Big Ten - PAC-12 Interconference Scheduling Plan Dissolves

#1
TrueOrange

TrueOrange

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#1
http://www.usatoday.com/article/sports/56193046

The innovative plan hatched by the Big Ten and Pacific-12 to extend their partnership to include interconference scheduling has dissolved.

"We're just disappointed," Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany told USA TODAY Sports. "A good faith effort was made by both sides. But everyone [all schools from both leagues] needs to be involved."

Both leagues had hoped a collaboration between the two conferences with contractual ties to the Rose Bowl would yield many of the same benefits as expansion, including increased revenue and reach into different television markets.

It was announced jointly in December that, ideally, beginning in 2017 each team from each league was to play a team from the other conference in football during the early portion of each season.

But a significant roadblock emerged during discussions because of the Pac-12's nine-game conference football schedule.

The Big Ten has decided to keep an eight-game league schedule, making it more conducive for Big Ten teams to play Pac-12 teams. But Delany said in a statement that previous nonconference commitments by schools also further complicated the plan.
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#3
#3
tim said:
Ie: we want more powder puffs on our schedules.
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Not as sure about the Big Ten, I do know that Meechigan has Bama this year and MSU plays Boise. It also seems like Notre Dame plays half the Big Ten every year.

As for the Pac-12, I'm pretty sure 3/4 or more of the conference have OOC games against teams that are in most peoples top 25. Oregon and Colorado are the only two I know of with creampuff non-cons.
 
#4
#4
milohimself said:
Not as sure about the Big Ten, I do know that Meechigan has Bama this year and MSU plays Boise. It also seems like Notre Dame plays half the Big Ten every year.

As for the Pac-12, I'm pretty sure 3/4 or more of the conference have OOC games against teams that are in most peoples top 25. Oregon and Colorado are the only two I know of with creampuff non-cons.
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What do you think the main issue was that dissolved it? Some select schools opposition? The number of contracts the two conferences (well, the schools in the two conferences) were going to have to buy themselves out of?
 
#5
#5
TrueOrange said:
What do you think the main issue was that dissolved it? Some select schools opposition? The number of contracts the two conferences (well, the schools in the two conferences) were going to have to buy themselves out of?
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I could imagine that a team like USC wouldn't be thrilled with the idea of only have 3 OOC slots, one of which is already filled with Notre Dame, and having to deal with the possibility of OSU or Michigan being another.
 
#6
#6
TrueOrange said:
What do you think the main issue was that dissolved it? Some select schools opposition? The number of contracts the two conferences (well, the schools in the two conferences) were going to have to buy themselves out of?
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My guess is both conferences having a nine game league schedule, and around ten schools out of the 24 involved having an annual non-conference rivalry game (USC, Stanford, Michigan, MSU, whoever else that has a rivalry with Notre Dame, then Iowa, Colorado and Utah).
 
#8
#8
bamawriter said:
I could imagine that a team like USC wouldn't be thrilled with the idea of only have 3 OOC slots, one of which is already filled with Notre Dame, and having to deal with the possibility of OSU or Michigan being another.
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And they're far from the only one in both conferences that plays ND annually.
 
#10
#10
milohimself said:
My guess is both conferences having a nine game league schedule, and around ten schools out of the 24 involved having an annual non-conference rivalry game (USC, Stanford, Michigan, MSU, whoever else that has a rivalry with Notre Dame, then Iowa, Colorado and Utah).
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Big ten will still only be at an 8 game conference schedule.

(just fyi)
 
#11
#11
More detailed one from espn:

ESPN - Pac-12/Big Ten model falls*apart

The scheduling partnership between the Pac-12 and Big Ten won't happen after all.

The conferences said Friday that their agreement, announced in December and set to begin in 2017, has been called off because of football scheduling issues involving several Pac-12 schools. A round-robin football schedule, featuring 12 games per year between Big Ten and Pac-12 teams, had been the cornerstone of the pact, although it also included elements involving other sports and the two leagues' television networks.

