Conference Realignment

[RichardCranium]

On a related note, I heard a rumor that B1G FB championship game is going to alternate between Pasadena and Ann Arbor each year.

[PHXCATS]

Let's get an 8 year deal with UCLA basketball signed right now

1-UA
2-UCLA
3-Vegas
4-UA
5-UCLA
6-Vegas
7-UA
8-UCLA

Any UCLA can be replaced to be at Crypto or the new Clippers arena as well

[ASUHATER!]

I'm more interested how the Big 12 basketball schedule looks like.

I just realized no more PAC Thur/Fri & Sat/Sun rotations with your rival moving forward. That means we can see Arizona earlier in the week against a myriad of teams,.

I'm kind of looking forward to that and not giving our opponents the night off when playing ASSU!

I didn't even think about that. Our 45 year tradition of (mostly) Thursday to Sunday games will be gone. Looking at last year's schedule as an example the Big 12 looks like they basically do only Tuesday Wednesday Saturday conference games. No Sunday or Thursday or Friday

[azgreg]

I don't give a shit if we only play FUCLA in the NCAA tournament.

[azgreg]

A fun read is the re-alignment thread at the Mountain West board.
https://www.mwcboard.com/index.php?/top ... /#comments

[UAdevil]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/other/ ... f8c8&ei=14

CFB Insider Suggests A PAC 12 President Attempted To Conspire Against 2 Rivals In Realignment

College football insider Brett McMurphy dropped a bombshell on social media that suggested at least one PAC 12 president wanted two teams excluded in realignment talks.

He posted a tweet on Monday referencing a specific call to the Big XII as PAC 12 schools weighed their options. In hopes of keeping most of the league together, a question was reportedly asked inquiring about a potential mass exodus to the Big XII.

USC and UCLA’s departure to the Big Ten meant there would be 10 teams in the conference come 2024. Colorado later announced its plan to leave, dropping that number to nine.

That left the rest of the PAC 12 pack to discuss the future.

With no TV deal in sight, universities turned their attention to more lucrative outlets. The Big Ten and Big XII certainly offered that with their media rights agreements, leading administrators to contact the leagues with expansion questions.

McMurphy writes that one particular president asked the Big XII if they’d be interested in adding each of the remaining members from the Conference of Champions… Well, all but Oregon State and Washington State, that is.

[PHXCATS]

[EastCoastCat]

I have no desire to play Utah and BYU every year.

[KillerKlown]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/other/ ... f8c8&ei=14

CFB Insider Suggests A PAC 12 President Attempted To Conspire Against 2 Rivals In Realignment

College football insider Brett McMurphy dropped a bombshell on social media that suggested at least one PAC 12 president wanted two teams excluded in realignment talks.

He posted a tweet on Monday referencing a specific call to the Big XII as PAC 12 schools weighed their options. In hopes of keeping most of the league together, a question was reportedly asked inquiring about a potential mass exodus to the Big XII.

USC and UCLA’s departure to the Big Ten meant there would be 10 teams in the conference come 2024. Colorado later announced its plan to leave, dropping that number to nine.

That left the rest of the PAC 12 pack to discuss the future.

With no TV deal in sight, universities turned their attention to more lucrative outlets. The Big Ten and Big XII certainly offered that with their media rights agreements, leading administrators to contact the leagues with expansion questions.

McMurphy writes that one particular president asked the Big XII if they’d be interested in adding each of the remaining members from the Conference of Champions… Well, all but Oregon State and Washington State, that is.

What would AZ have to gain from not wanting OSU and WSU in the BIG12? The only teams that would have anything to gain from not wanting to haul the extra weight with them would be UW or OU?
And if AZ had no problem joining the Big12 even w/o thier rival ASU why would they ask on the behalf of 9 other teams?

[Chicat]

LOL at calling it an attempt to “conspire against two rivals”. That makes it sound like the Big12 would have taken OSU and WSU but someone snuck around and told Yormark they have cooties.

