The Pac-12 Is Back! | Dirt & Sprague

the Pack 12 is rebuilding it is not the big 12 it is not the ACC Oregon state Washington State have evaluated the landscape they don't want to wait they've got a war chest of money they're going to rebuild the Pack 12 that was announced last night Ross Dinger of Yahoo sports broke it everybody of course had to confirm it my my sources have confirmed by the way my sources have also confirmed Ross Dellinger who's way more sourced than I ever will be I'm confirming his report I just love that the people who got duped by the pack 12 had bad reporting for a calendar year then didn't get to break this news that was quite enjoyable that is a bit of the kick in the junk you carry a lot of water and then you the big news when it happens 30 million Fox Apple tea everything's going to be fine and then the conference crumbles and then when you get actual news on the Pack 12 you don't get to break it they're going to rebuild the conference they're at in Boise State Fresno State San Diego State and Colorado State look at us we're the state conference now the pack State your damn right you are um and so those are four they need two more to get to8 but they don't have they have until 2026 they're going to pay and I believe I read this correctly they're going to pay roughly $11 million uh total owed fees to the Mountain West for these exit fees combined the exit fees for the school and then there's a poaching fee on the Pack 12 that was part of the initial Arrangement they signed with the Mountain West and this was met with a lot of mixed reaction there's Oran State fan that still holds hope this leads to a Pack 12 that we once knew and loved there's also Oregon State fan that and we've talked about some of these accounts or that w a guy account that's Anonymous that tweets out they're getting the Big 12 or the ACC yeah M3 haer or whatever Whoopsie Daisy not quite right and so you've got some also anger being met here because it might have just been your reality the entire time but some fans were holding out optimism and now they're met with you're probably just accepting that you're a group of five school now yeah and that's your lot in life yeah I I don't blame anybody for having a feeling on either side of the spectrum I I don't know how I would feel I would probably be more on the angry side if this was my team that I was going through in the realization I think it's hard I don't mean this in a mean way I think it's hard for you to even put yourself in it because of how different the situations are the the booster backing all that 12 schools that left are struggling financially and that's something that my school doesn't have to go through like Washington's Washington is sending out messages begging their fans for money yeah Jed fish just donated a million dollars of his own money uh Arizona miscalculated hundreds of millions of dollars I still I don't know how Cal is function I don't even know how Cal has like a field or how they hire anybody doesn't make sense how do they cut their grass they have no money down there so and they beat Auburn and they and they beat Auburn yeah there's the woke agenda for you Auburn um so I my school is is very unique to that and so you're probably right it is very hard for me to comprehend I I just what I am at least would be appreciative of is them being them taking action and trying to take their own future into their own hands you there there's a lot of waiting around for things to happen that has gone on for Oregon State and Washington State for the last two years we found out two years ago USC and UCLA were leaving the conference the pawol couldn't pull their head out of their ass in time to figure it all out that should have been the death nail and then eventually it crumbled they can't get their TV deal done and it's just been a lot of sitting and waiting and sitting and waiting and when when is somebody going to extend us an invite and when are we going to get a seat at the table and when's somebody going to do something for us and so that would be one of the few Silver Linings as a beaver fan or a Cougar Fan that I would have today is at least they looked around and said you know what like d we we got to figure this out we're tired of waiting maybe the ACC offer is going to be there in two years but I don't know and I don't even know what that conference is going to look like the big 12 doesn't seem viable so of the options that I have on the table I can be you know uh up front and say let's go figure this out and let's start rebuilding the conference we can take our destiny into our own hands and so I think at least there's a silver lining of you're not sitting around waiting for something to happen to you you're making something happen for you now I saw a nimic tweet this and I I did kind of go I think he's right you're basically become you're absorbing the Mountain West to a certain extent yes but also this didn't well how no I mean you're not taking Hawaii no but you're schools if you had if I made you gamble $100 would you gamble that they're getting Cal Stanford or some ACC school or would you gamble that it's going to be more Mountain West probably be two more yeah probably two more at least one more UNLV makes sense you would gamble on them on the on the more Mountain West thing probably more m f out eight eight spots right yeah in the short term because you got to get there by 2026 and I don't know when I think Callin Stanford will eventually be back in this conference I just don't know when that's going to happen that's the hard part because it could take it could take two three years financially it doesn't sense for them to be in the ACC Clemson and Florida State are going to leave and that will allow the floodgates to open for everybody else to leave the conference well I guess I would also ask cuz there are taking a very small share of that ACC money which isn't amazing what do you mean by financially just the travel cost with the Lesser payout and if what what's the what's the break even point of sure maybe you're making $7 million more a year in the ACC but it's no longer viewed as a power conference because they lost their best schools and how much are you spending making flights to Wake Forest to play a soccer game on a Tuesday it is still power conference though they still have that automatic qualifier for now yeah now and so I think that's why it's enticing for them to stay in it despite how weird and un you know not logical it is but his point was if you do add two Mountain West schools even if you're waiting for Cal Stanford in three four years I think some people are celebrating it because it says Pack 12 