2021 Pac 12 Thread

[CatsbyAZ]

Let's get this year started as sensibly as possible: Pac 12 decides it's time to move on from Larry Scott!

After earning $40 million during his 11-year tenure, Scott leaves the Pac 12 with the Pac 12 network on life support; Scott's legacy is of over promoting Olympic sports (college tennis, waterpolo, etc) and striving to establish an international presence (especially in China) at the cost of both basketball and football falling to the bottom of P5 recognition.

OK Pac 12, time to let football and basketball lead again, lean on and promote the success of your big brands (USC Football), and figure out what to do about the Pac 12 network given the limitations. Maybe turn it into a streaming-only service?


https://pac-12.com/article/2021/01/20/pac-12-conference-announces-commissioner-larry-scott-conclude-term-commissioner


https://twitter.com/APlayersProgram/status/1352470153234026499

[Brutus Buckeye]

What are your preseason prognostications regarding the divisional pecking orders? 

[OrangeAfroMan]

Yeah, I think it's all about USC football. When they're down, the PAC is irrelevant.  

They should also consider just cancelling the time zone issue and just play games at 9am, noon, and 4pm only.  Forfeit a lil ticket sales for some national relevance. 

[Brutus Buckeye]

The start times are rough. I'm in Utah, and some of these Utes games wouldn't even be at halftime yet by the time 10pm rolled around. So I'd throw in the towel, as I'd already been watching CFB off and on for the last 12 hours by that point. 

You shouldn't have to stay up until the wee hours of the morning in order to watch the local teams. 

[FearlessF]

you would think the TV execs and accountants would be able to gauge the best times for ratings

[betarhoalphadelta]

I disagree with playing in the 9 AM PT slot, but think that PAC12 After Dark is just a terrible idea. 

Heck, I don't know how you Eastern Time Zone folks handle "primetime" games. Games start at 8 PM ET? College football games often exceed 3 1/2 hours... So you're up until nearly midnight to watch the highest-profile game of the week? 

I'd shoot for just the noon or 12:30 PT slot and the 5 PM PT slot. You have 12 teams. Nearly every one is "paired" in a geographical overlap of fandom, i.e. UW/WSU, OR/OrSU, Stan/Cal, UCLA/USC, AZ/ASU. The only one that really doesn't have a geographical overlap of fans are probably UT and Colorado.. Try to work the scheduling so that you don't schedule the teams in the same geo at the same time. So if UW is playing at noon, WSU should play at 5, or vice versa.

[OrangeAfroMan]

Well the 9am thing is about how things are out west.  I was blown away that I could go to a sports bar and get a drink at 9am.  Games are on, why not PAC games?  
Especially coming from FL, where on Sundays, you can't get a drink until 1:00 on the dot.  

[847badgerfan]

Florida is weird with booze. I've lived in Illinois and Wisconsin and save for a few municipal quirks, you could buy booze in a grocery store.

Here, it's only beer and wine. I have to go next door to Publix Liquors to buy booze. It's annoying. 

I'm calling Governor Ron on this.

[OrangeAfroMan]

Governor Ron isn't much of a Governor. would love to help you, depending on your vote and donation amount.

[betarhoalphadelta]

Well the 9am thing is about how things are out west.  I was blown away that I could go to a sports bar and get a drink at 9am.  Games are on, why not PAC games? 
Especially coming from FL, where on Sundays, you can't get a drink until 1:00 on the dot. 

Purely for the in-person fans. Nobody wants to be at a football game at 9 AM. You'd have no tailgate culture at all, because to tailgate you'd need to be in the parking lot before 7 AM to set up, and then you barely get any time to enjoy it. A lot of fans aren't going to want to get up at 6 AM on a Saturday, to have enough time to get showered, dressed (and for the ladies to get dolled up), to rush to a stadium for a 9 AM kick. 

Culturally we do have more acceptance of earlier start times for games on TV, and when the NFL teams go on the road to East Coast stadiums, we are used to watching the NFL at 10 AM--even our own teams. But when West Coast teams are playing at home, they never play before the 1:00 PM PT time slot.

If the NFL, which has a much bigger following in LA / SF / Seattle than college football in general doesn't want to have home games at 10:00 AM, how could it possibly be a good thing for the college football teams to be kicking off at 9:00 AM? I don't think it will work to make PAC12 football more popular. 

[847badgerfan]

I'm not sure there are enough PAC fans to make PAC football more popular.

USC ranked #20 in 2019 for attendance. Washington was #22. UCLA #24. Oregon #34. ASU #39.

[OrangeAfroMan]

Right, and I already answered "how could it be a good thing" - sacrificing some ticket sales for NATIONAL relevance.  It's wrong and pretty stupid, but it may yield gains in ranking spots, awards, etc.  Maybe even the difference between being ranked 5th and 4th one year.
.
Plenty of eastern programs get talent from CA, but how often do west schools poach OH, FL, or LA?  And while I don't have evidence (again!), I'd venture a guess that more talent flows east than flows west.  If the little kid in Chattanooga who grows up to be a top recruit has never seen Washington play isn't going to sign with the Huskies.  

[Brutus Buckeye]

The west recruits Texas okay

[FearlessF]

Florida is weird with booze. I've lived in Illinois and Wisconsin and save for a few municipal quirks, you could buy booze in a grocery store.

Here, it's only beer and wine. I have to go next door to Publix Liquors to buy booze. It's annoying.

I'm calling Governor Ron on this.

another reason I'm moving to Texas and not Florida