RedStickHusky
formerly SeoulHuskyFan
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Almost feel like they should've given UCLA a bye to the final. Hard to believe this is the last PAC-12 game ever.
Final PAC-12 Final
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RedStickHusky
formerly SeoulHuskyFan
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The history -- to a guy my age, UCLA defined west coast hoops.
nelsonmuntz
Point Center
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The college sports powers that be will regret taking out the Pac 12, for two reasons.
1) College sports is unique among entertainment products in that the fanbase for each school is almost completely non-transferrable. It's not like any of us are going to wake up one day and be Syracuse fans if UConn is no longer allowed to participate at the highest levels. Most of us will just go away as fans of the sport, and the rest will become casual fans, and slowly drift. Getting new fans from the Northeast will become increasingly difficult for the sport without UConn. Now multiply this times every school the P2 are trying to push out competing at the highest level.
2) The product in college athletics is the game, not the team. This is something that some in the sport get, but the University Presidents do not. That difference, while subtle, is important. Rivalries that took decades to build, and get fans to care about, have been ripped apart in the last 13 years, and you are seeing signs that the fan base, and especially the casual fan base, is wobbling. These rivalries are what get casual fans to a mid January game to watch two NIT bound teams. Who is going to care about Washington vs. Iowa in January for basketball? Or Arizona State vs. Cincinnati? The diehards will show up or tune in, but they are 20-30% of the fanbase depending on the school. The casual fans won't show up in the same numbers or watch because they won't know who these opponents are and many won't care.
College sports is also unique in that it is essentially the only minor league in the world that generates major league-caliber revenue. Most business people would look at such a fragile dynamic, and choose NOT to mess with it at all. University Presidents decided to go for a land grab instead. The tipping point in marketing any product can happen quickly, and without warning. We may find that in 5 or 10 years, college sports is a shadow of what it is today, and this event will be one of the milestones in making that happen if it does.
1) College sports is unique among entertainment products in that the fanbase for each school is almost completely non-transferrable. It's not like any of us are going to wake up one day and be Syracuse fans if UConn is no longer allowed to participate at the highest levels. Most of us will just go away as fans of the sport, and the rest will become casual fans, and slowly drift. Getting new fans from the Northeast will become increasingly difficult for the sport without UConn. Now multiply this times every school the P2 are trying to push out competing at the highest level.
2) The product in college athletics is the game, not the team. This is something that some in the sport get, but the University Presidents do not. That difference, while subtle, is important. Rivalries that took decades to build, and get fans to care about, have been ripped apart in the last 13 years, and you are seeing signs that the fan base, and especially the casual fan base, is wobbling. These rivalries are what get casual fans to a mid January game to watch two NIT bound teams. Who is going to care about Washington vs. Iowa in January for basketball? Or Arizona State vs. Cincinnati? The diehards will show up or tune in, but they are 20-30% of the fanbase depending on the school. The casual fans won't show up in the same numbers or watch because they won't know who these opponents are and many won't care.
College sports is also unique in that it is essentially the only minor league in the world that generates major league-caliber revenue. Most business people would look at such a fragile dynamic, and choose NOT to mess with it at all. University Presidents decided to go for a land grab instead. The tipping point in marketing any product can happen quickly, and without warning. We may find that in 5 or 10 years, college sports is a shadow of what it is today, and this event will be one of the milestones in making that happen if it does.
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FYI, Oregon State and Washington State will join the West Coast Conference as affiliate members and play league games — with the exception of football and baseball — against WCC schools for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 seasons.
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