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The Pac-10 Thursday announced that the conference, soon to become the Pac-12, has agreed to form two football divisions that will maintain traditional rivalries, create the conference's first football championship game and move to an equal revenue-sharing plan for the first time in conference history. The Pac-12 will have a North-South division structure for football, though there will not be divisions for other sports. The football championship game will be played at the home field of the top team in the conference standings (Pac-10). In Portland, Rachel Bachman notes Pac-10 Commissioner Larry Scott "had pushed for, and achieved, replication of the Big Ten and Southeastern Conference models, which include equal sharing of TV revenue and their own cable networks -- something the Pac-10 is exploring." Scott: "We're building not just a national but a global brand." Scott Thursday also "spoke of broadening market share and simplicity in labeling to 'be able to easily identify who's in what divisions for the casual fans'" (Portland OREGONIAN, 10/22).
| NORTH | SOUTH |
| California | Arizona |
| Oregon | Arizona State |
| Oregon State | Colorado |
| Stanford | UCLA |
| Washington | USC |
| Washington State | Utah |
SOON TO BE EVEN: In Oregon, Cliff Kirkpatrick reports revenue sharing "will be equal for the first time starting in the 2012-13 academic calendar year, after the conference renegotiates its television contract." The financial split until then "remains appearance-based, which favors USC and UCLA," and there will be a $2M bonus "to those schools if the conference revenues fall below" $170M after '12-13. The Pac-10 reportedly generated about $60M per year, and it "expects that number to significantly increase in 2012 with a new TV deal" (CORVALLIS GAZETTE-TIMES, 10/22). In Salt Lake City, Michael Lewis notes the $2M bonus was the "carrot used to entice the most glamorous members of the league, who historically enjoyed a greater share of league revenue under the current plan based around television appearances" (SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, 10/22). Scott said that he "wouldn't go 'out on a limb that far' and predict" that the Pac-12 would get $170M in the first year of its new TV deal. But he added, "We set that target with some realistic expectations that we're going to get there." Oregon State AD Bob De Carolis "had been a proponent of the 'zipper plan'" for the conference's divisions, "in which natural football rivals would have been split to maintain annual access to the L.A. market." However, he said that the "increased TV revenue mitigated those concerns." Oregon AD Rob Mullens said that "key" to the new revenue-sharing deal was "equal sharing of TV revenues" (Eugene REGISTER-GUARD, 10/22). In Colorado, Kyle Ringo reports new member Colorado will receive its full share of revenue sharing "in the 2012-13 school year when the league's new media rights deal kicks in." Fellow new member Utah "will be gradually phased in and will not receive a full share of conference distributions until the 2014-15 school year" (Boulder DAILY CAMERA, 10/22).
KEEPING IT AT HOME: In N.Y., Billy Witz reports Pac-10 presidents for the football championship game "considered the possibility of a half-empty NFL stadium at a neutral site ... and cringed." Scott said of playing an on-campus championship game, "This promises to deliver a full house and have the energy, excitement and atmosphere befitting a conference championship." Scott added that the Pac-10 men's basketball tournament, which is held at Staples Center and has "received lukewarm interest, was not a factor in deciding against a neutral site for football" (N.Y. TIMES, 10/22). Scott noted the championship game "may leave some revenue on the table, in terms of not playing in a 70,000-seat or 90,000-seat venue." But he "stressed the positive of playing before a capacity crowd in a more energized campus atmosphere" (SEATTLE TIMES, 10/22). Arizona State AD Lisa Love: "Playing on an earned home field will guarantee a full house. It's the kind of excitement you want for that type of game" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 10/22). In S.F., Ron Kroichick writes playing the game at a school's home field is a "great move." Kroichick: "The idea of a capacity crowd roaring at the title game makes this blatant cash-grab more palatable. ... Nothing screams 'irrelevant!' louder than a supposedly meaningful game in a half-empty stadium" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 10/22).
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UCLA, USC Will Maintain Yearly Football
Rivalries With California, Stanford |
CALIFORNIA ROUND-ROBIN: In L.A., Chris Dufresne writes the "big winners in the new Pac-12 are UCLA and USC, which fought for, and won, keeping Cal and Stanford as every-season opponents in the new nine-game conference format" for football (L.A. TIMES, 10/22). Cal AD Sandy Barbour said the California schools playing each other every year was "something that all four of the California schools for months stated as essential." Barbour added that a change "would have been a deal-breaker" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 10/22). ESPN analyst Rod Gilmore said the conference "had to give access to California to just about every team," and it "had to preserve the California rivalries, not just for tradition, but money was at stake." Gilmore: "Those games are so important to selling tickets and season tickets to the California schools that you could not eliminate that. ... There's just no way that the presidents and the alums of the California schools were going to live with not playing each other every year, no way at all" ("College Football Live," ESPN, 10/21).
SONG OF THE SOUTH: ESPN.com's Ted Miller wrote the "biggest winners" of the announcement are Arizona, Arizona State, Utah and Colorado, as they are paired with the two L.A.-area schools. Washington State also "benefits the most of the northwestern schools from equal revenue sharing." Meanwhile, the "biggest losers" are "maybe Washington and Oregon" (ESPN.com, 10/21). In Phoenix, Paola Boivin writes the changes benefit Arizona and Arizona State "from a financial standpoint." The schools will "see less of Stanford, California and Washington State, programs that typically don't travel well to Arizona, and meet Colorado and Utah every season." They also "preserve the advantages that come with traveling to Los Angeles every season" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 10/22). In Denver, John Henderson writes the "best news" for Colorado is the "divisional format," which will see Colorado play UCLA and USC in football every year. The school's "largest out-of-state alumni base is in Southern California, and CU officials made the decision to join the Pac-10 in June in part because it believed it would be paired with the L.A. schools" (DENVER POST, 10/22). In Salt Lake City, Lya Wodraska wrote under the header, "Utes Come Out Winners In Pac-10 Developments" (SLTRIB.com, 10/21).
UNITED THEY STAND: Scott, who is in his 15th month as Pac-10 commissioner, said of the changes, "If you had told me a year ago that this conference would have expanded by two, that we'd have a championship football game, and have the level of commitment and support throughout this conference, and the level of optimism, I'd have been thrilled." In Seattle, Bud Withers writes there is "no question Scott is a dynamic dude," as "building consensus for something like revenue-sharing is no trifling achievement." But Scott "would tell you there's something else at work in the league." Washington AD Scott Woodward: "It's just a totally different culture and it's a very positive one out here in the West." Washington State President Elson Floyd: "Even when we talked about expanding in the first place, we talked about whether they were academically good fits. I think that sets a fundamentally different tone from the Big 12 or SEC or any other conference. The Pac-10 is probably the most collegial conference" (SEATTLE TIMES, 10/22).
