McMurphy reporting that all parties are in agreement for UT and OU to join the SEC in 2024 EXCEPT for ESPN and Fox
Big game of chicken going on IMO, still thinking a deal gets done. Missed this a few days ago but it looks like Fox is playing hardball which is understandable. They are essentially left with garbage if they let them out early...
I mean, i would only be watching if it is on a streaming service. Otherwise, its not that readily available. Streaming service would make me way more inclined to watch, as a pac fan. San Diego State would be a good add for anyone, they are competitive in the major sports and spend money. SMU is less exciting.
The truth is streaming services are still in a very early adoption phase. Millennials have a bit of tunnel vision because we and everyone we know use streaming services regularly, but the problem is most sports media consumers are still boomers and they are going to the grave with their cable programming. As for SDSU, they're a no-brainer add, but TBH the PAC is a day late and a dollar short. They had a chance to make significant adds from the central timezone, but passed time and time again. Ironically it seems UCLA/USC were standing in the way of that expansion all the while plotting their exit for greener pastures. I feel like in or by 2030 we're going to see the death of the PAC as a "power" conference one way or another.
The Pac-12 also couldn't get out of its own way. The four-team playoff era left them out of the national conversation as their teams ate each other alive during the regular season. Nobody was forced to stay up late to watch USC or Oregon when they had already eliminated themselves from the playoff. The Pac-12 needed undefeated or one-loss teams to be nationally relevant and they couldn't provide that.
It's not like they are the only ones. The NFL moved Thursday night football to Amazon Prime and is moving their All-Games package to YoutubeTV. Streaming has the benefit that it has no limits - can be watched anywhere in the world and all the games can be shown. No dealing with regional coverage, or fitting into ridiculous network late-night time slots, etc. If the streamers are willing to pay for it, it's a way to get all their games seen at least by their own fans and alumni nationwide and maybe at more reasonable hours. It's probably not as good today, but as streaming keeps growing, it might be the direction everyone heads.
Not trying to start ****, but this is the same narrative around the Big 12, just replace USC/UCLA with UT/OU. I'm not sure I buy the theory that if the largest programs (at least in terms of media value) had kept winning that they would not have left these conferences. The lopsided money was always going to eventually catch up to everyone involved. Nothing short of unrealistic dominance could have stopped the Big 12 and PAC from eventually succumbing to the gravity the SEC and B1G represent.
Totally fair point. OU made the playoff four times which allowed them to position themselves as a place where recruits could compete on that stage. The Pac-12 was last represented in the playoff by Washington 7 years ago. But, I agree with you: winning begets greed in college football and I bet that if USC, UCLA, Oregon, etc. had won more consistently they would've lusted after the type of money a super conference would bring instead of keeping the Pac-12 around. I just think the conference played itself into irrelevance, too. In the end, the original sin was a four-team playoff with five power conferences (and one narcissistic independent). I can't believe the commissioners ever thought this would work.
