[Hank 91]

I understand that the goal is getting more viewers -- Larry Scott says this over and over -- but the unspoken problem is that scheduling the championship game (or any other game, for that matter) on a Friday night perpetuates the idea that the Pac-12 really isn't a Power 5 conference. It's embarrassing. And when the marquee game of the year is routinely played in front of a sparsely populated stadium, even when the conference actually gives away tickets sometimes, it further demeans the entire conference. It's become a national joke. Optics are important. If last season's game had been held in Seattle on a Saturday, there likely would've been a brobdingnagian crowd and a great atmosphere. I think the conference decision makers probably would see that as a step backwards, an admission that this isn't the SEC, but guess what -- this ISN'T the SEC, and it's time they stop pretending that it is.

But of course, they don't care about the national image of the conference. They're okay with mediocre officiating, a compromised replay system, and a bungled TV contract. Why would they worry about this? To Larry Scott's way of thinking, it's okay that the Conference of Champions is universally mocked, just as long as there's money in the coffers. But what happens when this contract expires four years from now? Will the conference be more or less valuable than it was in 2011?

[Hank 91]

I understand that the goal is getting more viewers -- Larry Scott says this over and over -- but the unspoken problem is that scheduling the championship game (or any other game, for that matter) on a Friday night perpetuates the idea that the Pac-12 really isn't a Power 5 conference. It's embarrassing. And when the marquee game of the year is routinely played in front of a sparsely populated stadium, even when the conference actually gives away tickets sometimes, it further demeans the entire conference. It's become a national joke. Optics are important. If last season's game had been held in Seattle on a Saturday, there likely would've been a brobdingnagian crowd and a great atmosphere. I think the conference decision makers probably would see that as a step backwards, an admission that this isn't the SEC, but guess what -- this ISN'T the SEC, and it's time they stop pretending that it is.

But of course, they don't care about the national image of the conference. They're okay with mediocre officiating, a compromised replay system, and a bungled TV contract. Why would they worry about this? To Larry Scott's way of thinking, it's okay that the Conference of Champions is universally mocked, just as long as there's money in the coffers. But what happens when this contract expires four years from now? Will the conference be more or less valuable than it was in 2011?