Leaderboard

Screw You! For years as G5, FCS, D2, and D3 have been left without funding, you have never been worried about the state of college football. Now that a historic Power 5 conference is being impacted, all these national pundits are suddenly concerned about the state of the college football game. Many of you same national journalists have been the ones that went out of the way to raise up power five teams and act like everyone else in college sports does not exist. You have repeatedly championed this monster, and now that it's starting to come about, some of you act like it's not something you expected. Just about as ignorant as those of you who did not know that the transfer portal and, more so, NIL would end up being pay-for-play.

This is probably best case scenario for us at this point. I don’t love the travel…but it strengthens the AAC’s power and further separates it from the other G5s. Then, work to add a couple of the best from MWC and whatever makes sense from the pending ACC implosion to get to 24 and you manage to at least keep pace with what the BIG10, BIG12, and SEC are doing to remain relevant.

There are a lot of rumors circling on Twitter/X. The one that is gaining traction is that the PAC schools realize they still have the A5 status which is very valuable. Rumor is the PAC is considering merging with the top MWC schools and some AAC schools to maintain the name and A5 status. Apple is reportedly still in the hunt for content so *a* deal of some sort is reportedly still on the table. I *really* hope that Aresco is being aggressive here to get this deal instead of the MW and, subsequently, the A5 status for the American schools. If ESPN is as angry as reports suggest about not having west coast content, and Aresco has a good relationship with them as it appears he does, maybe they’ll come into the mix and provide the dollars necessary to make this deal go the AAC’s way. With where we are today, UNT either comes out of this in an even better position with a strong conference and A5 status, or in CUSA 3.0. Hopefully it’s the former.

https://pac-4.com/

Thank you. We’ll be out there again next week.

All I know is that I am glad Aresco is our commissioner right now. He is one aggressive dude.

If we’re going by North Texas State standards about 35 years.

Agree that the CFP structure will change now to favor the P2, which sucks. My hope is that they keep the top 6 highest ranked conference champions because the AAC, MWC, Sun Belt, and occasionally the MAC all field strong teams that could do well and provide a Cinderella story here or there which everyone loves in college sports. Then, just expand the playoff number to the next 10 highest ranked teams or something to add four more from (most likely) the P2. College sports becomes a lot less interesting without the Cinderella stories, IMO. If they favor the P2 too strongly in the playoffs, they’ll lose fans and therefore media dollars. I’m unsure about the WAC/FBS status.

This guy Ben makes a good counter argument to this scenario which I hadn’t thought about before. Given the previous Apple deal was reported to have a tiered structure based on the number of subscribers, having small private schools isn’t good for revenue at all.

I’ve been around UNT athletics long enough to know that I need to start worrying about that sinking feeling that’s invading the pit of my stomach. Hopefully it’s just something I ate.

Which is precisely why I snicker when I hear all of this “The remaining PAC teams will just raid the AAC and MWC” talk. So now AAC and MWC teams want to add west coast travel to their non-revenue sports just to be left out in the cold anyway?

I read the other day this was a major issue for ESPN. With USC, UCLA, Oregon, and UW going to the B1G, all the major west coast markets belong to FOX. My question is, if ESPN was so concerned about west coast markets, why were they not a bigger player in the PAC media deal negotiations before all of this crumbled to begin with? I'm assuming they just didn't have the money to pay what that collection of schools wanted.

I knew that Mike Aresco had been working behind the scenes but as good as he is I was skeptical that he could pull anything off that bordered on getting the four remaining teams from the leftovers of Pacific 12. I'm pleased that he might have gotten football but there are other sports that would be burdensome for our eastern teams. That's why I'm dubious that this will happen. I'm also curious as to why it hasn't been publicized by now. The markets wouldn't be too bad. Two are in San Francisco; one is in Portland, OR and the other in Spokane, WA. However, I don't believe that Mike could renegotiate the ESPN contract in this period of time to get the Pac 4 the 25 million dollars that they want. I mean we have to wait a year or two to get the full amount and even if Mike has talked to ESPN about the western teams, I can't believe that that they would go for it that quickly. Translation: I'll believe it after I see it.

