New PAC-12 Forming

[gioff2323]

I wonder why UConn sources were so quick to say that they weren't joining the Pac

I can think of 12 big reasons

 

[KryHavok]

It’s pretty terribly written. Some things are just flat out wrong. The PAC-12 poached MW teams, the conferences aren’t “merging." It reads like they are very ill-informed

He's very likely a student not some over-caffeinated shill/self-imposed CR guru trying to get notoriety, so I'll cut him (as a UConn person) some slack, but he does need to get his facts to be more factual.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

He's very likely a student not some over-caffeinated shill/self-imposed CR guru trying to get notoriety, so I'll cut him (as a UConn person) some slack, but he does need to get his facts to be more factual.

Kid was literally in diapers for the ACC initial raid lol.

 

[freescooter]

A couple of things to consider here

1. The PAC still needs another full member. We are not interested in that right now.
2. No media deal.
3. This report came from an anonymous source. I don’t doubt it is correct but saying we aren’t interested at this time through an anonymous source is not the same as saying we are not interested in a formal statement from David Benedict. And “at this time” is one of those phases that can change in an instant if circumstances change. If for example, MEMPHIS and USF and say East Carolina were to join, giving it a larger eastern presence, it could be different. If the PAC lands a decent media deal, let’s say $10 million/team for football and $4 million hoop, that would be a change that made it more palatable. Then you can say at THIS time it is a better fit!

 

[jostar1]

I can think of 12 big reasons

 

[CashewCrew]

A couple of things to consider here

1. The PAC still needs another full member. We are not interested in that right now.
2. No media deal.
3. This report came from an anonymous source. I don’t doubt it is correct but saying we aren’t interested at this time through an anonymous source is not the same as saying we are not interested in a formal statement from David Benedict. And “at this time” is one of those phases that can change in an instant if circumstances change. If for example, MEMPHIS and USF and say East Carolina were to join, giving it a larger eastern presence, it could be different. If the PAC lands a decent media deal, let’s say $10 million/team for football and $4 million hoop, that would be a change that made it more palatable. Then you can say at THIS time it is a better fit!

If we ever end up in the same conference as ECU again (I don't care what sport), that will be a very sad day in UConn history

 

[ZooCougar]

It’s pretty terribly written. Some things are just flat out wrong. The PAC-12 poached MW teams, the conferences aren’t “merging." It reads like they are very ill-informed

I think it was written by AI.

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

I'm still curious as to what the perceived negatives are excluding a grant of rights.

We make next to $0 on our current tv deal, have no bowl affiliation, don't have access or representation to the CFP, play a mishmash schedule of teams and dates, have no league title to compete for, and with most leagues increasing conference games were afforded less scheduling opportunities.

Edit: no bowl game affiliations either.

Obviously there are negatives to staying independent in FB and I'm sure university leadership are good with staying that way for now, but here are some of the negatives of UConn going to the PAC:

1. You are viewed with the company you keep and the new PAC is basically the old Mountain West with a few better sprinkled in.
2. There is no media deal yet signed, so no one even knows what you'd be getting into.
3. Travel/distance/Pacific time zones to deal with.
4. Nothing in common with any of the members; athletically, academically, culturally.
5. Reduced attraction for Eastern seaboard recruiting grounds.
6. You're locked in to a GOR and exit fee.
7. Reduced opponent flexibility due to conference commitments.

That's just some of the cons. There'd be cons to going into the Big12 or ACC, for instance, but they'd be much reduced and I'd imagine well worth it in the big picture.

 

[Blades]

here are some of the negatives of UConn going to the PAC:

Here's another.... all but 2 future road trips are east of the Mississippi

 

[Kolumbo]

It's good to be the kings. nice to have friends who help you out. I bet they get a better deal than UConn gets in Hartford.

Sacramento Kings reportedly offer Golden 1 Center to Sac State basketball as part of Pac-12 push

The Golden 1 Center appears to be another carrot on the stick towards moving Sacramento State athletics up conferences.

www.cbsnews.com

 

[WestCoastHusky]

Pac-12 pausing expansion efforts as conference enters media rights evaluation with current members

The league is one short of full membership and will seek evaluation of its media rights before pursuing more schools

www.cbssports.com

 

[jostar1]

Pac-12 pausing expansion efforts as conference enters media rights evaluation with current members

The league is one short of full membership and will seek evaluation of its media rights before pursuing more schools

www.cbssports.com

From that story:

The Pac-12 is banking on Gonzaga improving its basketball product as it goes to market. The conference is aiming to solidify itself as the top multi-bid conference outside the power structure with eyes on supplanting the Big East as a power. The conference projects six of its members as Quad 1 programs. The new programs could land the Pac-12 an average of five teams in the NCAA Tournament each year, according to previous regular-season results.

