Category: College sports

The University of Arizona’s departure from the Pac-12 appears to be imminent.

It became increasingly evident throughout Thursday evening that Arizona will be leaving the Pac-12 and joining the Big 12. On Thursday night, ESPN’s Pete Thamel was the first to report that Arizona was “in deep discussions with the Big 12 about joining the league.”

A little while after Thamel’s initial report, Ross Dellenger of Yahoo reported that the Big 12 met Thursday “to approve the application of Arizona as a 14th member.” After that, the only step that would need to be taken is a vote of approval by Arizona’s Board of Regents. That Board of Regents met on Thursday evening, which included discussions on “possible legal advice and discussion regarding university athletics.”

While it is currently unclear what the ultimate decision will be, Pete Thamel reported earlier this week that if Arizona were to leave the conference, Arizona State and Utah would likely leave the Pac-12 as well.

The three schools were expected to stick together through the decision-making process. In his most recent report on Thursday night, Thamel reports that “Arizona State and Utah have been more conservative in their approach, but sources said the tenor on that has changed recently with the flurry of events.”

Once Arizona officially departs from the Pac-12 for the Big 12, it will become the second conference member to do so in just over a week. Colorado previously announced its decision to move to the Big 12 on July 27. The Pac-12 also saw Southern California and UCLA decide to move to the Big Ten, starting in July of 2024.

Arizona’s departure is also likely to set off the final wave of conference realignment, which includes current Pac-12 member institutions in what will likely also effectively end the conference, at least as college football fans have come to know it.

With Arizona State’s and Utah’s potential departures close behind Arizona’s, the Big Ten is also exploring the possibilities of adding the University of Oregon and the University of Washington. However, there is not expected to be any imminent movement with either university or within the Big Ten.

While trying to manage its realignment woes, the Pac-12 and its commissioner, George Kliavkoff, are also trying to put the finishing touches on a new media rights deal in hopes of saving the conference. Unfortunately for the Pac-12 and Kliavkoff, time may not be on their side.

While the Pac-12 looks to finish its next media deal and the Big 12 looks to finish its conference expansion. The Big Ten has been exploring its own options.

According to a report from Dan Wetzel of Yahoo, four Big Ten presidents have had “exploratory” conversations regarding potential conference expansion. College Sports Wire went further in-depth on the reports regarding the Big Ten’s possible expansion.

In his report, Dan Wetzel notes that the Big Ten is exploring the potential options of expanding to 18 or 20-member institutions. The conference currently holds 14 member institutions and will have 16 members next July following the additions of Southern California and UCLA.

The programs being evaluated in these exploratory conversations include the University of Oregon, the University of Washington, the University of California-Berkeley, and Stanford University. Notably, Oregon and Washington would be the two institutions first targeted, while Cal and Stanford would be potential options for expansion to 20 member institutions.

The Big Ten, however, is not in a rush to make any decisions as the conference does not want to be responsible for delivering “the final destructive blow” to the Pac-12, as Wetzel put it in his report. Though the conference’s poaching of Southern California and UCLA certainly has played a significant role in the Pac-12’s potential collapse.

Beyond the Pac-12, Brett McMurphy of Action Network has reported that the Big Ten is also closely monitoring the ACC and its universities.

Beyond the Big Ten looking to expand potentially, notable other headlines include the Pac-12 approaching NBC multiple times over the last year regarding the conference’s media deal, an experienced Big Ten safety entering the transfer portal, and more from the College Wires.

On Tuesday, Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff held a highly anticipated meeting with the conference’s nine remaining universities regarding a potential media rights deal. 

Coming out of that meeting on Tuesday, no agreement has been made, but details have surfaced regarding the deal itself.

ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported that the media deal discussed was primarily built around Apple TV streaming, including “incentivized tiers, which would give it a strong upside if certain subscription numbers are met.”

Of course, the problem with an Apple TV streaming-based media deal would be incentivizing fans enough to pay for a streaming deal.

Currently, Apple TV carries the MLS season pass on their platform, which currently runs $79 a season for Apple TV+ subscribers and $99 a season for non-Apple TV+ subscribers. The MLS season pass recently saw a massive increase in subscribers when soccer superstar Lionel Messi signed with Inter Miami.

However, it would seem unlikely that a similar incentive would appear for college football fans to subscribe to a potential Pac-12 package. Without such an incentive, would college football fans be willing to pay a subscription fee to watch Pac-12 football?

Nonetheless, Thamel also reported on ESPN Tuesday afternoon that Kliavkoff made it known that with potential subscriber numbers, the television deal could surpass the Big 12’s revenue numbers of $31.7 million per year per school. On the flip side, a failure to miss specific subscriber numbers could mean disaster for the remaining Pac-12 programs.

Will school presidents be comfortable agreeing to a deal primarily based on projections? That’s the central question coming out of Tuesday’s meetings.

There does appear to be hope for the Pac-12 as insider John Canzano reported that the conference board meeting was “positive” and that his source included “the phrase ‘excited and aligned.”

For the Pac-12, getting a television rights deal done sooner than later will be pivotal for creating stability in the conference.

Last week, the University of Colorado announced its departure from the conference following this season. At the same time, Southern California and UCLA are headed to the Big Ten following the 2023-2024 academic calendar.

There is also uncertainty surrounding the trio of Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah. Thamel reported on Monday evening that the trio of universities are expected to stick together, whether that is to stay in the Pac-12 or move to the Big 12. The Arizona Board of Regents also met Tuesday evening, though what was discussed in that meeting remains unclear.

Overall, Tuesday’s media deal presentation for the Pac-12 is a step in the right direction for the conference, but plenty of work remains ahead for Kliavkoff and the conference.

