The Big 12 will never catch up at the bank to the SEC and Big Ten, but it has more stability and harmony than the beleaguered Pac-12 and anxious Atlantic Coast Conference. The Big 12 replaced the star quality brands of Texas and Oklahoma with quantity and reach (BYU, Houston, UCF and Cincinnati). While Kliavkoff was trying to figure out a way to close the revenue gap on the Southeastern Conference and the Big Ten, Yormark realized survival was at stake for the other Power Five conferences. The Big 12 jumped the Pac-12 in line last year and grabbed a deal with ESPN and Fox that probably could have been the Pac-12’s. He has envisioned a 16-team league that covers all time zones. Pac-12 presidents and chancellors, athletic directors and Kliavkoff were expected to meet Thursday to discuss next moves for the conference, two people with knowledge of the meeting told AP on condition of anonymity because the conference was not making its internal discussion public.īrett Yormark has outmaneuvered Kilavkoff since being named Big 12 commissioner a day before USC and UCLA announced they planned to switch conferences. The continuing threat to the Pac-12 is primarily the Big 12, despite Kliavkoff’s dismissals (“The truth is we have bigger fish to fry,” he said last week in Las Vegas at football media day.) We have a lot of work to do there,” new Commissioner Tony Petitti said at Big Ten football media days earlier this week. “All the direction I’m getting from leadership … is to focus on USC and UCLA. But Warren is gone now and his replacement said the Big Ten isn’t eager to expand more. Under previous Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren, the Big Ten still had eyes out west, with Oregon and Washington having the most appeal of the remaining Pac-12 schools. I don’t see the SEC, the Big Ten, the ACC doing anything at this point.” “A lot of that comes down to how fast the Big 12 wants to expand. “I don’t believe it does” said former Fox Sports executive Bob Thompson. The questions now: Can the Pac-12 stop bleeding membership? And if not, does it trigger conferences beyond the Big 12 to target its schools? Will CU’s move trigger another wide-ranging round of realignment? To survive, the Pac-12 will almost surely try to add new member schools. The roots of the Pac-12 date to 1915 and its sports alumni include such names as Jackie Robinson, John Elway, Macus Allen, Reggie Miller, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Jenny Thompson, Bill Walton and Barry Bonds. Colorado is a newbie, but USC’s membership dates to 1922, UCLA’s to 1928. However, there is no way to spin this latest hit as anything but a loss for a conference that has been the power center of West Coast college sports for decades. Losing a school that has been fielding one of the worst Power Five football programs for most of the last decade is recoverable, even with new coach and retired NFL star Deion Sanders grabbing headlines in Boulder. It is becoming harder to sell that no news on a deal is good news.Ĭolorado’s exit alone is not a death blow for the Pac-12. Still, without a media rights contract to replace ones that expires next summer, Pac-12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff keeps promising that all will be well. It leaves the league that has won more NCAA championships than any other facing an uncertain future. Winner of Quarterfinal 4, 25 min.The conference of champions appears to be in crisis.Ĭolorado’s announcement Thursday that it will return to the Big 12 comes a little more than a year after Southern California and UCLA said they were ditching the Pac-12 to join the Big Ten. after Quarterfinal 3 Saturday, March 13, Semifinals Winner of Game 2, 25 min after Game 5 p.m. Check out all the options to stream the tourney online this year! Big Ten Tournament Schedule Wednesday, March 10, first round If you’re a college basketball fan you won’t want to miss one of the best weeks of basketball next to March Madness. If you have recently cut cable and are looking for a way to watch the Big Ten Tourney, look no further, we have you all squared away on how to watch the Big 10 without cable. The Big Ten Tournament will begin on Wednesday with two games on the slate.
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