"We are disappointed to announce today that the Big Ten/Pac-12 strategic collaboration announced jointly in December 2011 unfortunately will not be consummated," Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany said in a statement. "We recently learned from Pac-12
commissioner Larry Scott that the complications associated with coordinating a nonconference football schedule for 24 teams across two conferences proved to be too difficult. Those complications, among other things, included the Pac-12's nine-game conference schedule and previous nonconference commitments.
"A great effort was made by both conference staffs to create football schedules that would address the variety of complexities, but in the end, we were just not able to do so. While everyone at the Big Ten is disappointed by the news, we look forward to continuing the historic partnership that we have with the Pac-12 and to working together on other matters in the future."

ESPN.com has learned that the Pac-12 approached the Big Ten in March and said several of its members had reservations about a mandatory scheduling agreement. The main problem: the Pac-12 currently plays nine league games per season, while the Big Ten plays only eight. Pac-12 members such as USC and Stanford, who both also have annual games against Notre Dame, would have added a Big Ten opponent to an already taxing slate. Other Pac-12 schools have regular scheduling agreements with opponents outside the league, such as Utah-BYU.

The leagues worked on several models, including an initial agreement featuring 10 or 11 games a year in 2017-20 with the idea to eventually reach 12. Another proposal called for six Big Ten/Pac-12 matchups annually, so each team would appear every other year. All Big Ten schools were on board with the collaboration, even though some, like Ohio State, could not begin participating until after 2017.

At least four Pac-12 schools ultimately decided they would not accept mandatory scheduling, ESPN.com has learned. One proposal called for eight matchups per year, featuring the willing Pac-12 schools, but the Big Ten wanted a complete collaboration or none at all.

With the Pac-12 agreement dead, the Big Ten will consider increasing its conference games per year from eight to nine, ESPN.com has learned. The league announced a move to nine league games in August but decided to remain at eight after the Pac-12 agreement surfaced. Several Big Ten/Pac-12 matchups already have been scheduled in advance of the 2017 start date, such as Michigan State vs. Oregon, Michigan vs. Utah and Northwestern vs. Stanford.

The Big Ten also could consider exploring a scheduling agreement with another conference.
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#12
#12
TrueOrange said:
Big ten will still only be at an 8 game conference schedule.

(just fyi)
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Whoops. Well, there are at least three Pac-12 schools who only get three non-cons with one of them already locked in every year (the Holy War is sadly coming to an end for the time being). A few Big Ten schools veto the idea (Betcha Nebraska did) and it's dead.
 
#13
#13
Very hard to criticize this when you look at the schedules of most of the SEC teams, especially ours!

At least these conferences are putting themselves in a competitive situation by evening the playing field.
 
#14
#14
Most of the sec has very recently been much better about scheduling a tough non coherence game most seasons.

Prior to a few seasons ago iirc, georgia hadn't played a road game north of kentucky or west of the mississippi river (with the exception of sec west teams) in something like forty or fifty years.
 
#16
#16
bamawriter said:
I could imagine that a team like USC wouldn't be thrilled with the idea of only have 3 OOC slots, one of which is already filled with Notre Dame, and having to deal with the possibility of OSU or Michigan being another.
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Then stop playing Notre Dame. The SEC stopped playing them years ago and haven't missed a beat.
 
#21
#21
Iron Bowl is intense. I'll also give a nod to the Red River Rivalry. Having lived 10 minutes away from Ann Arbor for a number of a years, it's just not as intense as other rivalries. The history is unmatched, but the hate that is in the Iron Bowl between Alabama and Auburn goes above and beyond it.
 
#22
#22
Rockytop1018 said:
Iron Bowl is intense. I'll also give a nod to the Red River Rivalry. Having lived 10 minutes away from Ann Arbor for a number of a years, it's just not as intense as other rivalries. The history is unmatched, but the hate that is in the Iron Bowl between Alabama and Auburn goes above and beyond it.
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Granted, but this particular rivalry having far and away more hardware than any other rivalry in the country puts it in the discussion for tops.
 
#23
#23
Hang on. Ohio State used this as an excuse to cancel several future series, one with us was in there i'm pretty sure, and now the whole plan falls apart. Genius!
 
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