We know they want a ticket to the Big Ten but if they come to the Big 12 how do you handle their contract? Do you allow them an out to leave for the Big 12?

gobears20 said:

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We know they want a ticket to the Big Ten but if they come to the Big 12 how do you handle their contract? Do you allow them an out to leave for the Big 12?

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No special treatment. We tried that and it didn't work. Come in as equals or take your chances out in the wind.

BearFan33 said:

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gobears20 said:

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We know they want a ticket to the Big Ten but if they come to the Big 12 how do you handle their contract? Do you allow them an out to leave for the Big 12?

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No special treatment. We tried that and it didn't work. Come in as equals or take your chances out in the wind.

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100%

I also would not give them an invite at this point

I'd invite their conference mates who want to be in the B12

Attitude is everything at this point and I don't like theirs. Ever marry somebody who is in love with someone else? Don't do it.

They aren't different from anyone else in the outside. We would all jump in a second to SEC or BiG for the money.

Robert Wilson said:

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BearFan33 said:

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gobears20 said:

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We know they want a ticket to the Big Ten but if they come to the Big 12 how do you handle their contract? Do you allow them an out to leave for the Big 12?

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No special treatment. We tried that and it didn't work. Come in as equals or take your chances out in the wind.

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100%

I also would not give them an invite at this point

I'd invite their conference mates who want to be in the B12

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It's about the bigger picture. Give them an out to the Big 10 in case and they would join, you kill PAC and become the defacto western conference. I don't like either but it's about solidifying the Big 12 status as the 3rd conference.

atomicblast said:

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Robert Wilson said:

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BearFan33 said:

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gobears20 said:

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We know they want a ticket to the Big Ten but if they come to the Big 12 how do you handle their contract? Do you allow them an out to leave for the Big 12?

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No special treatment. We tried that and it didn't work. Come in as equals or take your chances out in the wind.

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100%

I also would not give them an invite at this point

I'd invite their conference mates who want to be in the B12

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It's about the bigger picture. Give them an out to the Big 10 in case and they would join, you kill PAC and become the defacto western conference. I don't like either but it's about solidifying the Big 12 status as the 3rd conference.

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You can kill the PAC without catering to them. No reason to make yourself weaker than you have to be.

You take them in and beat their asses every season.

ABC BEAR said:

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Attitude is everything at this point and I don't like theirs. Ever marry somebody who is in love with someone else? Don't do it.

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We don't really know their attitude, though. The only thing I've seen about either school outside of obvious smoke and mirrors is that Phil Knight was "reportedly" pushing for Oregon to join the Big 10. Other than that, just reports that a UW/UO package could be of interest to the Big 10 and vague rumors about feelers. We don't even know how far down the road either school got in their interest.

We'd be stupid to firmly close that door if the possibility is there. My hunch is that the Pac-12 is going to significantly outlive predictions of its death, circle the wagons, add a few schools a shore up its support this cycle.

With the Big 10 and SEC publicly saying they're standing pat for now, and the Big 10 on hold completely until Notre Dame figures out its new TV contract in two years, my prediction is that the Pac-12 manages to hold onto all of its schools this media rights cycle, including the 4C's and UW/UO. Inertia is what it is.

atomicblast said:

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Robert Wilson said:

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BearFan33 said:

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gobears20 said:

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We know they want a ticket to the Big Ten but if they come to the Big 12 how do you handle their contract? Do you allow them an out to leave for the Big 12?

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No special treatment. We tried that and it didn't work. Come in as equals or take your chances out in the wind.

---

100%

I also would not give them an invite at this point

I'd invite their conference mates who want to be in the B12

---

It's about the bigger picture. Give them an out to the Big 10 in case and they would join, you kill PAC and become the defacto western conference. I don't like either but it's about solidifying the Big 12 status as the 3rd conference.

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Give everyone that same out. It won't matter. None of the teams in that league are making the P2 cut unless something dramatic changes.

I think it would be best to just acknowledge that any team that received an invite from the SEC or Big Ten would take it and just be prepared to backfill if/when necessary.

That's a great point. We don't know what their attitude is. We have just seen their fans reactions on Twitter.

bear2be2 said:

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atomicblast said:

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Robert Wilson said:

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BearFan33 said:

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gobears20 said:

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We know they want a ticket to the Big Ten but if they come to the Big 12 how do you handle their contract? Do you allow them an out to leave for the Big 12?

---

No special treatment. We tried that and it didn't work. Come in as equals or take your chances out in the wind.

---

100%

I also would not give them an invite at this point

I'd invite their conference mates who want to be in the B12

---

It's about the bigger picture. Give them an out to the Big 10 in case and they would join, you kill PAC and become the defacto western conference. I don't like either but it's about solidifying the Big 12 status as the 3rd conference.

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Give everyone that same out. It won't matter. None of the teams in that league are making the P2 cut unless something dramatic changes.

I think it would be best to just acknowledge that any team that received an invite from the SEC or Big Ten would take it and just be prepared to backfill if/when necessary.

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100%.

I get some of the logic behind Oregon wanting a sweetener given their recent FB success (though lets be real, they are not a historical power house in any sport), but what has Washington done ever to justify their asking for anything better than the rest of the conference would get, or even an invite to the Big 10?

Am I missing something?

I still think the best outcome for the Big 12, the PAC-12 and college football in general is some sort of merger that preserves the brand and autonomy of both conferences.

Exist as separate leagues, but create a real, contractual scheduling alliance that includes multiple nonconference games and a four-team championship playoff, and then negotiate your media rights jointly.

