Starting to get better sleep??

[Ute Bc]

Give me a break https://t.co/R3FM73ud1k
— Mark Harlan (@MarkHarlan_AD) March 10, 2023

Love our AD. Shuts down the ridiculous Big 12 talk with a little scoff for fun.

[Utehomer42]

I don’t want to be in the BIG 12, definitely isn’t my first option, but at this point if the Pac can’t get anything done with a tv deal and Oregon/Washington wanting to bail, the BIG 12 may be the best option.

[Yergensen]

Is anyone closely familiar with Harlan’s job performance to date and are you confident in his ability to help us successfully navigate realignment?

I don’t know myself and don’t have an opinion, but why break your silence or weigh in with a tweet in response to one out of hundreds of realignment articles?

[Central Coast Ute]

Realignment isn’t Harlans job. That falls squarely on Taylor Randall. Harlan only manages the AD.

[Yergensen]

It’s part of his job (see quote from him below). He may not be the decision maker, but he’s at least decision support and influencer.

The summer of 2022 started off really mild and quickly got out of hand when USC and UCLA announced they were going to leave the Pac-12 for the Big Ten. As stressed as fans have been about the Utes’ future, Harlan was right there with them trying to navigate the options of what to do next.

“I think as we’ve gone through this process it certainly has taken it’s twists and turns,” Harlan said. “From the moment it happened trying to decide foremost the best path for Utah, which is always the first thing the President and I think about.”

[UteThunder]

Do you give Chris Hill credit for getting us into the Pac-12? The media and many fans do. If Hill played a role in getting us into the Pac-12, then it is certainly part of Harlan’s job to work on current and future realignment scenarios, whether that means remaining in the Pac-12 or being part of the negotiations to move to another conference.

[UteThunder]

If anything, this makes me more worried. By all accountes, the Pac-12 is on life support. We’ve lost USC & UCLA, Oregon and Washington desperately want to leave, the TV deal negotiations have turned into a circus with the most likely outcome involving a streaming option that will push the Pac-12 further into obscurity. 

I don’t want to be in the BigXII, but I would rather be in that conference than in a dieing Pac-12. Harlan shutting down talk of that possibility has me worried our admin is clueless to the reality of the situation around them.

[Onlyu]

Curious who you think has created the circus? Maybe the B12 and Endeavor (the agency headed up by a woman the Pac presidents passed on in favor of GK) in an attempt to create chaos because they know there is no future as currently situated.

The thought that the B12 is in a better spot than either the Pac or ACC because they added 4 G5 teams to replace TEXAS & OKLAHOMA is laughable. In 5-7 years they are in the exact predicament the Pac and ACC will be in…waiting to see which teams the SEC and BIG want and hoping they create the 3rd grouping with another 16 teams.

The media deal will be comparable. Within $1-3 mil per team so basically the same. Spend your time worrying about where we land in 2029…that’s really the only thing that matters.

[Utah]

I’ve been saying this for months. The B12 sucks and is our worst case scenario and every team in the B12 will be looking to leave in 2029. 

[DrJazzy]

Love and respect your insider posts. 

My concern is, right now, objectively, the B12 – even with 4 G5 schools to replace OK/TX, were able to land the 3rd best tv deal. And a TV deal that involves Fox/ESPN. Vs the Pac, who are looking at some combo of ESPN/Amazon/Apple. Not ideal at all. 

B12 footprint is certainly less desirable vs the Pac geographically, but since there isn’t much to do in those places aside from watch CFB, B12 is definitely more passionately about sports. And have been more relevant recently. AND have a legit bball conference on top that’ll earn way more money with NCAA march madness shares. These are objective not subjective data points.

Utah had built up such a strong program, I want to see them continue to rise. I am a passionate Utah fan and live and die by their successes. I just want to make sure Utah isn’t left out to dry with the have nots when all is said and done. And it is hard to bet on a dying P10 that is one OR/Wash/AZ/AZ St/Colorado away from death.  

[charlesh]

How do you feel about the PAC trending toward an ivy league west?  Deemphasizing sports and concentrating on academics?

[DrJazzy]

I’m all about academic prestige. But you can be both academically prestigious and still have competitive, nationally relevant football/basketball programs! And gymnastics!!

[charlesh]

What is UU total budget? Total athletic department budget?

[DrJazzy]

I have no idea, but it’s publicly available data.

[charlesh]

UU total budget is ~$5B/yr. 1.0% of that is $50M/yr.

I don’t think UU (or any current PAC school) is going to leave the perceived prestige of the PAC to chase <1% of their total budget.  

ADs might. But school presidents won’t do it.  They will follow the Ivy League model if necessary.

West coast schools, presidents, fans just don’t care enough about football.

 

[Utah]

I keep tearing your posts apart, but it’s because you buy into the cougarboard bulls**t. 

The Big 12 deal, while the third best, isn’t good. It’s half of what the B1G gets. That’s not good and not sustainable. 

You say you don’t want Utah to end up with the have nots then say you want them to joint the Big 12. The Big 12 is literally a conference of have nots. 

Oregon, UW, Stanford, Cal, ASU, AU, Colorado and Utah are better programs than any other Big 12 team. 

Here is reality: college football is transitioning to something else. We don’t know what it is yet. There’s a good chance that it’s two conferences and a developmental league for the NFL. 

