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MWC wants to partner with Pac12

Not sure what the agreement would be from the Pac 12 side. Other than Boise St and SDSU (due to reputation) and Hawaii (due to the 13 game exception), the rest of the MWC schools are on generally 2 for 1 level for scheduling. The real problem being that some of the P12 schools don't even want the 2 MWC home games for one road game because it gets a little boring to see the same school twice. But because the P12 has a 9 game conference schedule, it becomes imperative to get those 2 for 1's to get a 6 or even 7 home game schedule - and it's even a bigger problem in the years when the Pac 12 schedule dictates only 4 home conference games. I would much rather see the FCS games go away, what a waste of energy for all involved, fans and players... but that would put even more pressure on athletic departments to schedule 2 for 1's to get their home games.

If the MWC is trying to get home and homes with the Pac, it's not going to happen. I don't know what else they can ask for?

It's really too bad this Big Ten scheduling alliance didn't happen - would have been a great way for BOTH conferences to control their programming (set OOC games to be on TV at strategic weekend, no haphazardly as it is now) and, if done correctly, ensure 5 home games out of 10 every year to get teams a better handle on having enough home games every year.

Recent scheduling between the PAC-MWC have almost exclusively been agreements for home-home series.

Arizona St. - New Mexico (2014/2015)
Arizona St. - SDSU (2017/2018)
Arizona - UNLV (2013/2014)
Arizona - Nevada (2014/2015)
Arizona - Hawaii (2019/2020)
California - SDSU (2015/2016)
Washington - Boise St. (2013/2015)
Utah - Fresno St. (2014/2015)
Oregon St. - Nevada (2017/2018)
Oregon St. - Hawaii (2013/2014)
Washington St. - Nevada (2014/2017)
Washington St. - Boise St. (2016/2017)
Washington St. - Wyoming (2015-2018)

USC, Oregon, Stanford and UCLA I believe are the only programs recently that have been able to get 2-1's and one off home games with MWC opponents.
 
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Recent scheduling between the PAC-MWC have almost exclusively been agreements for home-home series.

Arizona St. - New Mexico (2014/2015)
Arizona St. - SDSU (2017/2018)
Arizona - UNLV (2013/2014)
Arizona - Nevada (2014/2015)
Arizona - Hawaii (2019/2020)
California - SDSU (2015/2016)
Washington - Boise St. (2013/2015)
Utah - Fresno St. (2014/2015)
Oregon St. - Nevada (2017/2018)
Oregon St. - Hawaii (2013/2014)
Washington St. - Nevada (2014/2017)
Washington St. - Boise St. (2016/2017)
Washington St. - Wyoming (2015-2018)

USC, Oregon, Stanford and UCLA I believe are the only programs recently that have been able to get 2-1's and one off home games with MWC opponents.


We had a 2 for 1 with Fresno---2011 and 13 here for the 2012 game there. 2011 was cancelled because of our conference switch/Ohio State game.
 
I thought that agreement was reached when Fresno was a part of the WAC and 2-1's were more common - although I could be wrong. I think Fresno St. has changed its scheduling practices a bit since making the conference switch.
 
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alternative headline suggestion:

"troll under the bridge wants to partner with super model"

"costco preformed burger wants to partner with '82 latour"

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"tini wants to partner with real live girl"
 
Recent scheduling between the PAC-MWC have almost exclusively been agreements for home-home series.

Arizona St. - New Mexico (2014/2015)
Arizona St. - SDSU (2017/2018)
Arizona - UNLV (2013/2014)
Arizona - Nevada (2014/2015)
Arizona - Hawaii (2019/2020)
California - SDSU (2015/2016)
Washington - Boise St. (2013/2015)
Utah - Fresno St. (2014/2015)
Oregon St. - Nevada (2017/2018)
Oregon St. - Hawaii (2013/2014)
Washington St. - Nevada (2014/2017)
Washington St. - Boise St. (2016/2017)
Washington St. - Wyoming (2015-2018)

USC, Oregon, Stanford and UCLA I believe are the only programs recently that have been able to get 2-1's and one off home games with MWC opponents.

