Jon Joseph

Great take cartm25. If your assistant coaches are not in play what does that say about the quality of said coaches? Good point about G5 vs P5 experience but Stein excelled with lower-ranked players and I am looking forward to seeing what he can do with a blue-chip roster. Fortunately, spring ball is 'right around the corner.'

Great take Charles, thank you. Academics-wise it is not a fit but media market wise (and today IMO $ has to trump academic considerations for the Pac-10) UTSA, defending CUSA champ and moving on up to the AAC should be seriously considered as a travel partner if SMU joins the conference. Houston would be preferable or perhaps Tulane, defending AAC champion, but supposedly Houston has been locked up by the B12 and I have not seen Tulane mentioned very much as a Pac-10 expansion candidate. San Antonio is a big, big market and does not have a good number of pro franchises as do Dallas and Houston. The Alamodome is a very good football game facility. Sorry to go slightly OT. Returning to Charles' terrific article it looks like this is another very good coaching hire by Coach Lanning that has already yielded positive results with Oregon being able to poach a 4* QB 'committed' to Baylor.

Of course. San Diego State and SMU for sure. Possibly UNLV. Not so much Fresno. Houston, if available, to pair with SMU. The B12 Commissioner says all B12 schools have signed on to the new media deal but no official statement has been issued.

Thank you for the post. I do not see how travel would work for any sport other than football. Does this make sense even if it could work with the football playoff field expanding and the basketball tourney field expected to expand? Why would ESPN which owns the ACC media rights through 2036 and owns and operates the ACC Network agree to pay more for the ACC inventory ESPN already owns and for the Pac-10 inventory which it likely will acquire without having to pay more than it did for B12 rights? Without ESPN agreeing to rip up the contract with the ACC this merger appears not to be financially viable until 2037. And Disney with its market cap down 17% is not encouraging ESPN to overpay for media rights.

All is not smooth in the ACC. FSU's AD has come forth and asked for a bigger revenue cut than other ACC teams. The AD notes that without a disparate revenue share FSU will not be able to compete against the SEC and the B1G for championships. IMO the ACC media deal scheduled to run through 2036 is not going to survive until 2036.

Thanks, Happy. John Canzano has a good update on possibilities for possible Pac-10 expansion on his website that is up today. Both John and Jon have done a great job of not chasing after every media deal rumor and the rumored demise of the conference.

HUZZAH!

Yes, just like the number of signees affects recruiting rankings. So being #1 in the portal could simply indicate a number of marginal players on the current roster and an effort to 'clean house?' Certainly the case with both CU and ASU.

The answer is Four?

Ion is available on my Dish list of channels but in SD and not HD.

Oregon's roster is right up there with the college football 'Big Boys.' Oregon Football: Ducks’ roster among most talented in UO history DUCKSWIRE.USATODAY.COM There is no shortage of talent on Oregon’s roster this year. 25 of the top-100 rated recruits in UO history are on the 2023 roster.

This is from Matt Hayes whose articles usually appear on Saturday's Down South; this article appeared today Saturdays Out West. Hayes: Sources convinced Big Ten isn’t finished raiding the Pac-12 SATURDAYOUTWEST.COM 'If anyone thinks the Big Ten isn't coming back for more, they're not following along,' a source told our Matt Hayes. Bottom line: The Pac-12 is in trouble as a Power 5 league.

Does it seem to be taking eons to get this deal done? But I'm with Charles. Keep the powder dry until we see what the ultimate and not the rumored deal is.

I am a Yankee living 'down south' in Aiken, SC. Spot on regarding the football fervor in the south and the SEC. Huge stadiums by Pac-12 standards, including the 90,000-seat stadium in Columbia, SC routinely sell out for bottom-of-the-barrel teams.The only exception is Vanderbilt but that stadium is often filled to capacity with visiting fans.

However, what will FOX pay for the Oregon/UW inventory? FOX has locked ESPN out of B1G broadcast rights and it is FOX that would have to agree to welcome Oregon and UW and also agree with how much to pay each school for their respective media rights. It's sad but the media today is driving the future of the Moneyball sports and not college presidents. I think the point you make is excellent and I wholly agree that the way to the B1G could well be made easier if the 4-corner schools bolt to the B12.

