Conference Realignment Post Mortem Thread

[billybud]

The Big Ten gutted the PAC....the Big 12 just scavenged the carcass.

The failure of the PAC to secure a reliable media deal for the remainder resulted in the final exodus.

 

[billybud]

Here is a wild prediction. I think ESPN will go back to one or more of the conferences it currently has to try to renegotiate its contracts with them at some point. ESPN's current deals are not sustainable without bundled cable revenue, which is already ending.

ESPN's big money is in the SEC contract....and the SEC isn't likely to renegotiate down.....the ACC contract is already low enough for ESPN to make money.

And, wouldn't some ACC programs love to have that ESPN contract reopened ?

 

[nelsonmuntz]

The Big Ten gutted the PAC....the Big 12 just scavenged the carcass.

The failure of the PAC to secure a reliable media deal for the remainder resulted in the final exodus.

Making the same wrong statement over and over does not make it right.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

ESPN's big money is in the SEC contract....

True, but they are all bad deals. I see Iger's desire to lock in content before he tries to sell ESPN, but those deals are kind of poison pills for anyone looking to buy ESPN.

 

[Bongo Fury]

The media deal did not kill off the Pac 12. The Pac 12 got a decent deal from Apple, which is why Fox and ESPN went in for the kill. Much like with the Big East 12 years ago, Fox and ESPN could have gotten the Pac 12 as a single conference for less than they ended up paying to break it up.

They got the same deal as the Big 12 but the presidents didn’t think it was good enough. Wanted a deal like The BIG and SEC. Told George K to get high 50s and the networks said no thanks.

 

[ZooCougar]

Sorry, but the Pac12 didn't really blow up until the new media deal was released and Washington and Oregon left. You could say that it started to crumble when UCLA and USC jumped ship, but there were still schools trying to hold it together until the end. The media deal killed off that chance.

They knew the deal would be a joke. They just waited to see how bad it was.

The PAC 12 was a dead man walking for months. You had to be blind not to see.

 

[UConnJim]

Washington State and Oregon State are saying that to save face. There was never going to be a Pac-12 GOR signed. Never. Never.

The Pac-12 was DOA the day USC and UCLA left. There was zero chance they’d make it.

I think the Pac 12 should have reacted and expanded when USC and UCLA announced they were leaving. They could have grabbed Kansas, Kansas St., Oklahoma State, and Texas Tech and San Diego State maybe Houston.

In my view, the end of the Pac 12 was when the Big 12 got a media deal before the Pac 12 and took away most of the viable expansion candidates. Does anyone really think SMU was a viable Pac 12 candidate that would help hold the Pac 12 together?

 

[nelsonmuntz]

They knew the deal would be a joke. They just waited to see how bad it was.

The PAC 12 was a dead man walking for months. You had to be blind not to see.

If it was so obvious, why did the networks pay so much to tear the league apart? Why not just pay the schools like they were scrap metal?

 

[ZooCougar]

If it was so obvious, why did the networks pay so much to tear the league apart? Why not just pay the schools like they were scrap metal?

Because when UCLA and USC left the PAC 12 became a parts store.

 

[hank970]

I think the Pac 12 should have reacted and expanded when USC and UCLA announced they were leaving. They could have grabbed Kansas, Kansas St., Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, and San Diego State maybe Houston.

In my view, the end of the Pac 12 was when the Big 12 got a media deal before the Pac 12 and took away most of the viable expansion candidates. Does anyone really think SMU was a viable Pac 12 candidate that would help hold the Pac 12 together?

I doubt it. What possible incentive could a crippled PAC have offered those schools, an opportunity to play a bunch of games in front of dwindling, late-day audiences?

 

[UConnJim]

I doubt it. What possible incentive could a crippled PAC have offered those schools, an opportunity to play a bunch of games in front of dwindling, late-day audiences?

The Big 12 (after Texas and Oklahoma announced they were leaving) reached out to the Pac 12 in 2021 and proposed a merger. The Pac 12 turned them down. One year later, USC and UCLA left. Talks were started again and this time the Big 12 decided not to do it. When the Big 12 signed a media contract before the Pac 12, all the power shifted to the Big 12 and the Big 12 grabbed 4 Pac 12 schools.