HDuck

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.

When the original contract was signed with the Ems they were a short-season team and the agreement was to occupy the PK stadium June 15-Sept. 10. Then, in 2021 the Ems became a longer season team and in fact had to play a playoff game after Sep. 10 at the opponent's stadium even though the Ems by W-L were entitled to play at home. Since the Ems now start before June 15, I assume the original contract language still stands but Oregon was "accommodating" their needs while keeping the original contract. My guess is that "under the contract" Oregon can deny their use prior to June 15?

Eugene Emeralds have games scheduled Fri-Sat-Sun at PK. Doubt there is a conflict in Oral Roberts stadium?