Pac 10 expansion is all about the TV money

UPDATE: Andy Katz has weighed in on the subject, and he makes the point that the only logical addition would be BYU and Utah. The addition is for football, which eliminates quite a few of the programs out west. BYU and Utah would also be natural travel partners, which is perfect for the Pac-10's scheduling system.

It makes too much sense, which is probably why it won't happen. Isn't that how it normally works?


First, it was the Big Ten. Then, it was the NCAA Tournament. And now the Pac 10?

The rumors have been floating around for a while, but it seems like the Pac 10 is getting serious about expanding to 12 teams. Like the Big 10 expansion, the main reason for the Pac 10 adding teams would be to create two divisions and a conference championship game for the football team. The Pac 10 is looking to sign a new deal for television coverage, and having a conference championship game is a key negotiating point.

Are you really surprised that money and TV contracts are the main issue involved?

One of the issues is that the conference wants to get more games on national television, especially during the basketball season.

"My top priority when I was hired was to explore all available options to expand our revenue through television," Pac 10 commissioner Larry Scott told the Mercury News. "That has the utmost strategic importance."

There are two problems with the Pac 10 when it comes to getting games on national television. During the week, their tip times end up being too late to get played in the primetime slots on ESPN.

The other issue sit he way the conference schedule is laid out. There are five groups of travel partners in the conference. During a conference weekend, one set of partners (i.e. the Arizona schools) will travel to play another set of partners (i.e. the LA schools). The games are played on Thursdays and Saturdays, with the two groups switching opponents after the Thursday game. So if Arizona played USC Thursday, they play UCLA on Saturday, and vice versa for Arizona State.

Say ESPN wanted to buy the rights to the Cal-Washington game this season. With any other league, they would have some influence in the schedule if, for example, they wanted to show Villanova-West Virginia on Big Monday. With the Pac 10, they can't do that. The Cal-Washington game would either be Thursday's late game, or scheduled on a Saturday. Nationally televised games on a Saturday get much less exposure than a game played on Big Monday.

Anyway, the rumor that has been making the rounds is that Utah and Colorado would join the Pac 10, with BYU sliding into the Big XII to replace Colorado (a steal for the Big XII, as its not a difficult argument that BYU has a better basketball and football program than Colorado right now). Would that mean that Boise State and/or Utah State would move into the MWC?

Possibly.

The Pac-10's TV deal doesn't expire until the 2011-2012 season, but if they are going to be making changes in their membership, the talks will be starting now.