Nice research. With that said, it needs to stop. The Pac 12 hold ALL of the cards. Every single one. It is time to start acting like it. I've got no problem with playing MWC teams frequently, but it needs to be 2 for 1 scheduling. 1 to 1 should only be reserved for BCS level schools. Playing on the home field of non BCS teams is a no win situation. Win, and no big deal because it is expected. Lose and everybody piles on because you lost to some MWC school.

Why help a regional conference that competes for local TV's and recruits, increase their TV revenue and recruiting presence any more than we have to? Just doesn't make sense.
 
Nice research. With that said, it needs to stop. The Pac 12 hold ALL of the cards. Every single one. It is time to start acting like it. I've got no problem with playing MWC teams frequently, but it needs to be 2 for 1 scheduling. 1 to 1 should only be reserved for BCS level schools. Playing on the home field of non BCS teams is a no win situation. Win, and no big deal because it is expected. Lose and everybody piles on because you lost to some MWC school.

Why help a regional conference that competes for local TV's and recruits, increase their TV revenue and recruiting presence any more than we have to? Just doesn't make sense.
Great points!
 
Nice research. With that said, it needs to stop. The Pac 12 hold ALL of the cards. Every single one. It is time to start acting like it. I've got no problem with playing MWC teams frequently, but it needs to be 2 for 1 scheduling. 1 to 1 should only be reserved for BCS level schools. Playing on the home field of non BCS teams is a no win situation. Win, and no big deal because it is expected. Lose and everybody piles on because you lost to some MWC school.

Why help a regional conference that competes for local TV's and recruits, increase their TV revenue and recruiting presence any more than we have to? Just doesn't make sense.
+1
 
Nice research. With that said, it needs to stop. The Pac 12 hold ALL of the cards. Every single one. It is time to start acting like it. I've got no problem with playing MWC teams frequently, but it needs to be 2 for 1 scheduling. 1 to 1 should only be reserved for BCS level schools. Playing on the home field of non BCS teams is a no win situation. Win, and no big deal because it is expected. Lose and everybody piles on because you lost to some MWC school.

Why help a regional conference that competes for local TV's and recruits, increase their TV revenue and recruiting presence any more than we have to? Just doesn't make sense.

The way it looks to be working out going forward is that you have about 3-4 "Blue Blood" programs (i.e. USC, Michigan, Texas, etc.) in each BCS conference who are able to schedule 2-1's with about any program not in the BCS. After that, mid-tier BCS programs are generally only getting 2-1's with the MAC, Sun Belt, and certain programs from CUSA.

The structure is all relative even at the BCS level. Programs like Washington State and Oregon State, for example, are never going to get a 2-1 with an MWC opponent. Especially when that MWC team could just as easily schedule a home-home series with other mid-level BCS opponents like Virginia, Texas Tech, Minnesota, etc. At the end of the day, Washington State agrees to a home-home series with Wyoming over a 2-1 with say Troy, because they know it will generate more interest in their fan base and adds a level of regional interest. Its the same reason Arizona agrees to a home-home series with UTEP for 2017/2018.
 
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http://www.fbschedules.com/ncaa/big-12/colorado-buffaloes.php

Other than the CSU game and the @OSU game, CU is still doing a decent job getting 2 for 1's. Fresno was originally a 2 for 1, but 2011 was scrubbed due to the conference change. Not sure when the 2nd @ Folsom can be rescheduled but it should still be on the books. SJSU is a 2 for 1. UMass is a 2 for 1, and the 1 road game is going to be played at the Patriots stadium which is pretty cool. Playing @Hawaii means a team can schedule an extra game, so hawaii will not be playing any 2 for 1's for the time being. But the extra home game makes it a kind of 2 for 1 in terms of revenue for CU.
Don't forget the one off game against Michigan...
 
Which makes it all the more strange for Thompson to be requesting this. I'm not sure what he's playing at, frankly.

Reread Csquared's first sentence. I think he makes it clear why Thompson wants this.
 
First, set aside football scheduling. (I know it's a big thing to set aside, but put it aside for moment.)

