Tag: Pac-12 realignment

College Sports Roundup: Cal and Stanford’s futures, Johnny Manziel documentary, and more from the College Wires

Cal and Stanford’s futures remain uncertain after the Pac-12’s collapse, a Johnny Manziel documentary is being released this week, and more from the College Wires.

After an eventful Friday that changed the college sports landscape forever, only four schools remain in the Pac-12 Conference.

With Oregon and Washington leaving for the Big Ten while the trio Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah leaving for the Big 12, California, Stanford, Oregon State, and Washington State remain in the Pac-12.

The future of those four institutions and their athletic departments are much different than they were just a few days ago.

What does the future hold for these four universities and their athletic departments? That’s one of the major questions coming out of the recent conference realignment.

Oregon State and Washington State perhaps have the most straightforward answers.

Joining the Mountain West Conference, while not ideal, could make plenty of sense. While it would still mean a sizeable cut in television revenue and other sources of revenue sharing, both universities would have a chance for immediate success, especially in football. There’s also a possibility that they could receive an invite from the Big 12, albeit likely while having to take a smaller cut of the conference’s revenue sharing.

Cal and Stanford, however, are in much more complex situations. Beyond an athletics standpoint, both schools are highly proud academic institutions. Joining the Mountain West from an academic perspective may not appeal to either university. Additionally, for both schools, football, despite being a revenue sport, is not a priority; their priorities beyond education are often Olympic sports.

For example, the Stanford athletic department has historically been one of the best athletic departments in the country for most of the last 30 years. Since the first Directors’ Cup was awarded in 1993, Stanford, thanks to the success of Cardinal Olympic sports, has won 26 Directors’ Cups. For Stanford, Cardinal football is simply a tool to generate the financial capital to fund their successful Olympic sports programs.

Cal faces many of the same challenges that Stanford does. Their revenue sports have had little recent success, while their non-revenue sports tend to have greater success on the field. Of course, the ability to field other successful programs is limited without football.

With the Pac-12’s collapse, both schools likely would’ve preferred to be invited to the Big Ten as well. Right now, that does not appear likely, though it shouldn’t be ruled out in future realignment. Moving to the Mountain West would probably be the easiest. Still, it would require both institutions to be willing to “associate” with universities that are very different academically.

Could they go independent? The answer is certainly not for Cal, but it would be much more financially feasible for Stanford. The final option would be to limit the expenses that football would cost the universities by either dropping the football programs to the FCS level or completely shutting the programs down. However, that would also mean losing a great deal of athletic department revenue in the process.

Overall, Cal and Stanford find themselves as two of the few true losers in this wave of college football realignment and will have extremely tough decisions to make going forward.

Predicting where all remaining Pac-12 teams could end up

The future looks bleak for the Pac-12. Here is where we predict all remaining teams would go if the conference crumbles.

Let me start by saying I am not declaring that the Pac-12 Conference is dead. I am not pushing for a world where one of the most storied and historic conferences in the nation crumbles to the ground and disbands after the strongest teams in the league defect for greener grass.

All I’m doing is acknowledging a world in which that outcome is possible — a world that seems more and more likely with each passing day.

A year ago, the USC Trojans and UCLA Bruins knocked the conference off-balance by announcing their departure to the Big Ten. A week ago, the Colorado Buffaloes knocked the Pac-12 to the mat by announcing their departure to the Big 12. On Wednesday, the Big Ten took aim with the knock-out punch — an announcement that it was considering further expansion. All eyes were on both the Oregon Ducks and Washington Huskies, plus the Stanford Cardinal and California Golden Bears, should they be feeling greedy.

I’m not here pushing for teams to leave the Pac-12 conference and play their football elsewhere; it’s a reality that has become impossible to ignore over the last 13 months.

At this rate, you could reasonably convince me that in a week’s time, there will be only a handful of teams remaining in the Pac-12, with some of the top remaining teams taking off for greener grass. So should these defections continue to happen, and it ultimately end in the death of the Pac-12, where would everyone go?

