There has been much said and written about Arizona State's reluctance to leave the Pac-12. University president Dr. Michael Crow said as much when addressing the media on Saturday morning during the Sun Devils' Fall Camp practice. Ultimately though, it was hard to ignore the fact that the level of competition with the departure of some of the soon-to-be former conference schools would not equal that of Arizona State's new home starting in August of 2024.
"We have been strongly committed to the maintenance of the Pac-12 conference as a West Coast conference of schools that have been around for over 100 years," Crow said, "playing together in a regional environment, committed to similar objectives about student-athlete success, and so forth. So several of the schools were committed to that, but it created another destabilizing moment of sort of tradition versus this modern thing.
"So a lot of back and forth the Pac-12 Council, the CEOs, the presidents, and the Chancellor's met many times during the week, with a pivotal meeting yesterday that led to ASU and others joining the Big 12. There were a lot of forces at work, including the overlords of the media empires that are out there that were driving a lot of this. The Colorado departure (last week) was really an indication of the fact that there was great instability in the media market, and it created an unstable moment."
The proposed media rights deal by Apple to the Pac-12 was reported to be valued at approximately $22 million annually per team, and that was a figure that was contingent on subscription levels to that Apple service. ASU, which will receive a full media right share in the Big 12, is guaranteed to get a minimum of nearly $32 million, a figure that could increase by several million based on the conference’s postseason success in football and basketball. Crow, however, said that this aspect wasn’t the guiding force in leaving the Pac-12.
“The media contract is a fraction of our revenue relative to ASU athletics,” Crow explained, “even relative to football and other athletics. We've got lots of revenue sources. We were very interested at ASU in finding a way to connect to more people and so forth. But we have to be in a viable conference to do that. And once Oregon and Washington decided to go to the Big Ten, the (Pac-12) conference was no longer viable. So, viability meant you can't be in a non-viable position for more than a few hours in our mind. So we resolved that.”
Crow added that two schools didn’t attend the Friday morning meeting the Pac-12 called for, which was the final effort to salvage the league. Yet, when those two schools (Oregon and Washington) didn’t show up, it was clear that the Pac-12 was no longer a workable conference.
“We (ASU) were the stalwarts, fighting for the PAC 12 until the last ditch,” Crow remarked.
“We were trying to save it and stayed in the trenches as long as we could,” Ray Anderson, the school's Vice President for University Athletics, stated, “until it became clear that it was no longer in our control. We were there to the last moment when it became clear that in the best interests of ASU and our student-athletes, it was time to make the decision affirmatively and move.”
Anderson noted that every ASU head coach he talked to was excited about the future home (as of August 2, 2024) of the Sun Devils, and ASU football head coach Kenny Dillingham undoubtedly expressed those thoughts when he addressed the media last that morning.
“It’s exciting. College football is changing,” Dillingham commented, “I compare it to a technology business. It changes every six months. You have to adapt. I’d like to say I had a plan, since if you’ve noticed how we’ve been recruiting that (Big 12) region of the country since I’ve been here. I knew that was an option and we made sure we diversified where we were recruiting in this class; that way, we were ready for whatever decision was made.
“I was never worried because I knew we (ASU) had a good plan regardless. We have one of the largest enrollments in the country. We are a Top-40 institution. I was never worried about Arizona State; I‘m worried about our football team. President Crow and our administration will always make sure that we are OK. I’m excited and thrilled because I know this is the best thing for Arizona State.”
Dillingham said that the hires of wide receivers coach Ra’Shaad Samples and cornerbacks coach Bryan Carrington was done in part because of their recruiting acumen in the state of Texas, and that lays the groundwork for increased recruiting in that state, as well as the conference’s region.
“It (move to Big 12) allows us to go to different homes that didn’t want to come and plays for us because of the region where we would play away games,” Dillingham explained. “We definitely have to get more aggressive in that region of the country. But make no mistake about it, we still have to recruit Arizona, and we still have to recruit California.”
Both Crow and Anderson said that the decision to move the Big 12 was made with all of its students-athlete's best interest in mind, and not just the considerations of the revenue sports. Having the Los Angeles schools playing their last season in the Pac-12 this year, as well as the departures of Colorado, Oregon, and Washington, was bound to create a league where the level of competition would dramatically decrease.
“We were focused on how do we make this work for our athletes?” Crow explained. “How do we make this work? And the question is this all driven by resources? If it was all driven by resources, we wouldn't be in this business. Because there aren't enough resources coming to us from all the things that we're doing to cover all of our costs in athletics because we have many, many, sports that are very expensive and generate no revenue.”
ASU's decision to switch conferences will not result in cutting any of its 26 sports, even though many of the soon-to-be conference foes don’t have nearly that same number of sports.
“We didn't get into this business of adding sports to cut sports, at least I did not,” Anderson noted. “And so we have every intention to continue all of our sports in the Big 12, and not all of our sports are sponsored in the Pac-12. So, for instance, in water polo, we got Indiana as part of the conference that plays in the Pac 12. So we'll pick and choose our spots, but all of our student-athletes who will be able to play, and very frankly, some folks say are you going to continue to play the teams remaining in the Pac-12 and USC and UCLA? Absolutely, particularly in the Olympic sports, because that's a great experience, and student-athlete welfare is also a big factor.”
The lack of passion of the Pac-12 fans base at large is certainly a major factor in the Los Angeles schools leaving, which ultimately created a domino effect that never produced a lucrative media deal that forced other schools to depart. Since he was hired last November, Dillingham has been emploring the ASU fan base to increase its support of the Sun Devil athletic department. A move to the Big 12 and fan basses who are exceedingly more supportive naturally presented another oppurunity for Dillingham to repeat that narrative.
“This is where we need the fans in The Valley to rally behind the decision to be in sports — to stay competitive’ Dillingham said. “Now we need the fans in The Valley to get behind it, fill up the stands, show support because we’re going into a football heaven - Texas. If we’re not ready, and our fans aren’t ready, and everybody is not ready, we’re going to be in for a rude awakening.”
Join your fellow Sun Devil fans on our premium message board, the Devils’ Huddle, run by the longest-tenured Sun Devil sports beat writer, to discuss this article and other ASU football, basketball, and recruiting topics. Not a member yet? Sign up today and get your daily fix of Sun Devil news!