Now, there are actually a whole lot of things that could be coordinated between the conferences. Things where both conferences could gain some economies of scale, and create some cost savings for everyone. Three things off the top of my head:

  • Scheduling for non-revenue sports
  • Referee training and recruitment for non-revenue sports
  • Referee training for revenue sports (there really could be something to combining efforts here)

Scheduling for non-revenue sports: it could be nice to have some parts of the schedules for both in-conference and out-of-conference coordinated. Possible gains could be had from reduced travel costs, and maybe even reduced officiating costs (if the schedules were better coordinated, its possible that you would actually need fewer officials between the conferences to conduct the competitions).

Referee training and recruitment for non-revenue sports: I'm betting that both conferences have to put on annual training seminars and such for the officials in most of the sports - combining those could be a benefit to both conferences. And, if the schedules were somewhat coordinated so that more work could be guaranteed for each official over the course of the season, recruiting/retaining/training better officials for everyone would be more efficient.

Referee training for revenue sports: I don't think you would be able combine work contracts, reviews, etc between the conferences, but there is absolutely no reason that when the conferences do their training sessions, introducing new NCAA rules, etc, that efforts couldn't be combined for a savings on both sides. Also: the P12 pays officials better, and this would create an environment in which we could poach the MWC's best officials :devil2:

Now, scheduling the revenue sports is a whole other issue - and one that, IMO, should be left out of any coordinating between the conferences, especially in football. The P-12 needs to be playing schools east of the Mississippi, and locking in the entire conference to more games with western schools will further cement east coast bias in the media coverage of the conference.
 
Recent scheduling between the PAC-MWC have almost exclusively been agreements for home-home series.


USC, Oregon, Stanford and UCLA I believe are the only programs recently that have been able to get 2-1's and one off home games with MWC opponents.

That is definitely good research. I'm backpedaling here a little, but I was trying to say that there won't be an agreement between the P12 and MWC that encourages home and homes (or agrees to them to some extent) instead of 2 for 1's. But based on your list, it also does appear that getting 2 for 1's with the MWC could be much harder than in the past. The question is whether the Thompson and the MWC isd actively encouraging its members to hold out for something better than a 2 for 1.... and with the demise of the WAC as a football conference, MWC has a monopoly of such on western FBS OOC games... they could band together so it might be getting a lot harder to do 2 for 1's with a team from the western geographical footprint. If 2 for 1's with the MWC are out for most Pac teams, that could mean the FCS practice game is here to stay.

That said, look at the all the former WAC teams in the MWC. Sure Boise and SDSU have some clout, and Hawaii has the exemption for the 13th game, but there are still a lot of MWC schools that just don't seem like home and home material because there are a ton of eastern schools that would do home and homes, and have more national appeal and sell more tickets.


Another addition to the list of home and home agreements with the MWC: SJSU and Stanford agreed to play home and home through 2019 - that's a big departure over their history where something like 40 of the last 45 games were at Stanford Stadium.

Also of interest: BYU agreed to a 3 game series w/ Arizona, a home and home after a neutral game at U of Phoenix stadium. I know they are not a MWC team now, but that's a agreement slightly in AZ's favor (I bet BYU travels to Phoenix well). If the P12 network can retain TV the rights to the 'neutral' site game, this seems like something other Pac schools could do with MWC that is more favorable than a home and home, and less ego busting to the MWC team than a 2 for 1... do a home and home with a neutral site game at the NFL stadium near the Pac12 team.

Skibum makes a good point about non-rev sports. It would be very advantageous to schedule games between conferences due to geography. Save money and time.
 
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Makes no sense to me. The 12 PAC owns the western recruiting front. Increasing the number of games with the MWC will dilute the brand and add credence to the MWC in the recruiting races. Not good business.
 
The 12PAC has nothing to gain from this proposal. NOTHING.

Potential home and home arrangements with $ec and b1g teams is much more attractive, as are games vs the big12+-+ and acc (but a step lower imo).

If I ran the carrier with broadcast rights to 12PAC games I'd be furious if Scott even gave this a second thot. Imagine giving up the chance to air games like ucla - oh state, or Wash - Florida, or Ore - Florida St, and instead having to broadcast ........... Oregon St - New Mexico.

Larry Scott better not let this happen.
 
The 12PAC has nothing to gain from this proposal. NOTHING.

Potential home and home arrangements with $ec and b1g teams is much more attractive, as are games vs the big12+-+ and acc (but a step lower imo).

