[Goose]

As has been pointed out by many, the PAC-10 can go forward "viably" only if nobody else leaves. At some point all the members need to realize that. The idea that everybody should be in "secret" negotiations the B1G, the SEC, and God Know Who will destroy any way forward. They have to trust each other, because if they don't, school X will jump because they justifiably believe school Y is leaving and they must preempt the departure. It is a classic game theory problem. I am pretty sure that any new media contract is going to have a significant poison pill for anybody leaving and that this will somehow need to be passed on to the individual members. That isn't going to be easy all by itself.

Any negotiation includes the option of not concluding an agreement. Individual schools threatening to leave/drop football if enough money is not forthcoming are kind of irrelevant to the media company. If the proposed agreement is not attractive to them, they don't care what the individual schools do after that point unless it would help a competitor. Stanford dropping football certainly wouldn't do that. Such threats deliver no leverage. The only threats that matter and deliver leverage involves doing something else with the PAC-10/individual school's media rights that would hurt the current negotiating party. The PAC-10 needs to create that kind of leverage. Anything else is a fantasy. It won't be easy.

[Goose]

As has been pointed out by many, the PAC-10 can go forward "viably" only if nobody else leaves. At some point all the members need to realize that. The idea that everybody should be in "secret" negotiations the B1G, the SEC, and God Know Who will destroy any way forward. They have to trust each other, because if they don't, school X will jump because they justifiably believe school Y is leaving and they must preempt the departure. It is a classic game theory problem. I am pretty sure that any new media contract is going to have a significant poison pill for anybody leaving and that this will somehow need to be passed on to the individual members. That isn't going to be easy all by itself.

Any negotiation includes the option of not concluding an agreement. Individual schools threatening to leave/drop football if enough money is not forthcoming are kind of irrelevant to the media company. If the proposed agreement is not attractive to them, they don't care what the individual schools do after that point unless it would help a competitor. Stanford dropping football certainly wouldn't do that. Such threats deliver no leverage. The only threats that matter and deliver leverage involves doing something else with the PAC-10/individual school's media rights that would hurt the current negotiating party. The PAC-10 needs to create that kind of leverage. Anything else is a fantasy. It won't be easy.