Rothstein: OSU and WSU in discussions to join MW for basketball in 24/25

[shizzle787]

 

[WrenchFan69]

Would imagine they'd be joining for all sports except possibly football. They need to maintain membership in a 2 team PAC to retain the assets? Though I thought the NCAA had a problem with football-only FBS conferences? Who knows

 

[Rufus]

San Diego State's dream was to be in the same conference as Oregon State and Washington State. Dreams do come true!

 

[JohnFSilver]

Would imagine they'd be joining for all sports except possibly football. They need to maintain membership in a 2 team PAC to retain the assets? Though I thought the NCAA had a problem with football-only FBS conferences? Who knows

Why does the ncaa have the right to tell schools how to affiliate?

 

[Kolumbo]

I would think if they join for all sports, football would have to join too. So instead, they could join basketball only with the reaon being, the PAC 2 doesn't sponsor basketball. This way they can tango with the MWC while keeping their PAC 2 millions/billions.

 

[businesslawyer]

The best thing for us is for OSU and WSU to keep the Pac Ten name, history and prestige, and put together a football only conference (which, as football only, would be national in scope). In trying to keep prestige, and status ahead of MWC and the American as the fifth best conference, you would start with as many schools who were from power conferences at one point as you could. That means us and USF. And then you hope that'e enough to cherry pick nationally the best of the other G-however many conferences to get to 8. It might be a more attractive place for Army and Navy than the American if there is an Eastern half of UConn, USF, Army and Navy (maybe and Temple) so only a few games a year require long travel.

If that requires a rule change from the NCAA, not sure the power schools would have an issue and they might feel enough guilt as to WSU and OSU not to need to bother to interfere with it.

 

[mike012]

The only problem for usf temple and possibly Memphis is where do you put your other sports. The American won’t take those as bball only. Only luck we had in conference realignment so far is big east bb stayed strong and welcomed us back.

 

[NowInStorrs]

The best thing for us is for OSU and WSU to keep the Pac Ten name, history and prestige, and put together a football only conference (which, as football only, would be national in scope). In trying to keep prestige, and status ahead of MWC and the American as the fifth best conference, you would start with as many schools who were from power conferences at one point as you could. That means us and USF. And then you hope that'e enough to cherry pick nationally the best of the other G-however many conferences to get to 8. It might be a more attractive place for Army and Navy than the American if there is an Eastern half of UConn, USF, Army and Navy (maybe and Temple) so only a few games a year require long travel.

If that requires a rule change from the NCAA, not sure the power schools would have an issue and they might feel enough guilt as to WSU and OSU not to need to bother to interfere with it.

Washington State, Oregon State, SDSU, Boise State, UConn, Memphis, USF... and then maybe when the ACC falls apart, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, SMU. (Boston College adds nothing so they can go hang out with UMass) Grab Vanderbilt if they get booted from the SEC. That kind of thing.

 

[businesslawyer]

The only problem for usf temple and possibly Memphis is where do you put your other sports. The American won’t take those as bball only. Only luck we had in conference realignment so far is big east bb stayed strong and welcomed us back.

The A Ten would take Temple back in a heartbeat. Might take the others as well. Missouri Valley can always take Memphis. There are a bunch of Southern conferences that don't play FBS football to take USF (and USF would drop basketball to improve its football program).

With the possible exception of Temple, we are the only school without a good home that wouldn't give up basketball entirely if it meant a good home for football.

 

[AllHusky]

The only problem for usf temple and possibly Memphis is where do you put your other sports. The American won’t take those as bball only. Only luck we had in conference realignment so far is big east bb stayed strong and welcomed us back.

Yes, "dance with who brung ya". The Big East was good for us pre AAC and post AAC.

As Biz Law, myself and a myriad of others have said, you have to

1. Bite the bullet and fund football through the State, University and Donors comparable to P4 levels
2. Compete like heck
3. Pray that in a decade(or less!!??) we have a landing spot and a piece of the pie.

Anything less is just a waste of time and money

 

[Patman]

Why does the ncaa have the right to tell schools how to affiliate?

Because they set the rules involving conference rights and privileges.

You do understand the NCAA is a member run organization, yes?

 

[Ldandy]

Multiple schools across the country aren’t going to go through the financial and administrative burden of leaving their current homes to align with Wazzu and OSU. This isn’t joining The Big 12. There is no money in this.

The PAC 2 need somewhere to stash all of their teams while they try to soak up any exit fees and remaining dollars on The current PAC 12 Deal. When those dollars dry up they’ll either join The MWC or The MWC will join them in a rebranded PAC. I could see a minimal revenue bump to top G5 Money.

In terms of UConn I would see if I could get H&H signed with each PAC Member for a few years and wait for The ACC to implode. Joining the ACC Schools left behind supplemented by a select handful of eastern programs makes the most sense.

