The Pac 12 Has Hit a Financial Catastrophe & Could Have to Pay Up to 50 Million | Jon Wilner

Jake

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Just in case anyone was wondering why two schools in Los Angeles jumped at the opportunity to play in the Big Ten, thousands of miles away.
 

jterrell

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The Pac 12 has been woefully mismanaged for a long time.
They had a chance to take 4 Big 12 teams and wouldn't pull the trigger (because UT said no).
That failure saw OU/UT quietly shift to SEC talks and remaining B12 to centralize and regroup.

Now P12 owes money to I believe DirecTV because of an audit they started, has few options for distribution in a new deal and has lost its 2 LA schools and biggest market.

They are in a tough, tough spot and keep talking tough but doing nothing.
They spent tons of energy flexing on UCLA dto ultimately accomplish jack squat except spelling out just how much the P12 was hurt by that school's departure.

At this point they probably need a re-brand and to add 2 schools immediately.
BUT they can't get anyone on the same page and won't get grant of rights which is required for a new Media deal.
Schools do not want to make the tough call B12 did and eat the cost to add schools and stabilize.
They wasted a 2-year head start on Big12 and saw that league steal in front and get the Fox/ESPN deal.
So they are basically down to Apple and Amazon with maybe a late-night window for ESPN.

In a dog eat dog world they had the Big 12 by the neck but let go and fell asleep.
 

atlantacowboy

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Just in case anyone was wondering why two schools in Los Angeles jumped at the opportunity to play in the Big Ten, thousands of miles away.
Well, they still have to repay the money.

They would have jumped at the opportunity anyway just bc the money is so much better in the big 10. Its going to be fun seeing these LA schools play in Big 10 weather.
 

jterrell

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Widner's latest piece says the league and Commish get about 6 more weeks of reprieve before teams start to vote no confidence on GK.

And I am not sure myself if LA schools fare far better in B10 or far worse.
Could easily see USC have the most overall speed in the conference and the 2nd best program.

My biggest question would be if the LA schools can recruit big, midwestern OL.
I'd think you'd have plenty of B10 kids from Chicago, Cleveland and Indianapolis wanting to go to LA.
 
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