That makes two of us! Not a huge UNC fan (Duke alumni in our home), but UNC is a HUGE part of the ACC.
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Washington and Oregon were admitted, but theyâll receive a reduced, though escalating, payout through the end of the new TV contract, the 2029-2030 season. I think Cal and Stanford, because of their stellar academic reputation(s), could their earn them a ticket back to the âbig timeâ from the Big Tenâs presidents and chancellors.
Maybe a 3rd tier of payouts for Cal and Stanford in the new TV contract? I dunno.
I think theyâve already gone pro. The UF boosters pulled a $13 million offer to Jaden Rashada. He left.
$13 mil. I wonât make but a fraction of that in my life. Heâs 18.
Call me bias, but if UTSA can manage an undefeated season this year and take a conference championship in the AAC, they have a real possibility of getting a PAC-12 expansion. The attendance is already at the PAC-12 average. Theyâd be a far better pick than UNLV or Nevada.
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The PAC12 might pull off a save by adding SMU, Rice, maybe some teams from the Mountain West. I think that had more potential before Oregon and Washington left.
I also think the Big Ten should be forced to change to the âWay bigger than 10â conference or the Coast to Coast Conference.
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They should pay a tiny fraction of a percent of TV revenues to the actual C2C Conference to license the name!
UTSA will never be in the PAC12. It makes no sense. The money simply is not there. So, the womenâs softball team for UTSA is supposed to travel, in conference, from Corvallis to Berkeley? Really? Letâs assume the PAC12 keeps its Apple deal (it wonât) for $20M. That doesnât cover the operational cost for UTSA, which is making $14M in the AAC, with much lower overhead (ohâŠand a better path to the CFPB in January).
The PAC12 is dead. MWC cannot leave because of the $30M+ exit fee. So, the four remaining schools in the PAC12 can go into the MWC or go independent. You could possibly rebrand the MWC as the PAC12.
What is being lost here is that the athletic departments at Standford, Cal, Oregon State, and Wazzu just went from making money or breaking even to being net losses for their universities. That money is coming from somewhere, folks.
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MWC teams have a $30M+ exit fee. So, if you are San Diego State, UNLV, Colorado State, or Fresno State, why would you pay that kind of money to join the PAC12 leftovers? Remind me when Standford, Cal, or Wazzu were any good at anything other than Olympic or womenâs sports.
Oregon State least was good at footballâŠlast year.
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Agree that Pac-4 and MWC should end up together, but it will need to be a carefully-coordinated merger. Both conferences are due for future payments from March Madness and the College Football Playoff, so either conference destroying the other is bad for everyone. MWC can change its bylaws to cancel exit fees, redirect incoming proceeds etc. with a 75% vote, so if you can convince at least 9 members that they will be part of the combined leagueâs future, it should be doable. But it will take time and may still lead to litigation from any schools not invited to the combined league (Hawaii? San Jose State?).
They said that about the AAC too. The coolest part is that they could actually go to the Alamo Bowl on their own home turfâŠLol!
Hereâs an unexpected twistâŠLooks like UTSA might be in the PAC12 after all
I canât imagine Stanford would join the AACâŠI could see them choosing to go independent before that. I donât see them choosing the MWC either. I also think Stanford could still end up in the Big 10.
Well, the AAC is interested in thatâŠbut unclear whether the Pac-4 would be. The MWC is comparable athletically and much, much closer geographically.
True, but the AAC is a stronger conference, and more likely to be named a P5 if they poach the remaining teams.
I donât think either one will ever be considered a Power 5 conference. Prior to the recent shake-up, there was an enormous gap between the top 5 and the next 2 (MWC/AAC) as far as TV rights deals, and with all of the valuable brands of the Pac resorting themselves into other P5 leagues, that gap will only grow. The valuation of the remaining Pac-4 on their own would likely be similar to the stronger brands in the MWC/AAC, so those are both logical landing spots in that sense. Stanford and Cal are obviously fantastic academic institutions, but they have small fan bases and donât draw ratings - the B1G presidents initially looked at adding them along with UO/UW to get to 20, but the TV people quickly assured them that only UO/UW made sense financially (and even then, at effectively a half-share for several years).
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Uh huh, Cal and Stanford want to be lumped in with Memphis and UAB. Sure. Look, I love the Memphis Tigers, but I will buy a lottery ticket first.
Sure, itâs being discussed. On this thread, not by anyone at Cal or Stanford.
Except does Cal and Stanford join with UNLV, Boise, and Fresno State? Wazzo and Oregon State, absolutely, in a heartbeat. Cal and Stanford may hold out for the B10 (though I think the B10 is holding out for the collapse of the ACCâŠgot to get a southern footprint).
Cal is in a terrible spot here. OSU/Wazzu are well-suited for MWC, and Stanford has the resources to go the old BYU route of football independence while waiting to see if Notre Dame ever joins the B1G and asks them to come along (though query whether Stanfordâs tremendous Olympic sports programs would find the quality of the West Coast Conference to be sufficient in the meantime).
But Cal, geez, Iâm not sure. They were already struggling to even make interest-only payments of ~$18M/yr on their hundreds of millions in athletic department debt, and that was with significant distributions from the Pac-12. I see no scenario where they would be invited to the B1G at this point, and I donât think they can afford independence, so they may have to hold their noses and make the best of the MWC in order to at least get $5M/yr until the MWC contract is up in three more years. Truly, they need a Phil Knight-style mega-donor to come along and save them from their predicament.
ESPN and other outlets are reporting that the ACC is considering reaching out to Stanford and Cal. So, there is that. If that happens, then Wazzu and Oregon State would likely go to the MWC.