Pac 12 Expansion Targets

[crazyjeff]

Pac-12 Football: 10 expansion candidates should Pac-12 look to grow

DUCKSWIRE.USATODAY.COM

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In order to stabilize, it’s pretty clear that the Pac-12 Conference needs to expand. Here are some candidates for them to bring in.

If you had to pick three who would they be?  My picks...

San Diego State - Best of what's left in Southern California. Good TV market. Southern Cal recruiting.

SMU - Dallas. Huge TV market. I think they would be willing to invest for improvement. Ton of high school talent within 100 mile radius.

UTSA - San Antonio is 7th most populated city in the United States and growing, 31st biggest TV market. One trip a year to Texas could help recruiting.

 

[HappyToBeADuck]

Crazyjeff, i like your choices and i would would add a few more because this is simply a wish list.

 

My thoughts rarely coinside with the President/Chancellors.... but here goes. I must admit I am fatigued on this subject.......

 

SMU should be the next team invited to get back to 10 . They are a more attractive member than CU ever was..

 

SDSU is a solid choice. I would bring in Fresno State to be a travel partner. This makes economic sense and can create a natural CALI rivalry with Stanford and CAL.  Thats if the knucklehead decision makers want to get to 12 members.

 

UTSA  should be the next school invited to be SMU's natural travel partner and that brings us to 13 members.

 

Utah needs a natural travel partner. So depending on the Tier 1 rights holder that could be CSU or BSU.

 

Now we are at 14 members.

 

For my impossible wish list I would add Tulane and Memphis as travel partners. This would take the PAC to 16 members.

 

Now the PAC would provide games in all 4 time zones for their media partners.

 

Of course their has to be a streamer company involved because FOX is actively manipulating the demise of the PAC. And ESPN is broke and up for sale.

 

And it goes without saying that the PAC leadership will have a difficult time replacing the pissant juggernaut that was CU. Let alone making bold moves to rxpand the foot print.

 

Gosh it was fun to dream for a few minutes.

 

[crazyjeff]

Happy,  I like your thinking.  UNLV could also be a travel partner with Utah, but their football program is terrible. Boise and Utah could end up being a great rivalry because of closer distance, but other than football, I can't think of anything Boise is competitive in.  If I was really dreaming, I would take Houston away from the Big12.

[David Marsh]

On 7/29/2023 at 7:56 PM, crazyjeff said:

If I was really dreaming, I would take Houston away from the Big12.

If I was dreaming I'd probably go bigger ... Take Oklahoma State and Texas Tech. They feel like bigger pillars to the Big-12. 

[Vandownbytheriverduck]

SMU

UTSA

SDSU

…8 game league schedule to pad league win totals in the now sufficiently larger league of TV and recruiting markets that will warrant a bigger better media deal. 

The league should then work hard to remedy the deficiency’s of each schools best tv sport teams and then continue to grow the competitiveness of every pac 12 school while also play the same slick game the SeC does by scheduling an ooc game near the end of the season. 
 

[fred flintstone]

Forget San Diego....that bus has passed.....their exit fee is now big bucks for them. Thank George for screwing up, 

However SMU and Rice would be interesting. Houston and Dallas. Rice is outstanding as an academic. Big stadium. 

Travel partners. 

[HappyToBeADuck]

Forgot about Rice as a travel partner as well as academic fit.

 

Even though this is about athletics and not academics, the PAC brain trust is all about the academic fit.

 

They are willing to let the conference slowly fall apart rather than adjust the rules.

 

Hopefully, they dont die on that sword......

[Jon Joseph]

On 7/29/2023 at 10:30 PM, HappyToBeADuck said:

Crazyjeff, i like your choices and i would would add a few more because this is simply a wish list.

 

My thoughts rarely coinside with the President/Chancellors.... but here goes. I must admit I am fatigued on this subject.......

 

SMU should be the next team invited to get back to 10 . They are a more attractive member than CU ever was..

 

SDSU is a solid choice. I would bring in Fresno State to be a travel partner. This makes economic sense and can create a natural CALI rivalry with Stanford and CAL.  Thats if the knucklehead decision makers want to get to 12 members.

 

UTSA  should be the next school invited to be SMU's natural travel partner and that brings us to 13 members.

 

Utah needs a natural travel partner. So depending on the Tier 1 rights holder that could be CSU or BSU.

 

Now we are at 14 members.

 

For my impossible wish list I would add Tulane and Memphis as travel partners. This would take the PAC to 16 members.

 

Now the PAC would provide games in all 4 time zones for their media partners.

 

Of course their has to be a streamer company involved because FOX is actively manipulating the demise of the PAC. And ESPN is broke and up for sale.

 

And it goes without saying that the PAC leadership will have a difficult time replacing the pissant juggernaut that was CU. Let alone making bold moves to rxpand the foot print.

 

Gosh it was fun to dream for a few minutes.

 

Fun thoughts and no B1G deal but New Orleans and Memphis are both in the Central time zone. Makes for easier travel than SC and UCLA will face in the B1G and CU has to trip to West Virginia and Orlando. 

 

I'd take UNLV over Fresno. The viewer numbers for #45 most viewed Cal - 857K and #47- Stanford - 846K are not all that bad. Fresno comes in at #79 with 220K viewers  And I doubt that the 2 SFO schools would want to compete with Fresno for recruits. UNLV is not a much-watched team but Clark County opens up a new market and back in the day UNLV won an NCAA CBB title. With Allegiant Stadium, new practice facilities for football, and the Thomas + Mack Arena for CBB, UNLV has facilities superior to those of Fresno. UNLV has also won NCAA golf championships and has been very competitive in baseball. SDSU and UNLV would be scheduling partners. 

 

UTSA is a hidden gem. San Antonio in football-mad Texas does not, of course, have a pro football team. A great partner for SMU.

 

One of Boise State or Colorado State would appear to be a good potential scheduling partner for Utah. But assuming the Pac stays at 9 without further defections, I'd add SDSU, UNLV, and SMU and stay at a very manageable 12 members. Salt Lake to Dallas is a 989-mile flight distance taking 2 hours and 17 minutes. The flight time from SLC to Seattle is 2 hours and 3 minutes so close to the same travel rigors. 

 

But, is adding 3 or more G5 teams really the best long-term approach for Oregon? The NCAA, somewhat unbelievably recognizes a conference of 6 or more schools. 9 schools work through the 2025/26 season and the CFB Playoff and the Pac are contractually bound playoff partners for this and the next 2 seasons. Drop to an 8 game schedule. for 2024/2025 with an eye on joining a more profitable home before 2025. The problem. What media affiliate broadcasts the games in 2024 and 2025? And what would be the cost of buying another regular season game if the conference drops to 8 games? 

 

In the long run, I believe that some kind of a merger with the ACC as a full share member makes, but for the geography, the most sense. Oregon would not have to be an ACC junior media revenue partner. And I would be shocked if some kind of back-channel, at least, communication with the B1G is going on today for Oregon to join as a junior partner. Off-the-wall, the SEC adds OK St, 1.68M viewers, Utah, 1.16M viewers, Oregon, 2.210M Viewers, UW, 1.150M viewers, and Arizona and ASU for the Phoenix market. All would join as junior SEC media revenue partners. But why would the SEC do this instead of looking east? 

 

Size goes to size in business. Conferences will continue to evolve and devolve. A merger with the ACC, especially if Notre Dame was to join as a most-favored-nation football partner would result in a Power 4 with the ACC/Pac being in a solid third place. I think this is far more favorable than adding a patchwork of G5 schools. 

 

Lot's to ponder.