This is probably the path of least resistance.

they wont have the a-5 status very long with adding MWC teams and the bottom feeders of the pac12

September 6, 2014 home opener against SMU. 11am kickoff. Was right at 100º at kickoff and probably 105 by the end of half-time. It was so hot that it melted something inside and killed one of my cameras while it was sitting on the turf in the end zone in front of @golfingomez. We beat the ponies 43-6 and June Jones resigned two days later because of it, so it was the best day ever.

I have no guarantees, but if you think TV execs want to pay more for Wyoming and Colorado St than they do for Cal and Ore State then we can just agree to disagree.

Being in the same conference as us has broken their brains they want out so bad. They’d probably take a CUSA invite at this point.

I feel zero sadness for Cal, Stanford, Washington State, and Oregon State joining the MWC and getting their $4 million payout. They have had a "let them eat cake" attitude toward the rest of us from the beginning. Now, they just don't know how they will make it hosting Boise State and San Diego State. How will their fan base get excited? How will their Olympic sports get by? Lots of pearl clutching and hand wringing along the coast right now. I say thoughts and prayers boys. And welcome to the world all the rest of us live in.

Who would you consider the more attractive four in the AAC and MWC? I will say that, for once, I am happy with the position we are in. I am thankful that we have Arresco running our conference and not Judy and that our campus leadership is solid. All of that coupled with our size and location have us sitting in a pretty strong position as things unfold.

See how long you can go before you refer to the stadium where North Texas plays as Apogee instead of DATCU. This morning, our priest used “Apogee” stadium as a landmark. An easy mistake. We want to hear how long you can go, in regular Mean Green conversation, before you slip and call it by its former name. OK… GO !

Is it not the schools who were in the PAC when those overpayment were made that owe the money to Comcast? I don't believe future members are on the hook for that. Those aren't the schools that received the money.

The “Apple deal could pay as much or more than the B12 swap” lie spin was put out by the PAC commish to the PAC members and to PAC friendly media. However, the devil is in the details. Why no one has released a copy of the contract, some details have leaked out: Very little of the money was guaranteed. Instead, escalator clauses kicked in the more PAC add on subscriptions were sold. The PAC add on was going to be $20/month. So yes, there was technically a chance they could make more than the B12, but apparently it would have taken the equivalent of 90% of the total AppleTV+ user base to sign on to the extra $20/month package to hit B12 numbers. Once the PAC presidents saw that, they knew they had it get out.

Then it's basically a worse version of the NCAA basketball tourney selection committee. Dolts rewarding teams for losing vs their "strong" schedule instead of rewarding winners.

I don’t even know why people keep posting anything related to the Power 5 anymore. It’s going to get blown up. There’s no way the SEC/Big 10 in their future states are going to let these other conferences be on equal footing.

MWC schools won’t join PAC at $34M per school, unless they dissolve the MWC. That won’t happen because new media rights would be too complex.

I still would not be surprised to see SMU and Rice move to a revamped PAC. Air Force, BYU, Colorado State, New Mexico, San Diego State, UNLV, Utah, and Wyoming left the WAC to form the Mountain West, so you know they would have no problem backstabbing conference mates.

I looked into my crystal ball this morning and saw Stanford and Cal going independent, the MWC voting to abolish their poison pill for leaving their conference, and 8 of their 11 members joining the new PAC 10. New Mexico ,SJSU, and a third school were left behind. My crystal ball clouded up because of global warming and I was unable to determine the 3 rd program.

I think that would fall on deaf ear in the Big 12 without bumping up the per team payout for 12 that are already in the fold this season. I also think if ESPN is watching their budget they are opting for the cheapest way to add games of the forgotten PAC 4 to their portfolio with minimal cost. Getting them into the AAC or MWC are the best options for ESPN and CBS to save money acquiring their games.