Basketball media rights are expected to rise in the near future. The Big 12 is considering selling its football and basketball packages as separate television deals in 2030. Commissioner Brett Yormark believes the conference has positioned itself into consideration as the strongest basketball product in the country after 70% of its members reached the NCAA men's basketball tournament last season.

 

[metsfan2323]

Obviously there are negatives to staying independent in FB and I'm sure university leadership are good with staying that way for now, but here are some of the negatives of UConn going to the PAC:

1. You are viewed with the company you keep and the new PAC is basically the old Mountain West with a few better sprinkled in.
2. There is no media deal yet signed, so no one even knows what you'd be getting into.
3. Travel/distance/Pacific time zones to deal with.
4. Nothing in common with any of the members; athletically, academically, culturally.
5. Reduced attraction for Eastern seaboard recruiting grounds.
6. You're locked in to a GOR and exit fee.
7. Reduced opponent flexibility due to conference commitments.

That's just some of the cons. There'd be cons to going into the Big12 or ACC, for instance, but they'd be much reduced and I'd imagine well worth it in the big picture.

IMO the only valid thing on this list is GOR exit fee. Hopefully AD DB has something better in the works because our current situation is awful.

 

[AidanFan20]

A few ramblings re: that Kings offer:

1) I think that's little more than a publicity move by the Kings, and I'd be very surprised if anything actually came of it. Their arena is pretty darned close to 100% booked now.

2) Golden1 is the nicest big arena I've ever been in, but it looks pretty empty when just a few thousand people are inside, which I see every year when I'm at the state HS finals. (I watched Aidan's Campolindo Cougars win the div. 2 state title in his freshman season!)

3) I doubt Sac State would get many more in there for their games, at least unless they play a bigtime opponent. BTW, the arena is set up so they can use only the lower bowl for such smaller events... I'd say the lower bowl seats 9-10k, not a bad seat in the place... But half-full it looks pretty empty.

4) Sac State's ancient on-campus gym seats 1000, imagine the culture shock if this were to happen!

 

[Kolumbo]

Obviously there are negatives to staying independent in FB and I'm sure university leadership are good with staying that way for now, but here are some of the negatives of UConn going to the PAC:

1. You are viewed with the company you keep and the new PAC is basically the old Mountain West with a few better sprinkled in.
2. There is no media deal yet signed, so no one even knows what you'd be getting into.
3. Travel/distance/Pacific time zones to deal with.
4. Nothing in common with any of the members; athletically, academically, culturally.
5. Reduced attraction for Eastern seaboard recruiting grounds.
6. You're locked in to a GOR and exit fee.
7. Reduced opponent flexibility due to conference commitments.

That's just some of the cons. There'd be cons to going into the Big12 or ACC, for instance, but they'd be much reduced and I'd imagine well worth it in the big picture.

I agree with just about all of this. #4, I have a little different opinion. Outside of geography I like many of these institutions. They may not be peers academically, but I think we have a lot in common athletically and culturally. Culturally, all large state universities with similar missions. Athletically, football is very much in line. Yes, we aspire to be much better but today we are peers. I would have no issue playing them in football every year. Of course I would prefer a line-up of say Pitt, WVU, NC State, Virginia Tech, Cincinnati, Louisville, Syracuse, etc. but the current PAC lineup seems very similar.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

Probably the right move for UConn.

Upsides and downsides to being in the P12 - I can see the admin deciding that the downsides weighed down the upside.

if it’s football only with minimal effect on maximizing ROI on BB
If there is no other offer on the table
No exit fee / penalty from the Big East
No long term GOR/ minimum exit fee from the PAC
Travel expense is only marginally increased
and we‘re guaranteed minimum $6 million a.year
Its hard to find a downside risk
One of the above issues is in play

I doubt he turned it.down without a concrete offer
I’m hoping is all sports less football to the B1G at 20-30%
A guaranteed 2-3 football games a year
and the possible back door future full membership if we continue to invest
UConn revenue could see a $20,000,000 increase from that offer

 

[shizzle787]

Here's another.... all but 2 future road trips are east of the Mississippi

View attachment 103928

We need to get a home and home with BC, Rutgers, and West Virginia.

