HDuck

I would just add to the UCLA (return?) discussion that most of us fans on the West Coast have not yet really grasped the level of resistance the current Big10 programs have to additional travel to the West Coast. It is very real, and very deeply held. Even if UO/UW could add almost equivalent media value as mid-tier BigTen programs...there is still tremendous resistance. It's so deeply held, it is almost irrational. But, I don't believe most of my fellow Pac12 fans yet comprehend the B1G members feelings. So, will UCLA become disenchanted with so many travel games across its sports spectrum? Can the B1G come up with some options? Such as scheduling nearby opponents back to back which hasn't been a B1G scheduling thing in the past. Maybe UCLA playing Illinois and Northwestern in basketball, both in Chicago, for example? Maryland and Rutgers both in D.C.? Football is a different animal, not sure there will ever be a compromise that would be in UCLA's interest unless more West Coast opponents are added....but, I don't think that is going to happen anytime before 2030. By then, the difference in media shares between the Pac12 and B1G will be even more pronounced and UCLA will be trapped. Perhaps the B1G would add 2 in the West and 2 in the East? Not just for markets, but to avoid travel to the West as much as possible? There would be two more travel sites nearby in the East, and two more teams to split the travel requirement to the West. If there were 4 teams in the West, that would be 18 total home games in-conference. 6 of them could be filled by the 4 playing each other, leaving 12 home games that a 20-team B1G's other 16 teams would have to fill. That's less than one trip per year to the West. If it is just 2 in the West, then the other 14 teams have to fill 8 home games in the West. Again, less than 1 trip per year. Yet, current B1G programs are irrational about it. Current B1G teams may want to adopt an SEC type schedule with permanent opponents to make sure all West teams face each other thus reducing trips to the West for everyone else?

Which College Football Team Does North Texas Root for? WWW.NBCDFW.COM As college football season continues, Vivid Seats is looking at fandom across North Texas based on ticket sales. Open link and scroll for map. Royal Blue is SMU.

Shocking ACC schools tabbed as major targets for Big Ten and SEC in realignment FANSIDED.COM The two ACC schools the Big Ten and SEC might want the most are North Carolina and Virginia. While Clemson, Florida State and even Miami might make more se... Update for that link.

An interesting color coded map of "fan interest" in NorthTexas/Dallas area when you open the link. One of the maps you can point your mouse at the area to determine the team. i.e. blue is SMU, red is Tex Tech, purple is TCU, orange is UT, etc. Unfortunately, in cases like this, the No. 2 in each geographic area is also relevant, but not shown. Which College Football Team Does North Texas Root for? WWW.NBCDFW.COM As college football season continues, Vivid Seats is looking at fandom across North Texas based on ticket sales.

Quite a bit of "chatter" about this today, some jokes, some serious...

It would be interesting to see some credible stats about the population growth in Seattle Area. Where did the folks come from, as opposed to growth of "native born." And, has fan interest in WSU also waned in the Seattle area? Where has enrollment growth at UW and Stanford come from? Has fan interest in Florida college teams waned as more "outsiders" arrive? If TV programming which includes UW diminishes that will also affect fan interest, it would seem? Wonder if metro based teams in the West...San Francisco, Seattle, Phoenix, Los Angeles....is a prominent factor in why the Pac12 has overall diminished interest in the last 15-20 years in comparison to more smaller city conferences? Not picking on UW here, just contemplating how demographics affect these situations.

Oregon has a "brand" due to past visibility such as ESPN GameDay appearances. Brand maintenance requires those continued appearances that will accompany the various B1G media partners. Oregon may be in dead water by the time "streaming becomes the norm." And, when/if it becomes the norm, the established brands from B1G and SEC will then carry over into streaming. Oregon cannot dictate future TV opponents. If the members of the B1G are already uninterested in adding more West Coast teams, why would they suddenly be willing to schedule home-and-home with Oregon non-conference? Likewise, SEC. This will become even more predominant for both the SEC and B1G in the future. Yes, there are a few SEC opponents which have scheduled Pac12 teams, but that is a legacy of the past when games are scheduled 6-7 years in advance. If the B1G and SEC both adopt 9-game conference schedules, they will be looking at regional opponents in non-conference, and dedicate those game slots to home games only. At some point, the Big12 may also say, "we don't need Pac12 opponents either." Mullens is doing the best he can trying to get a pretty girl to dance, but the pretty girl doesn't need Mullens when there are more attractive suitors. The best he may be able to hope for is a 2 away, 1 home agreement as this evolves over the next few years. And, that may be the only way Oregon would appear on a major conference network affiliation. If the SEC, B1G, and Big12 smell blood in the water, they aren't going to offer resuscitation via a home-and-home agreement. It will be more, "well, we'll see you in Dallas or Atlanta for a neutral site game."

