00:00:00
is the pack able to regain their
00:00:03
autonomous status let's take a
00:00:10
look conference realignment is always in
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the news so we're back here on the big
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mountain to keep you all updated hey JY
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back with the big mountain want to do a
00:00:21
pack update for everybody have a few
00:00:23
items here that we need to talk about
00:00:26
first I had some uh commenters ask that
00:00:29
we take a look at the Olympic sports for
00:00:31
the pack right now I want to talk about
00:00:34
that take a look at where these eight
00:00:36
schools are going to be at here in 2026
00:00:40
I want to talk about some new comments
00:00:43
from Dr Scott the ad at Memphis I also
00:00:47
want to talk briefly about their media
00:00:49
rights deals now that we're in the
00:00:51
middle of March and lastly talk about
00:00:54
this autonomous status that the pack may
00:00:58
be able to return to so again first
00:01:02
looking here at Olympic sports I'm going
00:01:04
to pull up a couple slides so you can
00:01:06
take a look at where they currently sit
00:01:09
with their eight members and also if
00:01:12
they were to add both Texas State and St
00:01:15
Mary's College of course the two that I
00:01:18
will focus on here one for men's and one
00:01:21
for women's baseball very important to
00:01:25
the pack especially the OSU beavers and
00:01:30
right now they they need a little help
00:01:31
they could use a few more teams to make
00:01:33
sure they have a solid conference and
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then with the uh women's sports they
00:01:38
could use some help with softball so
00:01:40
I'll throw both of these up there as you
00:01:42
will see both Texas State and St Mary's
00:01:45
have baseball and softball to really
00:01:48
round out a very solid Olympic sport
00:01:52
programming here for the pack I do want
00:01:56
to point out that North Texas which was
00:01:58
one of the schools we've talked about
00:02:00
several times here I have them in the
00:02:03
possible category going to the pack they
00:02:06
do not sponsor baseball so maybe an item
00:02:09
that that could potentially hold them
00:02:11
back because as I say we know how
00:02:13
strongly the Pack 2 right now feels uh
00:02:17
about baseball especially Oregon State
00:02:20
uh U uh
00:02:21
UTSA uh Memphis and tane all sponsor
00:02:25
baseball but you know that we believe
00:02:28
Memphis and tane are unlik ly to happen
00:02:31
for the pack so that's why you see both
00:02:34
Texas State and St Mary's as we've been
00:02:36
reporting we have been told they are
00:02:38
locked in for pack membership let's talk
00:02:42
about now some information uh that ad uh
00:02:46
Scott Dr Scott from Memphis recently has
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said uh in an interview here just last
00:02:52
week uh he stated that they uh the ad
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and and the department there the school
00:03:00
were only ever given one invitation from
00:03:02
the pack and that he has only had one
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conversation uh with the pack and he
00:03:09
said specifically with commissioner
00:03:11
Gould uh since the press release when
00:03:14
they came out and said they're sticking
00:03:16
with the Americans so he's saying they
00:03:18
have only had one conversation shortly
00:03:21
after that press release uh also said
00:03:25
here that he uh they have one home and
00:03:28
that one home is the American Athletic
00:03:32
Conference uh some would say that the
00:03:35
fact he named commissioner gold in this
00:03:37
interview you know potentially leaves
00:03:39
wiggle room that maybe he had
00:03:42
communication with others within the
00:03:44
pack or maybe they've had communication
00:03:46
with octagon who's dealing with the
00:03:49
metor rights here for the Pack 12 uh I
00:03:53
think from what I gather from from Dr
00:03:55
Scott he's a very straight shooter I I
00:03:58
don't think that's the case I don't
00:03:59
think he was parsing words I think he
00:04:02
was very direct in what I took him uh to
00:04:05
say there um and so it does not appear
00:04:08
and I believe what he said they have had
00:04:10
no communication with the pack or
00:04:13
commissioner Gould since that first go
00:04:16
around several months ago um and you
00:04:20
know as Steve and I have said we've been
00:04:22
following the ACC issues here very very
00:04:25
closely we believe they are on the short
00:04:28
list to be a back back fill four
00:04:31
potential losses with the ACC I'm not
00:04:34
going to get down uh deep into that if
00:04:36
you're interested in what we had to say
00:04:37
with the ACC we have some recent
00:04:39
episodes we just did but we do believe
00:04:42
Memphis is very high up on the list as a
00:04:45
target for the ACC another item Dr Scott
00:04:48
talked about here is that he said travel
00:04:51
is a very significant issue very real to
00:04:55
them not only from the cost standpoint
00:04:57
but from having students on a plane or a
00:05:00
bus to get to uh you know the different
00:05:03
uh member entities and that's something
00:05:05
they're very concerned about obviously
00:05:08
being a member of the pack uh has
00:05:10
different um issues regarding that than
00:05:12
they would have in the either The
00:05:14
American or the ACC uh and he said you
00:05:17
know that is definitely at the top of
00:05:19
our list or close to the top of our list
00:05:21
and in an item that we have to take very
00:05:24
seriously he also then pivoted and
00:05:27
talked about the academics of Memphis
00:05:30
again leading me to believe you know
00:05:33