All-in I believe that a number of ACC teams such as Clemson that sells out an 80K stadium for every home game could make $37M a year, no doubt. But pursuant to Sports Business Journal the media deal is as I noted above. And the only way the media deal can be re-negotiated before 2036 is for Notre Dame to join the conference as a full-time football member. I appreciate any and all suggestions that would improve the value of the Ducks' upcoming media deal including perhaps a CFB, CBB 'partnership' with the ACC. But would such a partnership convince ESPN to pay more money than it is willing to pay now to both conferences and how long would it take for future schedules to open to allow for a combined ACC/Pac-10 combined CFB and CBB conference? And in light of the PO going to 12 teams does it make sense to for the Pac-10 to have more teams in the way of making the 12-team field? Again, great thoughts on your part; any and all options have to be explored.

The ACC is getting $20M annually from ESPN for its media rights through 2036, with a bonus based on the number of subscribers to the ACC Network. The B12 schools under the new media deal receive $31.7M a year from ESPN/FOX. The Pac-10 may not finish ahead of the B12 media rights, but it will finish ahead of the ACC's current deal.

It's all voodoo media math based on potential households watching instead of the actual number of human beings watching. But it is not really up to the B1G. It is up to FOX that 'owns' the B1G and apparently is happy with having only the 2 LA teams on the west coast. NBC is fine with their occasional B1G game following the Notre Dame game and CBS appears to be satisfied with the limited B1G broadcast inventory it will be paying for. The B1G deal is over $1B a year. (Doctor Eval puts a pinky finger to cheek.) ESPN and FOX are CFB financially tapped out The Pac-12/10 erred in overvaluing the inventory post SC/UCLA leaving that it had for sale.

One reason the ACC gets its team, Clemson, into the PO field of 4 is that even with the ACC dropping divisions the ACC is staying at 8 conference games. The rationale? The ACC plays 4 to 6 games every season vs Notre Dame. State-mandated games such as Clemson vs South Carolina, FSU vs Florida, Ga Tech vs UGA, and Louisville vs Kentucky add another P5 opponent. SOS matters not to the PO Committee today; 2Ls and you are out. But it will matter when the field goes to 12 teams and IMO is likely to go to 16 teams when PO media rights go up for bid for the 2026 season. This is where playing 8 games could hurt the ACC, especially regarding seeding. The Pac-12 definitely does not want to copy the ACC's media deal that stinks to the high heavens through 2036.

On3 as of today's date, February 23, 2023, has nine Pac-12 teams ranked in the top 50 Transfer Portal (Portal) team rankings. 1. Colorado 2. UCLA 3. USC 10. ASU 11. Oregon 13. Washington 27. Oregon State 36. Utah 50. CAL The Portal will re-open on May 1, 2023, through May 15, 2023, after spring practice concludes for all college football teams. We can expect that there will be many new Portal entries come May 1st. Many teams will encourage scholarship players currently on the roster to enter the Portal in order to not exceed the number of players a team is allowed to have on scholarship which is 85 players. This approach is especially ongoing under Coach Prime at Colorado and also at ASU under new head coach Dillingham. Also, we can anticipate a number of players including 4* and 5* recruits not on a given roster's post-spring practice 2-deep to be contacted by teams offering a better opportunity to play and also in certain cases a better NIL opportunity. This kind of contact is not allowed by the NCAA as it constitutes roster tampering but is happening across the country with 3rd parties and not a given team directly being the point of contact with a player and/or with a player's agent. And the NCAA appears to be powerless when it comes to policing roster tampering. Additionally, depending on the terms and conditions of the Pac-10 conferences' new media deal many players may be encouraged via tampering to transfer if all or a good deal of game inventory will be broadcast only via streaming. To date, the conference is doing very well using the Portal to help with roster management but of course, two of the teams in the top 10 will soon be off to the B1G. Should UCLA and USC continue their success in the Portal post-2023 they will be at the top of or among the top B1G teams using the Portal. Oregon is ranked 13. as noted above indicating that Dan Lanning is not only doing a terrific job with recruiting but also using Portal to fill positions of need. I expect that post-spring practice if not before that Oregon will continue to actively and successfully work the Portal

