Jon Joseph

However, in 2018 ESPN offered to buy and operate the Pac-12 Network and sign the Pac-12 on for a 12-year media deal. Pac-12 leaders (?) demurred and Larry kept his multi-million dollar network CEO salary in place. I doubt that ESPN was going to pay a premium for the network but I do think that ESPN would have returned each school's investment and the network would have had 'varsity-like' coverage and be up on every available cable outlet. (Neil Everett might still have a World Wide Leader job.) Distributions from the network would have met and likely exceeded the network projected revenues. And in 2018, ESPN was in a financial position not only to acquire the network but also to pay a healthy price for the conference's Tier 1 media rights. USC could have again received a bigger piece of the media pie and the Pac-12 is not RIP. Another example of See Foot, Shoot! You reap what you sow and don't sow.

Likely because CBS and NBC knew by following Fox's lead if could get Oregon and UW at a discount.

Ask Scott Frost?

25 questions for our newest B1G buddies. 25 burning questions about the 2023 Big Ten season SATURDAYTRADITION.COM Wondering how 2023 will play out on the field in the Big Ten? Saturday Tradition has you covered with 25 burning questions... IT IS BIG!

North Beerchug State? I love it but more to the point and in full support of David's excellent article, see point #1 below. https://collegefootballnews.com/cfn/whos-left-for-the-sec-college-football-is-business-5-expansion-thoughts

The National version of 25 questions. Hayes: 25 burning questions about the 2023 college football season WWW.SATURDAYDOWNSOUTH.COM Had enough realignment talk? So have we. Matt Hayes tackles the biggest issues for the 2023 season, in and around the SEC.

25 Questions for the Pac-12 in 2023. Gold: 25 burning questions about the 2023 Pac-12 season SATURDAYOUTWEST.COM As many obvious answers that abound in the Pac-12, there are just as many questions, if not more. The biggest? Can the league... 2024 - The answer is Four?

The Coaches Poll Preseason top 25 Poll. 5 Pac-12 teams and Texas Tech makes the cut. Coaches Poll top 25: Michigan ahead of Alabama, Ohio State in preseason college football rankings - CBSSports.com WWW.CBSSPORTS.COM The Georgia Bulldogs also start on top of the Coaches Poll for the first time since 2008

That's what it said and I agree that OR ST is not in a position to demand a full share.

Scott Dochterman covers the B1G for The Athletic (paywall.) Below are Scott's predictions for the 2024 Oregon and UW schedules. OREGON - Home - Washington, UCLA, OHIO STATE (YES!), Maryland (The Helmet Clash?), Minnesota Away - USC, Indiana, Illinois, Nebraska - 1 East Coast trip and 2 Central time zone trips, not bad at all. WASHINGTON - Home - USC, Iowa, Purdue, Penn State (a B1G biggie.) Away - UCLA, OREGON, Maryland, Michigan State (back-to-back?), Wisconsin. 2 Eastern time zone trios; 1 Central time zone trip. Scott came close to nailing the B1G (16) permanent-flex schedule. Would be nice to have 5 conference games at home in 2024 with only 1 traditional B1G biggie, Ohio State on the schedule and coming to Autzen. If Scott's projection is correct, I like Oregon's 2024 schedule more than UW's schedule. Scott does believe that the West Coast teams will play one another every year.

1 LA school a year and the final regular season game versus UW could very well happen. In CBB and the non-revenue sports, I think Oregon will see a double dose, or more, of the LA schools and UW.

Joining the B12 would be great for the Beavers and take some of the heat off of Oregon. College football realignment rumors: Big 12 not done expanding as surprise targets emerge FANSIDED.COM College football realignment is far from over as the Big 12 sniffs around the leftover programs in the Pac-12 and Mountain West. If...

Upon further review, my call may not stand. Fox is paying mucho dinero for the LA schools and football is the one sport with the fewest travel concerns. At the very least I see Oregon playing one of the LA schools every year and playing UW in the last game of the regular season. But: What In The Heck Do I Know?

KUDOS! This a spot-on analysis. From the overview of a capitalist enterprise, Fox played this perfectly. Fox did not bid against itself. Fox waited to go after Oregon and UW after the Pac-10, with Fox sitting on the sidelines as David so correctly noted, came up with a crummy Pac-10 media deal, aided and abetted by George Kliavkoff fiddling while the conference burned. This patience allowed Fox to 'buy' the Northwest schools at a discount. A discount that will run through the 2031 season. I demur slightly at pointing the finger only at ESPN and Fox. When Oklahoma and a few other schools, including Georgia as one of the litigants, sued to end the NCAA's broadcast monopoly and with Oklahoma's triumph sustained in the mid-1980s by the Supreme Court, the floodgates were opened for media companies to take advantage of the decision and college football teams and their respective conferences, gladly opened their wallets to cash in. No one forced the schools to take the money, build Taj Mahal-like facilities, and pay college football coaches unheard sums of money. Then, the SEC commissioner, Roy Kramer, sold the ACC, B1G, B12, and Pac-12 on the idea that college football needed "One True Champion." The game went national and money if it had not done so already, ruled the college football roost. And the NCAA itself was most certainly not above the fray as it continued to expand the size of the basketball tournament so it could bring in millions of more dollars. We are told that once upon a time a man was offered the governance of and attendant riches from, being the King of all the principalities in the world. Although tempted, the man declined the offer. When you accept this kind of offer and gladly take the money and do all you can for more money, Airplane Conferences managed by media companies behind the scenes are the inevitable result. It's sad for the left behind schools. But in any capitalistic endeavor, there will be winners and losers. Viewed from the window of today's big-time college sports, I am so happy that Oregon agreed to pay a media future premium and to align itself with one of the two Power Conferences in the world of college athletics. Again David, thanks for the terrific and timely article.

