Wilner & Conzano talked about this a little. The Grant of Rights have become really short duration contracts.
The new B1G GOR expires in 2030, which David Shaw pointed out as a possible time frame for a decision to turn West again.
A lot of interesting developments to watch.
Utah is rapidly moving away from the âcommuter schoolâ image of the past. Currently itâs about 60-40% out of state - in state and moving quickly toward parity. Once the goal of 30% of the student body having on campus housing I could see the mix even tip the other direction.
When my youngest son got accepted for Fall this year I joined a parent group on Facebook. I found a community of thousands of parents from across the country who are very enthusiastic about their kids being âUtesâ. Itâs amazing to watch this transformation.
this goes without saying, but ideally the conference needs to have a minimum of two playoff teams ever year. The two biggest brands, Oregon or Washington cannot pull a USC and go dormant for 15 years.
I finally caved and bought a subscription to Canzanoâs newsletter. I have so much Ute gear I now only wear on game daysâŚso this was my summer 2023 âfixâ.
The 10 schools are ready to sign the BOR, pending the finalization of the media rights. The timing of the media deal has been all over the calendar, but Canzano says the CEOs seem intent on keeping to the âlate spring / early summerâ timeframe they announced a couple of months ago when people were starting to get hysterical.
SDSU needs to notify MWC by June 30, which will cost $17M, otherwise theyâll need to pay $34M beyond that date in order to be ready for '24. So, this seems like a significant date to navigate, assuming SDSU will be coming. Buzz about SMU seems to have died down.
Wazzuâs President Schulz has been authorized to make final decisions regarding GOR and media contracts without another Regents meeting. Apparently other Presidents and Chancellors have been given that same authority, and Schulz joins UWâs and Stanfordâs presidents on an executive committee among the CEO group, so he seems to be getting his situation squared away as he needs to get a tight budget under control while attending to happenings in this smaller leadership group in the PAC.
CUâs Regents met, too. Rather than being a possible first step of CU going to the B12, a source told Canzano it was âan update on the media rights situationâ for the PAC.
I might have missed a point or two. Everyone in the PAC ecosystem is tired of the external speculation, though the CEOs have been proceeding at their own pace, with the media negotiations with new partners whoâve never broadcast / streamed college sports leading to a more deliberate pace.
Theyâre still pretty confident of being able to match or beat the B12 numbers, which would be impressive given the upheaval in the media world, and the tidal wave of negativity and FUD coming from other actors.
That all the predictions of different schools peeling away have not materialized gives credibility to Canzanoâs cautious reporting, IMO.
My take: the track record of erroneous predictions by âothersâ reveals a failed attempt to stimulate a dissolution from the outside. The same CEOs who are making everyone wait have held together through this process, predictions of the PACâs demise have been - thus far- more revealing of character and desperation for âclicksâ than anything else.
When the pigskin flies August, it will be nice to focus on the actual game. If the media situation and a new member coming get announced before then, even better!
@ghostofOCGreg talked about the clawback of money the current PAC 12 owes the networks (likely for 2020-2021), and I think of all the things that go into one of these contracts that get overlooked. Minimum TV rating standards is certainly a thing. If people arenât watching the games, the network canât sell the ads it needs to pay for the network and pay the schools. How that ratings clause is structured could cause a lot of financial instability. Whatever was in our current contract seemed to be a low enough bar to get us a full payment. Again, the guess is the clawback is due to the COVID affected seasons. I hope they keep the TV ratings piece to something reasonable so we arenât dealing with a huge risk of having to send money back to the networks.
Iâm seeing the same thing. Last week a client who lives in California whose son s starting at the U this fall asked if I could get her tickets to the UCLA game this fall. Sheâs not a UCLA grad, just genuinely excited.
So⌠tomorrow, 6/30, is the last day SDSU can officially notify its departure from MWC before the exiting fees double. Curious.
Yes, this is not the required notice; but as it went out a few weeks ago, it is possible tomorrowâs deadline will see the notice delivered.
I thought this story in local San Diego press the other day was a pretty good assessment of the whole ânoticeâ situation and the various dynamics at play. There are a lot of politics here, and some calculated posturing. Itâs distinctly possible that nothing else will happen publicly by 6/30.
At this point, I think the future of P12 is pretty bleak â unless something happens within days. Football and TV eyeballs seem to drive everything. Irrespective of the eventual outcome, I think itâs pretty telling that the P12-2 has very little leverage in todayâs sports world.
Which came first, the chicken or the egg?
Chicken
The future of college football is pretty bleak. No conference, per se, will truly survive. Itâs all about getting into the eventual Power One conference (or league or whatever it will be called)⌠which wonât really even be CFB.
Not an excuse for where things are, but ESPN just laid off a LOT of onscreen talent, big names gone.
The future increasingly looks like streaming, and the money train looks like itâs having serious mechanical problems.
(At least the Jazz went back to KJZZ, for all those good fans on a tight budget).
Somewhat PAC 12 media relatedâŚ
We were talking to a young lady whoâs a student at CU, and the bath water drinking there seems to be in full swing. Her comment was, âAll we need is Deion.â We told her we were pretty solid ourselves, but they didnât care. They have put all their hopes and dreams into a guy who, frankly, seems all about himself and likely doesnât really understand the challenges at a P5 level.
Iâll add that I certainly hope he takes a personal interest in coaching tackling by his secondary, as I will enjoy the entertainment of his âmatadorâ style he was so good at as a pro.
Yeah Deion was no great tackler. Given most folks in the know who watched the Buffaloes spring game seemed to be thoroughly unimpressed with what they saw; and Exodus 2.0 after that has Vegas setting the over-under for the Buffs at 3.5 wins.
Now for the obnoxious commentâŚ
Willie Taggart, when he took over at Phil Knight U had a nexus of players that were true elite Power 5 players. All he had to do was manage the ship to be in contention for a PAC 12 Championship. As some believe if the Buffs have elite success this season, Deion will be riding off to a higher profile gig (hence the Willie Taggart comparison) the Buffs arenât the Ducks. For all the alleged âelite talentâ as the hype machine has spun about going to Boulder, the reality is none of it has an ounce of P5 playing experience. Even scarier, given most of the players with experience got it beating up on glorified HS teams, even if the #1âs can hang around a little, the #2âs are going to get worked over like a rented mule.
Hate to say it as I am not a gambler, but the under at 3.5 might be a good bet.
I recently saw a woman with a sweatshirt that had PRIME in bold, block letters across the chest and a small CU button dotting the I.
All their hopes and dreams in a guy who only seems to care about himself, and frankly doesnât understand the challenges in the system in which he will now be in charge. Why does that sound familiar?
