Is Pac-12 implosion imminent as Stanford and Cal might find a new home in upcoming ACC board meeting with more votes to fructify the move
The Pac-12 implosion has been highly publicized throughout the last 18 months. The conference originally lost the USC Trojans and UCLA Bruins to the Big Ten, and then the teams continued to trickle down. Colorado, Utah, Arizona and Arizona State all left for the Big 12, while Oregon and Washington later joined the Big Ten as well.
Only four teams, Stanford, Cal, Washington State and Oregon State, remain in the Pac-12.
College football insider Jim Williams posted about the ACC expansion that is going to happen and the Pac-12 implosion ensuing.
"Per @ESPN - The latest on ACC Expansion - Cal and Stanford are expected to initially join at approximately 30% shares. That's expected to create a pool of between $50-60 million annually to divide among ACC schools. Some of that would be distributed to all members, and the rest would be put into a pool for success initiatives."
As of writing, the Atlantic Coast Conference has not added Stanford, California or SMU but this could be the beginning stages. Figuring out the financial figures is critical to taking the next steps forward for ACC expansion.
Who is at fault for the Pac-12 implosion?
It is difficult to place the blame for the Pac-12 implosion on a singular person. However, the majority of this has to fall on current commissioner George Kliavkoff. He has been the commissioner of the Conference of Champions since July 1, 2021.
Since then, the Pac-12 has not been able to sign a media rights deal and potentially 10 of the 12 teams have a new conference to call home beginning in the 2024 season.
A lot of the decisions made by him have caused for the downfall of the conference. To be fair, the conference was on the downswing before he took the position but has not improved since then. Kliavkoff was unable to get a media rights deal as he completely overvalued the conference in an attempt to get $50 million per team per season.
Another blunder has been the timing of the decision to hire consultant Oliver Luck, which should have been done arguably a year before it officially happened to survey the landscape after UCLA and USC decided to jump to the Big Ten.
At this point, the remaining four (about to be two) teams should find new homes instead of depending on the Conference of Champions to merge.
While it may be unfair to put 100 percent of the Pac-12 implosion blame on Kliavkoff, he is the man in charge for the last few years.