Roundtable: Super Conferences and Their Effect in Los Angeles
Unless you’ve been under a rock for the last fifteen months, it’s been impossible to ignore the massive shifts in the college football landscape in terms of realignment. Last year, with talks of a Pac-16 that included the rich half the Big 12, Colorado jumped first, moving westward. That forced the hand of Nebraska who went to the Big Ten, which enabled Utah to join the Buffs in the newly formed Pac-12, which will officially begin play this September. In all, fifteen schools announced moves to a new conference within Division-1A (FBS…), including some schools like Texas-San Antonio, who have yet to play a game in the subdivision.
Photo by Chris Williams/Icon SMI via SI.com
Now fast forward to last week, when Texas A&M fought off rumors of going to the SEC, then said they were going, only to be denied for now by the media’s favorite conference. Florida State was rumored to be going to the SEC and some Dust Bowl pundits fantasized again about Larry Scott(right) getting the Oklahoma schools to join the Pac-12.
Yesterday’s big news on the topic featured the NCAA’s top dog, Mark Emmert, wanting to hold a summit on the second wave of realignment, in an attempt to minimize a gold rush and coax conference heads and university presidents to make their moves wisely and with respect for all parties. Scott sides with Emmert, saying “He’s doing exactly what he should be doing.”
So naturally, this got us here at The 110 Report to start thinking about Super Conferences. Shiloh Winder and myself, decided to have our own summit on the topic, along with our good friend Kyle Kensing of SaturdayBlitz.com.
Here’s what we had to say about a possible expansion of the Pac-12, and how it relates to both USC and UCLA:
Kyle Kensing (SaturdayBlitz.com): A 16-team conference would mean the members of each division play just once every four years and an outer-division opponent like Oregon would come to the Rose Bowl/Coliseum just once every 8 years, in all likelihood. In terms of recruiting this might be a boon to UCLA & USC, if say a Texas or Oklahoma joined the South. The Bruins and Trojans would have yearly exposure to those talent-rich regions, but it does work in reverse. UT and/or OU establishing presences in California heightens their recruiting profiles in LA, and makes more direct competitors for LA prep talent. It’s not a particularly great move for fans. Oregon-USC has developed into a healthy rivalry recently and seeing each other once a presidential term would eliminate that. It’s certainly looking worse for the northern teams than the southern, though.
Shiloh Winder (The 110 Report): I do think it’s far removed from USC and UCLA. I don’t see the Pac-12 changing again anytime soon. I think this will all happen East of the Missouri river. If you want to talk conference re-allignment I think there’s still plenty to discuss as far as the long-range effects of the shift to a 12 team league and all the other changes Larry Scott is making. USC and UCLA will bring in a lot more money in the new Pac, but will they lose some of their domination in football/basketball now that revenue sharing will be equal?
Michael Castillo (The 110 Report)
: Bringing in a school like Texas or Oklahoma would definitely put a damper on the magnitude of the Los Angeles schools in the conference, especially with revenue. Having said that, it obviously makes the conference way more attractive to prospective television networks, and would surely jack up the fees of cable providers who request the
Pac-12
Pac-16 Network. All of that helps our schools, and considering that Farmers Field is now a reality, look at what the conference can do for Los Angeles as a whole. AEG is already claiming that they’re going to host Pac-12 Conference games, and by the time the monstrosity opens in 2015, these “super conferences” could very well be in effect. Having another major game in the city, a mini-Rose Bowl if you will, would bring in tons of revenue and you know that somehow USC and UCLA are going to benefit from that. But, as Kyle mentioned, recruiting is a huge factor here. The Pac-12 North schools bickered about one major issue when the divisions were drawn, and that is getting a game in Southern California on a consistant basis to showcase themselves to potential recruits. Add in a school like Texas Tech that already struggles with losing out on in-state guys to Texas, Oklahoma and Texas A&M, and feeding on Los Angeles becomes a priority. More attractive options in the conference in addition to the local schools could start chipping away at the concrete pipelines to USC and UCLA that are Mater Dei and Long Beach Poly. I find it hard to believe that a Bob Stoops or Mack Brown couldn’t reel in one of those guys out of our grasp. But, it would be more than awesome to have the Horns and Sooners fill up the Coliseum and Rose Bowl every year or two.
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