That's not how that works. A5 was not given to the instutions in the PAC, it was given to the PAC by name. If those schools leave the PAC for the MWC/AAC/etc they don't bring that status with them. There is no mechanism to change/strip A5 status. When the NIL fiasco first started brewing the P5 demanded the NCAA propose a rule change that gave, SPECIFICALLY, only the B1G, SEC, ACC, PAC, and B12 extra rights to propose and vote on certain legislation. The vote was put to the FBS conferences AS A WHOLE, but the G5 knew if they voted no the P5 might leave the NCAA. So they didn't reject the proposal. They will take six from the MWC so the departing MWC school can kill exit fees, but I am not sure why they would take two small private schools from the AAC. They may well take a couple schools from the AAC, but remember the Apple deal is based on COMPENSATION PER SUBSCRIPTION. If the PAC looks at AAC schools they will want people who can sell a lot of the Apple+ PAC add ons. The B12 commissioner's genius here was to realize the media market was drying up because the mouse could no longer strong arm ESPN fees onto every basic cable sub, and the cable sub market is dwindling anyway. So he knew Disney/Fox could probably only afford the B12 or the PAC. He got the deal first, now there isn't money left over for a PAC deal.

We didn't set time, TV did.

How can you be so certain? A week ago they said the Pac 12 would never go away.

The ESPN relationship might end up being a key point. I still find it very unlikely, but if they wanted a deal that had ESPN in it, what could the AAC offer? Less than 1% chance of it happening, but I hope Aresco is doing what he can.

Just curious and trying to talk about anything but realignment.

Can we get a transcript? 🤣

https://pac-4.com/

Stanford supports 36 athletic teams. I think UT supports about 18. As a result of bad decisions and poor management by the PAC 12 , Stanford will probably have to drop some and a number of athletes will lose their scholarships . College football and basketball tote the note for all other sports.

This isn’t over. Sounds like BIG10 and BIG12 may push up to 24 teams, and the SEC wants to expand further as well. All three will likely want to poach schools from the ACC. One conference—either a rebuilt PAC, rebuilt ACC, AAC, or MWC—will have the opportunity to be the strongest of the current G5s and weaker P5s. That conference will have a fighting chance at getting good media deals and staying relevant. Everyone else (including CUSA, MAC, Sun Belt, etc.) will likely have an uphill battle for revenue and relevance. Does Aresco make plans to secure 24 schools in the AAC to become a top 4 conference when the dust settles (BIG10, SEC, BIG12, and AAC)?

Those that expect the remaining 4 PAC teams to just grab MWC and AAC teams and soldier on, keep a few things in mind. 1) The PAC owes Comcast a LOT of money 2) MWC teams have a substantial buyout to leave that conference, and… 3) Teams in the PAC won’t be getting near the money they used to get (that affects offsetting #2) 4) Cal, Stanford, Washington State and Oregon State are used to operating on a budget that included $30M in television rights payouts (see #3 again)

My takeaway from all this is that SMU can suck it.

Great stuff @Cerebus

I remember when Apogee sounded strange and took some getting used to. It won't take long for the DAT to become familiar. GMG

The MWC by laws are online. Just a quick glance but it seems that a majority of the members can: So if 6 of the 11 voted for it, they could simply strike out these payout rules: So in other words, if the PACx invites at least 6 members of the MWC, the members can vote to cancel out the exit fees, and then resign from the MWC and accept the PACx invite.

NT Athletics cannot paint a wall or drive a nail in the pit without approval from the academic side of the university. It is why the sound system has sucked for years and never gets any better. It is why major renovations are extremely difficult. Athletics has wanted a weight room for basketball in the Pit forever and finally got the university to let them have an old, unused racquetball court. It is way too small, but better than what they had. And yes, athletics has been bumped from using the pit. It happened a few years ago when our womens basketball had to play a home game at TWU because the university had scheduled another event in the Pit and it was unavailable for basketball. Academics gets first choice because it is their building. A little history lesson may help here. The Longhorns and Aggies built facilities with taxpayer money. After that, the laws were changed so that no other schools could do the same. To get around it, we built a "coliseum" and rent it to the athletic department at times for basketball. It was built with taxpayer money, so it cannot just be transferred to athletics. Ever wonder why the roof was brown for so long and didn't display any logo or name? It is silver now and would be a perfect place for LED North Texas that could be seen for miles. Wonder why athletics has not done that? Nothing is done to that place for the benefit of athletics. It is a tired argument because nothing has changed since we built it 50 years ago.

How big is the curtain at Dickeys?