Your slanted criteria aside (excluding brand cachet, CFP appearances, NY6 appearances, using preseason rankings, citing one of the few preseason rankings that excludes Utah), any superiority slights you perceive may actually have more to do with current big picture reality and our seeing the big picture than it has to do with you.
Like one of your myopic, low self esteem colleagues that we know well, you think think last week’s development only affects the PAC, that your membership to the club will still be good and your conference just moved up a notch in pecking order.
Reality is this is moving to a two conference club leaving everyone else out, yourselves included. So, forgive us if we don’t seem impressed or concerned with switching deck chairs on the Titanic at the moment.
Just so everyone knows Baylor is only in the Big 12 because when the conference was formed the governor of Texas (Ann Richards) threatened legal action on A&M and Texas is Baylor wasn’t included.
Baylor folks are the saw you at the strip club Saturday and in the church pew on Sunday. Don’t believe me, go read Baylor fans threads when the rape stuff came out about Art Briles (who they still worship)
This is just one talking heads opinion, but I could see it. Basketball is a non-factor in realignment decisions.
Kansas is probably the best example to illustrate this. Kansas has a massive disparity between their football and basketball programs. Their basketball program is elite, while their football program flat out sucks.
But when it comes to net revenue, their football program earns the university more than DOUBLE what their basketball program does.
The only time quality of basketball comes into play is if comparing two programs that are roughly equal in football quality. Then the Bball program could be a selling point.
Agree. I’d rather play our geographic rivals and be dominant in the Big 12 — year in and year out — than be a middling team in the Big 10 (travelling all the way to freakin New Jersey and Maryland) that only has a chance to succeed every decade or so.
Instead of chasing $$$ and national attention (like USC/UCLA/Texas/Oklahoma), we should embrace regionalism and tradition.
It’s fun to dream, but Utah winding up in the Big10 is extremely unlikely. Any new members need to bring in an eye-popping amount of revenue. John Canzano put out an article today that said industry media sources are saying a team would need to provide ~$72M in additional revenue for the remaining teams to retain their current level of revenue.
Just to give you an idea of how staggering that number is, Oregon and Washington combined are estimated to be worth $60M. This is why they haven’t been added. Their addition would cause a $6M revenue loss for each existing Big10 team. We are living in a crazy world when UW and Oregon don’t add value to a conference.
The only possible way Utah to Big10 happens is if the Big10 and SEC decide to go nuclear in order to kill off the rest of the CFB to eliminate competition and expanded to 24 or more teams each.
Numbers were released today that puts the current value of the remaining Pac12 members at around $300M (so around $30M per team). My guess is the Big12 will be slightly above that. I’ve only seen estimates and projections, but there is at least some evidence to support it.
If the Big12 is more valuable than the Pac12, the best Pac12 teams will be absorbed into the Big12.
Best case scenario would be Washington, Oregon, Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah. The Big12 forms 9 team eastern/western divisions and puts together a fairly lucrative media deal. Nowhere near BIG/SEC. But in the $40M per team range.
If it is just about TV market, you have to put Arizona State above everyone else on your list. Greater Phoenix is the #6 market in the country and the quickest growing.
Cal/Stanford split a portion of a big market and neither has a passionate fanbase. They would be in for recruiting and academic prestige only which may not translate to TV$.
Oregon is way down the list in terms of population and academic standing. They have established a national following and have recent success. I could see FOX wanting to steal Nike U from ESPN.
Colorado/UW are pretty much on par for TV market and historical success. Politically and academically they align very well with the current B1G schools.
Grabbing UW/Cal/Colorado/ASU along with SC/UCLA gets you 5 of the biggest TV markets west of the Mississippi. It also means the B1G would have a national foothold while the SEC would need to add FSU and Miami to control Florida to Texas. Where Utah is on the outside is that while they are in a sizable TV market, I think it’s a tough sell trying to convince the networks/B1G that membership would deliver more eyeballs than the parochial school would be taking with them to the Big12.
Not the big 12, the B1G 10. They would favor Stanford because from what I’m seeing on other message boards is the Big 10 covets Notre Dame deeply. And the golden domers love them some Stanford for whatever reason. I think Utah’s only chance at getting in the Big 10 is Notre Dame not joining. But even then, the Big 10 also has an eye for Virginia and North Carolina.
I love me some Utes and I love how scrappy and tough the program is. I just don’t think Utah has the cache some of the other choices have. Outside of a select few, the west just doesn’t have the college football culture that drives the money train.
#64 is open because Marist Talavou transfered to San Jose State University. So I’ll just leave this pic of #64 NFL Hall of Fame Left Guard Jerry Kramer. Kramer lived in Ogden during his childhood while his dad served at Hill Field. The family would later move to Sandpoint, Idaho and Kramer played for the Univ of Idaho before being drafted by the Packers. Kramer’s books “Instant Replay”, “Distant Replay”, “Lombardi, Winning is the Only Thing”, and “Farewell to Football” are all good reads.
I haven’t heard this discussed but it may be a great option.
The PAC expands in the West and grabs San Diego St, UNLV, which are two remaining top 40 TV markets (size). We have the Bay area and the only possible added markets would be Sacramento, but not sure what team would pull that market (Modesto is included in the market so maybe Fresno St.)
Then go after Kansas/Kansas St to complete the Pac whatever.
Here is where it gets a bit odd. Combine with the ACC into one conference. What????? Yep, play each division in football/basketball as the East and West and one or two cross division games each year. Then have a championship game between the two division winners. In basketball the top 16 teams play in a tournament.
What are the advantages? TV money and eyballs. The Pac has suffered because of the late night games, but people on the East Coast stay up for Monday night and Sunday night NFL football and the news doesn’t come on until 11 in the Eastern time zone. They would be more likely to stay up for the West division games if their teams might play them in a championship game.
This puts the SEC as a regional conference, BIG as a sort of nationwide conference. SEC doesn’t have as many eyeballs as what this would provide. Good thing they took Texas, cause they brought a big market. You’ve got Nashville, Atlanta, Dallas, and Tampa as the biggest markets.
And of course it prevents the Little XII from even getting started in the discussion.
Fend off any other leagues from beating us to the punch. Plus Notre Dame… it puts them on further notice, get in or get out of the way.
Drop the bottomfeeders and form a new league with top teams from the leftover Big12 and Pac12.
There is no P5 anymore, it’s the P2 now. The only hope to staying relevant is to create a conference with the “best of the rest” and hang on to dear life.
Teams like Wazzu, Oregon State, Kansas, and UCF. See ya!
Utah @ 
UCLA 
