the other for coaches. They’ll speak all day. But Kliavkoff will make the opening remarks. He’ll be alone up there. I can’t wait to hear what he has to say.

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So if the money in the PAC and BIG 12 are the same, there’s zero incentive for either to lose any schools. “The PAC is less stable tho!” Then that stands to reason they have a much better portfolio of schools, who could conceivably make a future move.

[KChiefs1]

#B1G commissioner Kevin Warren confirms USC and UCLA will receive full revenue shares when they enter the Big Ten.

Might not sit well at Nebraska, Maryland and Rutgers, which did not receive full shares.

Big Ten commish Kevin Warren told me he has not spoken w/Pac-12 commish George Kliavkoff since USC/UCLA announced they were leaving Pac-12, but said his office is scheduling a call sometime after Friday's Pac-12 media day


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[KChiefs1]

Originally Posted by RustShack

“One of major issues right now is that ESPN offer is low and Oregon and Washington want unequal sharing. They want a certain percentage more. Numbers don’t make survival possible within the conference. Big fracture within the conference and other schools won’t budge.“

https://www.johncanzano.com/p/canzan...ide-the-big-12

Canzano: Delusion aside -- the Big 12 has nothing on the Pac-12

The numbers (and brands) don't lie.

John Canzano

Spoiler!

The Pac-12 Conference’s top universities get better television ratings than Big 12 counterparts. The Pac-12 has bigger TV markets, superior brands, stronger broad-based athletic programs, better academics, and higher-profile members.

The Pac-12 also includes the Pacific and Mountain Time Zones that media partners covet. The notion that the Big 12 is somehow stronger than the Pac-12 is delusional from any quantitative standpoint.

Still, some in Big 12 country insist it’s true.

Stewart Mandel of The Athletic published an interesting study that compared the television impact of the Big 12 vs. Pac-12. He looked at TV ratings from 2015-2019 and 2021 for the remaining universities in each conference.

The Pac-12 won by knockout.

The top six remaining Pac-12 universities out-ranked all the remaining Big 12 universities by average rating. Oregon, Stanford, Washington, Washington State, Colorado and Utah all averaged more than 1.44 million viewers per game. Oklahoma State was the Big 12’s top-rated product, weighing in at 1.28 million viewers.

The ability to kick off games at 10:30 p.m. ET — “Pac-12 After Dark” — creates a distinct ratings advantage for the conference. Wrote Mandel: “As much as Pac-12 coaches and fans loathe those late games, they may be the league’s saving grace in its next deal.”

I’ve looked hard at the Big 12 in recent weeks, trying to figure out whether a merger with the Pac-12 made sense (Answer: nope). I also examined the Big 12’s TV markets and wondered if there was a no-brainer target for the Pac-12 to poach (Answer: nope).

I also don’t think the Big 12 is a strong candidate to lure away any of the remaining Pac-12 universities. When I asked Pac-12 athletic directors about the possibility of Utah, Colorado, Arizona and ASU leaving, I was told another round of defections was unlikely as long as Oregon and Washington remained in the Pac-12.

One current AD said: “I don’t know where all this ‘the Big 12 is better’ stuff is coming from. You wouldn’t trade our troubles for theirs.”

The Big 12 lost Texas and Oklahoma. Like the Pac-12, it’s watching the Big Ten and SEC position themselves as mega-conferences in front of what will be an expanded College Football Playoff. The holdover TV markets in the Big 12 have a combined 10.25 million television households. The Pac-12, even without the Los Angeles TV market, has 12.4 million.

The Big 12 will add another 5 million TV homes with the additions of BYU, Houston, Cincinnati and UCF, but that doesn’t solve the time-zone conundrum. The Big 12’s top games will always be stuck in head-to-head battles with the best inventory of the new-and-improved Big Ten and SEC. The Pac-12’s late kickoffs may stink for fans and media, but ESPN needs them and will pay for them.

I suspect that we’re going to soon learn that the “talks” with the Big 12 about a possible merger were never really that serious. Also, that the Big 12 spun out of the rejection in damage-control mode, eager to craft an alternate narrative.

I’m not sure what a merger with the Big 12 even offered, aside from strength in numbers. Or maybe the state of Texas. But the more I thought about it, teaming up with the Big 12 made little sense for the Pac-12.

