Welcome to the first Pac-16 championship game, live from a sold-out 102,000-seat Rose Bowl. Today, the Southern California Trojans face the Texas Longhorns.
Sound funny?
Maybe not for long. Things are moving quickly on the conference expansion front, and a Pac-16 — with Texas as a member — is a very real possibility.
Things came to a boil at the Big 12 meeting this past weekend. According to the Austin Statesman, the conference issued an ultimatum: “Nebraska has until 5 p.m. on Friday to tell [the Big 12] what they’re going to do,” one Big 12 school official said, adding that he has heard that the deadline could be extended to June 15. The same timeline was given to Missouri.
According to a number of media sources, Nebraska could be invited to — or at least assured that they will have a place in — “the new Big Ten” as soon as Friday. That coincides with the University of Nebraska’s monthly Board of Regents meeting Friday in Lincoln.
Meanwhile, at their meeting in San Francisco, the Pac-10 conference presidents and chancellors gave conference commissioner Larry Scott approval Sunday to pursue expansion. The Pac-10’s timetable is set for the end of the year, but it could move more quickly.
The plan that is getting the most attention has the Pac-10 becoming a 16-team league, with invitations going to current Big 12 members Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Colorado. (Baylor could replace Colorado if Texas pushes the issue, which is possible.)
The goal would be to have two eight-team divisions, with USC, UCLA, Oregon, Oregon State, California, Stanford, Washington and Washington State comprising one division. The other division would include Arizona, Arizona State and the new group of Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Colorado.
The conference championship game would alternate between the Rose Bowl and Cowboys Stadium.
If the Pac-10 can get its plan in place by the end of the year, it would allow the conference to have its new lineup in place when it goes to negotiate new TV deals for the 2012-13 academic year. It has been estimated that expansion could be worth more than $20 million a school per year, what some presidents have called “game-changing money.”
Jim Williams is a seven-time Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director and writer. Check out his blog, Watch this!
