Early reports of what exactly the new Pac-12 media rights deal entails are less than thrilling. The money does not even seem to be there. It’s a partnership with Apple. While Apple is an outstanding company that will one day be a major player in the space, it simply does not move the needle enough right now, particularly without loads of cash flowing into the coffers of the member schools.
Streaming very well could be the future, but it’s not the present. Another failure of leadership for this once proud league.
Arizona looks like it has one foot out the door. It’s hard to imagine that Arizona State will not follow. Utah has been homering it up for the Pac-12, but would they really turn down a move to the Big 12 at this point with the possibility of being stranded in a conference that will likely be demoted to Group of 5 status as soon as Oregon and Washington walk out the door?
Hey Utes, take the invite if it comes. Your rival in the Holy War, BYU, is already there and with Colorado already “back”, your conference will rule the Rockies.
If all the corner schools come in, that makes the Big 12 one heck of an intriguing league that spans four time zones (six months out of the year). This would be the line-up. While there are not a lot of blue bloods, there are a slew of very good and potentially elite programs.
Arizona
Arizona State
Baylor
BYU
Cincinnati
Colorado
Houston
Iowa State
Kansas
Kansas State
Oklahoma State
TCU
Texas Tech
UCF
Utah
West Virginia
The league would include two Power 5 league champions from the past two seasons (Kansas State, Utah), the national runner-up from last year (TCU), a playoff team from 2021 (Cincinnati) two programs that own National Championships from the 1980s and 1990s (Colorado, BYU) and program that is top 25 all time in wins (West Virginia) that was a national runner-up in 1988 (may have won it all in 2007 had it not been for a massive upset loss to Pitt). Plus, we all know that UCF has had great success at the Group of 5 level, particularly in 2013 and 2017, and Baylor/Oklahoma State/KSU have been oh so close in certain seasons.
Additionally, ASU is often considered one of the sleeping giants of college football and Texas Tech appears to be on the rise under Joey McGuire.
In men’s basketball, this league would be unrivaled.
Back to football- while it will not feature the blue bloods that the Big Ten and SEC will, this is setting up to be a dang good third place league with tons of potential.
Everyone remember back in 2011 when it was expected that the Big 12 would fall apart? Not so much now.
