Pac 12 Kicking Expansion Tires

[zamzman]

Oregon and Washington get butts in seats and that is pretty much it, right?

Utah I guess?

Oregon, Washington, and Utah are pretty well respected academic schools. Actually, Fresno State is a lot better than I gave them credit for. It might be an option to add them to the Pac-X since they may want more California schools. Adding Boise State on the other hand would be solely for football.

 

[schuele]

Oregon and Washington get butts in seats and that is pretty much it, right?

Utah I guess?

The Oregon and Utah fanbases do a pretty good job of consistently supporting football and basketball. Washington does okay for football, and Arizona has a very large and loyal BB fan base.

For pretty much all the other programs, fans will take interest if the team happens to be surprisingly good. They are otherwise dwarfed by the pro teams in their area.

If I was running the Pac-12, I would beg Gonzaga to join. Even without football, the Zags are a bigger get than SMU or SDSU.

 

[moralvictories]

The Oregon and Utah fanbases do a pretty good job of consistently supporting football and basketball. Washington does okay for football, and Arizona has a very large and loyal BB fan base.

For pretty much all the other programs, fans will take interest if the team happens to be surprisingly good. They are otherwise dwarfed by the pro teams in their area.

If I was running the Pac-12, I would beg Gonzaga to join. Even without football, the Zags are a bigger get than SMU or SDSU.

If for no other reason, they should get Gonzaga before the Big 12 does. The Big 12 already has expressed interest in getting Gonzaga as a basketball only member.

 

[Dean Pope]

The systemic problem is, as Brett McMurphy stated, ESPN and Fox have given up on the Western third of the United States regarding college football because no one cares, no one watches, stadiums are empty (UCLA and USC included) and that trend is increasing fast. The sports media have pushed all their chips to the center of the table, and the bet is on the Southeast as being the final stand of college football. Actually, it damn near already is.

This may not be all that far off. College football isn't the same product that I fell in love with many years ago. I think the next 10 years will bring more changes, probably for the worse.

 

[tampa husker]

The pac 12 and big 12 need to join to maximize their value.

Oregon and UW are in a tough spot - they are big ten quality but don’t move the needle financially. They needed to partner with USC and UCLA in order to make it financially worthwhile for the BIG to take them

Why would USC and UCLA want Oregon and Washington to follow them? Why would Nebraska? We already have their main recruiting area with USC and UCLA and they don’t increase payouts.

Nebraska could sell recruits in California to play there in a bigten over either UO/UW in a weakened G5 conference. But you add those schools then Nebraska loses those same players. Any Nebraska fan that wants those schools in bigten doesn’t understand recruiting or CFB very well. Cut them off from new P2 and Nebraska will eventually reap the benefits.