We won 4 games last year total and after tonight’s game we will be 9 - 1 and technically in the playoff hunt. We have been traditionally overhyped because we are a “traditional power” and expectations are always high. Any trend upwards elicits a “we’re back” mantra. Comes with the territory.
Not following the BYU comparison……what did they ever do outside of 1984?
FTFO!
That’s the point. Nothing. It is a local media issue. LAUte was drawing an analogy based on how the local media treats BYU.
For me, life’s just too short to get worked up over who’s the lesser of two evils. Same with “buy American.” It’s never that easy, and so many of the “American” companies that someone thinks they are patriotically supporting, are more “foreign” than the supposedly foreign company. I give up and just watch what I want to watch by whatever means. I live out of state during FB season and don’t subscribe to the tv services that carry the PAC 12 Network. The normal option, one would think, would be to purchase the streaming service like you do with Hulu, etc. But no, Scott’s great deal doesn’t offer that. Thank goodness my daughter has Comcast.
NFL Sunday Ticket does the same thing. A normal U.S. residence can’t purchase the NFL Game Pass, but people in a foreign country can. I had to get a VPN and purchase it and watch from Mumbai, India to watch the Steelers. I may have to ask for money back on that one for this season.
https://twitter.com/wilnerhotline/status/1616131371780673537?t=WSWzwm6BtW5ZqOt7bm4wAg&s=19
sigh, this should have been done day 1
Given the overhead costs the PAC 12 created by moving from Walnut Grove to San Francisco, it was a recipe for financial problems.
I believe it is important to note Larry Scott didn’t know the “techies” he thought he knew. Yes, many of those CEO’s like to “hob-knob” in SF, but they all made their money and conducted their business in Mountain View, Cupertino, and San Jose. Temporary “Fronts” are cheap. Long-term leases for operating space is expensive.
The conference HQ should’ve never moved, unless it was to a bigger facility to accommodate P12N, and then only to a place cheaper than the current place. Larry should’ve gone to SF to hob-knob like the techies…on his own time and own dime. It’s good to see Kliavkoff is getting this issue straightened out.
Well, it seems that Kliakoff has already proven smarter than Larry Scott. Glad to see the relocation. Too bad it’s a decade late, but at least it’s happening.
Heh.
Maybe they should have moved to Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.
Should’ve moved to Magna. Short, easy access to the airport, SLC, and the Olympic Sports venues. Even though construction and land costs are up, it would be a fraction of what the costs are to build or buy in NoCal.
Anyone else beginning to believe the PAC10 will not get a very good media deal?
At this point, I’m not sanguine about it – that said, I won’t really speculate much because it’s useless.
I believe SDSU has a deadline in mid-June before its MWC buy-out fees go up, or something like that.
I’m beginning to believe the conference will not stay together.
I have the same fear. I’ve seen a few stories in the last week about UW & Oregon working hard on getting a B1G invite. I’m afraid it’s just a matter of time we’re playing conference games in dumps like Provo & Waco.
Broadcasting is a big moving target right now, and all that seemed solid is becoming much less so. What the B1G was crowing they signed might not be worth as much as they claimed. It wouldn’t be a surprise to find out the BIG 12 deal has many of the same soft spots. I believe a firmer contract with better game time starts is worth more in this turbulent time.
One thing is for certain, the travel costs and time zone changes to compete on the east coast regularly are going to be real. The time and travel will affect the financial health and stability of those who choose to follow U$C and fUCLA in their exodus. It will affect both U$C and fUCLA, too - and not in a good way.
I guess I am reminded of the old 16-team WAC and how dysfunctional it was back in the day. The schedules were awful and trying to avoid creating a “Mythical Conference Champion” was nothing short of a Herculean lift. As we all remember that experiment didn’t last long, and it’s how the MWC came to be. As we all know those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it. These Super Conferences are re living it now. Something tells me this “Super Conference” stuff will survive a media contract cycle, then will break back up the same way the WAC did.
If there is one thing this old man has learned far too often than not is logistics matter. If what you are doing is not effective and efficient, you change things to make it so. There is nothing effective or efficient about Super Conferences. Traveling from the West Coast to regularly play games on the East Coast or Ohio Valley is not effective or efficient. Hell, even the NFL a will tell you that. It is why they started “bunking” travel - playing two games over two weeks in the same area of the country and the traveling team stays on the road rather than flying home to just fly out again a day later. We are talking pros here - not college students who have classes, tests, and class work to do while prepping for games. For the pros, this is a road trip. For college students, it’s an extended amount of time away from classrooms, making their studies a lot harder than they need to be. God help them if “bunking” becomes a thing there, too.
Ha. Like the money grubbers care. That’s why they have tutors, duh.
We are less than a half step from this whole thing being a wholly professional endeavor anyway.
I feel like it’s less than half a step at this point.
I have always loved college football above all other sports but I clung to the idea that it was still about the school and students to SOME extent. The last few years have blown up that illusion. Not sure where I stand anymore as a fan. These are now overtly mercenary professional athletes. Conferences are just toys for the broadcast companies. And games are about the TV experience with little regard to the fans in the stands. And at most schools it’s artificially subsidized by student fees on kids knee deep in debt who never attend a game.
I can see a point where the teams are separated from the Colleges and operate as independent entities. Maybe it would be smart for the Universities to spin them into contracted businesses down the road. I think NIL and the transfer portal are abominations not because there is money but because we need to stop pretending and just classify the athletes as employees already. The whole thing has become an absurd joke.
Well said.
What bugs me is that football drives everything because of the revenue. They should do something different for football, but there are probably legal issues. Can’t believe I’m saying this, but that other school that was Indy with all the other sports in WCC is closer to a workable model. You could have football conferences (maybe MBB/WBB?), but then more regional ones for all other sports. No reason for USC/UCLA to jump to B1G for all sports - makes sense for the football deal, but all the other sports tag along? no bueno (travel, etc.). I know this makes things more complicated with other affiliations (even on the academic side), but break football off, call it semi-pro, and let (most) of the other sports be more traditional student-athlete models.
Let’s remember that only a tiny percentage of the kids playing sports ever get to be professionals. Many, if not all, of those kids are playing a sport to pay for their college education. Then of them go off to be accountants or marketing managers or maybe go to grad school, becoming doctors or lawyers or research scientists.
If we completely give up on the idea of “student athletes”, then it’s 80 kids supporting 5 star athletes, with NFL money coming their way, and those 80 get nothing.