Hurtlocker

I'm with you on this, but I still think you take an Arizona team over Utah, even with the recent success of Utah football. Not that Utah is a bad add, having the Holy War in house is a marketable rivalry game, but they need a flag in Arizona more than they need another in Utah. I'd probably say this is your order if 1 says no, go to 2, etc. Oregon Washington Arizona Stanford Utah Arizona State Cal Oregon State Washington State

Right, but Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, and USC are the reason they get paid $75m a year. Oregon may be a bigger brand than Iowa, but they're not commanding that kind of money. That was the point of the comment. They're not big enough to make the B1G money, but they are big enough to make the B12/Pac more money. They exist in that gap between the two.

Wow, it didn't fall through

The real irony is that the Pac could be the Pac 18 right now and Cinci, UCF, BYU, and Houston would be where they were. But the Pac didn't strike. Wasting two chances to kill the Big 12 in a single decade came back to bite them.

Yeah I'd lump Oregon, Washington, FSU, and Clemson into that purgatory tier between the massive brands and the normal P5 brands. Big enough to move the B12/ACC needle, but not enough to move the SEC/B1G needle

That's it everyone, its official! You heard it here first!

and then there is this: And this was the Oregon meeting:

According to reports, it was like $17m before July, then $34m after. I think it has to do with how quickly notice is given, so if you want out sooner, the price goes up. Also SDSU just paid the legal fees to the MWC to get them to agree that they didn't leave, and NOW the Pac is going to consider. Its just so backwards.

The Pac is such a shit show making bad decision after bad decision, its really stunning.

AFTER SDST said we need to do this before July because we can't afford the $34m buyout if we don't.

Mother of god...

I'm with you, but again though, they can do that at 16 and share it with less mouths. There is quite literally no one out there that matches Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, LSU, Tennessee or hell even Auburn. The strength is there without need of dilution. With 32 teams you could toss out CCGs and pit the top 4 against each other in an 8 and keep all the money. 20-24 does nothing more than give you what you have, except instead of paying them in the ACC, you're paying them in the SEC. But, at the end of the day, there aren't more slots available to watch the high paying games during the season and the B1G/SEC already own the best ones. If you add 16 more teams, that's 4 more games a week that need to be shown to pay for them. The most valuable in is likely keeping the B12/ACC at 16 and let them fight for the left over slots while you get paid a premium for the best ones. Then give them some post season money by performance, which you know you'll earn the lion's share of. That way you give away a little to get a lot, as opposed to needing to support these moves all year long.

SirusXM shows while driving this morning.

Ha, there is more money on the playoffs than the regular season. There is ZERO chance there won't be a playoff.

Heard McMurphy, Scheer, and another on talk radio today and they've all kind of clarified something that we've wondered. It seems the way the Pac's contract is written, there is no buyout if they leave by next summer. There is also no "one year notice" as long as its by 8/1/24, per their contract. Colorado must have been given a deadline by the B12 of August.

They can do that with 16

Exactly, and they pay for it with late night games. Oregon/Washington, if they were two of that four, may actually increase the payout. If not immediately, definitely in 2031.

Yeah and they're not available. Oregon/Wash are the two biggest brands in the Pac, but Colorado/Arizona are in the tier right below them. If you get Arizona you could be done, looks good on a map, better brands than Houston, and increases your footprint in more populated areas. At that point, will Oregon and Washington want to wait it out 6 years for a B1G invite when one may never come? ND is the crown jewel of their desire and may want UVA/UNC over you, not to mention Stanford in your own conference. Also, the B1G, like the SEC, has absolutely ZERO need to expand past 16. They control the current narrative and literally any add besides ND waters down their power. So do you sit it out adding Boise's and SMUs and the like, or do you make the jump to your second-best long-term option, though best short term, and become THE brand in a 16 team conference that gives you games you can win all over the nation? The fact that the Pac allowed itself to get here is a stunning failure, far worse than the old B12 being unable to work as a team. Instead of working against each other, they destroyed what they had as a team. And now a couple will have an option and are fighting against teammates to survive. Whoever doesn't win out has no option left, but relegation.

Yeah, should this be legit, it isn't USC or Texas moving, but its still a major deal. Its passing the instability hat to the Pac 12, who now will have lost three members in a year with little to no options to stop the bleeding. They could have stuck together at ten, but at nine, they can't. Colorado doesn't have the brand value of Texas, but it has a brand value and that is leaps and bounds ahead of any G5 school. So not only did the B12 pick up a geographically attached Power Five school, it destabilized the Pac12 even more. The probability of other Pac schools now reaching out to the B12 are much, much greater than they were last week. And while nailing down an Oregon/Washington would possibly even add more value, just grabbing Arizona adds more brand cache to the conference. The Pac, on the other hand, is painted into a corner, literally. There are no P5 schools available to them to expand with. SDSU or SMU don't bring same value, let alone increasing it. So of the 9 who are left, how confident are you on your future? Its a bad place to be.

That would surprise me, since Arizona's been noisy for months and the Pres didn't seem very loyal today when quoted. Then again, Oregon and Washington would shock the hell out of me too so...