Check out the other top stories on Wednesday from around the College Wire network:

It is a massive day in the future of the Pac-12.

On Monday, it was first reported by college football insider John Canzano and confirmed by Stewart Mandel of The Athletic that Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff will be presenting a television rights deal to the conference’s nine remaining schools.

Additionally, the Arizona Board of Regents, which oversees both Arizona and Arizona State, has scheduled a 3:30 p.m. meeting on Tuesday afternoon. It is currently unclear what that meeting is regarding.

The television rights presentation will play a pivotal role in shaping the landscape of college football amid conference realignment and expansion.

In addition to that, ESPN’s Pete Thamel released an article on ESPN on Monday that takes a look at potential future conference realignment ongoings. One hint Thamel gave on Twitter was that Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah could “band together in solidarity” regarding their respective futures. Other reports, including one from ESPN Radio’s Ian Fitzsimmons, report that Utah “isn’t exactly returning the phone calls.”

What will ultimately happen with Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah remains to be seen. Still, the Pac-12 media rights deal that is being presented on Tuesday will certainly have a significant impact on those three universities and their future decisions.

If those three universities were to leave the conference, only six universities would remain in the conference. Those universities would be Cal, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, Washington, and Washington State.

Colorado previously announced last week their departure for the Big 12 starting in July of 2024, while Southern California and UCLA will both leave for the Big Ten next July as well.

If those three schools were to leave, however, the Pac-12 would have plenty of options to choose from in conference expansion. According to college sports insider Jim Williams, who is a columnist for multiple outlets including Forbes and Zenger, the Pac-12 has received paperwork from nearly a dozen universities looking to potentially join the conference.

The Maxwell Award Watch List for the 2023 college football season has been released.

On Monday, the Maxwell Football Club released its annual watch list of 60+ student-athletes nationwide. The award is presented annually to the best player in college football and is given out at the ESPN College Football Awards Show every December. It

Last season, USC’s Caleb Williams won the award, giving USC their fourth winner ever but first in nearly 40 years. Williams joined a trio of Trojan running backs, O.J. Simpson, Charles White, and Marcus Allen.

USC’s four winners are tied with Navy and Texas for the fourth most of any college football program. Ahead of those three is Alabama with five, while Penn State and Notre Dame are tied for first with seven winners all-time.

Williams, this fall, will look to become just the third player all-time to win the award twice. Previously, Notre Dame’s Johnny Lattner and Florida’s Tim Tebow won the award twice in their collegiate careers.

On this year’s preseason watch list, notable names include Arkansas quarterback KJ Jefferson, Clemson running back Will Shipley, Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders, Florida State QB Jordan Travis, Georgia tight end Brock Bowers, LSU QB Jayden Janis, Michigan QB and RB combo J.J.McCarthy and Blake Corum.

Also included are Heisman contenders such as North Carolina QB Drake Maye, Notre Dame QB Sam Hartman, and USC QB Caleb Williams. The complete list is on the Maxwell Football Club’s official website.

The Maxwell Football Club also presents the Chuck Bednarik Award, which is annually given out to the best defensive player in College Football.

The Pac-12’s slow and painful collapse continued on Wednesday evening as the University of Colorado is finalizing a move from the Pac-12 back to the Big 12.  Action Network’s Brett McMurphy first reported the news. The university previously was part of the Big 12 from 1996 through 2010 before joining the Pac-12 in 2011.

The news is just the latest troubling news for the Pac-12 under Commissioner George Kliavkoff. Hired to bring stability to the conference, the Pac-12 has only continued to fall into instability.

The conference has previously seen Southern California and UCLA decide to leave the program for the Big Ten following this upcoming season but also saw a failure to add San Diego State to the conference after the conference could not complete its next media deal before the beginning of July.

As of July 27, discussions regarding the media deal continue, with Commissioner George Kliavkoff telling the media, “The longer we wait for the media deal, the better our options get.”

While that certainly could be true, the longer the Pac-12 waits, the more trouble the conference may ultimately find itself in.

The Big 12 and their commissioner, Brett Yormark, have been very transparent that they will look to continue to expand the conference, and the Pac-12 could once again be the conference that suffers. With Colorado in the mix, the Big 12 could target other programs in the Pac-12, such as Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah.

Of course, other programs within the Pac-12 could be on their way out for greener pastures, including Oregon, Washington, and Stanford. This leads to the next portion of today’s roundup.

The Big Ten’s first day of media days got underway on Wednesday morning as the conference prepares for this upcoming season.

It will be an eventful two days of media day both from an on and off-the-field perspective.

On the field, Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State look like potential College Football Playoff contenders this fall. In contrast, schools like Wisconsin and Michigan State are looking for bounce-back seasons after struggling in 2022.

Off the field, Northwestern’s David Braun will speak for the first time since becoming the interim head coach of the Wildcats following Pat Fitzgerald’s firing. Additionally, Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh is likely facing a four-game suspension for this upcoming season; we’ll have more below.

While the Big Ten does not have an official media poll, Cleveland.com has conducted its own for the last 13 years. The poll takes votes from 37 writers, with at least one beat writer for each program.

The poll results show that Michigan is the overwhelming favorite to win the Big Ten East and the Big Ten championship for a third straight season.

The Wolverines earned 27 first-place votes in the East division in the poll. Ohio State received eight, and Penn State received two. Maryland, Michigan State, Rutgers, and Indiana rounded out the Big Ten East projected standings.

In the West, Wisconsin totaled 20 first-place votes, Iowa earned 16 from writers, while Minnesota was the only other Big Ten West school to nab a first-place vote. Those three schools would finish first, second, and third in the projected standings, with Illinois, Nebraska, Purdue, and Northwestern filling out the rest of the division.