I am anxious. The uncertainty of what the Pac-10 athletic directors and presidents will decide on key issues is a bit distressing. Certainly, the outcome of these meetings will reshape the Pac-10 like never before. Even when the Pac-8 became the Pac-10, there was no conference championship game. There were no divisions. Those are the attention-grabbing issues. Perhaps the largest issue, however, is revenue distribution. Make no mistake, that will be a hotly contested issue. Particularly the television revenue. When you have a television market the size of the L.A. market, and a significant drop-off to the next largest market (A difference of more than 3 million households.) there are bound to be conflicting viewpoints on how to move forward. Particularly with the revenue distribution from L.A. games and the frequency with which a given team will play against one of the L.A. schools. So, lets take a look at the major issues.
Revenue. I tend to take a simple view of this one. I would argue for total revenue sharing, for all profits generated from a televised game. This would spread the wealth to all the Pac-12 schools, and help to create a more dominant conference, top to bottom. That said, it won’t happen. Too much greed here, and the revenue sharing is likely to be used as a bargaining chip for the schools not placed in a division with both L.A. schools.
Divisions. I would argue for the North/ South split. In the Pac-12 North: Oregon, Oregon St., Washington, Washington St., Utah, and Colorado. In the Pac-12 South: Stanford, Cal, USC, UCLA, Arizona St., and Arizona. The North teams would still play in California every year. All signs point to the 9 game conference schedule remaining. If your team plays every team in its division, that leaves 4 inter-division games per season. Worst case scenario, a North team would get Arizona, ASU, Stanford, and Cal. I seriously doubt, however, that the Pac-12 would allow that to happen. It is more than likely that there will be a rule that a North school must play at least one L.A. school per season. Maybe alternate playing USC and UCLA every other year.
Also, don’t think for a second that Oregon and Oregon St. wouldn’t be happy to play WSU and Colorado every season.
Championship Game. Where should it be played? I would vote for a rotating schedule, similar to the BCS championship game. Alternate between the following: University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, AZ; Qwest Field in Seattle, WA; Candlestick Park in San Francisco, CA; Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, CA.
Leave the Rose Bowl stadium for the Rose Bowl game.
We’ll all just have to wait and see how this all turns out. I am sure that there will be at least one surprise to come out of the meetings, and that is the part that worries me. It feeds all manner of speculation. Like the reports coming out that the Pac-12 championship game may be played in Las Vegas. I am whole-heartedly against this. Lets see a continuation of the re-branding of the Pac-10 into the Pac-12, and play the championship game on as grand a stage as possible, an NFL stadium.
Feel free to chime in with a comment, or by voting on the poll. I am very interested to know what the Pac-10(12) fans think of these issues.