Expansion Thread 2023

[bearcatbret]

^Somewhere, I believe that I had read that the AAC even had games watched higher than all of the PAC without USC or UCLA.

My bad, it was the ACC would fall behind the AAC without FSU, Clemson, Miami.
"If Miami, FSU, and Clemson left the ACC, the conference would rank dead last amongst the power conferences and it would fall below even The American."

[swilsonsp4]

Here's an interesting read from ON3 concerning the PAC media rights situation:

Bottom line for the Pac-12: Does it choose dollars or exposure? (on3.com)

[Lobot]

Brett McMurphy is reporting that ION Media is a player in the PAC 12 thing. Apparently Apple has not made an offer yet. If you're confused, so am I. I'd only heard of ION in passing. It's owned by E.W. Scripps and they have 48 channels of some sort plus some cable and streaming properties you might recoginize like CourtTV.

https://www.scrippsnetworks.com/brand/ion

[red_n_black_attack]

Brett McMuprhy is reporting that ION Media is a player in the PAC 12 thing. Apparently Apple has not made an offer yet. If you're confused, so am I. I'd only heard of ION in passing. It's owned by E.W. Scripps and they have 48 channels of some sort plus some cable and streaming properties you might recoginize like CourtTV.

https://www.scrippsnetworks.com/brand/ion

The ion Network is at least distrubuted to most cable packages and several streaming package, plus they cover most of the major population areas by also broadcasting UHF so they are over-the-air. I think this is much better than AppleTV for the Pac10 because it reaches more homes; however, much of the ion programming are re-runs of our favorite shows from a few years ago or decades in some cases. On the bright side, ion Network is the home of the Home-Shopping Network and have a few original shows as well. Given the business model, I cannot imagine ion Network will be willing to shell out tons of money.

[swilsonsp4]

Brett McMurphy is reporting that ION Media is a player in the PAC 12 thing. Apparently Apple has not made an offer yet. If you're confused, so am I. I'd only heard of ION in passing. It's owned by E.W. Scripps and they have 48 channels of some sort plus some cable and streaming properties you might recoginize like CourtTV.

https://www.scrippsnetworks.com/brand/ion

Stewart Mandel of The Athletic reported later that a PAC source with direct knowledge of the media negotiations said ION is not involved. Who knows what's really going on out there?

[bearcatbret]

The PAC media rights have just become a big joke.
The Pac-12 must secure its new media rights deal soon — or risk further mockery (msn.com)


What then transpired is a case of the Pac-12 becoming a victim of social media mockery.

Folks wondered if the History Channel, C-Span or Lifetime would get involved.

Others wondered how the league’s game would be situated on ION alongside reruns of “Chicago PD,” “Chicago Fire,” “Law and Order: SVU,” “Hawaii 5-0,” “Blue Bloods” and the “NCIS” series franchise.

[bearcatbret]

And this makes them sound even more confident... cough-cough.
Pac-12 expansion, realignment: Arizona State AD addresses speculation amid media deal saga (msn.com)
"We’ve just been forced like everyone else, unfortunately, to let this thing play out because we’re not directly in the driver’s seat. That being said, we have confidence our commissioners and our presidents and chancellors are going to get to a place where a media rights deal and a grant of rights is done. It may not be the projections originally contemplated but will be a solid enough financial situation to keep this conference together and then (we will) really work hard to move forward positively.”

[Lobot]

Stewart Mandel of The Athletic reported later that a PAC source with direct knowledge of the media negotiations said ION is not involved. Who knows what's really going on out there?

What's going on is you have two camps leaking info to reporters that hold water for differerent conferences. Mandel is a west coast guy these days with sources in the Pac 12. McMurphy is an OK St grad with ties to the Big 12. So, in this case I think Yormark is sending out misinformation in an effort to hurt the Pac 12 negotiations. It's pretty obvious that Yormark and the Big 12 stand to benefit if the Pac 12 goes under.

[bearcatbret]

More reports are surfacing about the B1G 10 looking at Washington and Oregon (maybe even Cal and Stanford). This has to be making the 4 corner schools a little bit nervous. The reports say that as soon as the Big 10 finds funding sources for the additions, they will do it. Are there any bets on whether the PAC 12 finds the finances before the Big10 does? There seems to be a lot of forces out there trying to tear the PAC apart. It is kind of like Bob Bowlsby stating that ESPN colluded to destroy the Big 12.

[bearcatbret]

More reporting that FSU is putting pressure on the ACC to change their revenue sharing and FSU is not above leaving. I suspect that they have been approached by either the SEC or Big 10. ACC Power: 'Something Has To Change' With Conference (msn.com) There are several articles out there that state that FSU wants to leave the ACC.

I think that this is the beginning of the end of college football as we know it. All conferences are going to see a major shakeup and I just hope that UC ends up in the top mix. We know that currently we have a power 2 with the SEC and Big 10 and then there are at least two conferences hanging on with the ACC and Big 12 (maybe PAC 12). But I see Fox and ESPN redesigning the college football landscape by creating a Fox division and ESPN division and the winner of each playing for the national championship. There may be up to 64 teams in this scenario. The rest of the colleges will be a minor league serving as a minor league to feed the major league through the transfer portal.

[D.A.H.]

More reports are surfacing about the B1G 10 looking at Washington and Oregon (maybe even Cal and Stanford). This has to be making the 4 corner schools a little bit nervous. The reports say that as soon as the Big 10 finds funding sources for the additions, they will do it. Are there any bets on whether the PAC 12 finds the finances before the Big10 does? There seems to be a lot of forces out there trying to tear the PAC apart. It is kind of like Bob Bowlsby stating that ESPN colluded to destroy the Big 12.

with these new rumors, i don't think that OU/UW sign any grant of rights, which I would think would be enough to put the new PAC tv deal on hold, which I think, with the resulting delay, would make it really interesting, as to the 4 corners schools. it just seems like the PAC is just about at checkmate - whatever it does is likely to blow up on it

[Lobot]

Here's some more on the FSU thing. ($?)

https://www.extrapointsmb.com/p/no-d...apart-tomorrow

[bearcatbret]

Also reported at USA Today. Baylor coach talking out loud about adding PAC teams and the collapse of the PAC. Baylor AD Mack Rhoades suggests Big 12 might poach Pac-12 schools: ‘There may be movement…how do we strengthen ourselves?’ (msn.com)
I think that the rumors of the Big 10 taking Washington and Oregon is just to scare the PAC into folding.

Also, is our news today just a matter of copying other outlets and printing it? Baylor AD Says Big 12 Should Be Ready If Pac-12 Disintegates - Sports Illustrated Cal Bears News, Analysis and More

[red_n_black_attack]

Also reported at USA Today. Baylor coach talking out loud about adding PAC teams and the collapse of the PAC. Baylor AD Mack Rhoades suggests Big 12 might poach Pac-12 schools: ‘There may be movement…how do we strengthen ourselves?’ (msn.com)
I think that the rumors of the Big 10 taking Washington and Oregon is just to scare the PAC into folding.

Also, is our news today just a matter of copying other outlets and printing it? Baylor AD Says Big 12 Should Be Ready If Pac-12 Disintegates - Sports Illustrated Cal Bears News, Analysis and More

Lazy journalism or staff shortages/cuts, or both.

[GoBearcats31]

$ https://theathletic.com/4271149/2023...lignment-news/

Big 12 may try to make a move on Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, Utah if the Pac-12 can't get a worthwhile media rights deal