Earlier this week, college football fans were treated to an exercise in public relations damage control. Commissioners from the Pac-12, B1G 10 and ACC gathered to express their devout commitment to sharing values about student athletes and football. Call it an alliance, if you will. Except, there were no contracts signed or concrete plans for schedule changes in the immediate future (i.e. Nobody is ripping up scheduling deals).
But there was one question that was on most peoples’ minds; Will any of these conferences expand in response to Texas & Oklahoma joining the SEC? The Pac-12 said “NO!”, Thursday.
In a statement that read like shampoo bottle instructions, the “Conference of Champions” declared they would not expand to more than 12 teams, for now. “This decision was made following extensive internal discussion and analysis,” the statement reads. “... and is based on the current competitive strength and cohesiveness of our 12 universities.”
This isn’t incredibly surprising, considering the schools they could acquire would be dregs from the Big 12. It’s likely a few Pac-12 executives did the math and figured out adding a team like Texas Tech wouldn’t affect their media value enough for the effort.
It’s more conceivable to think a team like Notre Dame will approach the Pac-12, B1G 10 or ACC and declare they want more consistent money through the revenue share. It’s also highly possible the Fighting Irish would join the SEC, as well. Let’s hope for the former.