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Saw this story today about the possible future of the MWC and the PAC-2 schools merging up.
A while back when the realignment of the conferences was hot and heavy, there were serious conversations between the MWC and the PAC-2 schools about merging. From what I have read in the past, it was OSU that truly put a halt to the talks. They saw a lot of money coming from their PAC "war chest" and they rated themselves very highly and didn't want to share more than they had to get football games with the MWC. Once that "war chest" is used up, since it is finite, then what are these schools going to do since they have no TV contracts or guaranteed monies coming from a conference affiliation? I do believe if it were up to WSU the merger would have happened, but OSU and WSU have stuck together. When the PAC-2 schools parked all of their sports with the exception of football with the WCC I really knew that OSU didn't want to have anything to do with the MWC. I said a while back that I don't trust OSU and I still don't, I do not feel that they would be a good school to let into the MWC.
Per the article it is clear that the committee that controls the collegiate playoffs did the MWC a bigger favor than what they did for the PAC-2 schools. The addition of the PAC-2 schools really does very little for the MWC as it is now constituted. The TV contractual negotiations coming up with Fox and CBS will be pivotal to the future of the MWC and from some of the people quoted in this article the addition of OSU and WSU can realistically only amount to about a 10% increase, so their worth will not be what they are thinking.
What is happening with the ACC right now might have some impact upon the whole scenario, but that is tough to judge at this point in time. There is talk that the BIG12 has made an agreement with FSU and Clemson to move over and that they will take 4 teams from the ACC with them. That will make the BIG12 a truly super conference. Will it mean that the ACC will approach OSU and WSU?? Will Cal and Stanford want to come back?? But it does appear that OSU especially overrated their own importance and value.
The TV money will drive much if not all of what will take place in the next year or two. It has been mentioned that they want things settled before the 2025 season so this winter and next spring will be an interesting time to watch about what is going on, but no matter what it appears the MWC will be together.
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