Paul Finebaum reveals 2 more Pac-12 teams leaving the conference amid Oregon and Washington's departure to the Big Ten
If it wasn't apparent yet, the Pac-12's death gong has been sounding for a while. The news just got worse on Friday as ESPN commentator Paul Finebaum revealed that two more programs had ditched the sinking ship.
Details emerged Friday morning that Oregon and Washington had jumped ship to the Big Ten from the embattled conference. Arizona State is also reportedly heading to the Big 12.
Meanwhile, Finebaum said Utah and Arizona are considering their options as well. Were they to leave, surely that would spell the end for Kliavkoff's conference.
This news comes just days after the conference lost the Colorado Buffaloes to the Big 12 and commissioner Brett Yormark, who has plundered the Pac-12 mercilessly. The Pac-12 had already lost UCLA and USC to the Big 12, and then the floodgates opened in earnest recently.
.@PeteThamel on where we stand Friday afternoon:
"In the next 90 minutes Oregon and Washington will be unanimously voted into the Big Ten."
"Arizona formally applied and was admitted to the Big 12 last night...Arizona State and Utah have ramped up their conversations there."
What's next for the Pac-12?
Commissioner George Kliavkoff seems to be reeling just as much as the programs under his purview.
The failure to agree to a TV deal is looking costly now, and the uncertainty has surely driven away a few programs amid a feeding frenzy by the Big Ten and Big 12.
In June, Washington State President Kirk Schulz was confident that a Pac-12 TV deal would be agreed to and that it would be bigger than the Big 12 one.
Kliavkoff has always asserted that the media deal will be lucrative, but according to OutKick's Greg Swaim, that might not be the case:
"BREAKING: Current best #Pac12 media deal is over $12M less than the #Big12, and there will be only 20% linear TV coverage, meaning only one P12 game a week on linear TV, and it will have a LOT of competition for viewers. And Klavkoff thought this was 'The Summer of George'!!"
According to reports, Kliavkoff is looking into a streaming deal with Apple TV+.
ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum was scathing in his appraisal of the speculated deal and what it would mean for the conference.
“The bottom line is this, guys: Nobody is signing up on Apple to watch the Pac-12, because there’s nothing to watch once you lose Colorado, UCLA and USC," Finebaum said. "I don’t want to be the guy that keeps burying this league, because I think I did it the other day, but I’m gonna keep doing it.
"Somebody needs to shovel dirt on this league and end this charade. It’s over for the Pac-12.”
The sharks smelled blood with the departure of UCLA and USC, they circled and picked off the Pac-12 carcass. The question on every college sports fan's mind is, what's next for the flailing conference?