David Marsh

Probably the biggest thing that will have to happen with any sort of expansion or just new media rights is there will need to be a change in how funds are distributed. If the PAC is to stay together then it is not sustainable or fair for Oregon to have an equal cut with others. It is time Oregon gets the cut it deserves for holding the conference up. Then lesser partners will get a smaller cut because that is just the way it would have to be. It would be super unpopular across the conference but these days your conference is only as good as the teams that bring in the money and I'm sorry to say it... But Oregon brings a whole lote more money than Oregon state. Id Fresno state and San Diego state want to join then they get a smaller cut... Which would still be a whole lot bigger than what they get from the mountain west right now.

Working with the ACC seems far more likely at this point. I like the idea of working with the ACC and grabbing a couple Big-12 teams that are worth our while. The majority of the Big-12 won't help the PACs situation but a couple teams could especially while working with the ACC.

If he wants to come to Oregon sure but I'd be as a reserve. If he wants to play and start he'll need to go elsewhere. If he knows his career won't be continuing to the NFL and he wants to be with his brother and be in Oregon then great. He could see the field but unlikely as a starter.

That is certain a factor. On top of it all I think ib the last three years Oregon has only had maybe 2-3 games on the pac-12 network. I know last year it was only Stoneybrook that was religated to the pac-12 network where every other game was on national television whether it was ABC, ESPN, or FOX. That should give Oregon a boost but it all depends on whether viewership numbers matter to potential additions. You would think they would. If that is the case Oregon is better than half of the B1G and should get a full membership.

Well I'm not over the conference stuff as it is game changing. But I do agree this is a very nice bit of news and a breath of fresh air.

By the sound of it to it would only be for one media cycle. Not the best deal but would still be better than the alternatives.

Some other interesting news and rumors out there... there is talk about not wanting to add Oregon and Washington to the B1G as full members because some current members are concerned it would reduce their cut of the media rights. I think it is interesting because I do think Oregon and Washington would be net positives to the B1G in the long run and there is some dead weight already in the B1G. Looking at Rutgers, Indiana and Maryland in particular. Those three programs are certainly worth less than Oregon and Washington but I could see the fear that they get less money with the addition of two more programs. So at what point does the conference or FOX look at booting teams from the conference that are drags on the revenue stream?

With Wayne going to high school in Florida now... We just took the top player from the state of Washington for the second year in a row.

The three schools that seem to be constant losers in all these discussions are Oregon State, Washington State and Cal... But I suppose the mountain west is there but that comes with an INSANE paycut. In the canzano article today he said Boise state gets about 4 mil in media rights money... That's nothing compared to even the amount the PAC pays out. Those three schools really are in trouble. Oregon will survive to varying degrees of decent to good. Not the case with our north west brethren.

It really makes me feel some what sad for George K, as sad as you can feel for anyone making what he makes, he stepped into a terrible situation with the PAC after Larry was done with it and really hasn't had a chance to really fix things. Time was not on his side but you can only move so fast. Especially when left a big mess.

The only major thing I find that a pro model helps with is profit sharing. Where you have one entity that distributes media money equally to everyone. Can't do much about private donations like everything Phil Knight has done. NIL is really difficult to regulate and the only reason it's not a problem at the pro level is because the players already earn a salary and secondly rookies have really no choice where they are going and then are bound by contracts. Same with players who are traded. The only players who have any say are free agents and that varies to how much say they have. The NCAA basically said... "No pay for players" which shut down the conversation from the outset. The solution was NIL. Players were going to get paid regardless at some point. The NCAA decided not to lead and create rules and regulations ... Which would have been a standardized pay for all players and they would have had to have gotten this money via media rights and the NCAA would have had to manage those from a top down stand point. Instead with no leadership we got tjr state of affairs we are living with today in college sports land.

Cincinnati was a two year campaign to make it to the playoff and on large part can thank that bizarre COVID year because they got a TON more viewership that year due to the later starts of the B1G and PAC. Then they retained their roster for 2021 in almost it's entirety due to the bonus year of eligibility. Even then Cincinnati only made the playoff because Oregon stumbled down the stretch along with other contenders. 2 losses is disqualification from the playoff.