 

[upstater]

From that story:

The Pac-12 is banking on Gonzaga improving its basketball product as it goes to market. The conference is aiming to solidify itself as the top multi-bid conference outside the power structure with eyes on supplanting the Big East as a power. The conference projects six of its members as Quad 1 programs. The new programs could land the Pac-12 an average of five teams in the NCAA Tournament each year, according to previous regular-season results.

Basketball media rights are expected to rise in the near future. The Big 12 is considering selling its football and basketball packages as separate television deals in 2030. Commissioner Brett Yormark believes the conference has positioned itself into consideration as the strongest basketball product in the country after 70% of its members reached the NCAA men's basketball tournament last season.

If these are indeed better teams, then they are about to find out what happens when the competition increases. For too long, the MWC and WCC have skated by inflating records against weak competition. This is why the MWC got 2x as many teams as the BE in the tournament, and then promptly underperformed.

 

[Blades]

We need to get a home and home with BC, Rutgers, and West Virginia.

Yep a new one with BC and I also heard Mora talking about a Virginia H & H series in a Chris Long podcast, IIRC.

 

[KryHavok]

Yep a new one with BC and I also heard Mora talking about a Virginia H & H series in a Chris Long podcast, IIRC.

I was just going to write Virginia as well...then that got me thinking of do we really want to give ACC refs multiple opportunities to throw targeting penalties at us.Still, it's a local-ish team and would make for a good matchup (I hope).

 

[Blades]

I was just going to write Virginia as well...do we really want to give ACC refs multiple opportunities to throw targeting penalties at us.

Yep can anyone say Jackson Mitchell last year....but the podcast was awhile back not sure what became of it.

 

[ZooCougar]

It's good to be the kings. nice to have friends who help you out. I bet they get a better deal than UConn gets in Hartford.

Sacramento Kings reportedly offer Golden 1 Center to Sac State basketball as part of Pac-12 push

The Golden 1 Center appears to be another carrot on the stick towards moving Sacramento State athletics up conferences.

www.cbsnews.com

Thank god for the deal in Hartford. That’s one of the reasons the state funds us so well and we have one of the highest total revenues in the G5.

 

[freescooter]

If these are indeed better teams, then they are about to find out what happens when the competition increases. For too long, the MWC and WCC have skated by inflating records against weak competition. This is why the MWC got 2x as many teams as the BE in the tournament, and then promptly underperformed.

The PAC is looking to become the de facto P5 in all sports. It looks like it is shaping up to be the ACC west ( before the ACC added Pacific Coast teams) in its approach. Solid if not spectacular football and very good basketball. The football side doesn’t have an FSU or Clemson, but it does have teams that are potentially top 25 most years as well as a potential CFP invite occasionally. In some ways they are the Big East after Miami and VaTech left.

On the basketball side they are a 3-6 bid league every year. Wouldn’t be a shock to see San Diego State emerge as the second real power program in that league. They are pretty close now. One wonders how deep they would have gone last year if they hadn’t met UConn in the sweet 16.

 

[Urcea]

From that story:

The Pac-12 is banking on Gonzaga improving its basketball product as it goes to market. The conference is aiming to solidify itself as the top multi-bid conference outside the power structure with eyes on supplanting the Big East as a power. The conference projects six of its members as Quad 1 programs. The new programs could land the Pac-12 an average of five teams in the NCAA Tournament each year, according to previous regular-season results.

Basketball media rights are expected to rise in the near future. The Big 12 is considering selling its football and basketball packages as separate television deals in 2030. Commissioner Brett Yormark believes the conference has positioned itself into consideration as the strongest basketball product in the country after 70% of its members reached the NCAA men's basketball tournament last season.

I don't really envision the Big East being able to do much to stop this group. We absolutely have to find a life raft (as if we haven't been trying the last dozen years)

 

[UConnTrumbull]

I don't really envision the Big East being able to do much to stop this group. We absolutely have to find a life raft (as if we haven't been trying the last dozen years)

The new PAC, in basketball, has one great program (Gonzaga) and one good program (SDSU). The others had a nice year or two run recently. But come on, Boise State, Utah State, Colorado State are far from annual tournament participants. Last year's Mountain West was perfectly mediocre which got them a bunch of bids.

Big East definitely needs Nova to get back to being relevant and GTown/DePaul to stop being historically terrible. But I don't think the new PAC is threatening the Big East long term in basketball.