and now Mountain West and if it said Mountain West you wouldn't be yaying so much no and I think the other part of that I I understand the argument I I do think that it's not just simply a merger this is better than a merg now it's going to cost you more but you're you don't have San Jose State you don't have Hawaii you don't we don't know who they're going to add they might actually have those schools I think they're just going to try and get to eight they're already at six so you only need two more so you're not going to you're not taking all of the Riff Raff from the Mountain West there's certain teams in that conference that you just don't really want to be a part of and and so it's not just a simple straight across the board merger the other hard part about this is we don't know what the final product is going to look like I don't know what their next move is is is their next move UTSA cuz that that moves my antenna a little bit that's it's been a really good program they get great support down there gets you into the state of Texas to go play games and try and recruit in that state like that makes a lot of sense to me if that's the addition with like UNLV then it's not just a Mountain West merger and you took five Mountain West schools two you already had two and then you added UTSA to the mix so I that's the hard part trying to come with some concrete take today is I don't know what the final product of this conference is going to look like yeah all we have is the initial take right it's it's what is your thoughts seeing that they've uh in a roundabout way said we are who we are and it is what it is today and this is what we're going to do Teresa gold the uh conference commissioner said quote there's a lot of interest in having highlevel conference rooted on the west coast there's a lot of interest in our communities and fan bases a lot of people care deeply about the Pack 12 and Pack 12 brand there is a lot of nostalgia about the possibility of a rebuild and and I I would say that was definitely a feeling I had last night of sorting out you know how am I upset about this am I optimistic about this all that stuff there was a a moment of uh kind of Pride just sound really stupid and and I'm sure somebody on the textas line is going to call a little brother of you pack 12 was our our conference and it it got completely railroaded because USC was terrified of Oregon and they took the coward's way out and went to the Big 10 and then everybody followed suit because you need USC unfortunately uh watching them stick with the brand it may just end up being group of five for the foreseeable future and that is a bummer in itself but there was also a little bit of like hell yeah let's get weird yeah let's just be as weird as we can at this point if we're not getting the Big 12 that was the only conference I wanted to get into I don't care about the ACC even though they have the power for status I'd rather just be weird and I don't know what that means financially for Oregon State I'd imagine it's not great you're going to get a TV deal but I don't think it's going to be that much really might be looking like 12 13 14 million maybe yeah optimistic maybe 17 18 if you get up there I mean your fingers crossed if you can get to that high yeah just get weird and represent a logo and a brand that we all grew up loving yeah and then maybe 5 10 years down the road all this goes back and it goes hey look the pack 12's back everybody's back I that's way too optimistic but my overall point was I did have that moment of like hell yeah let's just just get really weird I don't know what any of this means I don't know how to feel yet and I mean to that point I'm all for it I call I'd call North Dakota state do they want to make the jump that's a hell of a program man with a great tradition that knows how to win games you're making this almost now it's a it's actually becoming a difficult conference for Oregon State to routinely win where it's like I want them to routinely win so they go to the playoff as a group of five well you can't have it both ways like you I can yeah I can I have it any way I want fan that's the best thing it's like a McDonald's commercial Now isn't that their slogan have it any way you want I want I want cheese on my burger I just I I think my my whole focal point now would be it is a really hard kick in the nuts I think to have that final realization of this is going to be a group of five conference That's What It ultimately is yes that's what I'm waking up with today is that it's like not that big 12 uh was that realistic yeah it's more just like damn the thing I kind of knew but I didn't want to happen is it it is happening and it's a a year removed from the thing we all kind of felt like was going to happen and you didn't know if it was going to happen but we all thought and then it happened and the packs 12 crumbled my whole mindset now if I'm organ State and Washington State and if I'm the Pack 12 how do I make this the premier group of five conference you have something that all of these other small conferences do not have and this is why Oregon State fan and Washington State fan was right to pay so much attention to the financial windfall that could come from lawsuits you have a war chest to play with hundreds of millions of dollars and by the way that war chest is going continue to get stocked you get got the gam the B game money the playoff money the tournament all that money is going to get thrown into your coffers I'm I'm throwing out offers left and right like I I don't want this to be a merger with the Mountain West which is why I don't think they merged with them they had that option on the table just take away the Mountain West name at Oregon State and Washington State call it the Pack 12 they had that option and they chose not to take that option so who who do you go get to make this the premier group of five conference where no you're not going to get the same respect as the Big 10 or the SEC but you're to a point where almost every year your Champion gets into the college football playoff you can get more TV dollars because it's more interesting football matchups I can get different markets in UTSA Tain Memphis I would be all for in North Dakota State I think that would be awesome if they join a passionate fan base they can play with you know that level of football in consistently that is my whole that's my next strategy is how do I turn this into with my financial War chest that the American Athletic Conference doesn't have that the Mac doesn't have that you know insert all the other ones they don't have how do I make this the premier brand of that category in the sport