What Does the Future of the Pac-12 Mean for NIL and Student-Athletes?
Written by: Tex Greene
The poor Pac-12. In what seems like a matter of weeks, the college athletic conference went from one of the most respected on the west coast to barely having any schools left. Despite their geographic location, USC and UCLA left the Pac-12 for the Big Ten. In addition, Oregon and Washington both decided to leave the Pac-12 for the Big Ten. Then, adding insult to injury for the Pac-12, four teams left the conference for the Big 12: Colorado, Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah. If you’re counting at home, the Pac-12 is now down to the Pac-4.
The reason each of these schools left the Pac-12 is quite obvious: money. The Big Ten recently agreed to a new media deal with Fox, CBS, and NBC worth around $7.5 billion over seven years. During the 2021-22 school year, the Big Ten sent $58 million to every school in its conference, while Pac-12 schools were receiving around $30 million from their conference. Both of those numbers are expected to increase in given years, but still, it was too much money for the athletic programs to ignore.
From the student-athlete side, there are two perspectives to look at here. The first is that of the student-athletes at California, Stanford, Oregon State, and Washington State. What’s going to happen to the athletic programs of these schools? Can they credibly play one another in various sports if there are four schools in their conference? Either the Pac-12 is going to have to find some new schools to join the league or…what exactly? Will those four schools just cease to have athletic teams? Even if they do have games and seasons to play, are student-athletes going to transfer to schools in the larger conferences? More money from TV deals will eventually trickle down to the players, making them wealthier. According to surveys done by Bill Carter, a NIL consultant and educator, 67% of student-athletes who were considering transferring said NIL would play a role in their decision. The support a school offers in how to manage NIL deals also plays a huge role in the retention and recruitment of student-athletes.
The other perspective to look at here is the student-athletes of the emerging super conferences. The greater exposure, NIL deals, and competition are a big plus. But for the schools like USC and UCLA, this could pose some geographical problems. Conference games are the most commonly played in any team’s schedule, and for west coast teams joining the Big Ten, they’ll have to charter a lot of flights to get to games. The schools have the money for it, but this means increased jet lag and travel time for athletes, which has been shown to have a negative correlation with athletes’ academics. Plus, less time for practice, sleep, and academics could eventually lead to worse performance in competition, possibly diminishing the value of having a super conference with all the best teams.
So many questions with only speculation as an answer loom over the Pac-12 and Big 10. Will the Pac-12 be able to survive, even thrive with the loss of all its teams? Could this bring more money and glory to the remaining teams and their student-athletes? On the flip side, is there going to be any money left for the four teams? Will anyone care about the conference? Is its demise inevitable?
As for student-athletes in the now Big 10, will the pros of money and larger NIL deals outweigh the cons of loss of sleep, practice, and study time? Again, only time will tell, but it’s interesting to follow. The future of NIL and the NCAA is being shaped right before our eyes, and MK Hustle has a front-row seat watching history being made.