 

[KryHavok]

The best thing for us is for OSU and WSU to keep the Pac Ten name, history and prestige, and put together a football only conference (which, as football only, would be national in scope)... That means us and USF. And then you hope that'e enough to cherry pick nationally the best of the other G-however many conferences to get to 8. It might be a more attractive place for Army and Navy than the American if there is an Eastern half of UConn, USF, Army and Navy (maybe and Temple) so only a few games a year require long travel.

I like this concept; create a coast to coast conference with some academically rigorous schools that have strong athletics.

The pessimist in me arhued that OSU and WSU got shafted by a Huskies program in UW, so they'll look to exclude us even though we have the much better mascot and can deliver the NY/NE market.

 

[ZooCougar]

The A Ten would take Temple back in a heartbeat. Might take the others as well. Missouri Valley can always take Memphis. There are a bunch of Southern conferences that don't play FBS football to take USF (and USF would drop basketball to improve its football program).

With the possible exception of Temple, we are the only school without a good home that wouldn't give up basketball entirely if it meant a good home for football.

Its ridiculous that the NCAA won’t allow football only conferences.

 

[aceboon]

so Kyle Smith has been doing a good job rebuilding WSU and now he's right back in the WCC conference, brutal

 

[How Sway?!]

so Kyle Smith has been doing a good job rebuilding WSU and now he's right back in the WCC conference, brutal

DePaul should give Kyle smith the bag.

 

[CL82]

so Kyle Smith has been doing a good job rebuilding WSU and now he's right back in the WCC conference, brutal

Cool. I hope Dave is on the phone looking for football home and aways.

 

[Stinger92860]

Cool. I hope Dave is on the phone looking for football home and aways.

I first read this as a looking for a football home. Lol, UConn to the PAC

 

[Vowelguy]

I don’t understand what they are doing.

I guess if you’ve decided you’re not going to be in a conference for the next 2 years then this is a decent short-term solution — better than the MW.

But I question the initial premise of waiting 2 years to settle their status.

The PAC had brand value that they should’ve tried to save. Reviving the PAC in 2 years will be too late.

 

[Rufus]

I don’t understand what they are doing.

I guess if you’ve decided you’re not going to be in a conference for the next 2 years then this is a decent short-term solution — better than the MW.

But I question the initial premise of waiting 2 years to settle their status.

The PAC had brand value that they should’ve tried to save. Reviving the PAC in 2 years will be too late.

The article mentioned ongoing legal issues with the other PAC schools as the primary reason this decision was made. Perhaps they join the MW after this two-year agreement, or the MW teams join a new PAC-12. The dust should be settled by then on any legal issues.

 

[shizzle787]

I don’t understand what they are doing.

I guess if you’ve decided you’re not going to be in a conference for the next 2 years then this is a decent short-term solution — better than the MW.

But I question the initial premise of waiting 2 years to settle their status.

The PAC had brand value that they should’ve tried to save. Reviving the PAC in 2 years will be too late.

I understand exactly what they are doing. They are stalling to give themselves time to rebuild the Pac-12 with the top half of the MW and sone AAC schools. They are only joining as affiliates and keeping the rights to the Pac-12 name legally. This gives them time to finalize everything with the 10 departing Pac-12 schools and give the MW and AAC schools time to get the lowest possible exit fee.

 

[HartbeatHusky]

I understand exactly what they are doing. They are stalling to give themselves time to rebuild the Pac-12 with the top half of the MW and sone AAC schools. They are only joining as affiliates and keeping the rights to the Pac-12 name legally. This gives them time to finalize everything with the 10 departing Pac-12 schools and give the MW and AAC schools time to get the lowest possible exit fee.

Exactly. It's very likely going to work too. Boise, SDSU, Colorado St., Tulane, Memphis, and USF are probably packing their bags now.

 

[Patman]

I don’t understand what they are doing.

I guess if you’ve decided you’re not going to be in a conference for the next 2 years then this is a decent short-term solution — better than the MW.

But I question the initial premise of waiting 2 years to settle their status.

The PAC had brand value that they should’ve tried to save. Reviving the PAC in 2 years will be too late.

the football side has immediate playoff access if they do well enough

 

[WestCoastHusky]

I understand exactly what they are doing. They are stalling to give themselves time to rebuild the Pac-12 with the top half of the MW and sone AAC schools. They are only joining as affiliates and keeping the rights to the Pac-12 name legally. This gives them time to finalize everything with the 10 departing Pac-12 schools and give the MW and AAC schools time to get the lowest possible exit fee.

That's exactly what they are doing. In the end, they will rebuild the PAC-12 with new schools while keeping the PAC-12 brand. It is the best option going forward under the current circumstances.

 

[shizzle787]

Though I think they are going to try to rebuild the Pac-12, we should be rooting for them to stay in the WCC long-term and stay an independent in football. That would be two November football games for us as part of home and home series. In the mean time (with Army likely dropping us for 2025), we should try to get these two on the schedule for 2025 to round out that year's football schedule.