The historic Pac-12 has been a pillar in the Power 5 Conferences for over 100 years – but today it looks prone to collapse at any minute. USC, UCLA, Oregon, and Washington have agreed to join the Big Ten. Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah have also decided to leave for the Big 12.
As of recent, Cal and Stanford have been approved to join the ACC. The teams will play out their final year this 2023 season, in the conference, before joining their new destinations.
The Power 5 Conferences refers to the five athletic conferences that are considered the most prominent and highest-earning in NCAA Division 1 college football. The Power 5 consists of the Atlantic Costal Conference (ACC), Big Ten Conference, Big 12 Conference, Pac-12 Conference, and the Southeastern Conference (SEC).
The football and basketball programs at these universities generate the bulk of the revenue. This money is then used to fund the school’s other sports programs.
Over the years, teams have shuffled around from conference to conference. Typically, when a team decides to jump ship, it is for two reasons: money and exposure.
In the Pac-12’s media schedule with ESPN, games are slotted for late Saturday night on their network – causing a lack of media exposure nationwide.
It is believed that, George Kilavkoff, Pac-12 Commissioner, presented teams with an Apple subscription-based offer that would pay programs $20 million annually per school for their media rights, according to CBS Sports. The Apple offer was centered on streaming and offered incentives that could increase teams’ payouts to make their earnings more competitive to other Power 5 conferences.
In comparison, Big 12 schools make $31 million annually for their media rights, the Big 10 and SEC schools are paid over $50 million annually for their media rights and that number is expected to continue to rise, says CBS Sports.
Currently, Oregon State and Washington State are the two schools remaining in the Pac-12, after the 2023 season. There is speculation of the future destinations for each school but time will tell if the Pac-12 can recover from this downfall.
The conference realignments will have a major effect on student-athletes moving forward. Stay tune for part two.