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“Pac 12 Conference–There Will Be Blood”

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The Pac 12-Conference, the so-called conference of champions, or so says all the promos you could see on their TV telecasts, if you could see their games.

I can see more games on my TV from the home of my Alma Mater (Ohio University), via the Mid American Conference, than I can of USC-UCLA-Oregon-Washington, places where I did play-by-play.  I get that ESPN package on my flat-screen TV.

Hell I can see more games involving Wyoming, Boise State, San Diego State from the Mountain West Conference right next door thanks to the CBS Sports Network via Direct TV.

I can see the Westminster Dog Show and Manchester City-vs-Manchester United soccer and Formula 1-racing because there is NBC Sports Network.

But the old Civil War (Oregon-Oregon State)…the Apple Cup (Washington-Washington State)..the Centennial Cup (Arizona State-Arizona)..very doubtful.  I love the history of this conference.  Love the beauty of the campuses.  Love the dynamics of alot of quality coaches.  I love the logos and the colors.

The man who took over the Pac 12, and took it from a town-and-gown operation, the man who created the Pac 12-Network, the man who has guided his conference to last place in the Media rights business deals, is leaving.

Larry Scott has been ousted as Commissioner of the Pac 12-Network.  The league is in ruin.  It is no longer viewed as a truce National power in football and basketball.  It’s per school revenue share TV payments ,(31M) a year via the network, are at the  bottom of the standings compared to the SEC (51M) per school annually.  It pales in comparison to what Texas or even Wake Forest gets.

Larry Scott, for all his bluster, bombast, and creative license, never got the Pac 12 Network any clearance on Direct TV.  You have to pay to see those games, and not many want to subscribe to even more things.  Instead of the push to get Texas and Oklahoma into the conference, he would up with small market-reputation Utah and Colorado.

The pandemic has devastated the league financially, and he had no answers just platitudes and maybe more promises.

I love watching my Ohio Bobcats-vs-Miami Redhawks in the “Battle of the Bricks”.  I can see that, but I cannot see the Ducks-vs-Beavers, Huskies vs Cougars, or other Pac 12 teams that carry the West Coast Flag.

A new day is coming for college athletics, with new leadership in the Pac 12.  The “Conference of Champions” deserves better than what it has had from a leader.

Some 24-hours we have had, getting rid of a bad President, and now a bad Commissioner.

Bills came due.  There had to be an accounting for all the bad decisions made.

To steal the title of the movie we saw…”There Will Be Blood” and there was, in Washington, DC and on the West Coast in college athletics.

A new day dawns without Larry Scott as Pac 12-Commissioner.

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