Two Pac-12 programs currently not on board with conference expansion
Despite the fact that Pac-12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff didn't want Pac-12 media day to end up being about the media rights deal or expansion, the day was flooded with questions about those two very topics.
When it comes to the media rights deal, Kliavkoff hinted that it could be approaching but later retreated when pressed further about the matter. While all this did was create more confusion and cause more people to discuss where the conference actually is in the whole process, there was also expansion talk.
Replacing the value lost after the departures of USC and UCLA is as unlikely as it gets, but there is a possibility to get access to new markets that can help boost up the value a tad. For the entire year schools such as Rice, Fresno State, Tulane, New Mexico State, Colorado State, and Hawaii have all been discussed as possible candidates, but San Diego State and SMU have long been viewed as the perfect candidates in waiting.
Both programs resided in prominent markets, and both are viewed as having potential to eventually compete in the Pac-12. Them joining the Pac-12 is something that has been seen as inevitable, but according to a report by The Athletic, not every team in the conference is on board with adding any more members.
Stewart Mandel explained that the belief is the programs do not want any more competition within the conference, so when the expanded playoff comes around and automatic bids are given to the conference champ there's less teams to compete with. He also revealed that one of the teams that is believed to be against expansion is Oregon.
Two league sources told The Athletic on Friday there’s not unanimity among the presidents to expand at all. It would take an 8-2 vote, and at least two schools — one of them assumed to be Oregon — don’t currently support it. The rationale being, they’d rather compete with fewer schools for the Pac-12’s berth in the expanded College Football Playoff, not to mention sharing CFP revenue with fewer mouths.
As we have been for a year now, we will just have to wait until the conference makes their media rights deal official and goes through that process. Only then will we know if minds are changed about adding more programs to the Pac-12.
