SPOKANE, Wash. — The Pac-12 struck out on adding schools from the American Conference, on Monday.
Memphis, Tulane, UTSA and South Florida all deciding to stay put.
Many deemed it a failure by the Pac-12.
But the conference is already taking the next steps to become a big player in the college sports landscape once again.
“You look like you asked somebody to the dance and they turned you down publicly in front of the whole school,” Pac-12 Insider John Canzano said.
The Pac-12 is now fighting with the league it decided to tango with to save its future, suing the mountain west over poaching penalties for taking five schools from the conference.
“Any move that we make and the impact of any move we make, my focus is always going to be these programs and these student-athletes,” Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould.
If those fees are thrown out it would save the Pac-12 at least 50 million dollars.
“It would really free them up to go and say to UNLV and some of the incoming members hey we’re able to help you a little bit with your exit fees in the Mountain West,” Canzano said
The Pac-12 and its five new members are on the hook for more than 120 million dollars in exit fees and poaching penalties. But it’s always been about the playoff, not the pay off.
“If you get regular access, if you’re around the playoff, if you put together the fifth best conference in the country and it looks that way, You can closer to what those distributions are for the Big 12 and the ACC,” Canzano said. “I think that matters more than the media money that you would ultimately get.”
The conference needs at least eight football schools to fulfill FBS requirements, but basketball will still be a major factor in the conference’s future.
Gonzaga will certainly be in the mix.
“If you can bring Gonzaga into that room and maybe someone else from the WCC into that room,” Canzano said. Is it St. Mary’s? Is it Grand Canyon? You can fortify the conference in a way that positions it as, is it the best basketball conference in America? Is it second?”
The Pac-12 needs to add one more school by July 2026 to reach full FBS requirements.
The expectation is to get it done sooner than later to start negotiating a new media rights deal.
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