Pac-12 Conference Facing Dire Future Following Mass Exodus

The Pac-12 dubbed itself the “Convention of Champions” for a historical past of athletic excellence stretching again greater than 100 years.

The biggest convention out West has dominated Olympic sports activities, went on an unprecedented run in males’s faculty basketball and has received extra nationwide championships than every other league.

Pac-12 alumni embody a few of the best names in sports activities historical past: Jackie Robinson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Tiger Woods and Jackie Joyner-Kersee.

A run of defections has now turned the tradition-rich league right into a convention of ashes.

“To suppose even remotely 5 years in the past the Pac-12 can be on this place, it’s unthinkable to suppose that we’re right here right now,” Washington State soccer coach Jake Dickert stated.

Faculty sports activities has gone by means of monumental shifts in recent times as faculties swapped conferences like buying and selling playing cards.

The demise of the Pac-12 hit like a supernova: a Energy 5 convention dying in actual time.

Southern California and UCLA kickstarted contraction final yr by asserting plans to affix the Huge Ten.

Colorado stirred the winds of change additional final week by voting to go away for the Huge 12.

The Buffaloes’ bolting hastened choices throughout the convention, resulting in a Friday flurry of 5 faculties defecting inside hours of one another: Oregon and Washington to the Huge Ten, Arizona, Arizona State and Utah to the Huge 12.

Left within the wake are a lame-duck 2023-24 season and a Pac-12 that is right down to a Pac-4 of California, Stanford, Oregon State and Washington State.

“We’re upset with the latest choices by a few of our Pac-12 friends,” Washington State President Kirk Schulz and athletic director Pat Chun stated in a joint assertion. “Whereas we had hoped that our membership would stay collectively, this final result was at all times a risk.”

The defections have been pushed by soccer — extra importantly, the cash soccer generates.

The Huge Ten has a seven-year, $7 billion media rights cope with a number of networks and the Huge 12 agreed to a $2 billion deal with Fox and ESPN final yr.

A protracted-awaited media rights deal not too long ago introduced by Pac-12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff apparently wasn’t sufficient to sway the convention’s at-the-time 9 remaining members. Hours after Pac-12 leaders mentioned the deal on Friday, 5 faculties have been headed out the door.

“At the moment’s information is extremely disappointing for student-athletes, followers, alumni and employees of the Pac-12 who cherish the over 100-year historical past, custom and rivalries of the Convention of Champions,” the Pac-12 stated in a press release. “We stay centered on securing the absolute best future for every of our member universities.”

Historical past might be all of the Pac-12 has left.

The USC-UCLA rivalry will stay in tact, albeit on a western outpost in a Midwest-based league. Identical with Arizona and Arizona State, the long-running Territorial Cup spilling east.

The opposite rivalries are doubtful.

The Apple Cup could now flip bitter, with Washington and Washington State now in numerous conferences.

The Civil Struggle might be headed towards a stalemate, although Oregon stated it’s going to prioritize the long-held traditions, together with competitors throughout all sports activities with Oregon State.

Cal and Stanford’s first Huge Sport might be discovering a spot to land earlier than resuming their rivalry.

“What this enterprise was constructed on was regionality and rivalries. That’s gone. That’s leaving the Pac-12,” Oregon State athletic director Scott Barnes instructed The Oregonian. “Among the most particular items about our mannequin is regionality of competitors and rivalries. These issues are forgotten.”

Until the Pac-12 finds a method to salvage its convention, reminiscences might be all that continues to be.

Based because the Pacific Coast Convention in 1916, the convention morphed into the Pac-8, then 10, then 12. Via the many years, it turned the nationwide championship normal.

Led by its Olympic sports activities applications, the Pac-12 has received 553 nationwide championships, greater than 200 greater than the subsequent closest convention.

The convention has led or tied the nation in NCAA championships in 56 of the previous 62 years, ending no worse than third.

The Pac-12 has received 16 nationwide championships in males’s faculty basketball and the ladies have 5. John Picket led UCLA to 10 nationwide titles in 12 years, together with a document seven straight.

Pac-12 soccer applications have accounted for 10 nationwide championships, 11 Heisman Trophy winners and greater than 200 consensus All-People.

The convention has been on the forefront of the Olympic motion from inception till now, with 321 present and former athletes accounting for 108 medals on the 2020 Tokyo Video games.

Star energy has been a part of the custom.

Robinson lettered in 4 sports activities at UCLA earlier than breaking baseball’s coloration barrier. Abdul-Jabbar and Invoice Walton began their Corridor of Fame careers main Picket’s groups to nationwide titles.

John Elway (Stanford), Marcus Allen (USC) and Aaron Rodgers (Cal) turned Tremendous Bowl champions after being Pac-12 stars. Joyner-Kersee ran observe at UCLA earlier than operating up her Olympic medal rely.

Woods and swimmers Katie Ledecky and Jenny Thompson went to Stanford earlier than dominating their sports activities.

The convention additionally was the house of Pac-12 After Darkish, these wild, high-scoring soccer video games that ran nicely previous midnight Jap time.

Now the Pac-12 could also be going darkish, its legacy shifting towards the rearview mirror.

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