David Marsh

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

And if the goal is for USC is to push Oregon out of their backyard I don't know why they'd want to invite Oregon in just to lose to the green and yellow terror from the north.

USC will rue the day! Though this all could backfire on them royally. What is USC continues to be bad??? And their recruiting pitch is... Come to USC and be in the B1G but in the sun! But Ohio State will counter that and say... Come to Ohio State and be on a good team.

I do think that George thought he had more time. Larry Scott left him a huge mess and he has only been on the job a year. I don't blame him for not wanting to try and absorb Big-12 schools a year ago because that would be a huge (and incredibly reactive and not in a good way) action that could have made things better or quite possibly worse when he didn't have a full understanding of what was going on within the conference he just took over. The Pac-12 media deals are up in a year or two and he has begun negotiations by the sound of it. Things were looking up with USC maybe getting their act together and some of the more minor powers were on the rise. I do feel like basement dwellers Oregon State, Arizona, and Cal are all bowl game contenders this year. I think he had more time to get things righted after such a huge mess. Also by the sound of everything I have read, the Athletic Directors and Presidents do actually LIKE him and have believed in his vision. This feels like USC and UCLA saw an opportunity to for money, UCLA is underwater athletically, and they took it. Blame them or not, its what they did. USC and UCLA stabbed the conference in the back with this move. I may sound like a bit of a Pac-12 homer but I do think given the time he needed Kliavkoff would have gotten the PAC back on track, especially with Oregon and USC on the upswing. I think Oregon is a playoff contender this year, USC is a maybe I'm not drinking the koolaid USC pundits are selling though I do think they will be better. In two years i think the Pac-12 is claiming a playoff spot regularly, especially in 2025 with Oklahoma and Texas moving to the SEC the Big-12 isn't going to be a whole lot messier.

If UCLA is forced to stay in the PAC then the conference could be on life support as the other west coast public schools will probably find themselves in a similar situation. What I could see happening is a deal being made to send the pac-8 at least to join a mega conference. The one thing that hasn't been brought up but is still in play but there are some lack luster schools and teams within the B1G and even the SEC. The PAC and ACC doesn't have a monopoly on bad teams and teams that don't generate revenue.