In reality it’s just sports. They can have their culture we can have ours. Let’s put that aside for the sake of gamesmanship. The USA played the Soviet Union in the Olympics.
That’s the way I would approach it but too many people would probably disagree.
Its not just about sports…its about aligning yourself with a set of schools that share your political and educational values. The PAC is one of the most vocal on this.
It’s about money and it always has been.
That’s why I said most people would disagree.
To me it’s a “sports” conference and should revolve around sports, not politics or culture.
But it’s not, the invitation comes from the conference, i.e., university presidents and chancellors, not athletic directors. AD’s don’t care about AAU or Carnegie R1 designations, university presidents do.
That’s why schools like Boise St will never get into the PAC-12.
I’ll concede there’s an academics component (AAU etc.) but as I mentioned, conference affiliation should be more about sportsmanship and athletic competition over culture and politics.
Nobody is going to tell me that OU is being invited to the SEC based on its academics. It is purely athletic performance and the amount of tv eyeball$$
I don’t know which path will ultimately benefit UH (if it even gets to choose from multiple paths):
In the end, I expect some kind of AAC / Big XII leftover combo. If you take the 8 remaining Big XII and add something like UH, Memphis, Cincy, UCF – that would be a decent group of 12 teams and might have a chance at keeping a football P5 label.
Interesting times…I thought the realignment talk this offseason was just the annual ritual of talking about the next wave. Who knew it might actually happen.
Conferences have employees, and the member schools have employees in their respective athletics departments. Lots of employees. These are bureaucratic structures which have no little influence and a ton of institutional momentum.
Values and high standards are fine when you can afford them. If Alabama out of the blue asked to join the PAC or B1G, the answer would be Yes.
True, but that’s the SEC, where academics don’t matter AS MUCH as they do in, let’s say, the B1G (where AAU membership has been stated by the conference to be a requirement for expansion candidates), or b) the PAC-12, where every university is R1.
OU wouldn’t get a B1G invite, no matter how much money they bring in, for that very reason.
Academics DO…at least sometimes…MATTER!!!
There isn’t going to be a P5 label. The end, most likely, is four 16 team conferences divorced from the NCAA and free to make all of their own rules.
That’s where the big money will go and everything else will slowly die. Or else live off the scraps of always traveling to the 64 for money games.
TCU had a 5 year plan like that when they joined the Big 12. The percentage of the contract they got went up each year until hitting 100%. But the problem is, there is proof these programs are only worth $10-20 million in a conference with big rivals UT/OU. Probably not even worth $10 million without them. Still don’t see how they will all of a sudden be worth $30+ million playing PAC teams. I don’t see USC/Oregon taking a hit in the short term in hopes that a Texas Tech can grow into a more valuable program.
That is why my idea of just making them football only and not paying them more than a $10-15 million share at least could make sense financially. A network could go and say, we will pay the core PAC teams similar or a little better than last contract and 4 central time zone football adds could be worth an extra $40-60 million to your contract.
“We already have half our programs riding the backs of USC and Oregon…”
This admission says everything. PAC12 must expand now or watch their marquee teams with the greatest national value follow UT and OU’s lead. No they will not go to the SEC. But they will the B1G.
But if anyone thinks that FOX and the BIG12 would not take these AAU schools with all their national TV followers because of no shared borders. OK, maybe they are that stupid and FOX/B1G like to walk away from lots of money.
But this was the new PAC12 commissioner speaking. He is evaluating and listening to his AD’s and school Presidents, and the Media/etc.
Such a statement sounds like one who is not wanting to be the next Bowlsby.
We’ve gone over this before. The market value for available schools is way below the $30+ million the PAC distributed per team last year. Ohio State and Michigan aren’t coming West as they make close to $50 million where they are.
Should USC and others bolt for the B1G, I get that move entirely, and they’d make it work for the money. Adding UH or anyone else that is available won’t delay that, and could even speed it up. For the record, PLEASE TAKE US! Please!!! But I don’t see it happening in the sunniest of scenarios because $$$.
Unless you are Notre Dame, where AAU does not matter. If hou bring enough $$$, rules don’t count.
When it comes to the B1G, ND is literally the exception that proves the rule.
Where do you think a lot of the heavy hitters make their deals ?
That Iowa St vs K-State matchup is sure to bring 10’s of eyeballs to Houston viewership numbers
Nine of the twelve are AAU. Oregon State, Washington State, and Arizona State are not AAU members. Ergo, they have zero need to insist on AAU membership. Nice to have. One less barrier to entry, that is all.
It’s ALL about $$$, all that other rhetoric is just lip service
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