Colorado joined the Pac-10 on Thursday, marking the first addition to the conference since the Arizona schools joined in 1978. Now Cal, Stanford and their West Coast colleagues are asking: Who’s next?
It’s all part of a major reshuffling of the college sports landscape that kicked into high gear Thursday.
With Nebraska perhaps poised to join the Big Ten, one possible scenario would be a 16-team Pac-10 “superconference” that would include all existing teams along with Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. That lineup would greatly strengthen the conference’s leverage for new TV contracts that begin next year. The “Pac-16” could start playing football in 2012.
“This is the dawning of a new day for the Pac-10,” conference Commissioner Larry Scott said in welcoming Colorado to the fold. He said no other invitations have been issued. “There are still several different scenarios that we may or may not pursue.”
Much depends on what Texas and Oklahoma do once Nebraska makes its move, which could come as soon as today. Representatives from Texas and Texas A&M met Thursday to talk things over on a day full of unofficial reports. One of them had Oklahoma State deciding to join the Pac-10, which the school denied.
There’s no denying that TV money is driving the changes. Scott, on the job for less than a year, has talked openly about exploring the idea of Pac-10 Network and hired former Big 12 Commissioner Kevin Weiberg, who had helped launch the Big Ten Network, as his lieutenant.
Currently, the Pac-10 brings in about $60 million a year from its TV deals, well below what other conferences make. Two weeks ago, the ACC and ESPN agreed to a $155-million-a-year deal, more than doubling its previous deal, which was worth $67 million a year.
In a major expansion, Cal athletics director Sandy Barbour said, each school could triple its take of the media revenue, currently between $6 million and $8 million. She said she doesn’t care whether the conference sets up its own TV network or not.
“That devil is in the details,” she said. “What I want for Cal is increased exposure and great marketability and to be handsomely compensated.”
Like other Pac-10 schools, Cal and Stanford have had to tighten their athletic budgets in recent years. Cal has weathered a major shortfall as a result of the state’s severe budget problems, and Stanford’s huge endowment took a substantial hit in the recession.
If Texas joins the Pac-10, Cal fans could look forward to a Berkeley visit by the Longhorns if only to vent their old grudge with coach Mack Brown. In 2004, Brown lobbied hard in the national media for a berth in the Rose Bowl when fourth-ranked Cal had an excellent case to play in the game instead. Brown’s lobbying worked.
The Associated Press reported that a person briefed about Thursday’s discussions between Texas and Texas A&M said the situation was “still fluid” and the Texas schools could stay in the Big 12. The person said everyone was waiting for Nebraska’s expected announcement today. Other reports had Texas A&M considering joining the SEC.
Cal football coach Jeff Tedford could not be reached for comment Thursday about Pac-10 expansion. But at a Cal coaches function Wednesday night at AT&T Park, he said, “I think there could be some benefits to it. I need to learn more about it, how the league would be aligned and what the rotation would be. … I think it’s exciting. You’d have a (conference) championship, and that’d be pretty cool. It’d be competitive, I know that.”
The benefits for Stanford would surely include an attendance boost. Despite its recent football success under coach Jim Harbaugh, the school has had a difficult time filling Stanford Stadium. The facility has just 50,000 seats, but even a game with powerful Oregon last season, when Stanford pulled a major upset, fell 6,000 short of a sellout.
Harbaugh is in Peru as part of an aid mission and could not be reached for comment on the expansion. When Pac-10 football and basketball coaches gathered in Phoenix recently, Harbaugh didn’t seem sold on the need for expansion, telling reporters, “What we got right now is a good thing. It’s set up really well.”
A Pac-16 setup with football powerhouses like Texas and Oklahoma could make it tougher for Harbaugh’s program to achieve his stated goal of a national championship.
They have beaten USC the last two years, and the Trojans now are ineligible for bowl games the next two years and will lose 30 scholarships over a three-year period as a result of NCAA violations, barring a successful appeal. Oregon has booted star quarterback Jeremiah Masoli off the team for repeated brushes with the law.
So the door could be open for Cal’s first Rose Bowl since 1959 or Stanford’s first since 2000.
Full story: Pac-10 is now 11