LARAMIE – The Pac-12 is dead.
Long live the Pac-4?
The latest realignment wave – Oregon and Washington are following USC and UCLA to the Big Ten while Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah are heading to the Big 12 after this season – leaves the West Coast’s Power 5 (Autonomous 5) conference with just four members.
Will the Mountain West stay unified and try to add Cal, Stanford, Oregon State and Washington State? Or will those four programs try to pick off some MW teams?
And where do the Cowboys fit into the future of FBS football?
Wyoming athletics director Tom Burman tries to answer these questions and more on the latest episode of the Star-Tribune’s Pokescast.
Here are some excerpts from the conversation:
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Ryan Thorburn: There are reports that there are negotiations between the Mountain West and the remaining Pac-4. Where do you see this headed and where do you see Wyoming’s place in that?
Burman: Well, Ryan, first off, I’d like to make sure Wyoming people know we are not resting on our laurels and just waiting here hoping that we land in some sort of a revised Mountain Pacific league, whatever you want to call it. We are out in front of it. President (Edward) Seidel has been on the phone with other presidents, he has been on the phone with the commissioner of the Mountain West (Gloria Nevarez). I have been on the phone with multiple ADs and the commissioner many times. And I’m a big fan of Gloria, I think she’s doing a very good job in a tough spot but maybe in an exciting spot.
First of all, the four remaining (Pac-12) teams – Oregon State, Washington State, Call, Stanford – two (sets) of very different universities. Washington State and Oregon State are more similar to many of the Mountain West schools. Cal and Stanford are very unique institutions, probably unique nationally. So, they’re not probably ideally suited to be the four (to say), all right, we all have the same plan and the same goals because I’m guessing they’re a little different. But I don’t want to speak for them.
For Wyoming, we are proud of who we are. We were one of the original founders of the original WAC and original members of the Mountain West Conference. We’ve been an important cog in the history of this league and the history of the Western Athletic Conference, and we’ve been successful. We have a passionate fan base, albeit small, but passionate. So, we feel like we’re positioned well but we’re not going to take anything for granted.
Thorburn: Do you feel like (UW) is aligned with Air Force and Colorado State, and if you stick together it’s going to be a good thing?
Burman: I do. Now I’m not naïve enough to say that you can bank on that in 2023, but the Front Range schools, and I would include New Mexico in that, and then I would say Utah State is very similar to us, we need to stay together, and we need to be strong. I would say this in the Mountain West Conference, if we all would stay together and not be fooled into thinking there’s something greater out there and joining a Power 5 league because the Pac-12, no matter who they add, is not going to be an Autonomous 5 league for very long. It’s clear and everybody around the country is talking about that. It’s just a matter of time and that will change its financial model dramatically, in my opinion, speaking for Tom Burman. So, I think that’s clear. We all need to stay together. The four along the Front Range and Utah State need to stay together.
A lot of times this comes down to market size, and I think that’s unfortunate. I felt like we were starting to see a change when I would visit with TV executives and media consultants in recent years that market size was relevant but it wasn’t the driving factor because there are a lot of markets and a lot of schools in big markets where they are totally irrelevant and almost no matter what they do, unless they win big-time, which is probably not going to happen, they’re going to be irrelevant. Whereas the University of Wyoming, if you look at the TV ratings in the Mountain West Conference over the last decade, the University of Wyoming will be involved in many of the highest-rated games in the league’s history. We have great passion, we have people who care, they live all over the country, and they’re engaged. You look at our social media following, we’re in the top third of the conference across the board in almost all social media where you sum it all together. You look at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tik-Tok … our fan base is engaged, and they’re engaged in what we do. Our first game is going to be a sellout. Our first few games this year will have great atmosphere. I think we have a lot to sell. The brand, the mark, when you are scrolling through television and you see a football helmet with a bucking horse and rider on it, the identification is greater than most other marks in the Mountain West Conference and most other marks in the country. I mean, it is a mark that stands out. It hasn’t changed, it hasn’t been altered, it’s the same one we’ve had forever, and it looks great on our white helmet.
The other thing that makes Wyoming unique as we’re refabricating leagues, we have the people and the state behind us. When I say the state, I mean the state government. We can do things at the University of Wyoming that other places can’t do because they have three, four, five schools to fund and if you start carving out special deals for one, it’s going to get really expensive. ...
And the other thing, we’re one of a very few number of schools in the country, even though our budget may be smaller, we have no debt. We can be nimble; we can make adjustments quicker than most and I think that’s one of our greatest assets.
Thorburn: Is there any concern the Pac-4 will be attracted to what they see as brands – Boise State, San Diego State – and try to pick off their top-four list and create a problem (for UW) that way? Or do you think the Mountain West is more galvanized to add them instead of having them add Mountain West teams?
Burman: Well, I can guarantee you the first thing those four schools are going to do is to do everything in their power to try to find a Big 12, ACC, Big Ten, doesn’t matter, they’re going to try to find something better. But that is going to be very, very difficult. I’m not sure any can do that, but I think there’s a few that cannot do that. And I feel terrible for them. They have an enormous financial problem going forward and that’s going to cost people jobs, which is sad, it’s not a good situation to be in. But they will figure it out, they’re big universities with great states behind them and my guess is they can figure out a way to finance this, to get themselves back together and see where the next 10 years goes.
But I do worry there could be a group that tries to pull institutions from the Mountain West into a new fabricated Pac-8, -9, -10, whatever league. That’s going to be very, very costly because there’s a large exit fee for those schools to leave. We were unwilling to give any flexibility to San Diego State when they were talking about it, so I’m assuming we’re going to be consistent and do the same going forward. And I think it’s important for people to realize the Pac-4 is not the Pac-12 and it’s not going to be an Autonomous Five league because there’s not going to be five when the dust settles in the next year or two. I served three years on the College Football Playoff (selection committee) and I will be shocked if the current structure for access to the new 12-team playoff is not altered. Because six conference champions (receiving automatic bids), some are going to say, is irrelevant in the current landscape we have. There’s going to be change and how it all unfolds, I think you have to look at it through a future lens and not the lens it is today because the lens today is going to be changed.