It looks like the PAC-10 has decided to push the “DEFCON 2″ button on the Expansion Nuke launcher.
They want to get to 16 members before they begin negotiating their new television deal, which is set to renew for the 2012-2013 season. And they’ve set the Big 12—more specifically, Texas—squarely in their sights.
If the PAC-10 explodes in size to the PAC-16, robbing the Big 12 of six teams, they will set off a chain reaction that will radically alter the college sports landscape and likely destroy the ACC as we currently know it.
There’s no real need for me to rehash all the possible scenarios…you’ve probably heard them all by now. Steven’s got a pretty thorough discussion on the matter here.
My concern is that all of this expansion talk seems primarily motivated by a tiny, arbitrary rule set forth by the NCAA: All conferences that wish to hold a football conference championship game must have 12 members. This rule, of course, currently precludes the PAC-10 and Big 10 from hosting a conference championship game (and the money it generates). This rule was the impetus behind the ACC’s expansion earlier this century.
If the NCAA TRULY wanted to do what was in the best interest of their student athletes, i.e. limiting the amount of time spent out of class and the amount of cross-country travel, they should step forth and publicly abolish this rule. NOW. Allow the PAC-10 and the Big 10 to host conference football title games as these conferences currently stand. If the member institutions of the PAC-10 believe they can stand to make more money as a 10-team league (after all, splitting the pie 16 ways versus 10 makes a HUGE difference, especially with the added cost of travel to Texas/OK), it might be enough to prevent the Pac-10 from destroying the Big 12, the Big East and the current makeup of the ACC.
I fear it’s too late—that I’m tilting at windmills.
Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott has put his foot to the floor. He’s moving forward with a great head of steam. Even if the NCAA were to come forward TODAY and reverse that rule, too many wheels have been set in motion, I believe, to turn back.
But that’s the NCAA’s lone “hail mary” left at its disposal if it wishes to stop this current expansion proposal. They would be wise to use it, lest the PAC-10 destroy college athletics as we know it.
