I checked this thread at the perfect time. See you guys in 5 or 6 days. I can’t imagine what the topic of conversation will be then, lol.
Big-12 / Pac-12 possible merger
- Thread starter bgprest
- Start date
There are lots of sports fans, and football fans, on the west coast. But there are a lot less college football fans.
people who grew up in Iowa and spent their lives here don’t always understand how unusual this state’s focus on college athletics is. If you live in Washington state the top sports focus is the Seahawks and nothing else comes remotely close. The Huskies are way, way, way, way, way down the list. In California college sports are also almost irrelevant to many sports fans because they have so many pro teams around. Just in Los Angeles alone you have the Rams, Lakers, and Dodgers that are big deals. And then you have another NFL, NBA, and MLB team in addition to each of those!
States in the Midwest and South punch well above their population weight for college athletics fans.
Lots of transplants. Lots of other great things to do. High concentration of pro sports teams. I don't think people that have not lived in PAC country get just how unimportant college sports are out there. If you find someone that isn't completely oblivious to college sports it's kind of a shock.
In general the PAC is not a passionate college sports conference. That's probably an understatement. Their attendance and TV ratings show that. I think sports fans in the midwest tend to overvalue many of the PAC teams' values. Obviously USC and Oregon are big name programs with national interest, but they do not get viewers like the big brands in the midwest or southeast. UW is probably the only team from a media value perspective that is somewhat underrated in my opinion. Outside of those three and MAYBE UCLA, the rest simply aren't that valuable in a world that keeps shifting toward TV viewers driving value. Inclusion of a conference that gets into the midwest and Texas would be a big boost in viewership for PAC schools.
I don't think a merger of schools from the PAC and Big 12 is going to be wildly lucrative for either side, but it should be enough to keep them relevant and sustainable. The big question is what happens when/if Oregon and USC get restless. I would think it might take uneven distribution of media $. I would think rather than setting it up front, you could have some portion of it be variable based on which teams get put on the big Fox vs. FS1, FS2, PAC network, etc. Try to do enough to keep the big boys happy while making it a sustainable conference for all the members to maintain some level of competitive balance.
Agree. However, if you were a CST/EST transplant (like me) it was nirvanas if the bars opened early (which one always does) cause you could get a jog in, see the game before the fog lifted, be out on the beach by noon and playing volleyball without missing a beat.
The first time I heard the term Clowns used was by an Eastern Iowa sports anchor, after a bad loss. This was in the early 1990s before the internet. I had to think about it some, but I'm virtually certain that is what he said (not Clones) or I wouldn't have thought or remembered that. Maybe it was a slip of the tongue. He would later become the sports director of that station.
IMO ole Raisin Face Hayden Fry had a highly negative impact on the discourse in the state. I recall what it was like before he was coach.
The one time I saw him in person, ironically, he was in line to buy sunscreen at a local grocery.
When sports message boards became a thing and I first used this user name, it wasn't so much because I myself used the term Clones, though I am sure I heard it some. I considered Cyclone but felt Clone was more succinct. A possible negative connotation I thought of was groupthink type behavior I recalled when I was an undergraduate, in part a function of the large undergraduate population and dominance on campus and in Ames. One example was identical jackets commonly worn by freshmen, sophomores and so on, red or yellow, with Iowa State on the back. I think I still have one in storage. As more of an individualist myself, I wasn't a big fan of it.
Years later when it came time to choose a user name, thinking back, I thought it wasn't so much of a negative thing, this common behavior and outlook. I thought, well, it actually has positive aspects. I chose my user name with that in mind, many years after I was an undergraduate.
Now, many years of message boards later, I might have to rethink that. haha (kidding)
Myself I would say Go Cyclones. But I never considered use of the term Clones derogatory -- except as you said, perhaps as it might be used in a broader context. I never thought about it before (except above).
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Same thing on the East Coast. The NFL rules - college football, not so much.
Outside of SEC territory, yep. I'd wager most people in North Carolina would call themselves Panthers football fans and UNC basketball ones - forget college football entirely. Outside of rural Virginia (where there are plenty of Hokies), most are Washington Football Team fans and UVA football is an afterthought. And all parts north of there along the coast - where there are tons of people - don't really care about college football. Even around Philadelphia, pretty much no one cares about Penn State - certainly not close to the degree that the Eagles matter.
The sort of fan passion that we have at ISU is unusual and is going to serve us well when the realignment wheel next spins. I just hope that we can overcome the frustratingly-consistent national media perspective that none of the 8 leftovers bring any value to anyone and are basically just AAC teams. It's not true but it's been baked in very quickly by people who see their job as firing off takes as quickly as possible.
yep, I have a brother that went to Boston College. I go out there for a game every year. They maybe get forty thousand a game. Tailgating is decent, but overall, it is more of a cult following in that state/city. The local population really doesn't care about Boston College football. It is a pro sports area all the way. I remember when Matt Ryan was making a name for himself, ESPNs Game Day sent a reporter to Boston and he was asking people on the street of what they thought of Matt Ryan. No one knew who he was, but everyone in other parts of the country knew him, he was a household name.
Another reason why this idea that people have to add major markets to a conference to be considered attractive is outdated and coming to and end because of cord cutting.
10 years ago getting NY and Wash/Balt. were great gets for the Big 10, 5 to 10 years from now those schools will be a drag on the conference. It all comes down to butts in the seats, not how many people live in your state or region.
Just another large thing that the Big 12 schools can bring to the Pac 12 conference, large fanbases willing and able to support their schools and therefore any conference they are in. The Pac 12 is the weakest of the remaining conferences, and they have 2 choices here, add some to all the Big 12 schools that want to join the league, or risk losing their money making programs to the Big 10. Staying put is not an option for them.
But they have 2 or 3 years to make that choice and the Big 12 has 4 years worth of money still due to be able to wait for that decision to occur.
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AD Pollard was right. We will have to patient and wait this out. We might not have to wait 3-4 years though, it may play out sooner vs. later.
If it comes to the current Big 12 eight merging with the PAC in some fashion, I would have to think that would be beneficial to the existing Pac 12. We know midwest fans are more passionate about their teams. Midwest viewership would definitely help the PAC I would think. Perhaps it might even ignite a little more interest in the fans of current Pac 12 members?
Do you remember the record-setting Air Force FG right before half? Was it 61, or 63 yds? And doesn't it still stand as a Jack Trice FG record ?
I remember that. It was pretty windy and chilly that day. An omen of things to come in the future. the field is so much less of a wind tunnel now.
