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What do I make of the latest Pac-12/Big-12 reports? And what happens next?
Matt Brown
July 20, 2022
Good morning, and thanks for your continued support of Extra Points.
When I go on sports radio, or answer DMs or emails or Discord pings, I'm getting asked a lot about what the Pac-12 and Big 12 will do.
I am not deeply sourced enough at enough schools in those leagues for me to say with great confidence that yes, I know that X or Y will absolutely happen. I'm not even sure the people who are sourced enough at those places know enough to say that for certain.
But I can share about what I'm taking away from a few updates over the last few days.
First, there's this update, from Pete Thamel over at ESPN, noting that Pac-12/Big-12 partnership conversations are now dead.
Talks about a partnership between the Big 12 and the Pac-12, which had been discussed extensively the past two weeks, have officially ended, sources told ESPN.
Officials from the Big 12 told Pac-12 officials on Monday that they're no longer interested in exploring the partnership, sources said.
A Big 12 source said that the deal didn't work for the conference for "a multitude of reasons," which included the fact that any potential deal wouldn't have driven much revenue for the league. "It just didn't work," the source said.
Thamel's report notes that the only partnership vehicle that would have potentially driven real financial value was an outright merger, an option that, reportedly, the Big 12 ultimately decided against.
I'm not terribly surprised by that development. My best reading of where the Big 12 and Pac-12 sit right now comes down to a few key points:
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