Wow, what a take down of the PAC.
Pac-12 might be resurrected, but former power conference is no longer as relevant
Dan Wolken
USA TODAY
"But that plan is going to be limited by another reality: Memphis, one consultant told USA TODAY Sports, is not valued by TV rights holders significantly more than, say, Utah State. And Oregon State and Washington State, the two original Pac-12 leftovers who decided to bring the conference back, aren’t valued much more than Memphis.
In other words, the new Pac-12 was not going to be a power conference no matter which of the potential members jumped in. And the notion of a $12 million per member payday, which had been the carrot for a school like Memphis (currently making around $8-9 million in the AAC) was merely theoretical and based on calculations from the Pac-12’s paid consultants that few people across the college sports industry actually believed.
But if that’s the end result for Pac-12 commissioner Teresa Gould, we have to ask: What was this all for?
A conference of Boise State, San Diego State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Oregon State, Washington State, Utah State and UNLV is…essentially the same league that those schools just decided to leave, albeit without a few bottom-feeders.
But if television networks were paying roughly $5 million to those schools when they were Mountain West members, what exactly is the case for doubling that for the same product under the Pac-12 banner?
That’s why, across college sports, this entire Pac-12 play has been viewed as bizarre and nonsensical.
The zombie Pac-12 was resurrected, then it ran into an opposing force that we haven’t seen too often in college sports: Common sense.
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