If I ran the carrier with broadcast rights to 12PAC games I'd be furious if Scott even gave this a second thot. Imagine giving up the chance to air games like ucla - oh state, or Wash - Florida, or Ore - Florida St, and instead having to broadcast ........... Oregon St - New Mexico.

Larry Scott better not let this happen.

It won't be Larry Scott who turns this proposal down, it will be USC, Oregon and UCLA that kill it. I just don't see them giving up control of any portion of their schedules especially if that arrangement requires them to enter home-home series contracts with MWC opponents. I understand and respect what Thompson is trying to do, but that simply won't happen.
 
It won't be Larry Scott who turns this proposal down, it will be USC, Oregon and UCLA that kill it. I just don't see them giving up control of any portion of their schedules especially if that arrangement requires them to enter home-home series contracts with MWC opponents. I understand and respect what Thompson is trying to do, but that simply won't happen.

No kidding. USC and and a few others killed the Big Ten home and home deal. And the MWC is certainly no Big Ten. Though again the details on exactly what Thompson is requesting is not known. I don't think anyone should worry about an across the board agreement from the P12... no one is dumb enough to think that is a good idea. But maybe there will just have to be 2 for 1's with MAC / ConfUSA schools if the MWC wants to start playing hard to get.
 
That is definitely good research. I'm backpedaling here a little, but I was trying to say that there won't be an agreement between the P12 and MWC that encourages home and homes (or agrees to them to some extent) instead of 2 for 1's. But based on your list, it also does appear that getting 2 for 1's with the MWC could be much harder than in the past. The question is whether the Thompson and the MWC isd actively encouraging its members to hold out for something better than a 2 for 1.... and with the demise of the WAC as a football conference, MWC has a monopoly of such on western FBS OOC games... they could band together so it might be getting a lot harder to do 2 for 1's with a team from the western geographical footprint. If 2 for 1's with the MWC are out for most Pac teams, that could mean the FCS practice game is here to stay.

That said, look at the all the former WAC teams in the MWC. Sure Boise and SDSU have some clout, and Hawaii has the exemption for the 13th game, but there are still a lot of MWC schools that just don't seem like home and home material because there are a ton of eastern schools that would do home and homes, and have more national appeal and sell more tickets.


Another addition to the list of home and home agreements with the MWC: SJSU and Stanford agreed to play home and home through 2019 - that's a big departure over their history where something like 40 of the last 45 games were at Stanford Stadium.

Also of interest: BYU agreed to a 3 game series w/ Arizona, a home and home after a neutral game at U of Phoenix stadium. I know they are not a MWC team now, but that's a agreement slightly in AZ's favor (I bet BYU travels to Phoenix well). If the P12 network can retain TV the rights to the 'neutral' site game, this seems like something other Pac schools could do with MWC that is more favorable than a home and home, and less ego busting to the MWC team than a 2 for 1... do a home and home with a neutral site game at the NFL stadium near the Pac12 team.

Skibum makes a good point about non-rev sports. It would be very advantageous to schedule games between conferences due to geography. Save money and time.

I think the demise of the WAC has done a lot to actually empower the MWC on the scheduling front for the exact reasons you outline, especially the front range programs who have some access to home-home regional BCS match-ups with the PAC, Big 12 and to a much lesser extent the Big 10 (Minnesota comes to mind). (Edit: To this point - I just read where Boise State agreed to a home-home with Oklahoma State today for 2018/2021)

I did not realize SJSU had come to an agreement with Stanford. That agreement is shocking to me. I never thought I would see that type of an arrangement covering that many years between those two programs.

As far as the BYU-Arizona series, I thought the PAC put scheduling regulations in place to do away with neutral site games. Has that changed? Now that the WAC is dead, BYU is going to have to get even more creative in getting their late season schedule ironed out especially after the MWC cuts off their access to regional November opponents.
 
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It won't be Larry Scott who turns this proposal down, it will be USC, Oregon and UCLA that kill it. I just don't see them giving up control of any portion of their schedules especially if that arrangement requires them to enter home-home series contracts with MWC opponents. I understand and respect what Thompson is trying to do, but that simply won't happen.

