https://x.com/petethamel/status/16944354...31775?s=12

https://twitter.com/RossDellenger/status...7576834496

Looks like Pony94’s new golfing buddies will be presidents on the other coast.

The thread from Thamel gives some key information:

SMU is willing to take zero media money for 7(!) years.

Stanford and Cal would receive equal reduced shares (not zero).

Additional revenue generated from expansion would create a pool to be split based on “success initiatives” or other factors still being negotiated.

Taking SMU feels like a big blow to WSU/OSU. Basically all of the 'rebuild the PAC' scenarios include SMU, so if they do want to try to go that route they have one fewer option on the table.

(08-23-2023 03:04 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  The thread from Thamel gives some key information:

SMU is willing to take zero media money for 7(!) years.

Stanford and Cal would receive equal reduced shares (not zero).

Additional revenue generated from expansion would create a pool to be split based on “success initiatives” or other factors still being negotiated.

Glad to see conference realignment has descended from lying and breaking tradition to whose school can submit the biggest bribe for entrance.

Wonder how Disney feels about their dollars being used as essentially a tool to buy off certain schools. Given the people benefiting (coaches making millions) are essentially state employees actual laws exist against giving a bribe. They are going to have to structure this deal thoughtfully.

(08-23-2023 03:18 PM)Sactowndog Wrote:  

(08-23-2023 03:04 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  The thread from Thamel gives some key information:

SMU is willing to take zero media money for 7(!) years.

Stanford and Cal would receive equal reduced shares (not zero).

Additional revenue generated from expansion would create a pool to be split based on “success initiatives” or other factors still being negotiated.

Glad to see conference realignment has descended from lying and breaking tradition to whose school can submit the biggest bribe for entrance.

Is it a bribe or Pimping out your athletic department?

I do think the distinction between taking zero media revenue versus zero conference distributions is a key one.

If SMU is still getting a conference distribution from the ACC for the CFP (which will likely skyrocket with the next CFP TV deal), the Orange Bowl, and NCAA Tournament credits, then that alone is worth it to take a haircut (or buzz cut) to the media distribution compared to the AAC or forming a new Pac-12.

(08-23-2023 03:15 PM)TDenverFan Wrote:  Taking SMU feels like a big blow to WSU/OSU. Basically all of the 'rebuild the PAC' scenarios include SMU, so if they do want to try to go that route they have one fewer option on the table.

I think this would solidify the PAC and MWC "merging", probably under the PAC name, but with the MWC leadership. Maybe they talk Gonzaga into joining too if the Big East and Big XII don't pull the trigger.

The combination PAC/MWC would have a lot of NET top 100 programs and the additions of WSU/OSU would put two of them in Gonzaga's neck of the woods.

Gee it was only three weeks ago ...

It’s interesting that SMU is leveraging a seeming desire by the ACC to add Stanford/Cal to get into the expansion conversation by effectively subsidizing Stanford/Cal. It’s a bizarro world version of what we were discussing elsewhere about a league needing to take NC State in order to get UNC or other big brother/little brother situation. Essentially, it’s the big brother telling a league that they need to subsidize the little brother for expansion to happen politically.

Here, it’s the reverse with SMU saying, “We know that you make Stanford and Cal work, so WE will subsidize it all if you also add us.”

Just amazing.

That’s definitely a new one.

Dear lord, you even have a program as legendary as Stanford begging for scraps. CFB is getting wild!

I consider myself one lucky guy knowing that my Bearcats may have gotten aboard what may be the final lifeboat on the sinking Titanic that is CFB tradition. Our boat may have a few small leaks in it but at least we're not clinging to a door in the ocean like some of the others.

Coming from all angles now

(08-23-2023 03:35 PM)UCbball21 Wrote:  Dear lord, you even have a program as legendary as Stanford begging for scraps. CFB is getting wild!

I consider myself one lucky guy knowing that my Bearcats may have gotten aboard what may be the final lifeboat on the sinking Titanic that is CFB tradition. Our boat may have a few small leaks in it but at least we're not clinging to a door in the ocean like some of the others.

Be careful. There are no safe harbors.

(08-23-2023 03:38 PM)Claw Wrote:  

(08-23-2023 03:35 PM)UCbball21 Wrote:  Dear lord, you even have a program as legendary as Stanford begging for scraps. CFB is getting wild!

I consider myself one lucky guy knowing that my Bearcats may have gotten aboard what may be the final lifeboat on the sinking Titanic that is CFB tradition. Our boat may have a few small leaks in it but at least we're not clinging to a door in the ocean like some of the others.

Be careful. There are no safe harbors.

Don't have to tell me twice. I am under no grand delusion that the Big 12 is safe. The ACC versus Big 12 knife fight for the bronze medal will be entertaining to watch over the next decade.

(08-23-2023 03:15 PM)TDenverFan Wrote:  Taking SMU feels like a big blow to WSU/OSU. Basically all of the 'rebuild the PAC' scenarios include SMU, so if they do want to try to go that route they have one fewer option on the table.

Taking Stanford and Cal would be an even bigger blow. I can't see a scenario where the Pac-12 is rebuilt without them. The only scenario I see where a Pac conference exists (in name, at least) in that scenario is where Washington State and Oregon State merge with the MWC, and the new conference takes the Pac-14 name (which has greater value than the Mountain West name.)

(08-23-2023 03:43 PM)tf8693 Wrote:  

(08-23-2023 03:15 PM)TDenverFan Wrote:  Taking SMU feels like a big blow to WSU/OSU. Basically all of the 'rebuild the PAC' scenarios include SMU, so if they do want to try to go that route they have one fewer option on the table.

Taking Stanford and Cal would be an even bigger blow. I can't see a scenario where the Pac-12 is rebuilt without them. The only scenario I see where a Pac conference exists (in name, at least) in that scenario is where Washington State and Oregon State merge with the MWC, and the new conference takes the Pac-14 name (which has greater value than the Mountain West name.)

Oh for sure, but I think everyone kinda assumed they would be gone - I couldn't really envision a scenario where Stanford would want to be in a rebuilt/frankenstein PAC. But something like WSU/OSU, the top few MWC programs, and SMU would have been sorta viable.

(08-23-2023 03:43 PM)tf8693 Wrote:  

(08-23-2023 03:15 PM)TDenverFan Wrote:  Taking SMU feels like a big blow to WSU/OSU. Basically all of the 'rebuild the PAC' scenarios include SMU, so if they do want to try to go that route they have one fewer option on the table.

Taking Stanford and Cal would be an even bigger blow. I can't see a scenario where the Pac-12 is rebuilt without them. The only scenario I see where a Pac conference exists (in name, at least) in that scenario is where Washington State and Oregon State merge with the MWC, and the new conference takes the Pac-14 name (which has greater value than the Mountain West name.)

The PAC-12 still owes the $50 million to Comcast, and shutting down the PAC Network probably isn’t that cheap either. I’d think the MWC schools would want to avoid merging with the PAC legal entity, or even doing something like merging under the MWC legal entity but taking the name PAC-14 that might allow Comcast to argue that the MWC is de facto a legal continuation of the PAC.