Pete Thamel had an ESPN column today that said both the SEC and BigTen are in no hurry, but both would be interested in North Carolina and Virginia above other candidates (except Notre Dame) Proximity and new states without representation in either conference. The two teams have a close rivalry with UNC leading 66-58-4 in football and would provide a natural pairing. South's Oldest Rivalry - Wikipedia EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG

Personally, have DISH. And, probably will keep it for the duration until there is a streaming product that is equal to cable/satellite in instantaneous multi-game channel swapping, and multi-channel view, picture in picture, instant re-wind live, recording for later viewing, etc. I do NOT want lag on game swaps which I currently do multiple times during broadcast. I presume at some point, a technology will evolve which will improve streaming swaps, and a service will come into the market place to package streaming services inside a single vendor at a price less than per each service cumulative. At that point, I would consider it. That might even name it something unique like "Kayble". If you have cable/satellite you have to stay on top of it to make sure you keep a low price. At a minimum, annual review and threaten to leave or the laziness will get you a big monthly bill over time. You also have to calculate how much your household members watch non-sports options which may be a big factor in how much you are willing to pay for cable/satellite. Nationally, including in Oregon, there is still significant variation in Internet connection speeds, with streaming interruption/lag. The SEC dude may be living in one of those areas. As noted in prior messages, Pac12 programs are concerned about linear availability as they understand the households for many of these recruits and their families, have no Internet services and/or streaming capable devices. Again, the SEC dude's perception as well. That being said, the move toward games only available on ESPN+, Paramount, Prime....will force even the SEC dude's home turf to switch at some point. The future is not now, it is the future.

Oregon’s 2020 home game against Ohio State was canceled, but the two schools agreed on a resolution to the home-and-home series that was interrupted by the pandemic. Ohio State paid Oregon $3.5 million for Sept. 11, 2021 game in Columbus, Ohio, in lieu of rescheduling the 2020 game. Oregon and Ohio State also agreed to another home-and-home series in 2032 (Eugene) and 2033 (Columbus). If tOSU attempts to cancel 2032, I would suggest Mullens tell them "that will be $3.5 million, plus inflation" rather than a "mutually agreed" cancellation of both 2032 and 2033.

I don't think the B1G is interested in further expansion anytime soon. Current members are worn out from dealing with compromises on the 2024 schedule, and the majority want a conference that includes USC/UCLA without any member required to travel to the West Coast (laugh). As a result, they will use any excuse to avoid expansion and rely heavily upon "market theory" that any new member must not diminish media shares for current legacy members. The B1G will not kick any school out, and each will have an equal vote on expansion. That being said, at some point in the future it will still be considered: 1) end of new media contract, 2) if an attractive school looks imminent to join another conference, 3) if ACC/Pac looks like they will cease to exist. So, what would be the priority of interest for potential candidates. What do you think? How would you rank them from a B1G perspective? Candidate list solely in order of conference affiliation. Duke N. Carolina Virginia Kansas Stanford Cal Oregon Washington Didn't include Notre Dame as I feel they will try to remain Independent. I understand there is speculation about Georgia Tech and Miami, but feel there will be higher priority candidates.

Looks like UCLA is the one that gets nailed in 2024.

Concur with Jon about UCLA/Cal, with an alternative of adding Cal and Washington due to TV "markets." I suspect the "rival history" with Stanford could be pretty thin gruel if a choice has to be made. Though Stanford instead would be a book-end for Northwestern as a private institution. If UW doesn't get an invite, they'll blame Oregon. Most recent Pac12 championship 2020 – Oregon 2018 – Washington 2017 – USC 2015 – Stanford 2006 – Cal (tied with USC) 1998 – UCLA

Of the 14 teams starting play this morning still hoping for Omaha, Oral Roberts had the 4th most runs scored this season, and was No. 2 nationally in 2023 in wins only behind Wake Forest by just one win. ORU likely was not a 4-seed at Oklahoma City regional. Will be interesting to see how Omaha goes for them.

"Being in the range" has also been defined by Canzano and Wilner as 10-15 percent under.

The B1G indicated several months ago it would not require back-to-back road games for USC/UCLA in football, but on a peripheral topic I wonder what they will do with equipment truck trips? We have followed the "Duck Equipment Truck" via the driver's Twitter account to bowl games and road trips like Georgia, but what if that was 4 trips per season? That's quite the logistical issue. Wonder if USC/UCLA might attempt to pack for two games and leave the truck in the East for awhile? I presume other sports can fly with their equipment, but football is a different animal? Aside from getting home late, I presume the logistics is why the majority of B1G programs don't want to add more West Coast opponents. This is the link for the season mileage calculation: Big Ten football schedule: Distance each team will travel in 2024 season when USC, UCLA join conference - CBSSports.com WWW.CBSSPORTS.COM A few teams in the Big Ten Conference will be racking up airline miles when the league expands in the 2024 season

Last weekend Oral Roberts trailed Washington 0-8 before winning 15-12 behind 24 hits. Let's not count our Duck eggs until they're hatched.

