This would be very surprising to see Gonzaga go to the Pac12 for basketball only as I question how much improvement that gets them over WCC and basketball. Their dream was Big 12. Pac12 as it currently is hardly suffices. And why would Pac12 want to fill basketball only and give a full revenue share to Gonzaga when they still need to find 2 football schools to actually meet the CFP minimum. I imagine the rest of the Pac12 would complain with that. None of it actually adds up. I am sure there have been discussions but this doesn’t seem likely at least with what’s being reported.
I agree that you’d think the football playing schools would gripe about coughing up football revenue to GU. That said, based on the known Pac-12 schools so far, GU would instantly be one of the top 2 basketball schools along with SDSU…THE top school if you asked GU fans. Maybe the thought is the want to also prioritize strengthening hoops.
I have to believe GU will also use the Big12 and their off/on interest in negotiations with the Pac12 against each other to try to secure the best deal. Maybe the Big12 ups whatever their past offers were and GU goes that direction.
Re: Pac-12, I also wonder if calls have been made to try to lure Cal and Stanford back to the Pac-12. The ACC is in a somewhat precarious situation IMO with FSU and Clemson unhappy and threatening to leave or exacting a disproportionate share of football $ to stay. Between that and the crazy travel for Cal and Stanford, maybe that’s motivation enough to return to the PAC. On the other hand, academically they may prefer their ACC cohorts (Duke, Wake, mostly research institutions, etc.) over Fresno St.
Time will tell, will be an interesting 1 to 6 months with more dominoes to fall.
Leaving for the new Pac-12 for a full share would be a pretty good deal for the Zags. But with Memphis apparently not interested, it seems like a much less attractive offer. There’s 0 chance St. Mary’s is considered seriously. If St. Mary’s is part of the reporting, it’s an intentional leak for another purpose.
I feel the same, honestly, about the Goodman tweet. The Big 12 isn’t taking Gonzaga if they passed on UConn. But maybe the Zags are seeing what bites if they float the story.
As ever, I think that being a football-less school in a decidedly second tier football conference is hazardous. It may be good for a few years, but no one is fooled by the PAC 12 branding–it’s a lesser conference whose members will bolt for the next good opportunity at the drop of a hat. Great deal for the Zags today, stuck being abandoned/bullied by the football schools tomorrow.
I had thought Stanford and Cal could be lured back to the Pac12 but when they played their first ACC game I believe they are locked into the iron clad ACC agreement with $140m massive exit fees to depart which Clemson and Florida State are fighting. The latest is Clemson and Florida State are negotiating an unequal revenue share in return for dropping the lawsuit and also are pushing for the ACC grant of rights to expire earlier in 2030 to align with other expiring media deals in the Big 10 and Big 12. So as much as I’d like to see Stanford and Cal return to a Pac12, seems not possible until next decade. But who knows!
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Conference teams are like the player transfer portal these days.
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I anticipate this being the source of much schadenfreude in the years to come. A basketball school hitching itself to a mediocre and unstable football conference…good luck, Zags!
SMC will not get invited. GCU has a chance due to $$$.
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I am sure the PAC 12 would like to have Bay Area eyeballs to provide more interest from a media rights perspective, but I can’t imagine SMC getting an invite. They are isolated and small from an alumni standpoint and don’t have the attention in the Bay Area that Cal and Stanford did (and even they didn’t have much). While they offer some potential value from a NCAA tourney share standpoint, that is potential revenue (unlike Gonzaga that is pretty much a garauntee) and that revenue is very small compared to football media rights . (I thought I heard someone saying that SMC is actually shrinking as a school from an enrollment standpoint, but I have nothing to back that up.)
GCU on the other hand is far larger, has more upside and presence locally IMO. They are a wildcard given their for-profit status. But it would be like adding a young Gonzaga. So the P12 would have two non-football schools that are crazed about basketball. Seems like a good fit. They are bad fit for the WCC (There is a stink there I can’t get over).
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If anything, the presence of SMC in the conversations may be a means to coax a better deal out of GCU. Set it up as if they’re potentially serious about SMC to get GCU to come easy. If conference realignment over the past decade-plus has borne out anything, it’s that the schools and conferences use the Twitter leaks and the press as an extension of the negotiating room.
