FB Schedule

[Charlie]

Odd question.  Is Utah or other schools free to schedule non-conference games with any team that will field a team?  Does the Pac control the scheduling of these games?  Is it possible to put together a significant schedule that may even include two conference teams playing a non-congerence game?  Would the Pac allow it?

[Hellhound152]

See the response to Nebraska from the Big 10 commissioner.  “No”

[Charlie]

That’s nice.  It would seem the conference has moved beyond the role of helping make the sporting experience better to the role of stopping the experience all together.  It would make more sense that they would no longer provide the structure for competetion but would not deny a school the chance to put together a few games and have a subset of a season.  We are here for you but you are here for us…

[Hellhound152]

Actually, the schools gave away their autonomy in 1986 after a couple of years of trying to figure out their own TV situation.  When they co-opted TV they hitched there collective wagons to the conferences without knowing that TV revenue, not ticket sales and merchandise would be the economic driver starting in the 90’s.  If you truly believe, especially as a Utah fan, that the PAC12 has not made our sports experience substantially better that it was before then I have nothing for you.  Having said that would I rather have a conference season in the Spring than play 4 games against the Sunbelt to say that we played?  No, I will take the spring schedule. 

[PhiladelphiaUte]

Since this is an unprecedented event, I don’t believe that there’s anything specifically in the conference bylaws that prevents teams from embarking on a temporary “independent” schedule when the conference opts out, but there may be some tangential prohibitions.  When I was in the Navy, there was a charge of “Conduct Unbecoming” that seems to be a “catchall” if they wanted nail you with something, so there might have been some kind of language that would either prevent it, or enable the rest of the league to sanction (or expel) members who don’t toe the line.

The BigTen found a way to bully Nebraska into getting on board, and since the Pac-12 vote was “unanimous”, there shouldn’t be any league mavericks looking to go rogue in 2020.

[Hellhound152]

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/29653050/nebraska-ends-talk-playing-big-ten