The two conferences would likely make more money together than they would separately. And there's a way to do this that would be practical, revolutionary and really damn fun.

Pass on a merger. The Pac 12 is run like crap, their cable networks are a failure, and there are 3-4 members who are dead weight.

Brian Ethridge said:

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303Bear said:

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I get some of the logic behind Oregon wanting a sweetener given their recent FB success (though lets be real, they are not a historical power house in any sport), but what has Washington done ever to justify their asking for anything better than the rest of the conference would get, or even an invite to the Big 10?

Am I missing something?

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Washington does have a national title. Oregon was a punching bag like KSU in the 70s/80s.

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Fair point, looked it up and Washington actually likely has a better overall athletics resume than Oregon, though still nothing that I would say deserves anything approaching special treatment.

DST said:

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Pass on a merger. The Pac 12 is run like crap, their cable networks are a failure, and there are 3-4 members who are dead weight.

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I think we're going to find that no combination of added leftovers actually makes our league more money on a per-school basis than they're projected to earn now, and if history tells us anything, schools aren't going to take less money to expand unless their league's literal survival depends on it.

We're already hearing grumblings that Big 12 athletic directors are concerned about this, and the national narrative on the West Coast is shifting toward a merger rather than addition. I think it's likely that both leagues will start exploring more creative options that allow both to survive at manageable roster counts that maximize their per-school payout.

gobears20 said:

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That's a great point. We don't know what their attitude is. We have just seen their fans reactions on Twitter.

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We do know about their attitude towards us last year at this time when the XII looked like a homeless shelter. Less than conciliatory if I recall and that did not come from fans on Twitter.

bear2be2 said:

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DST said:

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Pass on a merger. The Pac 12 is run like crap, their cable networks are a failure, and there are 3-4 members who are dead weight.

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I think we're going to find that no combination of added leftovers actually makes our league more money on a per-school basis than they're projected to earn now, and if history tells us anything, schools aren't going to take less money to expand unless their league's literal survival depends on it.

We're already hearing grumblings that Big 12 athletic directors are concerned about this, and the national narrative on the West Coast is shifting toward a merger rather than addition. I think it's likely that both leagues will start exploring more creative options that allow both to survive at manageable roster counts that maximize their per-school payout.

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If adding Pac members doesnt add more money to the coffers of the current new XII members, I dont see how merger does anything.

BTW I think the additions of O, UW and Stanford do probably help the current members of the new XII and does help those schools as well unless one is going BiG and BiG has already essentially passed on O and UW.

Exclude 'em

They don't fit.. You get more "cow" issues if they are in

No merger. I would give them a 5 year out but no other special treatment or percentage of the revenue. After the 5 years they would automatically have the same deal as the rest of the conference if they do not leave.

PartyBear said:

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bear2be2 said:

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DST said:

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Pass on a merger. The Pac 12 is run like crap, their cable networks are a failure, and there are 3-4 members who are dead weight.

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I think we're going to find that no combination of added leftovers actually makes our league more money on a per-school basis than they're projected to earn now, and if history tells us anything, schools aren't going to take less money to expand unless their league's literal survival depends on it.

We're already hearing grumblings that Big 12 athletic directors are concerned about this, and the national narrative on the West Coast is shifting toward a merger rather than addition. I think it's likely that both leagues will start exploring more creative options that allow both to survive at manageable roster counts that maximize their per-school payout.

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If adding Pac members doesnt add more money to the coffers of the current new XII members, I dont see how merger does anything.

BTW I think the additions of O, UW and Stanford do probably help the current members of the new XII and does help those schools as well unless one is going BiG and BiG has already essentially passed on O and UW.

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A merger adds significant inventory for both leagues -- on top of the inventory either can boast individually. A four-team dual-conference playoff would be lucrative on its own merit, and those would only be three of 21-25 potential crossover matchups if you had every team in each league play two noconference games against the other.

If these two leagues got on the same page and got creative with their scheduling, they could go to the negotiating table together and make more money as a collective than either would alone.

I can see where the history of UT and OU can be argued to merit special terms, although we know that doesn't work and I would not be for it. But Oregon and UW are not even in the same league with the history of those other two programs. If their value was worth that much they would already be in the B1G.

blackie said:

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I can see where the history of UT and OU can be argued to merit special terms, although we know that doesn't work and I would not be for it. But Oregon and UW are not even in the same league with the history of those other two programs. If their value was worth that much they would already be in the B1G.

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Would also argue that neither Duck U nor Washington are in the same league of arrogance as our can't-be-soon-enough-to-be former conference mates.

PaperBear89 said:

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blackie said:

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I can see where the history of UT and OU can be argued to merit special terms, although we know that doesn't work and I would not be for it. But Oregon and UW are not even in the same league with the history of those other two programs. If their value was worth that much they would already be in the B1G.

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Would also argue that neither Duck U nor Washington are in the same league of arrogance as our can't-be-soon-enough-to-be former conference mates.

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Well that is good to know and they shouldnt be actually as a side note to blackie's point which is correct.

One reason why USC/UCLA went to Big 10 was to play in EST/CST. Traditionally, the PAC 12 is hurt nationally due to their time zone differences. They may draw big TV in local or Western time zones, but ESPN doesn't cover and it is hard to get an audience so late at night.

Don't take Washington or Oregon. As attractive as they are, don't do it. It will be a mistake unless we divide into some sort of a north, south and east alliance. I say no.

PAC should invite Boise, Colorado State, Fresno and San Diego State and hope for the best. Having to play 75% of your games east would be a beating.