Losers
1. Pac-10. Commissioner Larry Scott went from potentially nabbing Texas and Oklahoma to instead getting Colorado and most likely Utah. That is not an upgrade for a conference that is desperate to gain the respect — and the eyeballs — of people on the East Coast. Colorado is in disarray. Utah had had very solid football program but does it add ratings and interest to a league that is going to struggle now that USC is going to hit bottom thanks to NCAA sanctions?
2. Colorado. While the Buffs have always wanted to align themselves with the Pac-10, they probably didn’t envision this scenario. Losing an alliance with Texas and Oklahoma is going to hurt. Both are more powerful than any team remaining in the Pac-10. They also are going to be losing out on a windfall of cash. It’s yet to be seen whether the Pac-10 will be able to start its own network with a 12-team lineup and how successful it could be with cash flow.
3. Mountain West. Back to the drawing board. The Mountain West added Boise St. but is poised to lose Utah, leaving it essentially where it was a week ago. Losing Utah means its chances of becoming an automatic qualifying school would drop significantly.
4. FOX. The appeal of starting a Pac-10 network is not nearly as great now.
5. Jerry Jones. The Cowboys owner had brokered a deal to have his new stadium host the Big 12 championship game through 2013. But there will no longer be a Big 12 championship game after the 2010 season.
Winners
1. Texas. Sheer genius for the Longhorns here. They get between $20 to $25 million a year to stay, if you believe the reports. They get the green light to start their own network. They get rid of the irksome conference championship game. They get even more power. They get rid of Nebraska, which had been a headache. What more could have gone right? Now, Texas is perfectly positioned when the superconference era begins. Why? Because it will have already started its own network and will bring it along wherever it lands. The major sticking point for joining the Pac-10 was just that. If you want Texas going forward, you gotta take the network, too.
2. Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, Baylor and Missouri. Whew. Just last week it appeared the Oceanic 5 would be left without a BCS conference. Now each is expected to rake in double the amount of revenue from TV money.
3. Dan Beebe. From goat to savior in a three- day span. But this was not all his doing …
4. ESPN. The network essentially won this round with FOX, which wanted nothing more than to start a Pac-10 network with a super-sized conference that featured Texas, Oklahoma and company. Now ESPN gets to keep its foothold into Texas, and keep FOX from essentially spanning the nation (FOX owns 49 percent of the Big Ten network).
5. SEC. Right there with ESPN is the SEC and commissioner Mike Slive. If you read between the lines of this story about a wide group of people coming together to stop the Pac-10 from going to 16 teams, you can guess Slive was most likely involved. Why? Watching the Pac-10 grow to 16 teams is against the interests of most of the influential people in college football — and obviously against the interests of the most powerful league in America. The SEC wants Texas and Oklahoma but is not in position to get them at this time. No way was it going to let the Pac-10 wrestle them away.
1. Pac-10. Commissioner Larry Scott went from potentially nabbing Texas and Oklahoma to instead getting Colorado and most likely Utah. That is not an upgrade for a conference that is desperate to gain the respect — and the eyeballs — of people on the East Coast. Colorado is in disarray. Utah had had very solid football program but does it add ratings and interest to a league that is going to struggle now that USC is going to hit bottom thanks to NCAA sanctions?
2. Colorado. While the Buffs have always wanted to align themselves with the Pac-10, they probably didn’t envision this scenario. Losing an alliance with Texas and Oklahoma is going to hurt. Both are more powerful than any team remaining in the Pac-10. They also are going to be losing out on a windfall of cash. It’s yet to be seen whether the Pac-10 will be able to start its own network with a 12-team lineup and how successful it could be with cash flow.
3. Mountain West. Back to the drawing board. The Mountain West added Boise St. but is poised to lose Utah, leaving it essentially where it was a week ago. Losing Utah means its chances of becoming an automatic qualifying school would drop significantly.
4. FOX. The appeal of starting a Pac-10 network is not nearly as great now.
5. Jerry Jones. The Cowboys owner had brokered a deal to have his new stadium host the Big 12 championship game through 2013. But there will no longer be a Big 12 championship game after the 2010 season.
Winners
1. Texas. Sheer genius for the Longhorns here. They get between $20 to $25 million a year to stay, if you believe the reports. They get the green light to start their own network. They get rid of the irksome conference championship game. They get even more power. They get rid of Nebraska, which had been a headache. What more could have gone right? Now, Texas is perfectly positioned when the superconference era begins. Why? Because it will have already started its own network and will bring it along wherever it lands. The major sticking point for joining the Pac-10 was just that. If you want Texas going forward, you gotta take the network, too.
2. Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, Baylor and Missouri. Whew. Just last week it appeared the Oceanic 5 would be left without a BCS conference. Now each is expected to rake in double the amount of revenue from TV money.
3. Dan Beebe. From goat to savior in a three- day span. But this was not all his doing …
4. ESPN. The network essentially won this round with FOX, which wanted nothing more than to start a Pac-10 network with a super-sized conference that featured Texas, Oklahoma and company. Now ESPN gets to keep its foothold into Texas, and keep FOX from essentially spanning the nation (FOX owns 49 percent of the Big Ten network).
5. SEC. Right there with ESPN is the SEC and commissioner Mike Slive. If you read between the lines of this story about a wide group of people coming together to stop the Pac-10 from going to 16 teams, you can guess Slive was most likely involved. Why? Watching the Pac-10 grow to 16 teams is against the interests of most of the influential people in college football — and obviously against the interests of the most powerful league in America. The SEC wants Texas and Oklahoma but is not in position to get them at this time. No way was it going to let the Pac-10 wrestle them away.