FORT WORTH, Texas — SMU’s interest level in joining the Pac-12 Conference is so high it’s ready to help cover some of the costs.
According to people familiar with the discussions between the Pac-12 Conference and SMU, the private school in Dallas is more than prepared to make certain concessions in order to secure a spot in the league.
One concession would be a willingness to agree to a substantial decrease in revenue sharing for the first few years in the league, as well as potentially covering its own expenses.
A school that enters a new conference often agrees to take less in revenue sharing; TCU did it in the Big 12.
What SMU is contemplating in that area is beyond the norm.
SMU has made it zero secret its desire to join a power league, but its invite to the Pac-12 is not quite imminent.
This is not a done deal, because there are high ranking members of current Pac-12 schools that are unsure if the combination of SMU and San Diego State are good adds and add value to the league.
An SMU spokesperson said the school has no comment on this topic.
This is complicated.
Why the Pac-12 is considering SMU
The Pac-12, which will soon lose UCLA and USC to the Big Ten, is reportedly in discussions to extend invitations to San Diego State and SMU as replacements.
When Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff was in Dallas last week to meet with SMU administrators, SMU sent an email to students asking them to be sure to attend the SMU home men’s basketball game that night against Temple; they wanted a good showing for Kliavkoff, who attended the game.
Unlike previous times when SMU’s name has been dangled around the topic of conference re-alignment, this time it feels different.
It feels different because the power conference that is considering adding SMU will soon be dramatically different.
The Pac-12 without UCLA and USC, and the constant threat of Oregon and Washington fleeing anywhere east, has changed the “power” of this particular power league.
It’s the same feeling the Big 12 will soon have without Texas and Oklahoma.
This is not about wins and losses, and success on the field and the court.
The dividing line between the Big Ten and SEC and the rest of the college athletics has grown so big that although we still live in a Power 5 world, it increasingly feels like the Power 2, the First Three In, and The Rest Out.
To try to compensate for the losses of two of the Pac-12’s biggest schools, and its entire presence in Southern California, Kliavkoff has to find solutions.
The league is considering SDSU and SMU in an effort to add value as it looks to negotiate a new media rights deal with any platform that will fork over hundreds of millions of dollars for live sports content.
The Big 12 recently completed its new media rights contract with ESPN and Fox.
According to long time college sports reporter Brett McMurphy of The Action Network, “CBS & Turner are currently no longer involved in Pac-12’s media rights negotiations.”
Adding SDSU gives the Pac-12 the best of what’s left in Southern California. Adding SMU gives the Pac-12 a presence in the coveted DFW market, and a shot of having some early kickoffs in the central time zone.
Is the Pac-12 together
The question for the remaining Pac-12 schools is will adding SDSU and SMU be enough to warrant sticking together, and to remain a viable, power league?
Publicly, the Pac-12 remains all in on sticking this out. It issued a “united” statement this week, which reads like a vote of confidence, which seldom actually inspires any confidence.
Privately, there is a real fear that the Big Ten and Big 12 will successfully recruit away the likes of Washington, Oregon, and others; that the Pac-12 just won’t be the Pac-12 any more.
The Big 12 is openly recruiting, and the Big Ten is just waiting on Notre Dame to decide if it wants to be a member of a conference, or remain independent before it moves on other plans.
SMU and San Diego State were once in the same conference; in 1996, the Western Athletic Conference featured 16 teams, including TCU, the Mustangs and Aztecs. SDSU then moved to the Mountain Western Conference in 1999, TCU moved over to Conference USA in 2001 and SMU went to Conference USA in 2005.
A Pac-12 with SDSU and SMU is not the WAC of 1996. A Pac-12 with SDSU and SMU is not the MWC of 1999.
A Pac-12 without UCLA, USC, Washington and Oregon, and the Pac-12 will not be what it once was, or what it aspires to be.
As we have seen too often over the last 10 years, all of this conference re-alignment talk realigns daily, often times with no warning.
SMU is doing everything in its might, and its wallet, to score an invite it covets while the Pac-12 is doing what it can to project power.