he's kind of selling Memphis to the ACC
00:05:36
schools that hey we're you know we're
00:05:38
High not only are we high in the
00:05:40
athletic uh side of things we're High
00:05:42
academically as well of course you hear
00:05:44
ads uh say that a lot some of that is uh
00:05:48
you know bringing in student athletes
00:05:50
that that want that high academics as
00:05:52
well but you know you could read that
00:05:53
and I did read this as a potential um
00:05:56
you know selling point to get them into
00:05:58
the ACC see here maybe not in the too
00:06:01
distant future so before we get to some
00:06:04
of this autonomous status just want to
00:06:06
bring up the media deal you know it
00:06:09
doesn't look like uh it's uh going to
00:06:11
happen here within the next couple weeks
00:06:13
some people had a deadline here of it
00:06:15
happening right before March Madness
00:06:18
still could we have a few days before
00:06:20
that uh kicks off um you know we've
00:06:22
always talked about kind of that end of
00:06:24
March time frame still not hearing a ton
00:06:27
from that um and you know I don't think
00:06:29
it's the end all be all I think if we
00:06:30
get to April 1st and we don't hear
00:06:32
anything I don't think that's a major
00:06:34
issue but I do think as we then get
00:06:37
further into April as time goes by uh it
00:06:40
probably doesn't set up great in my
00:06:42
opinion for the Pack 12 so I'm not
00:06:45
saying you know if if the clock ticks
00:06:47
over and we're at April 1 everybody
00:06:49
should be you know pack fans should be
00:06:50
um you know concerned about it I don't
00:06:52
think that's the case um but at the same
00:06:55
time I'm not sure we're going to hit
00:06:57
kind of this mid-march or maybe even
00:06:59
late March we'll just have to wait and
00:07:00
see my guess is they're probably pretty
00:07:03
close and some of these things just take
00:07:04
a little bit of time uh to iron out last
00:07:07
thing I want to talk about is the
00:07:09
delinger reporting Dinger reporting um
00:07:12
on the house settlement here late last
00:07:14
week uh and it brought up a lot of Buzz
00:07:18
I know I had a lot of information on X
00:07:20
that I was putting out because the
00:07:22
settlement that's uh being worked on
00:07:24
right now both Oregon State and
00:07:26
Washington State's ads are going to be a
00:07:29
part or they are a part of this
00:07:32
compliance team for the settlement
00:07:35
remember the Pack 12 here is a defendant
00:07:38
in the house lawsuit the pack only has
00:07:42
two members as of today obviously Oregon
00:07:45
State and Washington State it makes
00:07:47
total sense for at least one of those
00:07:50
ads to be on this transition team since
00:07:53
they are a defendant in the lawsuit here
00:07:56
of course we have both of them uh being
00:07:58
involved which is which is great I think
00:08:00
that's good for them uh and you know I'm
00:08:02
anxious to see what what comes out of
00:08:04
the settlement what comes out of this
00:08:05
transition team but with that then came
00:08:07
a lot of speculation if because they're
00:08:10
on this team this transition team does
00:08:13
that mean they're going to be getting
00:08:15
autonomous status back as of right now
00:08:18
no that is not what this means at all uh
00:08:21
to me I think anybody saying that is is
00:08:24
really pushing a narrative I think
00:08:26
they're being very speculative uh on
00:08:28
that that is not at all what this means
00:08:31
could they in the future anything's
00:08:33
possible but to to make a bridge between
00:08:36
this in my opinion from this compliance
00:08:38
team to oh they're going to get their
00:08:40
autonomous uh status back it's just a
00:08:43
bridge too far for me at this point I
00:08:45
think we have to wait and see what the
00:08:47
new governance looks like yes could they
00:08:49
be involved in some of that absolutely
00:08:52
but I don't see uh the SEC or the Big 10
00:08:56
giving up any of the control that they
00:08:59
have been able to gain thus far and not
00:09:01
just not give it up they want to keep
00:09:03
getting more control so it would be a
00:09:05
step back in my opinion for the power
00:09:08
two conferences to do that again we'll
00:09:10
have to just wait and see I did just
00:09:12
want to put it out there I think
00:09:13
anything you're hearing about this
00:09:15
regarding an autonomous status uh
00:09:18
regaining autonomous status I think it's
00:09:21
just pure speculation and I don't I
00:09:23
don't think it's fair to get anybody's
00:09:24
hopes up um again it's not me being a
00:09:26
Negative Nancy on the pack I think it's
00:09:29
unfortunately uh people are using that
00:09:32
and getting hopes up that I just don't
00:09:33
think that will be the case um You can
00:09:35
disagree with me I know people do
00:09:37
disagree with me and that's totally fine
00:09:39
hey Steve is going to be back with me
00:09:41
we're going to do an NCAA tournament
00:09:43
preview we'll talk about the Big 10 and
00:09:45
the Mountain West schools that are going
00:09:47
to be in the tournament we have a lot of
00:09:49
other stuff planned for you guys this
00:09:51
week and we have the athletic director
00:09:54
of UC Davis joining us early next week
00:09:58
so we'll get that posted to our Channel
00:10:00
as well of course we're going to talk
00:10:02
about UC Davis Athletics and where their
00:10:04
football program may be at in the coming
00:10:07
years as well so hey we thank you guys
00:10:09
for watching this update as all of our
00:10:11
pack fans know all of our pack dwellers
00:10:13
know we stay on everything Pack 12 we
00:10:16
appreciate if you're watching make sure
00:10:17
you give this one a like subscribe if
00:10:20
you like our content we'll see you next
00:10:22
time on the big mountain