If you’re the Pac-12 and looking for an advantageous partnership, you’d first turn to the ACC (28 million-plus TV households). If you are the Pac-12 and looking to poach programs, you’d probably turn to San Diego State (1.1 million TV households in the Pacific Time Zone). And the world views of the typical university presidents and chancellors in the Pac-12 footprint don’t mesh easily with those of the Big 12’s leaders.

We’re going to hear from Pac-12 leaders this week as part of the conference’s football media day. Commissioner George Kliavkoff needs to answer some tough questions and may even have some news to share. But before that, the delusion about Big 12 superiority has to stop.

Big 12 fans are nervous about being left behind. Some of the same hysteria swept over the Pac-12 in the wake of the USC/UCLA news. But it’s been replaced by logic, reason and a search for good options. The Pac-12 is the better conference. Period. End stop. The only question now is what ESPN and others are willing to pay to carry its games.

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[RustShack]

Canzanu is an idiot and cherry-picking stats to fit his Pro PAC narrative.

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by RustShack

50-60 is the projection.

Are you sure those numbers? I don't think those are once Texas and OU leave?

[Archie Bunker]

Really don’t see anything that he’s wrong about. Academics, Ratings, everything but having Iowa State seems to favor the PAC 12. It’s a large hurdle

[KChiefs1]

Originally Posted by RustShack

Canzanu is an idiot and cherry-picking stats to fit his Pro PAC narrative.

Doesn’t appear to be an idiot.

In his career,[3] Canzano has worked at six daily newspapers including The San Jose Mercury News and The Fresno Bee.
He covered University of Notre Dame football and Indiana University basketball as the beat writer during the tenure of coach Bob Knight. He is a former national Major League Baseball writer and national NFL writer at the San Jose Mercury News as well.
He has also covered five Olympic Games.

Canzano was hired as lead sports columnist at The Oregonian in 2002.[4] He also appears on KGW-TV, where he offers commentary and analysis on sports. Canzano also hosts a radio show called "The Bald-Faced Truth" on Portland's 750 AM "The Game". The radio show airs weekdays from 3-6 p.m. in the Portland metro area. The show is also syndicated in Eugene, Ore. on Fox Sports Eugene (95.7-FM and 1050-AM) and in Klamath Falls, Ore. on KLAD (104.3-FM and 960-AM).

He worked as the NFL and Major League Baseball columnist at the San Jose Mercury News and is a member of the Baseball Writers' Association of America. He holds a Baseball Hall of Fame Vote and is a voter for the Heisman Trophy. Canzano's work has also appeared in GQ magazine and The Sporting News.

Canzano left The Oregonian in March 2022, after 20 years with the newspaper.[1]

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[KChiefs1]

Canzano today:

GRANDSTANDING: Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren did a fair bit of grandstanding as part of the conference media day on Tuesday. He didn’t do a cartwheel on stage, but he came very close.

Warren spent a good portion of his time touting the Big Ten’s poaching of USC and UCLA. Pac-12 stakeholders weren’t happy about all the horn tooting. Said one conference employee: “The only people happy with the USC/UCLA move are those in the B1G, USC/UCLA and FOX.”

Warren also appeared to take a shot at the Pac-12 when he was asked about expansion and the health of college football.

Said Warren: “If a conference is allegedly on the brink, there are many more issues than members leaving. There are deeper issues. I’m not promoting conferences facing a crisis or going out of business, not at all. But I come out of the NFL for 21 years. In the NFL, either you succeed or you fail, and that's not only on the field. I’m talking about in business, operationally. Either you have your fan base or you don’t.”

The Pac-12’s biggest problem is its media rights deal. The conference has advantageous geography in the Pacific Time Zone. It has good history, strong brands, and it wants very much to matter. But let’s face it — losing USC and UCLA was a gut punch from Warren’s conference. That blow equated to the loss of 5.2 million television households.

How do you replace that if you’re the Pac-12?

I’ve long wondered about San Diego State as a Pac-12 expansion candidate. It would add back 1.1 million TV homes in the Southern California footprint. I also wonder about UNLV as a possible addition.

The Las Vegas television market is only in the top-40 right now, but the region is growing rapidly. There’s a pile of untapped sponsorship money buried in Vegas and commissioner George Kliavkoff lives there and is deeply connected. I’ll bet he rarely pays for a meal.

UNLV might not command a full share of media rights distributions out of the gate. It also plays home football games in the NFL stadium in Las Vegas. It would be a speculative play, for sure, but doubling down on Vegas makes sense.


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