I'm pretty certain that the West Coast teams will meet every year to cut down on travel going in both directions. East Coast teams have no more desire to play out West than have USC, UCLA, Oregon, and UW to play at Maryland and Rutgers. I'm reasonably certain that the B1G will move to 10 conference games so each school will have 5 home and away conference games. I'd like to see Nebraska, the western-most B1G school as of today, in a five-team permanent rotation so each team in the western rotation would have 2 away and home games every year. 4 games in the west would mean limited travel to the Eastern time zone and also limited travel to the Central time zone, sans playing at Nebraska every other year. Under the current 9 conference game schedule, Oregon would only have to trip East beyond Nebraska 2 or 3 times a year. Besides getting them at a discount, limiting travel for all sports including football was a reason to add Oregon and UW.

No B12 teams unless OR ST joins the B12 and absolutely no 2-for-1 series with G5 teams. The B1G will go to a 10-game conference schedule likely by 2026. There will be no reason to schedule an OOC heavyweight. Enough of these heavyweights, Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, Wisconsin, Iowa, UCLA, UW, and USC reside in-conference to provide all of the SOS that Oregon will need. Play SEC teams and Clemson and FSU in the expanded playoff. The game will no longer be worth the candle to risk a potential loss OOC. More important to find middle weights that will give Oregon not fewer than 7 home games every year.

THIS should happen. With the in-conference SOS and an expanded playoff field, this will not hurt Oregon's ability to make the field. Oregon now has Est Coast Bias cache and games over lower-level B1G teams will just mean more than games against lower-rung Pac-12 teams. And will be viewed by far more fans. I'm looking forward to the read.

I see this coming as soon as 2026 when the SEC will also have at least 20 teams. There will be a 16-team playoff with no auto bids and seeding preferences for conference champs. The B1G and the SEC will send at least 3 teams and more often 4 teams every year to the playoff.

This scheduling format is no longer, like the Pac-12, relevant.

Yes. Every year. With SC and UCLA on the schedule more often than when they played in the Pac-12.

Hickey: Will the B1G 18 prove to be the new ‘Conference of Champions’? SATURDAYTRADITION.COM Has anyone thought of poor Bill Walton? With the Pac-12 dying, will the B1G inherit the mantle of 'Conference of Champions?' Hope so.

Come on! B1G recruiting sans Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State is not close to SEC recruiting year after year. And the results show up on the football field and in the NFL draft. But I love this! This is the stuff that comes with East Coast Bias. And Oregon recruits will be able to watch real football media coverage on the B1G Network instead of watching on Larry's Lemonade Stand.

Could be? Especially if Donte does not get the starting nod in 2023 and perhaps, not the NIL deals he could have received from Division Street? UCLA is way down the LA sports scene ladder and Moore playing at Oregon will now have the same opportunity to play his homeboys at Michigan and Michigan State.

However, I watched both Oregon and Ohio State play Georgia last season and as I recall, the Ohio State game was a bit closer than the Oregon game. I watched Penn State toy with Utah. Michigan? Next case. Michigan broke off a huge run to open the game against TCU. Then it called a number of suspect plays in the Red Zone and an 'NFL coach,' Jim Harbaugh, stupidly went for it on 4th down instead of kicking the FG and walking off the field with first possession points. What's your deal? I think a lot of the slow B1G rubric belongs with no conference plays D like the SEC; the B12 schools can't play D and West Coast teams are soft. (OK, maybe there's some truth to the last rubric?) In general, I do agree with you, friend Hayward. Ducks should have speed unmatched by any school other than Ohio State and the unbelievably good group of WRs at Ohio State. Tougher road to the playoff? I'll take playing Rutgers, Purdue, Indiana, Northwestern, and Minnesota over playing Utah, Oregon State, Washington State in Pullman, and playing at ASU. I think the Ducks are B1G Tier 1 and the notoriety of defeating lesser B1G teams will go a lot further than playing lesser Pac teams in games off of the national radar.

Great take David plus come 2024, Oregon will be part of 'East Coast Bias' and come 2026, part of 16 team field (my guess) with a different format to that originally put together by the MW commissioner, the Notre Dame AD, the B12's Bob Bowlsby and the SEC's Greg Sankey. With CFB now down to a Power 4, Sankey and the B1G commissioner, Tony Petitti, in particular, will not go for giving 6 conference champs automatic bids and most likely, with not go for seeding preferences for conference champions. Both will want the top-ranked teams seeded in the order of ranking with 1 group of 5 representative only if a G5 team is not ranked in the top 16. Come 2026, the CFB football playoff revenue, without the ESPN exclusive and open bidding, is expected to grow to $1.5 Billion. I also expect to see come 2026 the SEC with at least 20 member teams, the season will uniformly begin on what is now Week 0, 10 B1G, and SEC conference games with the B12 and the G5 marginalized by strength-of-schedule. We are living in the world of Power 2 conferences with both more than willing to throw their weight around. I can easily conceive of a 2 loss Bama in 2022 winning it all, and even a three-loss team getting hot at the end of the season and winning it all. Especially if a team is seeded in the top 8 and ends up playing 2 playoff games on its home field. Brave or not, it's a new college football world. And there is nothing the least bit collegial about any of this.