The lack of success, especially in football, combined with the failure of the conference’s media rights, put the Pac-12 on an unstable financial base and opened the door for two marquee schools to jump on board.
Today, with the defeat of UCLA and USC to Big Ten in 2024, the conference and its remaining member schools face an even more uncertain economic future.
Andrew Zimbalist, a professor of economics at Smith College, said, “There are explosive costs on one side and the sources of income are decimated. This is a lot of pressure.” “On the other hand, what do you do? Well, I think something pretty radical has to happen.”
The Pac-12 dilemma has been built over the years.
Once a powerful football conference, the Pac-12 has become a bit player in recent national championship conversations.
Since Oregon was blown away by Ohio State University in the 2015 Championship Game, the Pac-12 has played one team in the College Football Playoffs. Washington in 2017. Oregon has dropped out since Chip Kelly left for the NFL in 2013. Once a conference marquee program, it never got back on track after NCAA sanctions during the Pete Carroll era.
The Pac-12 was just as quiet in men’s basketball, with two teams from 2017 Oregon and 2021 UCLA in the Final Four.
Due to its unsuccessfulness, the Pac-12 soccer game could watch TV, making it more difficult to separate top coaches and new hires from rival meetings, especially the Soccer Jaguar Note SEC.
“In the old days, USC and UCLA were at the top of the national football mountain every year, and they were pretty depressed,” Zimbalist said. “So we need some replenishments and some boosts to be able to become a really powerful and powerful franchise-and I haven’t seen it.”
The Pac-12 drop-off was exacerbated by media rights transactions.
When the TV package began to swell, former Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott propelled the conference to build his own network instead of partnering with ESPN, Fox, or another network. With a self-sustaining network, Pac-12 can control programming, showcase the most successful Olympic sports and get all the financial rewards.
The Pac-12 network did not soar as Scott had imagined, could not reach an agreement with DirecTV, and was partially stalled as it prevented conference sports from reaching millions of homes. I did.
Pac-12 made a lucrative deal to show part of the game on ESPN and Fox, but the network wanted to fill the midnight time slot on the East Coast.
The deal left the meeting at the “Pac-12 After Dark” hall. Pac-12 is the least distributed of the Power Five schools and paid $ 19.8 million to its member institutions in 2021.
In contrast, the SEC distributed $ 54.6 million to each member school and $ 46.1 million to Big Ten in 2021.
Finances mean the stability of the world of college sports, so the temptation for more money was a major impetus for the departure of USC and UCLA, which said they faced sports cuts if they didn’t leave for the Big Ten.
The move in turn undermines Pac-12’s earnings. Not only has the conference lost two major programs, but it has also lost a foothold in the country’s second-largest media market.
“When we see the rich get richer, people will get their share,” said Tom McMillen, president and CEO of Lead 1 who represents the program and the athletic director of the Football Bowl Subdivision. ..
The loss of UCLA and USC puts Pac-12 at a crossroads.
The meeting last week announced that it would pursue all means of expansion and proceed with negotiations for the next media rights transaction. The current one is set to end in 2024.
Pac-12 may form a partnership with another conference that requires a lift like ACC. This can cause travel problems in small sports. You can also add members to smaller meetings like Mountain West, or convince the Big 12 schools of flaws, as Colorado and Utah did in 2011.
If some schools attend another meeting to find stability, the meeting could be forced, perhaps even if the Big 12 forms another super meeting with the SEC and Big Ten.
“I think you’ll see more integration,” McMillen said. “This isn’t new. It’s Economics 101. It has a lot of efficiency. Think about it. There are 32 meetings. Probably with a billion dollar overhead, and when you consolidate the meetings, it’s clear. Some of it will be streamlined. “
More conference reorganizations are coming. The fate of Pac-12 has not yet been determined.
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