Canzano: Oregon Can't Rescue the Pac-12 Brand...

[Charles Fischer]

John is a man-with-a-plan, and this is one time I sure agree with him!  What say you?

 

[30Duck]

Clearly, John has been lurking here and at FishDuck, and reading our posts! What he calls for is what we have been saying for months now. Oregon is carrying the conference. A win in the Fiesta Bowl would obviously be better than would be a loss. But, either would have no real impact on the national perspective of the conference.

 Getting rid of Scott is mandatory. Not only would his absence be a plus in itself, it would show that the Presidents are aware of the horrific  mess he created and acted to correct it. The conference needs a hajor overhaul and it has to start at the top. 

[GODUCKS15]

Gotta agree with Canzano on this. The P12 is so far in the dumpster that a Ducks win will only help the Ducks.

A Ducks loss won't hurt them. How can you take a team at 4-2 and losing to Cal and Ore St seriously? 

Not being in the CFP or even in contention for a spot and not winning the majority of bowl games has hurt the conference.

You need to be relevant to be noticed.

Covid has wreaked havoc on college football this year and thats the main reason things in the P12 are upside down right now.

Covid aside this year has had no effect on the trajectory of the conference.

 

[David Marsh]

As time goes on things grow more dire requires more drastic measures. The bungling of the 2020 season has set the PAC back more than in a normal year. 

If this was a normal year with a full slate of games played and a full roster without opt outs... I do think Oregon could have been playoff material. Which would have stemmed the blessing. 

Though now we are looking at another lost season with more lost income and no progress made on the football front will mean the options for saving the conference have grown thin. 

I am far more optimistic on the possilities of saving the pac-12 than Jon Joseph is though time is running out. 

[David Marsh]

14 minutes ago, Jon Joseph said:

I applaud your optimism. I truly do. You know I respect your takes and your comments, I am not being the least bit sarcastic. But without a network owned and operated by FOX or ESPN, and with the mammoth ESPN/SEC deal soon coming on line, and with where is the $ coming from that will save the conference? 

Where are the broadcast windows that will allow folks back east to watch Pac-12 games at least in the twilight, and not beginning at 10:00 PM east coast time? What schools besides Oregon are willing to P5 ante up? Maybe SC it it gets off its butt, UW if it gets in the game salary-wise and recruiting wise and perhaps, ASU? The other schools do not have the money and/or do not care.

The Ducks partners are a joke. Many of these partners have football budgets less than those of the 'big time' G5 schools. Have recruiting budgets that are bare bones, if that? Have leaders who have let Larry get away with a decade of larceny.

Why other than for tradition, do you want to hang in with partners like this? 

Thanks Jon. 

Outside of ASU how many other schools still support Larry? Last I heard is that Larry has lost a lot of support. Now getting rid of him is overly complicated and comes with expenses which I am sure are painful enough to make all institutions involved being cautious... But something needs to change quickly to get things going the other way. 

The way I see it these are the programs that are prioritizing football in the pac-12... Oregon, USC, Washington and Utah. Utah really doesn't have the same budget but they are throwing their program enough to keep that program rolling. Utah could certainly be placed in the next group as well. 

Now... The programs that have the fan base that want football as a priority but lack funding: Washington State, Arizona State, Colorado, and Oregon State...

Oregon State fans want a relevant program more than anything... But they have really been suffering since 2014 when Riley left for Nebraska. They are on the way up but completely on a shoestring budget and on the cheap-cheap. 

then there are the programs that don't have any real interest in football... Cal, UCLA, Arizona, and Stanford. 

Oddly enough I think the problem is California... As a state. USC has a major fan base for football but the other three schools really only generate fair weather buzz from their fan bases. 

UCLA has been mediocre to bad and the fie hard fans demand better but there isn't much drive to do so... The Kelly hire seemed good enough for the management. 

Stanford is the worst of the lot... When Stanford is good they are good and can challenge conference championships but the fans dry up in on years. Playing on the Farm is can be like playing in a library... Not a whole lot of a fan base outside if the spectacular years. Shaw is a good coach and will keep Stanford as a good team but Stanford fans aren't a driving force in the conference. 

I could go on but I have already written a lot for the time being. 

[ICamel]

21 hours ago, ICamel said:

Anybody know what it would cost a Pac12 program to leave and join another conference? I don't, so that is why I pose the question.

[ICamel]

I know there is a cost to staying in the Pac12 and going down with the ship so to speak, but I suspect there is a "contract" for remaining in the conference. There has to be a financial cost that would be incurred to break that contract.

[C J]

Culture (once again) has to be brought into the discussion. 

It doesn't exist on the west coast for football the way it does in the midwest and southeast.

San Francisco as a hub for college football is almost an oxymoron......actually it is.

As my new favorite character says "This is the Way" when it comes to the culture on the west coast. 

[David Marsh]

21 minutes ago, C J said:

Culture (once again) has to be brought into the discussion. 

It doesn't exist on the west coast for football the way it does in the midwest and southeast.

San Francisco as a hub for college football is almost an oxymoron......actually it is.

As my new favorite character says "This is the Way" when it comes to the culture on the west coast. 

Yep... 

And I do think the State of California for the most part is the problem for the Pac-12 as strange as that sounds. 

California is a state of professional sports, not college sports. California is home to three NFL teams (4 if you want to count Raiders fans in the mix even though the team is formally in Vegas) and four NBA teams. 

California is a massive media center but outside of LA (which is still a big media market) college football isn't a primetime event. 

This does leave the Pac-12 in some strange geographic position. If california is supposed to be the media market that provides the foundation for the pac-12 financially with the other media markets as support. 

I am sure if you break it down the California market is still big. However, it isn't big enough to support the conference compared to the other power 5. 

Furthering, the hottest recruiting ground is southern california for the whole pac-12. Mostly due to culture and how football isn't the lifeblood of entertainment on the west coast.