Trying to see how many PAC teams they were willing to take is not some grand conspiracy. It’s just good business to ask questions.

[FreeSpiritCat]

Arizona received, wrongly, a reputation as being a villain thanks to the FBI investigation. So naturally it’s Arizonas fault that the Big 12 wouldn’t pick up OSU and WSU.

[EastCoastCat]

BTW, didn't Robbins say yesterday he had initial talks with the B12 a while back about possibly taking all of the PAC teams? I think he used the term "9 teams".

Maybe I was mistaken.

[Basketcats]

Let's get an 8 year deal with UCLA basketball signed right now

1-UA
2-UCLA
3-Vegas
4-UA
5-UCLA
6-Vegas
7-UA
8-UCLA

Any UCLA can be replaced to be at Crypto or the new Clippers arena as well

No thank you. Time to start letting go of the past and look to the future.

[PHXCATS]

You cannot count on anyone being good in the Big12 in basketball long term except Kansas

Ucla UA is an amazing rivalry. Keep it going

[EastCoastCat]

F@ck UCLA. They started this shit along with SC so let them carve their own wintery path with the B10.

We don't need them. They don't need us.

Time to turn the page and the UofA-Kansas rivalry will be even better imo. At least their fans show up and don't get stuck in traffic...

[UAdevil]

Yup. Stop pining for what's been lost and get excited for what's to come.

[pc in NM]

Football will be OK, more or less. But the rest of the student-athletes???

[Basketcats]

You cannot count on anyone being good in the Big12 in basketball long term except Kansas

Ucla UA is an amazing rivalry. Keep it going

Let me correct this for you... Ucla UA WAS an amazing rivalry.

UCLA chose to end it when they chose to go to the B1G. They are going to be licking their wounds for a long time once they start conference play. They will be looking for easy non-con wins to help make them appear relevant in the college sports world. They will end up doing the same thing all of the B1G and SEC teams do. They will end up scheduling layups who are just looking for a paycheck.

[PHXCATS]

Softball players are pissed and have voiced their frustration

[CatsbyAZ]

True:

[EastCoastCat]

If these student-athletes want to play all their games closer to home the portal allows them to transfer.

I just have 2 points:

1) Half their games will be at home like always so that hasn’t changed. Their families at the very least can watch 50% of their games so it’s not like they are completely shut out.

2) The revenue generated by Football and Basketball will PAY for student-athletes in non-revenue sports. It gives them a scholarship where they can get a degree which can cost a quarter of a million dollars these days. AND allows them to play the sport they love competitively for 4 years.

[KillerKlown]

Well if they want to continue to play softball at those schools, schools have to do what they gotta do to make money to support those sports.

Can't wait till 2024. Exciting times ahead!

[Chicat]

You cannot count on anyone being good in the Big12 in basketball long term except Kansas

Ucla UA is an amazing rivalry. Keep it going

Let me correct this for you... Ucla UA WAS an amazing rivalry.

UCLA chose to end it when they chose to go to the B1G. They are going to be licking their wounds for a long time once they start conference play. They will be looking for easy non-con wins to help make them appear relevant in the college sports world. They will end up doing the same thing all of the B1G and SEC teams do. They will end up scheduling layups who are just looking for a paycheck.

Fuck UCLA

[UAEebs86]

Any chance we get conferences for the revenue sports and separate ones for the "Olympic" sports at some point?

[azcat49]

This above! Region play makes much more sense for the Olympic sports

[Postmaster]

LOL at calling it an attempt to “conspire against two rivals”. That makes it sound like the Big12 would have taken OSU and WSU but someone snuck around and told Yormark they have cooties.

Trying to see how many PAC teams they were willing to take is not some grand conspiracy. It’s just good business to ask questions.

That comment by CJ whoever makes no sense. I could see Robbins asking if Big 12 would take everyone except WAUO since he probably knew they were going to BIG 10. I can’t see Robbins intentionally trying to exclude WAUOSTs from joining. That guys timeline doesn’t make sense either. Maybe he is just a schablock sock?

