Column: How Geography And Greed Decimated The Pac-12 And Put The Big Ten In The Expansion Driver's Seat
(Editor's note: IlliniGuys co-founder Larry Smith also serves as co-host and executive producer of the IlliniGuys Sports Spectacular syndicated radio show. He is a 35-year veteran in the broadcast journalism field, more than half that time spent as an anchor, correspondent, and host for CNN Sports and Turner Sports. He shared his thoughts on this latest wave of expansion on the IlliniGuys premium message forums this weekend.)
August 8, 2023
As we steady ourselves from the tremors beneath our feet from the massive shift in college football we experienced on Friday, two things are clear: the Big Ten is responsible and there really isn't much the Pac-12 could have done to avoid its impending demise.
Maybe if they'd cranked out a new media deal two years ago, then USC and UCLA would have stayed. But such an arrangement at that time - and with three years left on their existing contract - would have been unlikely. When you consider that we were barely out of the pandemic at that time, you can shut the door on that 'what-if'. Even if they had, the SEC and then the Big Ten struck landmark agreements that would have made a new, richer Pac-12 deal immediately obsolete. Think new Comiskey Park and then Camden Yards opening a year later.