Here's the bold move I'd like to see...
Oct 10, 2023 15:47:18 GMT -8
Werebeaver and hottubbeaver like this
Post by jimbeav on Oct 10, 2023 15:47:18 GMT -8
This will never happen, but this has popped into my head, and my brain is still stuck on this idea. So I'll put it down here to take my lumps of reality from you all, and try and purge this notion from my brain that is still in denial that all of this is really happening...
In many ways, this whole conference realignment mess across the country (beginning with Texas and Oklahoma) is a consequence of the big national brands rebelling against equal revenue sharing within a conference. The big boys hated this but were always outnumbered, so this tradition lived on and on, but as the dollar signs got bigger and bigger, eventually this archaic notion was going to die. Texas and Oklahoma started the avalanche.
The Pac-12 implosion, at its core, all stems from USC getting fed up at being held back by all these lesser brands in the conference, and taking the highest dollar offer it could get. Soon after, other schools decided that partial shares maybe weren't such a bad tradeoff after all to remain in a P5 confereence, as long as they got a bit of a bump over what they got in the last TV deal.
The end result? As of now, equal revenue sharing is no longer the sacred cow that it once was. As OSU and WSU rebuild the Pac-12 (I am assuming they will be the sole decision-makers), this new reality should remain front and center.
Ok, so once this legal stuff is settled, it's time to rebuild the conference. The million-dollar question is, who to invite? If I'm OSU and WSU, you know who I call up first?
USC
I ask the Trojans this question: "If we get you tentatively on board and use your presence to attract other west coast teams, (preferably the original Pac-8 schools in Cali, Ore, and Wash, but the exact schools would be TBD), and if we could get a deal with ESPN, and if we guaranteed that USC would receive $60M/year from that deal regardless of what the total amount is (the Big-10 deal is $65M/yr, but you'd save $10M/yr in travel costs), would you be interested in joining the new and improved Pac-12 that we are rebuilding?"
"Think about it...", I'd say. "You'd be the big dog in a small conference. Your path to the CFP would be enormously easier than in the Big-10. All the hand-wringing about travel goes away. Your pockets would be bulging, your budget balanced, and you'd have a leg up over everybody else. Whaddaya say?"
If you can get USC on board in a silent tentative handshake agreement if all the above terms are met, now you approach ESPN and ask how badly would they want to steal the LA market from Fox, and get a presence on the west coast. If you can get them interested enough to commit to coming to the table if we can get a few more teams involved, now you can approach UCLA, Stanford, Cal, UW, and maybe even Oregon (maybe...although I think I'd invite SDSU first before the ducks lol).
The negotiations would be a mess, because you'd have to hammer out a dollar figure with each one, and basically have ESPN in the loop the whole time. But I'm envisioning some kind of scaling ratio, where if USC is a 1.0, then UCLA is 0.9 (this is probably more than they'd get after paying their Calimony), UW is 0.8, Stanford and Cal are a 0.7, and OSU/WSU/SDSU are a 0.6 (I'm leaving out the ducks for now, because I'm suddenly really liking the idea of excluding them).
So it might look like this:
USC: $60M
UCLA: $54M
UW: $48M
Stanford: $42M
Cal: $42M
OSU: $36M
WSU: $36M
SDSU: $36M
Total: $354M/yr
ESPN's original offer was $300M/yr for 10 teams, without the LA market. Is the LA market worth more than Arizona, Utah, and Colorado combined? I don't know....maybe?
There are a million reasons why this will never happen, but dammit, I'd really love it if Barnes or Chun at least gave USC a call and had a conversation and see where it went.
Go big or go home.
In many ways, this whole conference realignment mess across the country (beginning with Texas and Oklahoma) is a consequence of the big national brands rebelling against equal revenue sharing within a conference. The big boys hated this but were always outnumbered, so this tradition lived on and on, but as the dollar signs got bigger and bigger, eventually this archaic notion was going to die. Texas and Oklahoma started the avalanche.
The Pac-12 implosion, at its core, all stems from USC getting fed up at being held back by all these lesser brands in the conference, and taking the highest dollar offer it could get. Soon after, other schools decided that partial shares maybe weren't such a bad tradeoff after all to remain in a P5 confereence, as long as they got a bit of a bump over what they got in the last TV deal.
The end result? As of now, equal revenue sharing is no longer the sacred cow that it once was. As OSU and WSU rebuild the Pac-12 (I am assuming they will be the sole decision-makers), this new reality should remain front and center.
Ok, so once this legal stuff is settled, it's time to rebuild the conference. The million-dollar question is, who to invite? If I'm OSU and WSU, you know who I call up first?
USC
I ask the Trojans this question: "If we get you tentatively on board and use your presence to attract other west coast teams, (preferably the original Pac-8 schools in Cali, Ore, and Wash, but the exact schools would be TBD), and if we could get a deal with ESPN, and if we guaranteed that USC would receive $60M/year from that deal regardless of what the total amount is (the Big-10 deal is $65M/yr, but you'd save $10M/yr in travel costs), would you be interested in joining the new and improved Pac-12 that we are rebuilding?"
"Think about it...", I'd say. "You'd be the big dog in a small conference. Your path to the CFP would be enormously easier than in the Big-10. All the hand-wringing about travel goes away. Your pockets would be bulging, your budget balanced, and you'd have a leg up over everybody else. Whaddaya say?"
If you can get USC on board in a silent tentative handshake agreement if all the above terms are met, now you approach ESPN and ask how badly would they want to steal the LA market from Fox, and get a presence on the west coast. If you can get them interested enough to commit to coming to the table if we can get a few more teams involved, now you can approach UCLA, Stanford, Cal, UW, and maybe even Oregon (maybe...although I think I'd invite SDSU first before the ducks lol).
The negotiations would be a mess, because you'd have to hammer out a dollar figure with each one, and basically have ESPN in the loop the whole time. But I'm envisioning some kind of scaling ratio, where if USC is a 1.0, then UCLA is 0.9 (this is probably more than they'd get after paying their Calimony), UW is 0.8, Stanford and Cal are a 0.7, and OSU/WSU/SDSU are a 0.6 (I'm leaving out the ducks for now, because I'm suddenly really liking the idea of excluding them).
So it might look like this:
USC: $60M
UCLA: $54M
UW: $48M
Stanford: $42M
Cal: $42M
OSU: $36M
WSU: $36M
SDSU: $36M
Total: $354M/yr
ESPN's original offer was $300M/yr for 10 teams, without the LA market. Is the LA market worth more than Arizona, Utah, and Colorado combined? I don't know....maybe?
There are a million reasons why this will never happen, but dammit, I'd really love it if Barnes or Chun at least gave USC a call and had a conversation and see where it went.
Go big or go home.
