The College sports landscape was turned on its head over the summer when one of the major 5 conferences disintegrated in the course of a week. The Pac-12 is one of the oldest conferences in college football, and next season it is set to lose 10 of its current 12 members.
The University of Southern California and the University of California-Los Angeles both made their decision to leave the conference last year when they chose to join the Big 10. Then on July 27th The University of Colorado elected to join the Big 12. This prompted the University of Oregon and the University of Washington to jump ship and join USC and UCLA in the Big 10. With all the other programs jumping ship, the University of Arizona, Arizona State University and the University of Utah followed Colorado to the Big 12. This left just four teams remaining. About a month later, Stanford University and the University of California-Berkeley left to join the ACC. This left only Oregon State University and Washington State University without a new conference.
So how did all of this happen? It started with other conferences gathering bigger TV deals for their schools, this is what got USC and UCLA to the Big 10. Next, the Pac-12 with its future in question could only muster a 1-year TV deal with Apple TV. This set off the chain reaction that saw the next 8 teams bail. The conference was put in a tough position where they needed a new TV deal, but with 2 schools that had already left, they could not find a good enough deal to satisfy the remaining members.
The Pac-12 tried to hold a board meeting with all 12 schools a couple of weeks ago where they would allow everyone to vote on the future of the conference. The two remaining schools blocked the meeting by taking the Pac-12 to court. Under the Pac-12 by laws, if a school submits formal notice to leave the conference, then they immediately lose the right to vote on the board. Later this month there will be a full hearing where Oregon State and Washington State try to gain full control over the future of the conference.
There are very few options remaining for the two remaining schools. They are too small and don’t generate enough revenue for the other power 5 conferences to want to add them. This leaves them with two options, leave and join a lesser conference or try to merge the Pac-12 with the Mountain West Conference. The Mountain West makes regional sense because its schools are located primarily on the west coast or in the rocky mountain region. The Mountain west has shown interest in this because it would elevate their conference, and they would get access to the massive sponsorship deals that the Pac-12 poses.
The Pac-12 has stood for over 100 years, and it only took a couple of weeks for it to unravel. This situation opens the door for other major teams to leave storied conferences, which could decimate the college sports landscape.