You are probably correct on this. I can imagine the meeting in which Larry Scott tries to tell USC that they are doing a home and home with Wyoming and telling UCLA that they will be travelling to Utah State. Talk about an unfriendly reception.

From Thompson's standpoint even though this probably isn't going to happen he has already won by getting the MWC mentioned in the same discussion as the PAC. His job is to try to save a conference that continues to fall further and further behind in terms of revenue and exposure to the major conferences. Anything he can do that puts the MWC into a position that would result in more money and/or exposure is a win for him.
 
The way it looks to be working out going forward is that you have about 3-4 "Blue Blood" programs (i.e. USC, Michigan, Texas, etc.) in each BCS conference who are able to schedule 2-1's with about any program not in the BCS. After that, mid-tier BCS programs are generally only getting 2-1's with the MAC, Sun Belt, and certain programs from CUSA.

The structure is all relative even at the BCS level. Programs like Washington State and Oregon State, for example, are never going to get a 2-1 with an MWC opponent. Especially when that MWC team could just as easily schedule a home-home series with other mid-level BCS opponents like Virginia, Texas Tech, Minnesota, etc. At the end of the day, Washington State agrees to a home-home series with Wyoming over a 2-1 with say Troy, because they know it will generate more interest in their fan base and adds a level of regional interest. Its the same reason Arizona agrees to a home-home series with UTEP for 2017/2018.

The level of disparity is getting wider, not thinner. You actually make my point for me. Who do you think the Virginia, Texas Tech, and Minnesota's of the world are going to want to schedule a 1 for 1 with? Washington State, Colorado, and Arizona who can pay a truck load more and give BCS prestige to the matchup? Or Wyoming, San Jose State, or Utah State? Sorry, the MWC doesn't have the leverage to force BCS schools to that kind of scheduling format. If they can get them, good on them. But I don't think you will see it lasting now that the have's and have nots are clearly defined for the foreseeable future.
 
As far as the BYU-Arizona series, I thought the PAC put scheduling regulations in place to do away with neutral site games. Has that changed? Now that the WAC is dead, BYU is going to have to get even more creative in getting their late season schedule ironed out especially after the MWC cuts off their access to regional November opponents.

I believe that the P12 has a regulation that a newly scheduled neutral site game technically has to be a home game which makes it part of the P12 media package now. Not entirely sure on the specifics, but it was to discourage teams from getting around revenue sharing by moving content out of the conference media by playing in a ESPN sponsored game like the one at Cowboys Stadium or the Georgia Dome (Oregon v LSU for instance). They each received a separate payment from that game. Throw the BYU - UofA 'neutral' site game under P12 media package and all other conference members are happy. This ASU-Notre Dame game @ cowbow stadium is an interesting one, not sure if it predates Scott's mandate, but it's essentially a ND home game in TX, and a return to Tempe (that ND is trying to screw ASU on... hope that contract was written well w/ a large buyout).

On that track, I'm not sure the P12 is doing itself any favors by having completely equal revenue sharing. Sure, do it for the conference games, but there is just not enough incentive to schedule premium or even average OOC games. P12 Net should be encouraging teams to drop the FCS games by paying a little extra to those who schedule something watchable. It does the P12 Network no good to have 10 games on an early OOC weekend with 5 timeslots and multiple overlapping FCS games. It does do the conference a lot to have USC play Notre Dame, Washington play Boise St, or Cal play Ohio State, even though those games are a much bigger risk for a loss than bringing in Idaho or whatever.

One possible benefit for a MWC scheduling preference (in football and basketball) is to get regional MWC fans to demand the Pac 12 network.... since the foorprints overlap. We put them on our network, and get the MWC fans demanding P12 from their provider (Mostly DTV, but we want strong demand for Big 4 cable companies when that contract is up). For the cable/sat providers, it's a simply a question on whether enough people in the area want the channel and whether they will change providers due to the carriage issue. The question is pretty binary, if demand isn't sufficient, the provider just says no. I'd even say that the P12 network should figure out how to facilitate minor payments to MWC teams to play 2 for 1's... or home and home's + 'neutral' site. Get a couple CSU football games on there every few years AND other teams CSU fans are interested in because of conference ties. A CU v UNM game would definitely draw interest from MWC fans at CSU and Wyoming. An Arizona v UNM game would draw interest from those same fans, and a lot more so than a CU vs ConfUSA foe.