[Postmaster]

This above! Region play makes do more sense for the Olympic sports

Kinda makes sense for all sports.

Wasn’t there a story that uscla wanted to have sports such as beach Volleyball stay in PAC?

[Postmaster]

The more I read the mcMurphy tweet, the more I don’t believe it is accurate.

[PHXCATS]

The disconnect between message boards/daily podcasts stans and real life regular fans/alumni is the size of the Pacific Ocean when it comes to how people feel about Arizona going to the Big12

[Chicat]

So people who are more knowledgeable about the programs like the move more? Sounds about right.

[EastCoastCat]

So people who are more knowledgeable about the programs like the move more? Sounds about right.

It's funny how that works...

[PHXCATS]

I have talked to close to 20 alum since all this went down in real life (not on social media but in person conversations or texts). Every single one is glad we aren’t stuck like Cal Stanford Oregon St and Washington St but every single one is sad the PAC12 is done and is gonna miss the PAC12. Yes most know the PAC12 was done as soon as ucla and usc left and they were replaced immediately. But it is still a sad event.

Yet here everyone is fuck the past fuck everything except Big12. Crazy how different it is. Just wish the people acting like they did this would stop pretending they made Robbins do this and would actually talk to people about how they felt before making huge false statements on their platforms

[EastCoastCat]

Yet here everyone is fuck the past fuck everything except Big12. Crazy how different it is. Just wish the people acting like they did this would stop pretending they made Robbins do this and would actually talk to people about how they felt before making huge false statements on their platforms

[CalStateTempe]

Change is hard.

Change is necessary.

Funny I’ve had the same 10-15 texts/calls/meet-ups with UofA alum and all are uniformly positive for his change while acknowledging there were good times in the pasts

Azcat49’s post IMO, is a very accurate representation for those that care about the programs and school.

Thanks for bringing the “townie” mentality as always!

[FreeSpiritCat]

The Pac-12 has been anti-Arizona for as long as I know. They didn't like it that we became a basketball power who overtook UCLA. Larry Scott hated us. Personally, I am not going to miss the Pac-12. They did this to themselves.

[CalStateTempe]

I’ll take it a step further.

Fuck the pac-12, fuck ucla. Both have done shit for us and our profile nationally the past 10-15 years.

The pac was a good vehicle for its time, but antiquated as the market showed. Good memories, good times, but as the late great Tom petty sang:

- time to move on, time to get going, what lies ahead I have know way of knowing, but under my feet babe, grass is growing, it’s time to move on, it’s time to get going….

[Chicat]

I’m really going to miss the conference whose head of referees promised a trip to a tropical location for whoever gave a technical foul to our basketball coach in the conference tournament causing us to lose. Can’t replace those kind of memories.

[CalStateTempe]

Lol! There you go Chi.

Or did Jack shit in promotion of its biggest BB cash cow.

Or how about garbage refs and touch fouls which made all our teams play weak in a more physical tournament?

Or a media rights deal that essentially sequestered all sports behind a paywall for 10years.

Or presidents that have no clue about the modern college market, making decisions that affect the lifeblood of schools like Arizona and WSU etc.

And on and on….

Yeah, fuck the Pac.

[PHXCATS]

Change is hard.

Change is necessary.

Funny I’ve had the same 10-15 texts/calls/meet-ups with UofA alum and all are uniformly positive for his change while acknowledging there were good times in the pasts

Azcat49’s post IMO, is a very accurate representation for those that care about the programs and school.

Thanks for bringing the “townie” mentality as always!

Townie. What the fuck does that even mean
You know you can be positive for the future while not just staning for the daily podcast and dancing on thr PAC-12 grave right?

But keep up the false narratives

[AzCatFan2]

The move to the BIG12 was necessary for short term survival. Hopefully long term too. But that is TBD. Lots variables out of our control, like the future state of ESPN.

