So they both have 4 years of eligibility. Think of the NIL possibilities... they could be rich! STOMP
tea leaves are certainly pointing to Oregon-Stanford-Washington joining Big-10, and creating a 5 team Western Pod. At the same time, just about everything in the wold of college football is getting hung up around Notre Dame's 'Hamlet-to-be-or-not-to-be-shit-or-get-off-the-pot' act. an irony, for Duck fans, is the media factor they almost universally hated was those late games on 'Pac-12 After Dark'. But as it turns out, in terms of media, it is the Pac-12's most valuable commodity. And it very well may be the vehicle the Ducks ride into the Big-10. If the Big-10 has 5 (or 6?) teams in the Pacific time zone, there will be an option for a late game every week, and their media partners, especially Fox, would love that. It might even bring ESPN back to the table.
As a guy who grew up in Eugene, this is all really sad to me. Money and greed are ruining college football. There will be no more tradition, no more regional rivalry games. It's fucking sad.
If the players are going to be straight up professional athletes, and we are talking about a billion dollar industry, WTF are the teams even affiliated with an institution of higher education?
Let's be honest: High level D1 football hasn't been amatuer for decades. Money has ruled the sport and the majority of student athletes are picking their unversities for their reputation in the sports, not academics. Pac-8, Pac-10, Pac-12, to ??? The landscape is always changing. Change is hard, but I'm glad to see the fake amatuer-athlete title to finally be more transparent.
While it's obvious that HS football players have always highly valued the reputation a school has in their sport, I'm sure that many also highly value what sort of academics are available to them. The reputation a school has with academics is largely irrelevant though as they're receiving much higher levels of support then the general student body. Personal tutors in any subject meeting them on their schedule, lavish private centrally located study halls, ect... it's not an apples to apples experience. There are big behind the scenes differences in academic support (and expectations) from one school to the next that lead some athletes one way or another based on what they want to achieve in college. STOMP
I think the answer to your question is that without the tie to universities, there wouldn’t be much interest in what would be viewed as minor league football. Universities need the money and acclaim that comes from college football and college football needs the built-in viewership that comes from student and alumni support of their college teams.
I don't think the you're seeing an abnormal amount of top HS football player attend the University of Alabama for their academic support, tutors, etc. I could be wrong though.
I think of the current D1 football situation this way: If we had to start from scratch and come up with a way for a football system that allowed elite HS football players to advance their skills prior to the NFL, nobody would say "Here's what we should do: Have them go to a university for a few years, force them to "attempt" to get a degree to be eligible, not allow them to work other jobs or profit of their image, and call the amauter athletes, while the univeristy of this larger governing board can bring in crazy amounts of money." Yet that's what we've been doing for decades. The European model makes way more sense to me. I love going to college games, but the whole setup is nuts.
I still think there is a possibility The Pac 10 adds a number of teams and Oregon will stay in the Pac?
reread the last sentence from my post and you'll see that I'm acknowledging the existence of all sorts of student athletes. STOMP
Someone still needs to fill the late night Friday and Saturday time slots and ESPN is going to need programing... Be it another radical reshuffling of the deck to a Soccer style model where yearly schools move up and down in divisions based on their results, joining another super conference or Oregon & other western schools getting relegated to a 2nd tier level left out of the big TV money, I'm going to remain a rabid Ducks fan yelling my voice out by halftime. There is good reason to be optimistic going into this season. They've been stacking great recruiting classes for a while now, but the last couple seasons they've had subpar QB play. It sure looks like they've improved that most important position on paper and the rest of the lineup is stocked. Can not wait for the Georgia game. Lets Go Ducks! STOMP
In that scenario, the new P12 would likely making half of the SEC/B10 (at best) and it would make it near impossible to compete on a championship level. Ultimately, I think OSU, WSU, Cal, Arizona, ASU, Utah, and Colorado would probably be ok with it. Washingon, Oregon, (maybe Stanford) would be drawing a real short stick at that point.
Oregon has it's biggest booster ,Phil Knight, still around. They will be fine, and contend because of his passion for them to do so. The others are on their own.
I agree that Oregon will be fine, but an extra $50m in the football budget of Ohio St, Michigan, USC, Bama, LSU, etc will always allow them to outbid for elite coaches, additional support staff, facilities, etc. Sure, Phil could subsidize some of those disadvantages, but the ideal play for Oregon, Washington, and Stanford would be to jump ship. From there, Oregon could use Phil as an advantage, not a way to catch up.