Networks not carrying the Pac-12 Network will want to be guaranteed a minimum number of subscribers before picking up a new entity for distribution. Similar to bowl games requiring participating teams to guarantee the sale of X number of tickets. With the Pac-12 becoming the Pac-10 (subject to expansion) after the 2023 season there will not, IMO, be any incentive for cable providers not carrying the Pac-12 Network now to do so with lesser inventory and without the LA teams. I do expect ESPN to be part of Pac-10's new media deal. The rub for the Pac-12 Network still remains. Namely, it is the only conference network without a media partner. Even the loser Longhorn Network is owned and operated by ESPN. I expect this network will disappear once Texas joins the SEC.

Thank you for the comment. Alabama? returning production ranks 125 out of 133 FBS programs. A new QB, new OC, and new DC. No one should sell Saint Nick short but with Daniels returning to LSU I think LSU will repeat as the SEC W champ even though the Tigers have to play at Bama. I expect LSU to get a big rankings bump after defeating an overrated FSU team in its opener. Georgia? Lost its OC but has a terrific returning roster and an easier schedule than Bama. I know the game is at TN but I do not see TN having a QB who can defeat the Dawgs. Ohio State. Does play at Notre Dame OOC but gets Penn State in Columbus and as for the rest of the B1G, sans Michigan, the Pac-12 is better top to bottom. Will the new Ohio State QB be able to take advantage of a deep receiving corps as did Stroud? Like the SP+ I expect Georgia will be preseason ranked #1 in every poll.

Except many, many folks across the nation cannot access the Pac Network. The Network is functionally insolvent and not in a position to pay what DirecTV wants to be carried on this cable provider. Without a media partner, the Pac Network is not long-term viable. 2+ years ago ESPN offered to take over the network and the Pac-12 leaders demurred. It was likely a lowball offer but almost certainly more than ESPN with parent Disney not doing well financially will offer today for a Network without the LA schools. The Pac-10 is simply in a very difficult place. The conference will end up with a better deal than the ACC if the streaming component makes sense. But matching the ACC is not the bar, the conference needs to match or exceed the B12 and that will not be easy with FOX after locking up LA sitting on the sideline. Again, IMO Oregon because of the brand and actual viewership numbers will be fine. But I think all of us understand and appreciate that there is likely to be a further realignment in CFB with the Power 2 conferences holding the cards. It may well be in Oregon's best interest to sign a 'bad' but short-term deal, make the expanded playoff field and ball out in the playoff. The media vultures are circling but Puddles goose is far from cooked.

Good thoughts. Any deal between the B12 and Oregon and UW will have to be negotiated with and approved by ESPN and FOX. Media has been driving the sport for well over a decade and is now becoming more apparent day after day. It appears that FOX with the LA market could care less if the rest of the Pac-12 disappears and a more frugal ESPN is not going to bid against itself. Again, I like your thoughts. Oregon and UW are two valuable CFB properties left on the board and behind Notre Dame only in value, And in terms of brand building no school has done better at brand building over the last decade than Oregon.

Good thoughts on Netflix but a Netflix spokesperson recently stated that the company is not going to become invested in live sports broadcasting. I feel bad for GK. The B12 jumping ahead of the Pac-12 to sign a new media rights deal took FOX off the table and left the Pac-10 with one linear broadcast company, ESPN, to bid against itself. This is at a time when ESPN's parent Disney (market value down 17%) is not going to overpay for the rights to sporting events. It just seems as though the Conference of Champions can't catch a break. SC and UCLA were a big part of the problem but are too big to fail and therefore off to the B1G. The ACC, B12, and Pac-10 are clearly in a battle for 3rd place. Oregon's brand is valuable and sustainable but the Ducks must look after its own best interest and not agree to a deal that locks Oregon into a losing position. If Phil Knight and others have to take the media decision off the hands of the Oregon administration so be it and having a business person in charge would be refreshing.