Six months after I wrote that the Pac-12 was in serious trouble, the conference is dead.
Cause of death: Internal stupidity, persistent incompetence, and others’ opportunism.
Full disclosure before I go any further: I’ve been a Pac-12 fan my entire life. I was born into a USC household before going on to attend Arizona State. The Pac-12, for better or (mostly) worse, has been my home for 20-plus years.
Who could forget Reggie Bush, THE most electric player I’ve ever seen in college football?
Who could forget Stanford’s record-breaking 2007 upset over USC that signaled the end of the Trojan dynasty? Tavita Pritchard to the moon.
Who could forget the legend of Jacquizz Rodgers?
Who could forget the Jael-Mary?
Who could forget, “THE BAND IS ON THE FIELD!”?
Pac-12 After Dark?
It’s nothing more than memory for a conference that will cease to exist after this upcoming academic year.
Ultimately, multiple things are true at the same time: I am thrilled that my school, reluctance and administrative ignorance aside, is onboard the realignment train; I am also incredibly sad that the Pac-12 has gone by the wayside.
Let’s be honest, though. The second-most popular sport in America was never going to escape greedy capitalism, the most inherently American nationalistic trait of them all.
Everyone could see it – Fox and ESPN were driving the conference realignment locomotive to maximize their own television revenues and returns. It just looks like those running the Pac-12 were not included in ‘everyone.’
The Pac-12’s Road to Oblivion
It’s old news that the Pac-12 CEOs were a wrinkly gaggle of incompetent flesh, but their approach to negotiations for a new media deal were simply asinine. Demanding $50 million per school, per year, moments after rejecting the exact deal the corner schools eventually bolted for, is almost unbelievable.
Except, those conference leaders have proven time-and-time again that even the poorest, most impossibly short-sighted decisions can be completely routine.
This dates back to Larry Scott’s hiring as Pac-12 commissioner in 2009. In the 15-or-so years since then, the conference has spent irresponsible amounts of money on a cushy Bay Area HQ, refused the opportunity to add Texas, Oklahoma, and others, and launched a pricey television network with no outside partners and little distribution.
Oh, and while all that was going on, Scott was making far more than any other conference commissioner. Millions more.
To make matters worse, Scott’s replacement, George Kliavkoff, came in and continued to reassure schools that a new media deal was coming. As other, less forward-thinking institutions sat around and waited, USC and UCLA saw the writing on the wall and left for the Big Ten.
The conference continued to use local media to try and keep the conference together and alive, but a deal still hadn’t come.
After over a year of more waiting and countless moved timetables, Kliavkoff’s streaming proposal backed by Apple was turned down from the outset, and remaining members finally woke up to the idea that there was no way for the conference to survive in its current iteration.
In many ways, the Pac-12 was a ship doomed to sink. It was a matter of when, not if. It still doesn’t make the actual sinking any less shocking.
ESPN and Fox Don’t Play Ball
The television networks raised eyebrows by committing to increase their investment in order to add Pac-12 schools to their media portfolios.
Fox committed to paying Oregon and Washington out of pocket to make up for additional travel expenses, and ESPN’s pro rata agreement increases incrementally with every school added.
So, it is logical to ask the question: If Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, and Colorado add so much value as individual brands, how is it not worth it to keep them together under one west-coast roof?
My read is that Fox and ESPN were sick and tired of the Pac-12 CEOs, their entitlement, and quite frankly, their bullshit.
ESPN came in with the same $30 million + offer the Big 12 accepted, and the Pac-12 responded by asking for $50 million. Rightfully, ESPN told the Pac to kick rocks. In any business, you just don’t work with someone with that level of hubris.
In the end, I believe the networks were much more willing to add valuable individuals to conferences with which they already had positive working relationships. In the networks’ eyes, it was about time for the incompetent old-heads running the Pac-12 to eat crow.
Yes, that was 100% aimed at ASU President Michael Crow, who is one of the primary culprits of the conference’s collapse, and even attempted to convince other members to go down with the ship at the eleventh hour rather than jump to a new conference.
*NOTE TO BIG 12 FANS: ASU fans and alumni dislike our administration just the same as you do. We’ve been dealing with them forever. Please don’t punish us for their misdeeds.
What’s Next?
Who knows? Florida State and Clemson (and likely many others) want out of the ACC, Stanford and Cal are trying to bully their way into another power conference, Oregon State and Washington State are just floating out there on a life raft, and SMU is out here offering to play for free in exchange for power conference membership.
And that’s just the stuff we know about.
Ultimately, though, I believe college athletics will be fine. College football isn’t going anywhere.
Conference realignment is nothing new. It’s surprising, but people have already forgotten that the Big East was once a powerful football conference, that Nebraska was in the Big 12, or even that Virginia Tech and Miami haven’t been in the ACC all that long.
Realignment is just part of the reality of college sports and the way they’re set up. Sure, I’ll miss old rivalries, but I’m excited for new ones.
We get to see BYU and Utah play every year. That’s awesome.
ASU and Texas Tech will contest the Tortilla Bowl every year. That’s awesome.
Arizona and Kansas State will, for their nicknames alone, forge a contentious battle. That’s awesome.
We can sit and whine and complain about it all we want, but the reality is that this realignment is here and it’s happening. Nothing we can do about it as fans in the face of television’s multi-millions.
I definitely lament the past, but I’m incredibly excited for the future. No matter what, though, I’ll be pouring one out for the Pac-12.
Follow Nick Hedges on Twitter @nicktrimshedges and Instagram @nicktrimshedges