San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Pac-12 clinging to endangered history after football cash grabs
As nightmares go, this one has an escape hatch. It’s only good for two years, but Bay Area fans should pay special attention to the college football season that begins in two weeks. Next year will be especially nostalgic. Then the doomsday curtain falls, wiping away so much of what you’ve enjoyed as a Cal or Stanford fan. As of 2024, USC and UCLA will be part of the Big Ten Conference, and no matter how you twist things around in your mind, it’s absolute lunacy. The Pac-12 has a 107-year history, always representing the best of West Coast football. Now it’s dogs in a cat show, seagulls in Kansas, Russian ballet at the Grand Ole Opry. Anything goes.
A few things to know (all times Pacific): Cal opens its season with a couple of home games at the only starting time that ever made sense in the collegiate game: 1 p.m. It’s a shame about the cakewalk opposition — UC Davis (Sept. 3) and UNLV (Sept. 10) — but get used to that. If the Pac-12 eventually dissolves in the swirl of money-driven realignment, you’ll come to appreciate the little things. Wait a minute, starting times actually announced? Only on rare occasions. As we’ve seen and lamented in recent years, most Pac-12 starting times will be released either six or 12 days in advance of kickoff. A really annoying obstacle for folks who like to plan ahead. There’s a fair amount of buzz about Stanford returning as a major threat. We’ll know soon enough; the Cardinal play USC, Washington and Oregon over the first four games, and those are all top contenders in the preseason forecasts (along with Utah, slated to face Stanford Nov. 12). So many scenarios: Stanford indeed becomes a powerhouse. Or gets rudely driven back to reality. Or scores just enough upsets to wreck the Pac-12’s shot at the four-team College Football Playoff. Speaking of which, Atlanta is scheduled to host the title game in 2025, followed by Miami in ’26. What a ludicrous state of affairs. A series of high-level meetings led nowhere in search of an expanded playoff — as many as 12 or even 16 teams — so we’re lodged in frustration for five more seasons. With Fox, CBS and NBC sharing in the Big Ten’s sevenyear, $1.23 billion media-rights deal, a blockbuster announced Thursday, ESPN is expected to place heavy focus on the Pac-12. The attraction, sadly, is to throw an ESPN blanket over the 7:30 p.m. kickoff with essentially no competition from the other major networks. These are the games that find
Pac-12 fans would be wise to savor one of the last seasons of Cal and Stanford college football action we can recognize. spectators trudging home around midnight, locked into every Friday and Saturday night within the conference. Exempt from that madness? USC and UCLA. Big Ten Saturdays are all set up for Fox games at 9 a.m., CBS at 12:30 p.m. and NBC at 5 p.m. Remember, though, that for the Bruins and Trojans, a “home” game could mean Nebraska, some 1,500 miles from Los Angeles but only about halfway to New Jersey (Rutgers). West Coast trips will be a distant — and likely quite fond — memory. Why in heaven’s name are Rutgers and Maryland in the Big Ten? Just one reason: access to the East Coast television market. Otherwise, their presence is an awkward compromise. Now the West Coast is covered as well, but if the Big Ten wants to get serious about football schools, it should invest in Oregon and Washington. Stanford also gets a mention in such Big Ten speculation, for its academic reputation, Silicon Valley connections and a past full of star power. It would only make sense to include Cal in a package deal, maximizing the benefits of the Bay Area television market, and the Bears generally gain a distinct advantage in attendance when they’re good compared with Stanford’s attendance when it’s good. Bottom line: With four more Pac-12 teams in the mix, the Big Ten would become a 20-team powerhouse. It hurts to even bring this up, as such developments completely dismantle the Pac-12 and leave some very deserving schools like Washington State and Oregon State out in the cold. Even if the conference survives, it would have to consider one acceptable expansion
candidate (San Diego State) and a bunch of uninspiring ones (Boise State, Fresno State, UNLV and SMU — the latter tied into the Texas TV market). The Pac-12 Network, always a top-quality production but doomed to disaster under a preposterous deal arranged by former Commissioner Larry Scott, remains in play, including Stanford’s opener and Cal’s first two games. This constitutes the usual bad news for DirecTV subscribers, who need that outlet for NFL Sunday Ticket. And it’s problematic for anyone who checks into a hotel, tries to cue up a certain game and finds the Pac-12 Network unavailable. It’s hard to predict what the future holds, but when it comes to sports in general, you’re wise to get familiar with streaming services. Amazon Prime, Apple TV+, ESPN+, Peacock — sign up for as many as your budget allows. Armed with a Smart TV, you’ll find it a pretty simple operation and a window into much more than sports. UCLA’s big move isn’t necessarily cause for celebration in Westwood. “I’d say UCLA is in a really difficult position,” Pac-12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff told reporters. “There are a lot of constituents related to UCLA who are very, very unhappy with the decision. Student-athletes, the families of student-athletes, the faculty, the staff, politicians, the fans, the alumni — a lot of really upset people.” Here’s to a refreshing (if unrealistic) take from Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh: “I’m an old-school guy. I kind of like a strong West Coast conference, a strong Southeast conference, a strong Midwest conference, a strong East Coast conference.” It used to be that way, many years ago, and it made of sense.