12 > 16

After the dust has settled, there will be no Pac-16. At least not yet. Colorado and Utah have both officially become members of what will likely be called the Pac-12 conference.

Texas A&M is apparently disappointed with the way things played out? Well …. duh! The A&M folks were trying to show their independence from UT, but in the end what’s left of the old Big XII just wimped out and deferred to whatever the University of Texas wanted. I’ve got to believe that Texas Tech and Oklahoma State probably aren’t too happy with how things played out either. Instead of joining a “superconference”, these schools are left in a somewhat weakened Big XII and are now cast squarely in the shadow of UT. It remains to be seen if this restructuring might actually lead to revenue losses for any of the remaining ten schools. Texas being the exception of course, they’ll be laughing all the way to the bank. Colorado and Nebraska were wise to leave in my opinion.

Most bizarre thing is that the University of Texas could possibly start its own tv network. That rumor makes absolutely no sense. A tv network dedicated to one university? Yeah okay, good luck with that.

As for me, I’m happy with the way things sorted out. I like the reasonably expanded Pac-12 lineup. Sure, Colorado and Utah aren’t as flashy as adding Texas and Oklahoma, but based on everything that I’ve read Colorado and Utah are good fits both academically and athletically. The geography works well too (meaning good travel schedules for the sports teams). I think the two 6-team division format with a championship game are positives, and a league title game alone will definitely add revenue.

NORTH = Cal, Oregon, Oregon St, Stanford, Washington, Wash St.
SOUTH = Arizona, ASU, Colorado, UCLA, Utah, USC

Now, the big debate becomes if adding the Denver and Salt Lake City tv markets will make a Pac-12 television network feasible. I have to believe in 2012 that will become a reality, and I’ll be bugging my cable provider to get this channel. … or (more likely) I will be considering a switch to satellite tv. Because I can tell you right now, that if a Pac-12 network does happen, then it’s a channel I want to get. Living here in the Midwest, I miss seeing Pac-10 football and basketball.

* footnote: here’s a preliminary look at Arizona’s possible new football uniforms. Why don’t they just go back to the traditional UofA uniforms? Might even inspire a return of the old Desert Swarm defense!