Here are my predictions:

Which conference would be a better football fit for Oregon — Big Ten or Big 12?

Rivalries and past history matter in college football. With that being said, which conference — Big Ten or Big 12 — would be a better fit for Oregon?

With the departure of the Colorado Buffaloes from the Pac-12 Conference, the topic of conference realignment has once again been brought to the forefront.

If you’re an Oregon Ducks fan, this means your team is in the middle of nearly every conversation brought forth at the moment, good or bad.

[lawrence-related id=45476]

While we’ve talked about potential options for Oregon going forward, and how a move to the Big Ten would be desirable for both parties in the end, we’ve also touched on where the Pac-12 might look to expand if it wants to make a last-ditch effort to keep the conference intact.

Should the Ducks end up leaving the Pac-12, we need to start vetting their landing spot. The Big 12 may be the more likely option at the moment, but the Big Ten is the more-desired outcome. But is the Big Ten that much better than the Big 12, and if so, why?

Let’s take a look at that question. In college football, one of the most important things for fans to hold onto is rivalries, and shared experiences. One place may be a great spot for a team to land, but if it doesn’t have any history with the teams in the conference, the move could fall flat in the end.

So when looking at the Big Ten and the Big 12, which conference has Oregon had more experience with, and where would the best rivalries come from? Let’s take a look:

Oregon needs the Big Ten, but the Big Ten might need Oregon just as badly

A perfect outcome for Oregon is a seat at the table next to USC and UCLA. The Big Ten may need to jump on that while they have the leverage.

In the history of the United States, there have been war-time presidents and peace-time presidents; leaders who are aggressive and ready to take action to protect the future of the nation, and leaders who are good at negotiating and offering comfort to all of their constituents.

Rob Mullens, John Karl Scholz — which side do you more align yourselves with?

For the University of Oregon, it appears that things are moving from a nice decade of peace into a period of war that will leave many teams behind and feinding for themselves while others jump ship for cushy spots in new conferences.

By all means it appears that the Pac-12 is a sinking ship right now, and the remaining nine teams in the conference have to be looking for a landing spot should they choose to jump.

For the Ducks, a perfect dismount would see Oregon as the newest member of the Big Ten, following a path blazed by the USC Trojans and UCLA Bruins.

We know that the Ducks would desperately love to join that conference, but many think that the Big Ten might not want Oregon. Former commissioner Kevin Warren was interested in further expanding west, but new commissioner Tony Petitti has pumped the brakes.

I think that they not only should want the Ducks, but they may need them just as badly as Oregon needs the Big Ten. Let me explain.

Where do the Ducks go now? Assessing all options for Oregon and the Pac-12

The Pac-12 is now the Pac-9. Where does the conference go from here? What should the Oregon Ducks do? We’ve got some suggestions.

Almost 400 days ago, the USC Trojans and UCLA Bruins turned the Pac-12 world upside down with the announcement they were skipping town and heading to the Big Ten Conference.

Since then, chaos and uncertainty have become the norm.

Both of those characteristics were dialed up once again on Thursday afternoon when it was announced that the Colorado Buffaloes were leaving the Pac-12 Conference for a new home. This time, the Big 12 Conference is waiting with open arms to further weaken one of its rival leagues.

The move for Colorado will not take place until 2024, but it will have ramifications that could affect the world of college football far sooner.

For fans of the Oregon Ducks, this move by the Buffaloes has the potential to completely change their outlook. Oregon is viewed as a national brand, and it doesn’t want to be left as the last standing man on the Titanic.

It’s unclear what the Ducks are going to do in the future, but over the past few months — and few days — it has becoming increasingly apparent the Pac-12 is starting to whither away. There seems to be a strong notion that unless commissioner George Kliavkoff can deliver a media rights deal that far exceeds expectations — something that has never seemed less likely at the moment — major defectors could follow in Colorado’s footsteps.

So looking ahead, what are some of the options that are available to Oregon, and what might the Pac-12 do in order to keep the ship afloat? We have a few ideas.