Playing MAC, ConfUSA or ex-Big East schools would not have that same benefit because of how the rates are set up. Outside the west, providers pay essentially nothing anyway.
 
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As far as the BYU-Arizona series, I thought the PAC put scheduling regulations in place to do away with neutral site games. Has that changed? .


I don't think they did away with neutral site games, they just dictated that the PAC 12 network would have priority rights to broadcast those games IIRC.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2
 
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I believe that the P12 has a regulation that a newly scheduled neutral site game technically has to be a home game which makes it part of the P12 media package now. Not entirely sure on the specifics, but it was to discourage teams from getting around revenue sharing by moving content out of the conference media by playing in a ESPN sponsored game like the one at Cowboys Stadium or the Georgia Dome (Oregon v LSU for instance). They each received a separate payment from that game. Throw the BYU - UofA 'neutral' site game under P12 media package and all other conference members are happy. This ASU-Notre Dame game @ cowbow stadium is an interesting one, not sure if it predates Scott's mandate, but it's essentially a ND home game in TX, and a return to Tempe (that ND is trying to screw ASU on... hope that contract was written well w/ a large buyout).

On that track, I'm not sure the P12 is doing itself any favors by having completely equal revenue sharing. Sure, do it for the conference games, but there is just not enough incentive to schedule premium or even average OOC games. P12 Net should be encouraging teams to drop the FCS games by paying a little extra to those who schedule something watchable. It does the P12 Network no good to have 10 games on an early OOC weekend with 5 timeslots and multiple overlapping FCS games. It does do the conference a lot to have USC play Notre Dame, Washington play Boise St, or Cal play Ohio State, even though those games are a much bigger risk for a loss than bringing in Idaho or whatever.

One possible benefit for a MWC scheduling preference (in football and basketball) is to get regional MWC fans to demand the Pac 12 network.... since the foorprints overlap. We put them on our network, and get the MWC fans demanding P12 from their provider (Mostly DTV, but we want strong demand for Big 4 cable companies when that contract is up). For the cable/sat providers, it's a simply a question on whether enough people in the area want the channel and whether they will change providers due to the carriage issue. The question is pretty binary, if demand isn't sufficient, the provider just says no. I'd even say that the P12 network should figure out how to facilitate minor payments to MWC teams to play 2 for 1's... or home and home's + 'neutral' site. Get a couple CSU football games on there every few years AND other teams CSU fans are interested in because of conference ties. A CU v UNM game would definitely draw interest from MWC fans at CSU and Wyoming. An Arizona v UNM game would draw interest from those same fans, and a lot more so than a CU vs ConfUSA foe.

Playing MAC, ConfUSA or ex-Big East schools would not have that same benefit because of how the rates are set up. Outside the west, providers pay essentially nothing anyway.

I couldn't disagree more strongly with the your revenue sharing point. Non equal revenue sharing is huge reason that the Big 12 came within a mouse fart of imploding. The reason your argument doesn't work is because it favors the big powerful schools while hurting the smaller schools in the conference. Keep in mind that the Pac 12 Network is not the 1st or even 2nd tier of programming for Pac 12 football. It is available only when the games aren't televised on ESPN or Fox. So it is actually ideal for the FCS games. If you schedule big you will be rewarded by being on the big stage of ABC or ESPN.
 
I believe that the P12 has a regulation that a newly scheduled neutral site game technically has to be a home game which makes it part of the P12 media package now. Not entirely sure on the specifics, but it was to discourage teams from getting around revenue sharing by moving content out of the conference media by playing in a ESPN sponsored game like the one at Cowboys Stadium or the Georgia Dome (Oregon v LSU for instance). They each received a separate payment from that game. Throw the BYU - UofA 'neutral' site game under P12 media package and all other conference members are happy. This ASU-Notre Dame game @ cowbow stadium is an interesting one, not sure if it predates Scott's mandate, but it's essentially a ND home game in TX, and a return to Tempe (that ND is trying to screw ASU on... hope that contract was written well w/ a large buyout).

