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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 Friday afternoon, we got the big bombshell
00:05 in conference realignment following a week
00:08 of reports and rumors.
00:10 And then on Friday, it was confirmed.
00:13 Oregon and Washington leaving the Pac-12
00:16 to join the Big Ten in 2024.
00:19 Alongside UCLA and USC, of course,
00:22 that news came a summer ago.
00:24 And with the departure of the Ducks and the Huskies,
00:27 the Pac-12 was no more, leaving Utah, Arizona State,
00:32 and Arizona to join the Big 12 as well.
00:35 So let's focus on the Big Ten to begin,
00:37 because DRS, that was really the big news
00:40 and the big change on Friday,
00:41 because live on this show on Friday morning,
00:44 around 10.15 a.m. Eastern time,
00:47 the reports were from National College Football Insiders
00:50 that Oregon and Washington,
00:52 the momentum to join the Big Ten conference,
00:54 had dwindled in the overnight hours.
00:56 And it seemed the Pac-12, the remaining eight or nine teams,
01:00 was going to sign a new media deal
01:02 and a new grant of rights agreement as well.
01:05 And then about an hour and a half later,
01:08 that was all put to bed, as the Pac-12 is as well.
01:11 DRS, Oregon, and Washington joining the Big Ten.
01:14 How does that change your view of college sports,
01:17 specifically college football, moving forward?
01:20 - Look, there's a lot to get into here.
01:22 And over the years, not really the biggest
01:24 Big Ten fan overall.
01:26 Now granted, I look at more from a football angle
01:28 than basketball or anything else.
01:30 You know, Ohio State, certainly a dominant program,
01:32 Penn State here in the East,
01:33 you have Michigan that rises up every once in a while
01:35 to try to challenge Ohio State.
01:36 But I love the fact,
01:37 it shows you that the Big Ten are power brokers here.
01:40 They didn't reach out and say,
01:40 "Well, let's get an expansion here
01:42 "and let's add a team from the South."
01:44 Like, no, they said, "What are the biggest markets
01:45 "that we want to secure?"
01:46 Los Angeles, Seattle.
01:48 I mean, they went out and hit a grand slam home run,
01:51 because college sports right now, with the players as well,
01:53 it's a business at the end of the day.
01:55 And if you're talking about a Big Ten group
01:57 that knows they have their eye on the prize
02:00 of the future of college sports is about money,
02:02 they went and secured those deals.
02:03 Now, secondarily on this, the Pac-12.
02:05 If anybody knows me, I can't stand the Pac-12.
02:07 The best thing about the Pac-12 is Bill Walton at night,
02:10 because why?
02:11 I said, "Donny, why does Bill Walton have to be on?"
02:12 Because the Pac-12 is so boring
02:14 that they have to have a guy
02:15 that talks aimlessly throughout a broadcast
02:17 just to keep people tuned in.
02:19 Now also, let's get back to the football field here.
02:22 Every single year, and Kevin knows this,
02:24 I root against the Pac-12 immediately.
02:25 I say, "Please, if there's anything I wanna see,
02:27 "is at least every single team in the Pac-12 have one loss,
02:31 "so I don't have to have them
02:32 "in the college football playoffs at all."
02:35 So you saw some of my tweets here on Friday,
02:37 popping bottles here that the Pac-12 is no more.
02:40 It's a great day in the DRS household,
02:42 because I don't have to worry about that boring conference
02:45 anymore in my life.
02:45 And granted, there's no East Coast bias here at all.
02:48 Nobody wanted to sign the Big 12, excuse me,
02:51 the Pac-12 here to any rights deal.
02:54 Why? 'Cause nobody wants to watch that conference.
02:56 Get it out of here.
02:57 Everybody wins.
02:59 - Now, to provide a little bit of context here,
03:01 the history and the tradition of the Pac-12 conference,
03:03 the Pac-8, the Pac-10, been there for over a century.
03:07 And DRS, when it comes to all sports,
03:09 there's a reason it's called the Conference of Champions.
03:12 But to echo a few of what DRS had to say right there,
03:15 the Pac-12 has not made the college football playoffs
03:18 since the 2016 season when Washington did it.
03:22 In fact, the Pac-12 has only had two schools
03:25 appear twice in the CFP, and it's now nine year history,
03:28 Oregon in the inaugural year back in 2014,
03:32 and then Washington again, more than six years ago in 2016.
03:36 It's all part of why the Pac-12, now the Pac-4,
03:40 finds themselves in this situation.
03:42 But DRS hit the nail on the head right there.
03:45 And you might be upset with what is happening
03:47 in college athletics.
03:48 I know I am.
03:49 I don't really like the idea of the professionalization
03:52 of this sport, but it is what is happening.
03:55 College football, it has an effect
03:57 on all collegiate athletic programs
03:59 that are sponsored by your favorite school.
04:01 But college football is the main economic driving force
04:05 for TV revenue, and TV revenue is what leads
04:09 to conference realignment.
04:11 And the Big Ten, frankly, knew it could get Oregon
04:14 and Washington at a discount because the Pac-12
04:17 or Pac-10 or Pac-8 or whatever you wanted to call it
04:20 on Friday afternoon was disintegrating
04:23 before our very eyes.
04:25 Now--
04:26 (upbeat music)
04:28 [BLANK_AUDIO]