I think this would have delayed the blow of the PAC and big-12, not prevented it. Access to the playoff isn't the driving force here it's the money. Rutgers currently makes more media rights money than USC and UCLA. Neither LA school has sniffed at the playoff. They joined the B1G for the money, not access to the playoff.

I'm not convinced. And here's why... ND opted to be a partial member of the ACC for football and though they have been happy with that arrangement at this time they still felt the need to be partial members of aajor conference. ND has some prestige but not the same amount they used to and I do believe they joined the ACC to make scheduling easier as that is something that would be come more and more difficult. Additionally, I don't see them being able to maintain their current status of independent with the difficulties that are only going to get harder of being independent or semi independent. That other major independent player, though not as big, BYU has opted to join a conference. ND has had a path to the playoff because of their prestige, something BYU never had. The playoff is going to expand and it will favor conferences over independents. ND can dictate terms, atleast more so than when playoff expansion hits. I think there are those at ND who favor the tradition of independence, just like how we favor the tradition of the PAC, but others know which way the win is blowing and ND will need to join a conference as a full member and if they don't they will be left out in the cold. I would also like to mention that Oregon has more playoff wins than ND.

UNC feels weird to me ... I know big time basketball school and rising star in football but it feels like an odd choice and there could be better ones. Maybe someone could answer it for me... Why UNC over Clemson? Or Washington? Well Washington isn't great in football or basketball so they are nothing more than a media market.

And I'm going to say this again... Put a big yellow donate button on the front page. Again thank you Charles.

Crazed Duck fan... Now let me go read the article. Thank you Charles for all you do. Especially letting this crazed Duck fan write.

Oregon's greatest weakness is that we don't belong to a single easy to target media market. We are national and EVERYWHERE! Which has a different sort of value.

Super conferences are and will be bad for the majority of programs that have ambitions to compete for national championships. With five or even six conferences the opportunity to play to NY6 games was reasonable. Win your conference and you're in. Even lower tier teams could have magical years where they could make a NY6 game. But let's get real here... The bigger the conference the more big teams you have to go through and beat to make the big games. Will USC really be able to take down Ohio State regularly enough to be better off than within the PAC? I'm not sure Oregon would be to be honest... But with the way things are trending if you're not in a super conference you're not making the money to even try. That's the sad truth of it all.

Hopefully Oregon can get out before the rest of the PAC explodes.

ND is going to have a decision before a conference merger will likely be agreed upon. From the sound of all the info I've seen is that ND will probably have an answer this week. ND knows there is too much riding on their decision and they know they need to make up their mind relatively quickly.

Independent is not an option. I know Oregon has a large fan base and it eould be possible to do... But the quality of games from year to year would vary. Oregon would have to schedule every single game independently... It's already difficult to schedule good games and those games are scheduled years and years in advance. If Oregon goes independent tomorrow they will be scheduling no name opponents because that is all they'll be able to schedule. That won't draw eyeballs and it would hurt. If Oregon wanted to go independent they needed to do some twenty years ago to have a good schedule next year. Notre Dame has been independent for so long that they are able to schedule good teams but even they have needed to be partial football members of the ACC to ensure a good schedule. BYU has given up their independence for the big-12. Their schedule has been up and down over the years but I don't think BYU is making any new years six games by being independent... At least not on any regular basis which is what they'd want. It's those NY6 big money games that are hard to make if you're independent. A lot of those games have guaranteed spots for conference champions or runners up (if playoff is involved). So no to Oregon going it alone.

By the sound of some of the stuff I've read at various sources it does sound like Knight is involved with Oregon right now. I also trust Mullens here. I think he has a better idea of what is going on than any of us know.

Because Vegas knows there are enough dillusional USC fans that would take that bet believing they have already arrived with Riley. Vegas is good at separating people from their money.

I would rather have a meter with the B1G with at least the Pac-8 being involved. I don't have much love or care for the Arizona schools, Utah and Colorado in truth. But the idea of a whole lot more travel is not appealing. I suppose grabbing a chunk of the big-12 is more appealing. The question is can Oregon, Washington, Oklahoma State, and... I don't know Texas Tech or Kansas State... Carry the prestige of a power conference? Maybe