On that track, I'm not sure the P12 is doing itself any favors by having completely equal revenue sharing. Sure, do it for the conference games, but there is just not enough incentive to schedule premium or even average OOC games. P12 Net should be encouraging teams to drop the FCS games by paying a little extra to those who schedule something watchable. It does the P12 Network no good to have 10 games on an early OOC weekend with 5 timeslots and multiple overlapping FCS games. It does do the conference a lot to have USC play Notre Dame, Washington play Boise St, or Cal play Ohio State, even though those games are a much bigger risk for a loss than bringing in Idaho or whatever.

One possible benefit for a MWC scheduling preference (in football and basketball) is to get regional MWC fans to demand the Pac 12 network.... since the foorprints overlap. We put them on our network, and get the MWC fans demanding P12 from their provider (Mostly DTV, but we want strong demand for Big 4 cable companies when that contract is up). For the cable/sat providers, it's a simply a question on whether enough people in the area want the channel and whether they will change providers due to the carriage issue. The question is pretty binary, if demand isn't sufficient, the provider just says no. I'd even say that the P12 network should figure out how to facilitate minor payments to MWC teams to play 2 for 1's... or home and home's + 'neutral' site. Get a couple CSU football games on there every few years AND other teams CSU fans are interested in because of conference ties. A CU v UNM game would definitely draw interest from MWC fans at CSU and Wyoming. An Arizona v UNM game would draw interest from those same fans, and a lot more so than a CU vs ConfUSA foe.

Playing MAC, ConfUSA or ex-Big East schools would not have that same benefit because of how the rates are set up. Outside the west, providers pay essentially nothing anyway.

It is an excellent point. I know I would demand the PAC network if CSU were playing on there a couple times a year. I am still amazed that I am unable to get the PAC Network while living in Denver as a Direct TV subscriber. I feel like I am a pretty typical football fan who has Direct TV because of the NFL package, yet I rarely see any PAC-12 football unless its on one of the major networks.

On another note - Rocky Mountain Showdown set for 4 p.m. kickoff. CBS Sports Network.
 
I couldn't disagree more strongly with the your revenue sharing point. Non equal revenue sharing is huge reason that the Big 12 came within a mouse fart of imploding.

That's a bit exaggerated. For instance, the Pac Ten had an even more unequal revenue sharing plan and it was nowhere near imploding. Texas and nebraska bickering was a major reason the Big 12 has issues, as was the recent weakness of the North division, which Texas used to grab more power.

The Pac 12 actually pools far more rights than any of the other conferences (except maybe the ACC). For instance, Ohio State has an $11 million per year contract for media rights AFTER they get BTN network. In the P12, those rights cannot be sold as they are all conference owned.

The Pac 12 Network is OK financially for now, but it could be doing a lot better. And in the future if there's not enough demand, it could go dark, or the rates could drop significantly. They absolutely do need to figure out how to get more quality OOC programming on the air in football and basketball. Why not create better content by incentivizing playing desirable games? Yes the P12 Network is not first tier, but they do get to draft games and are not always last in line. To say the P12 Network is ideal for the FCS games is silly. The Pac 12 Network needs saleable content to get more subscribers and providers on board, and needs to do this over a long period of time. Every FCS game that gets bumped for a FBS game means more desirable content. Almost every MAC game bumped for a MWC game is more desirable content. That all adds up in the end. Take for instance this @ Michigan game in 2016. Or WSU's 2 for 1 with Wisconsin. Those are absolutely taking content out of the P12's media package. CU received, what, $1.5 million for the tOSU game? I'd expect similar or more for the Mich game. Why should teams be rewarded for taking content out of the P12 media package with equal payments for unequal OOC scheduling? Especially when making cash off of it.

If the payout was say 75% completely shared for the 9 conf games out of 12, then incentivized for the 3 OOC games that are scheduled at teams own discretion, there would not be TV revenue differences anywhere as great as with the B12 (or P10 pre 2011). There would be some added incentives to play real games though.

As for the LHN and Texas, the are not making that much more than Ohio State is on their additional rights. But everyone believe BT has purely equal media revenue sharing. The don't, they just have the BTN AND additional streams of media revenue. Northwestern? They get next to nothing for the additional media rights.

OK that's too many novels written for the day. Tick tock tick tock.. when is happy hour?
 
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