Nobody is arguing that we should stay in the Pac 10. Lots of people ARE arguing that it doesn't make sense to make a panic move at this moment.
Sidebar: I've been negotiating large commercial deals for 25 years. I have a philosophy that I train my teams (and executives on) which goes something like this:
Every negotiation is a three-legged stool. We'll call the legs Speed, Risk and Economics. If you maximize/prioritize one of those legs over the others, you sacrifice the other two and fall on your ass. Unless you're dealing with morons, there is no practical way to move quick and maximize the economics and avoid risk. Similarly, if you are risk adverse it is likely to cost you money and time.
Back to the story: What do we know right now (within an acceptable range of certainty)?
- If the B1G wanted OR and WA, they would have gone with USC and UCLA.
- It is unlikely that the SEC would bring in either of those schools at this time.
- The ACC is not expanding to the Pacific NW.
- If Oregon or Washington move in the next month (unlikely) we're not in any worse shape than we are now. However, we WILL at least have data to understand our relative value.
- There is unrealized value in the PAC12 asset base, because the PAC12 decided to maintain ownership of all media rights as part of the PAC12 Network. That **** is likely for sale now and can be heavily monetized. Said another way, nobody is going to extend the same ****ty media deal Larry Scott put in place.
Look, we all know that the conference is not worth the same as it was a month ago, but there is likely a lot more to give/sell than the Big12 will offer. However, we may look at the data in 30-45 days and decide the Big 12 is the right move. But you make that decision based on facts, not emotions.
Keep calm, and let's see what happens.