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My opinion: a new conference emerges

ttowncoug

Hall Of Fame
Sep 9, 2001
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Could be pac 12 gets big 12 teams to form a new 16 team league.
Tv money is driving this. Not arrogant school politics. Pac12 took too long to act on Scott. We get left with this.
 
Could be pac 12 gets big 12 teams to form a new 16 team league.
Tv money is driving this. Not arrogant school politics. Pac12 took too long to act on Scott. We get left with this.
Possible, but the Big 12 is already on the path to having 4 new teams next year and actually being a 12 team conference. Adding Houston, BYU, UCF, and Cincinnati probably isn’t going to make them more willing to bring in a bunch of small market teams from areas that aren’t all-in on football. That being said, the Big 12 and the PAC 12 are currently CFB’s wounded animals, and most likely only one will survive. The one who moves aggressively, including picking the other’s carcass, wins.

They could work together, potentially combine and form the first super conference. Right now that would have 22 teams (assuming no additional defections), with a nearly coast to coast span. I’d favor adding 2 more, including the following considerations:
  • SDSU to maintain a SoCal presence. San Diego > Fresno
  • Notre Dame. Because, duh. They have a deal that says they’ll join the ACC, but money fixes everything.
  • I make calls to Miami and Auburn and ask if they want to keep being a small fish in a big pond. It won’t work…but I’ll try
  • Calls to Kentucky and maybe Arkansas and ask if they like being plankton in a big pond.
  • Calls to Tobacco Road - Duke, UNC, UVA - and see if they’d like to be in a conference with Kansas and Arizona, and they can bring their football teams too.
  • Call Gonzaga, especially if Duke/UNC/UVA are receptive
  • If everything else fails, SMU gives us a foothold in Dallas.
Realistically, unless the Big 12 is asleep at the wheel, they’ve already contacted the Arizona and mountain schools. Those would be easy adds and would get them 16. That provides a couple reasonable markets (although not huge fan bases).

I think that UW and UO will be more interested in the Big 10 than the Big 10 will be in them. I can see the Big 10 being far more interested in Oklahoma State & Iowa State, or in the Kansas schools. If they really wanted 2 more west coast teams, it would have been pretty easy to include Stanford & Cal.

Regardless, obviously the wheels will continue to turn, and if the PAC-12 doesn’t move aggressively, they’re done. Problem they face at the moment is a serious lack of bargaining power…they may not even be a wounded animal, they might be roadkill. And, unfortunately, WSU and OSU are probably in the weakest positions of all, and seem most likely to be the ones left without a chair.
 
For years, us paranoid Cougar fans kept hearing murmurs about how the Pac-12 wanted to find a way to kick WSU out of the conference. Never thought about the possibility of the Pac-12 kicking everyone else out of the conference except WSU & OSU (& maybe a disinterested Cal).


Glad Cougar
 
For years, us paranoid Cougar fans kept hearing murmurs about how the Pac-12 wanted to find a way to kick WSU out of the conference. Never thought about the possibility of the Pac-12 kicking everyone else out of the conference except WSU & OSU (& maybe a disinterested Cal).


Glad Cougar

No one is kicking WSU out. They’re leaving the conference to WSU.

The Pac 2 is coming.
 
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