The Pac-12 presidents spent a year mulling whether to expand the conference following the announced departures of the Los Angeles schools.
Now, they seemingly have no choice.
Colorado’s presumptive departure to the Big 12 next summer will leave the Pac-12 with nine teams for the 2024 football season. That’s more than enough to meet NCAA and College Football Playoff requirements but creates a plethora of challenges, with the football schedule near the top of the list.
A nine-game conference rotation doesn’t work with nine teams.
As much as we’d like to see Oregon and Washington play a home-and-home series each fall, there’s no indication the Pac-12 plans to double up the intra-conference matchups.
Sure, it could move forward with nine teams schools drop to an eight-game conference schedule. (The SEC and ACC also play eight league games.) But that approach would require each team to add one non-conference opponent — a tricky and costly proposition at this late date.
Most schedules are completed years in advance. Available teams from the FCS level assuredly would charge a steep price for their services as a creampuff — more than $500,000 for the three-hour date.
The simplest solution for the Pac-12 is the most intricate: Expand by at least one school for the 2024-25 sports year, which coincides with the conference’s next media rights contract — a contract that, ahem, has not been finalized.
Commissioner George Kliavkoff and campus officials are expected to expedite the process once Colorado’s move becomes official (as early as Thursday afternoon).
There are three obvious candidates:
— San Diego State
The Aztecs have been under consideration for the past year and only helped their cause with the run to the NCAA championship game.
They provide a critical presence in the Southern California region, bring the No. 27 media market and have a rising academic profile thanks to a change in California education law that allows the school to…
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