kirklandduck Moderator No. 1 Share Posted August 7, 2023 ...and retain power 5 status? Could Mountain West and Pac-12 merge into a single, 16-team conference? WWW.SANDIEGOUNIONTRIBUNE.COM Sources say preliminary talks have started on a merger between San Diego State's current conference and the... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyToBeADuck No. 2 Share Posted August 7, 2023 There is no pressure on the P4 and MWC to get this done quickly. They wont have the media, other conferences and outside aoutces trying to undermine their plans. Let the laywers take care of the legal matters for this to take place. Start negotiations with ESPN, CW and Apple. Maybe Tuesday/Wednesday on CW Apple on Friday after Dark and Satuday day games. ESPN Saturday after dark. If they can get 10 - 15 million a year this can work. Bring in SMU and Tulane. More games equals more content. Personally, its a bad break for the remaining P4 teams but they can and will carve out their future. Best advice or word of caution: Dont let GK do your negotiating. Goodness gracious the PAC has sure had some terrible commissioners......... 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikethehiker No. 3 Share Posted August 7, 2023 On 8/6/2023 at 9:29 PM, HappyToBeADuck said: Goodness gracious the PAC has sure had some terrible commissioners......... And a terrible collection of presidents with their heads buried in the sand from the least to the greatest. While commissioners in other conferences did the bidding of their members, PAC12 presidents outsourced the media rights strategy and negotiations to the commissioner due to constant turnover, campus politics, lack of understanding, or because they simply didn't want to deal with it. OSU and WSU share just as much of the blame living fat and happy for years knowing LA schools wanted more. I do agree with the lower-stakes sentiment for this new west coast conference - whatever that looks like. It's a great time to test a streaming partner, maybe in combination with ESPN. Prove the concept and take it to Fox in the next round. If there is one region slightly more primed (pun intended) for streaming and ripe for cutting traditional cable, it's the west coast. Then again, we also make up a much less passionate football fanbase. But the future is a la carte streaming apps and services even if the suits couldn't see it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GatOrlando No. 4 Share Posted August 7, 2023 (edited) The PacWestAmerican perhaps? https://www.si.com/college/stanford/football/what-pac-12-expansion-could-look-like-after-their-historic-collapse Edited August 7, 2023 by GatOrlando Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirklandduck Author Moderator No. 5 Share Posted August 7, 2023 One thing in the article that hadn't occurred to me was the possibility of the MWC dissolving ITSELF and then joining the Pac12 to create the merged conference. That gets around the whole $33 million per team separation fee. I wouldn't be surprised if that's the path taken to be able to retain the power 5 status and all the CFP benefits that come with it. They'd obviously be the weakest P5 conference but at this point, the name of the game is survival. They can figure out the growth path (such as it is) later on. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