Florida has not played a non-conference game outside the state of Florida since 1991. The home-and-home with Utah was set up several years ago due to cross pollination of staffs, though Urban Meyer at both schools was a piece of it. Mississippi State and Arizona was set up due to Greg Byrne who had been AD at both schools. Don't discount the two to tango aspect of the various matchups that get made. Along those lines I do think a home-and-home with Kentucky should be possible. Mullens was on staff there. Rich Brooks coached both. But, Kentucky is content with Louisville annual matchup. Their other games through 2030 are all teams from Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio area. Florida's regular season failure to travel gets a lot of negativity. Wonder how each of the other SEC programs like Kentucky have history avoiding a different time zone?

"a dollars-and-cents scheduling mistake" It takes two to tango, so desire on the part of fans or the Oregon AD, is not enough. As said, Ohio State canceled on UW. That was not a back out of a WSU commitment. It was freakin UW. Georgia canceled with Oregon. Georgia cancelled a few years ago with Colorado. And so on, and so on. Those are just a few you can find on Google. "Neutral" games in Dallas or Atlanta are just salve on an open wound. At this pace, pretty soon the Pac-12 will be a 2 for 1 conference and the BIG and SEC will demand the 1 be neutral instead of on the West Coast. You would think the games were being played in Guam instead of Oregon, Washington and California as much as these schools Jerk about West Coast travel.

As the chiropractor said, "we'll have to make some adjustments...." USC and UCLA spinal crunch... https://www.si.com/college/2023/06/08/usc-ucla-big-ten-football-schedule-logistically-irrational Heading east from L.A. would get you about as far as Shamrock, Texas if you were trying to match distance to Seattle. The linked column again reiterates that current Big Ten members are probably not on board either with expanding West Coast members and travel to the West Coast.

Arizona president says realignment talk premature until Pac-12 has hard numbers on TV deal WWW.STATESMANJOURNAL.COM University of Arizona President Robby Robbins says until Pac-12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff gives the conference’s leaders hard numbers on a future media rights deal, any talk about...

I think the progression in baseball is interesting. Beaver baseball became popular initially because it came at a time when there was little success in other programs. Understandable. Then, because of the "feel good" for Beaver fans, more began paying attention and started to become baseball fans. And, more knowledgeable about baseball. They had to to sustain their "talking points." I see a parallel with the Ducks. I don't think there are a lot of hard core baseball fans, but the winning this season has drawn attention. Initially there were a lot of bandwagon Beaver fans but success grew the Beavers fans commitment. The same may happen with Ducks fans. There was a lot of skepticism when Pat Kilkenny, a baseball fan, resurrected the program. I don't think there were a lot of Ducks fans begging for it, or jealous of the Beavs. It was primarily as Kilkenny thing. But, if the program can sustain some success, like the Beavers did, the commitment will grow.

You don't "buyout" any team without a replacement firmly in hand beforehand. Higher profile opponents than Okie State and Baylor would be very difficult to come by, especially home-and-home and avoid neutral site games. Sometimes personal connections help. Thus, Alabama/Arizona, Miss State/Arizona games were committed in the past when there was cross pollination of staff such as Greg Byrne AD at both Alabama and Arizona. One thing for sure, Pac12 teams better have the front end of any home-and-home inside their own stadium first, or suffer high risk of a buyout for the second game.

SEC teams do not want to give up a home date by scheduling home-and-home, so they would rather over pay a Gumball State than lose the home revenue by playing elsewhere. Therefore, it is highly unlikely you’ll see SEC teams travel much. There is also the time zone issue and late return home which is also why Big Ten teams have been expressing their reluctance to add any more members outside USC/UCLA. As the schedule stands right now, the August 31 game at Utah will be the first true road game outside Florida in nonconference play for UF since the Gators traveled to play Syracuse in the Carrier Dome on Sept. 1, 1991. They did play Michigan in Dallas at the beginning of 2017. With the uncertainty about media revenue, most current Pac12 schools will not be able to pay large guarantees to attract opponents for the foreseeable future. Thus, a steady diet of Mountain West and Big Sky. Even those two conferences will become less available to the Pac12 as other conferences escalate their "buy games" values.

I read somewhere that Denver would be the third biggest market in the Big12 if Yormark can convince them to switch. Along with publicity that would be attached to Coach Prime, I assume that is why Yormark is interested. Dallas (TCU) and Houston (Houston) would be the top two. But, TCU has to be down a couple pegs in Dallas below UT and A&M.