I think it’s quite possible or even likely that the Gonzaga story was leaked two weeks early by folks in the new P12 for the purpose of taking a temperature check on Gonzaga getting any cut of football revenue. The fact that the general feedback was extremely negative from existing P12 members was possibly helpful in getting Gonzaga to accept much less or no football money. That’s speculation on my part, but fairly educated speculation after watching this play out over and over and over and over again in college sports.
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Very disappointed and hope the Zags hit the skids as they put their stock in with the Pac ??? What number I don’t know.
I feel the Jesuit President of Gonzaga should be excommunicated and defrocked for allowing this. Wishing that the Broncos can help kick them out the league saddling the Zags with losses across all sports this year and next.
Go Broncos!!!
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Disappointing that Gonzaga has bolted and being a Jesuit school. The positive spin is our NCAA tourney chances will significantly rise. With 0 appearances in essentially the last 3 decades, now at least we will have a fairly decent chance of winning the conference though we do lose two Quad 1 Gonzaga games which are helpful as an at large potential if we don’t win the conference. Maybe we continue to schedule Gonzaga each year and I hope we crush them in the future!
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Zags are gonna tank this year. We will give them a BYU sendoff.
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Is our disappointment and disdain for the Zags perhaps a manifestation of jealousy?
Let’s face it: The Zags made an important and strategic decision and investment 25 years ago that the other teams in the league, including Santa Clara, didn’t make. They saw the writing on the wall (more specifically, the ticker at the bottom of the ESPN screen and what their name their could bring). We put our heads in the sand and believed that we would always get a diamond in the rough (e.g. Nash) to take us to the promised land. Fools gold.
They should be congratulated on their move up. They put in the money and the work. Any ill will should be directed at the president’s and ADs of the remaining WCC schools, including our own.
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This was a no brainer move for the Zags. If they are getting a full share, then this is a HUGE coup.
The reality is that college sports are changing and one must do what is best for themselves. It will be interested to see what comes of the WCC and how SCU positions itself. If Santa Clara wants to invest, we can keep access to the NCAA tournament and play with the mid major big boys. The funds are there. The facilities are there. We’ll see.
Re: rumblings with GCU + SMC to the P12, i just have a hard time seeing SMC. Prior to RB, they were awful. Even with all their success, the facilities remain average at best and their brand doesn’t put eye balls on the TV (which is all that matters). When RB is done, what are they?
Not to say we are much different (far worse product on the floor!), but the potential is at least there to be better. One thing won’t change- interest in college sports in the Bay Area is never going to be great.
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If there were ever a time to invest and try to put a stranglehold on the WCC…now is the time. Granted USF is probably thinking the same thing. If talks don’t work out, SMC will definitely be positioned to do the same thing.
Main takeaway for me is that the odds of us making the tournament just went up at least 30% starting in 2026, now that the automatic bid is now realistically in play.
I really hope we can find a way to make the tournament either this year or next. While I’ll still be over the moon if we made in 2026 or later, it’d just mean a little more if we’re able to earn an at large bid while still having to go up against Gonzaga.
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Well, I was speculating last season that the WCC might have 2 or 3 years left. That question has been answered… it’s 2. So long WCC, hello D2 SCU Hoops? I wish not, but we are headed there fast and on a straight path.
Guess I will just enjoy these 2 years before NIL completely swallows what makes college hoops fun.
Who wants to bet that SMC and GCU both commit to the Pac-12 before the season starts?
Call me crazy but this is the time Scu should buck up and invest in football and come in over the top of them both and join the pac “12”.
Instead that won’t happen - though I could see GCU empty the coffers to try and make a football program.
On another note, I hate that Gonzaga is leaving (envious yes). But also opportunistic that we’ll have a chance at the ncaas as long as the tourney holds onto the same automatic bid format for a few more years.
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I’d love nothing more than to see a D1 SCU football team. Unfortunately the chances of that are zero.
The end of D1 sports @ SCU seems like a veritable certainty (probably within the next 5 years)