Big 12 / Pac 12 Merger Dead

[perceptionate]

Talks of the merger have officially ended.

Hoping we just jump to the Big 12 now with the four corners. All this expansion for $$ just makes me want to go back to the roots and tradition of college football.  There isn’t a sporting event in the state better than the Holy War.

[PhiladelphiaUte]

Hoping the Big 12 isn’t our best option.  There’s no evidence that the Big 12 is our most lucrative offer.

[UteThunder]

There’s no evidence that we have any other offers.

If we had a B1G or SEC offer, we would be gone yesterday. The ACC isn’t an option. If the Pac-12/10 had any real stability, we wouldn’t be looking at merging with the BigXII.

The BigXII is our likely best and only option besides remaining in a dying Pac-12/10.

[Central Coast Ute]

If merging with the Big 12 were the best option, it wouldn’t be dead. The ACC or just staying put with the PAC 10 is likely a better deal if that’s what schools are going with.

[PhiladelphiaUte]

How is joining the Big 12 better than the Pac-12 poaching up to 4 TX and/or OK Big 12 schools?

[AlohaUte]

For one, there is zero change the existing P12 would be able to convince 4 Big12 schools to jump ship to the Pac-12. Whether right or wrong, the Big12 is viewed as more stable, gets more eyeballs, and is a solid league. They aren’t going to leave that to come to the Pac-12 where Oregon and Washington will leave as soon as the B1G comes calling and for (at best) equal money.

[Central Coast Ute]

The networks are driving this. ESPN wants in the western market. They could have teams from the big 12 move to the PAC or vise versa. Neither league has a GOR past 2025 and one isn’t more stable than the other. Both the networks and the universities know that. UW and UO aren’t going anywhere until the next round of realignment anyway and the networks want those markets. This is why the ACC/PAC makes more sense. John Canzano makes some good posts in an article here.
link

[PhiladelphiaUte]

Since the remaining teams in the Pac-X still have the better brand than any of the remaining teams in the Big 12, I’d say we likely have an even better chance at poaching a Big 12 school than the other way around.  If you were Tx Tech, Bylr, TCU, and Okla St, would you rather play in conference that forces you to travel all the way to Cincinnati, Morgantown, and Orlando every year (esp. in non-revenue sports)?  Or would you prefer playing closer to home?  Would you prefer playing midmajors like ybU-p and Houston?  Or respectable P5 programs like UWa, Ore, Ariz St, and Utah?

A per-team payout of the Pac-X, plus those 4 aforementioned Big 12 teams should be expected to be higher than the per-team payout of a Leftover 8.4, plus the 4 corner schools.  In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if the former (Pac-14) would actually be paid more in toto than the latter (Big 16).  So if you were Tx Tech, Bylr, TCU, and Okla St, would you prefer getting paid more (Pac-14), or less (Big 16)?

[prestitute]

I think the best thing for us AND for a TV deal is the following: 

P10 as currently constituted

OK St. TTech. Kansas. UH. UCF. Cincinati. I don’t see that happening though, but this would be the best footprint. 

The big problem is that we aren’t strong enough in either the P10 or B12 to stop B1G or SEC from yanking the rest.

[UteFanatic]

It’s looking more and more like Big12 will be the best option. And if it is, great. 

[GameForAnyFuss]

The Big 12 is a sinking ship. You don’t jump off one sinking ship just to jump on another.

A PAC12/ACC merger is the only good outcome that remains.

[UteFanatic]

Every conference outside of B1G and SEC is a sinking ship. They are just sinking at different rates.

[dystopiamembrane]

I’d love to see the creation of an intermountain west D-III conference with Utah as the standard bearer. This would begin to bridge the gap between the midwest and Texas schools and the two west coast conferences.

[dystopiamembrane]

32-team football playoff, y’all.

[dystopiamembrane]

Although, we’d probably need to change our colours to include purple, if we want a legitimate shot at the title. 😉

[dystopiamembrane]

No matter the number of down-votes, I would still love it. Xp

[Trailgoat]

The B12 and P12 are walking the plank. Kliavkoff should be talking with the ESPN and Fox to get a timeline when UO, UW, and Stanford get invites to their new conference project. College football is already on a national viewership decline, even in SEC and BIG county, difference is it’s happening slower than out West. IMO-as time goes on, NIL player purchasing, transfer portal hopping, predetermined team CFP is only accelerating the fan disengagement process. Knowing right now Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, maybe Clemson and one other SEC team make up three and likely four of the CFP teams in January is a big problem. Even with a weak schedule this season other than tOSU, ND loses their ususal 2-3 games and will be out of it.