Good evening ladies and gents. As I sat here thinking of a blog to write, an obvious choice was a preview of tomorrow’s Vikings vs Eagles game, but I think I’ll leave that for Jack to handle tomorrow. Instead, I’m going to go into why I think the Pac-12 schools should all back out of their agreements and re-establish a future for the Conference of Champions.
The Pac has been around for 64 years, and even with all of that rich history, this year is undeniably the peak of the conference. Currently, eight of the 12 teams are nationally ranked, which is the most out of any conference (the second place being the SEC with only five). So, why in the world would anybody want to disband this electric factory while it’s still in production?
It’s widely known that the reason for schools leaving the Pac are the TV deals and the higher publicity they will get in other conferences. The proposed Apple TV deal simply wasn’t going to cut it, and I completely get that. I mean, how can you expect millions of old heads to know how to navigate their way to and through a streaming service when they can’t figure out how to get to their camera from their phone’s lock screen? Without fail, old heads will unlock their phones and swipe through pages for minutes, forgetting where their camera app is, instead of just pressing the little camera icon that’s at the bottom right corner of their lock screen every damn time they turn their phone on. Expecting them to figure out streaming services is like banking on a blind man to solve a Rubik’s Cube. It just won’t happen.
Phew, now that I’ve got that little rant off my chest, let’s dive into the current problem with the TV deals. Outside of the Pac-12, the remaining four Power Five conferences have deals through at least 2030, most of which were renewed in the past two years. Of course, all of those deals are with the major broadcasting programs (ESPN, CBS, FOX, NBC), which left the Pac-12 stranded with no other option besides streaming services. So, you’d probably think that those other conferences pull heavier viewership, thus bringing in more money than the Pac ever could. To that, I present you with this stat of the week:
This makes the Pac-12 look like the star of one of those fake gold digger videos on YouTube. You know what I’m talking about…the ones where a guy gets rejected when asking for a hot girl’s number, only to have her start swooning over him when he goes over to his Lambo and starts revving the engine.
Yup, those are the videos. For my analogy though, the Pac-12 would be “Hooman” and the women with big booties would be USC, Boulder, and the other six schools that decided to leave the conference. Also, instead of “Is this your car? I love Ferraris!”, it would be “Are these your viewership numbers? I love nothing more than money!”
Sorry, it’s been a long day, but now that that odd analogy is finally over, we can move onto how the Pac-12 could possibly be saved. Now, I know nothing about the contracts that these schools have made, nor what it would mean if either side were to back out of said deals, but for shits and gigs let’s just say it’s a possibility that schools or broadcasting networks could back out of their agreements with little hassle.
As I said before, the other four out of the Power Five conferences are all in contract through 2030 at a minimum. So, if the Pac-12 schools were to break their new agreements and return to the Pac, they’d have to survive for seven more seasons without major TV deals. This option could prove fruitful with the rise of streaming services if the adult population becomes more adept at navigating said services, but you already know where my thoughts on that stand.
The second option, which in my opinion is far better and more likely, would be for a broadcasting network to back out of their deal with a conference to cash in on the future of the Pac-12. Now, the question is, what broadcasting network would back out of a partnership, and since many networks have partnerships with multiple conferences, which conference would they replace with the Pac-12?
The ACC is the easy answer.
The BIG Ten and SEC have new deals starting this year, where their schools will earn an estimated $67 and $51 million per year. The ACC, which agreed to a deal with ESPN back in 2016 and is under contract through 2036, is reportedly bringing in between $37.9 to $41.3 million per school, which is fourth best in the Power Five for earnings (Pac-12 is fifth).
So, the schools are upset that they aren’t making enough dough, and from a network’s perspective, I’d argue that the Pac-12 has more attractive schools when it comes to college football. Sure, the ACC has Florida State, Clemson, and Miami, but USC, Washington, Oregon, Utah; not to mention Colorado with Coach Prime and the three other ranked schools, heavily outweigh the talent in the ACC.
When it comes to basketball, the Pac can put up a fight, but the ACC has historically been better and pulled more viewership over the past 20 years. So, what if there was a way that ESPN and the ACC could reach an agreement to pull out of their contract when it comes to football, but keep their deal in place when basketball season rolls around? That way, the ACC would escape their deal that they’d be stuck in for the next 13 seasons, while having security when it comes to their most valuable asset, which is basketball.
If ESPN were to do this, it would also combat the main complaints people are presenting about the rearrangement of conferences. Historical rivalries will be preserved, traditions will be kept, and students wouldn’t have to travel absurd distances to compete in athletics. As a fan, I don’t really care about that last one, but rivalries are at the heart of college sports, and these rearrangements will stop some of them from happening. Conferences are getting so large that schools can’t play everyone in their division each year, and with schools leaving to go to other conferences, some rivalries will be lost for good.
Now, as I said early on in this train of thought that formed an article, this is all hypothetical, and I have no idea what I’m talking about or what all goes into these network deals. That being said, I hope I am right and the Conference of Champions will be saved. I just can’t stand to see it go, and I don’t want to picture Bill Walton crying over it, or else I’ll tear up too.
Ok, it’s happening, so I gotta end the article here. Let us know your thoughts in the comments, follow us on Twitter/X @A2ZSportsTakes, and check back in tomorrow for a great article from Jack!