It's also fine to lament the things we'll lose going to the BIG12. I have friends and family up the I-5 corridor from San Diego to Seattle. Long weekend trips to visit and watch a game in west coast states are gone. I know it's a personal issue, and again, we needed to move to survive, but still, it sucks. And no offense to Lubbock, Lawrence, or Stillwater, which are all great college towns, I'm a few decades past the time where I can truly enjoy a college town that offers little else. I know, my loss, and we had no choice but to move. Still sucks.

There are also some still unanswered questions. The PAC still owes Comcast $72 million. Apple was going to pay this as part of the deal. What happens now?

Local sports bars in Tucson/Phoenix paid for local Cox subscriptions to get access to the PAC12 Channel. How easy will it for them to pay for an ESPN+ sub? ESPN+ is a separate subscription, and requires enough high speed internet to run it. And there will be football and basketball games on ESPN+.

Speaking of the PAC12 Channel and ESPN, the one decent thing about the PAC12 Channel was they streamed all home baseball and softball games. The quality was bad, but I still enjoyed streaming UA games through my phone, and casting them on my TV. Will all our games be streamed on ESPN+ in the BIG12? I hope so.

[CalStateTempe]

That’s just it - I am dancing on the pac12 s grave. Once ucla and sc left, it needed to die.

Really amazingly happy with the outcome for UofA.

Also, I’m not one to “root for the conference bullshit” especially when the conference hinders my beloved school.

[84Cat]

Yeah, those of us in the PNW are not happy. No easy way to see the Cats anymore. Lots of travel to watch a game in person. We are all planning to make it to Vegas & Pullman this year

[azcat49]

Hard to grasp that after next year there will be no west coast FBS conference for fans and families.

Of course things will be changing even more over the next cycle so it will continue to be a soap opera with musical chairs

[PHXCATS]

Yeah, those of us in the PNW are not happy. No easy way to see the Cats anymore. Lots of travel to watch a game in person. We are all planning to make it to Vegas & Pullman this year

Per RS you aren't allowed to care about this

[CalStateTempe]

Yeah, those of us in the PNW are not happy. No easy way to see the Cats anymore. Lots of travel to watch a game in person. We are all planning to make it to Vegas & Pullman this year

Same here - personally, I lose FB and BB in Nor Cal and So Cal which absolutely sucks. I won’t have the chance to take my daughters to games at haas and furd.

BUT that doesn’t diminish for me what is an overwhelmingly positive step for UofA sports.

[EastCoastCat]

Early '80's and no. Btw, if Arizona was still in the WAC there is no chance I would have gone there tbh.

And while I feel bad that some of you can't watch the Cats in person as easily anymore I came to the realization a long time ago that in order to survive some folks will have to suffer. And as you are thinking about that, also think about how you would be "feeling" if you were a diehard OSU or WSU fan. It could be a helluva lot worse.

[Chicat]

Early '80's and no. Btw, if Arizona was still in the WAC there is no chance I would have gone there tbh.

Sorry I erased my post. Thought it came off too snarky.

For those that missed it I was asking if anyone missed the WAC and playing New Mexico and UTEP.

I’m sure there were NM, West TX, and Utah residing alums and fans who didn’t like the move to the PAC. But things change. The next thing you know your current conference is “home” and you can barely stand the idea of leaving.

[84Cat]

No love lost for the WAC. I always wanted to play in the Pac and the biggest stage. The PAC just royally fucked the whole thing up

[azcat49]

The Big 12 has no TV network, they should absorb the last 4 teams and take over the PAC network and produce games that could be sold off to streamers like APPLE.

[PHXCATS]

The Big 12 has no TV network, they should absorb the last 4 teams and take over the PAC network and produce games that could be sold off to streamers like APPLE.

They do. It is only on espn+

Edit they DID have Big 12 network but espn killed it

Really sad if there is no dedicated Big 12 shows on espn+. Need a show like the SEC B1G ACC have and PAC-12 had