There’s a good chance the money dries up in 2030 and cable dies and UCLA, USC, TX and Oklahoma go and rejoin/create a league w/P10 and ACC teams. 

There’s zero shot the Big12 is anything in 2030. 

As I’ve been saying for months, the best thing you can do is stay in the P10 and ride out the storm and set yourself up to push for the B1G in 2028 or welcome back USC/UCLA and potentially Texas and Oklahoma. 

But the B12? There’s nothing there. Bad schools, bad tv contract, bad education, bad locations. 

[DrJazzy]

Not sure if this is in response to me? But can easily break this down point by point.

We all know the B12’s tv contract isn’t comparable to B10/SEC, but did you expect them to be? Do you think the Pac10’s (minus USC/UCLA) will be? Clearly the P10’s is going to come out less than the B12’s. If it is 1-3 million less, that’s fine. But then you take out the other things like NCAA MBB shares (the overall estimate is $50 mill per yr per B12 team when you include everything), and say the Pac can only get to 45 million (optimistic I think). Simple math, 20 mill over 4-5 years is statistically significant. Utah can do a s**t ton with that 20 mill.

You are super unknowledgeable if you think the B12 teams will just go away in 2030. Some of their programs have the most passionate fans. Sure, some of their marquee programs may just get poached during each cycle – but the B12 right now is so much more stable than the P10. You won’t fine ONE oddsmaker that has the P10 as more stable/survivable than the B10. Facts son.

You rag on the B12 for adding 4 G5’s. Any of those 4 are better than the schools the Pac is looking at (SMU, SDSU, Fresno).

Just really uneducated takes all around. In my humble opinion.

[D T]

You hit the nail on the head….It’s the XII PR machine that’s creating this circus, attempting to destabilize our conference.

I don’t believe for a second the Four Corners schools are in contact with the XII before GK even puts an offer on the table….It’s all just outside noise, period.

[DrJazzy]

Maybe. Objectively, there isn’t multiple networks trying to outbid each other for a tv deal for the Pac. I suspect a lot of that has to do with the GOR and the fact that OR/Wash want to move their programs to the B10 once they come knocking.

Objectively B12 is much more stable at the moment.

I LOVE being in the Pac, but I’m realistic/logical. I just want Utah to be setup for future successes.

[Central Coast Ute]

Once again OnlyU is correct. Big 12 Karen is behind all of it. Dennis Dodd is a tabloid reporter. Don’t believe the stupid big 12 rumors. The PAC 12 will be fine.

[DrJazzy]

Yeah def want to think like that. But objectively, as of right now, B12 has a really good tv deal. Pac has nothing. Them’s just the facts. Pac leadership really hasn’t shown much competency of late so hard to trust. How can you be caught totally unaware in re USC/UCLA? How can tv negotiations have dragged out so long? I can understand if it was due to multiple network bidders – but that isn’t the case. And comments like ‘I’m glad we didn’t sign anything because Deion going to CO makes the conference so much more valuable’ is clown speak, let’s be honest. If GK gets it done, I’ll happily eat crow. But until it happens, I’m going to be on edge.

[UrbanLiar]

There is no immediate deadline for announcing a new deal. Plus Kliavkoff was very successful in strategic media purchasing and operations prior to joining the PAC12. Give him the time he needs. He’s the expert, not you or me. Them’s also relevant facts.

[DrJazzy]

This I agree with. But I also was a HUGE believer in Larry Scott given his past accomplishments. He literally burned the pac to the ground and made it into the laughinstock of the P5 with his mismanagement. The pac was a ferrari when he started – and now it’s a toyota camry. Hoping GK can at least get it back to lexus levels.

[UteThunder]

Why is it taking so long to get a media deal done if it is going to be so close to the BigXII’s? If it is going to have a large portion on streaming services, that is NOT comparable to the XII’s. In fact, that will be disasterous.

Until proven otherwise, the Pac-12 looks like it is in real trouble.

[//r00t4Utes]

2 things.

1st, yes, streaming services are a change. It’s different then what we have been used to with public TV and now cable and satellite. However I’m old enough to remember when sports started to move to cable and satellite, my dad HATED it and said it would hurt sports because people won’t have access or pay for it and so stop watching. Sound familiar?

Do we know if streaming services will work for sports? No but I’m not scared or worried.

2nd, as I said in my first point, streaming is different and it’s reasonable to assume that the contract negotiations are a well. This means more time for things to get negotiated and then drawn up, as there really hasn’t been a precedence to use for this contract. So would I like it to be done, yes but like I said, I’m not scared or worried there not done yet.

[Central Coast Ute]

As already stated don’t be afraid of change. As far as why it’s taking so long, Amazon and Apple are new to this territory and are starting from the ground up. Fox and ESPN do this regularly and everything is already In place for them so it takes no time. The people making the decisions don’t seem to be worried, so why should you?

Next, don’t think the big 12 are going to be in a better spot. The time slots they signed on for are directly competing with the SEC and BIG. That’s why Yormark is so desperate to get west coast teams into the big 12. Fox and Disney are going to showcase the SEC and BIG and not the big 12. The big 12 will be relegated to ESPN2, ESPNU, FS1, and ESPN+. The Pac 12 with the west coast market will get at least one game on ESPN per week and will probably be on ABC just as much, if not more than the big 12. Their deal sucks. Quit buying big propaganda. It’s complete horse s**t.

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