Grumblings from the 'left coast' ...

[surly]

"In my humble opinion, sooner rather than later, the seven teams listed above should leave the conference, and along with the University of Houston, should associate with the Big 12."

http://fishduck.com/2018/01/oregon-and-pac-12-is-it-time-to-abandon-ship/

Although his is a wildly unworkable plan, I do agree that Larry Scott would be looking for work if he played in the private sector and the Big12 is far more stable than the PAC.

 

[CloneGuy8]

If this happens, then we can reminisce about the classic big 12 players like Marcus Mariota

 

[surly]

... and Big 12 coaching Hall of Famers like USC's John McKay and John Robinson.

 

[HFCS]

If this happens, then we can reminisce about the classic big 12 players like Marcus Mariota

And remind people on a daily basis that ISU is older than USC.

I have no impartial reaction to this as I would love going to one or two games a year at UCLA/USC.

It's weird that he singles out ASU as a "have" and Zona as a "have not". I've always viewed them as roughly equal or Arizona having the slight edge because of hoops pedigree.

 

[TykeClone]

Nothing spells conference success like spanning one across 4 time zones.

 

[SoapyCy]

Where do I get my refund of the seven minutes I spent reading that?

 

[SoapyCy]

Unrelated to this, but I am sick of people saying the Pac-12 is at a disadvantage because they're on the west coast. There are over 50 million people on the west coast. That is more than most countries in the entire world. what disadvantage?

The Midwest has 65 million people but two conferences to split those people for an average of 32 and 1/2 million people per conference. The Pac-12 has more potential fans than either Midwest conference.

Disadvantage from being far away from New York City? Please.

 

[Cyched]

When the article's main picture is the Titanic you know it's legit.

 

[HFCS]

Unrelated to this, but I am sick of people saying the Pac-12 is at a disadvantage because they're on the west coast. There are over 50 million people on the west coast. That is more than most countries in the entire world. what disadvantage?

The Midwest has 65 million people but two conferences to split those people for an average of 32 and 1/2 million people per conference. The Pac-12 has more potential fans than either Midwest conference.

Disadvantage from being far away from New York City? Please.

Closer to the truth is that people on the west coast are less passionate about sports. The population #s aren't bad and will only get better.

When I lived in Chicago during their 4th place Olympic bid it was CONSTANT COVERAGE EVERYWHERE. Living in LA their successful winning bid of the Olympics got almost no news coverage at all. 99% of the people living here don't know they won it, 90% of people in Chicago know they lost it.

 

[Sigmapolis]

Super-conferences with a spread out geography are inherently dumb.

 

[Cyched]

Super-conferences with a spread out geography are inherently dumb.

Which of course means this will be officially announced shortly

 

[CyCrazy]

If this happens, then we can reminisce about the classic big 12 players like Marcus Mariota

Well the B10 does it with Tommy O.

 

[exCyDing]

**Shrugs**
The Pac 12 really lays bare the inherent flaws in letting population drive conference realignment strategies. While the Universities have large enrollments, they are not an order of magnitude larger than Big10/12/SEC schools in line with the population differences. For example, Iowa and Iowa State have a combined enrollment of about 70,000 in a state of 3.1M residents. Washington and Washington State have a combined enrollment of 87,000 in a state of 7.3M people. For the numbers to be in line, UW and Wash St would need to have about 165,000 students. Those people are likely getting their degrees, just elsewhere.

Also, seven of the 12 schools in the Pac 12 (USC, UCLA, Cal, Stanford, Colorado, Arizona State, Washington) share a city or metro area with at least two teams from the NFL/NBA/MLB. In shorts, the sport's fans budget is getting stretched several different ways.

These factors affect where the rubber meets the road: fan engagement. The conference network model relies on getting said channel on a low cable tier to get on as many cable bills as possible. The SEC and Big 10 networks have been very successful on this, while the ACC and Pac 12 have faltered.

I can understand the frustration of the writer, but the issue isn't five schools dragging the conference down. I think, however, they are finding that bigger isn't always better. Are Utah and Colorado earning their keep in the conference? I have no idea, but I wouldn't necessarily be surprised if the answer was no.

 

[Rural]

Closer to the truth is that people on the west coast are less passionate about sports. The population #s aren't bad and will only get better.

When I lived in Chicago during their 4th place Olympic bid it was CONSTANT COVERAGE EVERYWHERE. Living in LA their successful winning bid of the Olympics got almost no news coverage at all. 99% of the people living here don't know they won it, 90% of people in Chicago know they lost it.

My uncle was still driving a potato chip delivery route when the 1984 games were gearing up in L.A..

There was all this panic about traffic and all deliveries should be done in the middle of the night and a lot were switched for those two weeks.

Nobody noticed an iota of difference in traffic while the games went on.

 

[VeloClone]

Closer to the truth is that people on the west coast are less passionate about sports. The population #s aren't bad and will only get better.

When I lived in Chicago during their 4th place Olympic bid it was CONSTANT COVERAGE EVERYWHERE. Living in LA their successful winning bid of the Olympics got almost no news coverage at all. 99% of the people living here don't know they won it, 90% of people in Chicago know they lost it.

I agree with the concept that LA has many competing interests for eyeballs, but I think the Olympic issue has other factors contributing with the main one being LA having hosted 3 Olympic games previously while Chicago was going for its very first Olympic games.

EDIT: I just learned that the 1904 Olympics were supposed to happen in Chicago but they also had the World's Fair and the two organizations were bickering so the Olympics moved to St. Louis.

 

[HFCS]

I agree with the concept that LA has many competing interests for eyeballs, but I think the Olympic issue has other factors contributing with the main one being LA having hosted 3 Olympic games previously while Chicago was going for its very first Olympic games.

The Rams are new in returning, but man...the difference between the Rams playoffs and any Bears playoffs was light years different. As different as you can possibly imagine.

 

[VeloClone]

The Rams are new in returning, but man...the difference between the Rams playoffs and any Bears playoffs was light years different. As different as you can possibly imagine.

Agree. LA has plenty of sports fans but an overabundance of sports so often college sports ends up something of an afterthought. It also doesn't help that so many Californians are transplants so their college loyalties are elsewhere.

 

[Frak]

Turns out that eyeballs are not as important as actual people watching and attending games. Who would’ve thought?

 

[Shawker]

Well to be fair, it's probably hard to work up the motivation to go to a game when you've just blazed for two hours straight.

 

[runbikeswim]

This chart tells all you need to know about eyeballs. People in the midwest watch the most tv, west coast the least.

http://www.adweek.com/tvspy/tv-is-hot-in-cleveland-cold-in-san-francisco/162035