BERKELEY, Calif. — Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott said Saturday that Colorado has a “worse than 50-50” chance of joining the conference next year.
Scott met with Colorado chancellor Phil DiStefano on Friday night and athletic director Mike Bohn on Saturday morning before the Buffaloes’ game against California. Based on what they told him about negotiating the school’s exit fee from the Big 12, Scott is sticking to the original plan of having Colorado join in 2012.
“We’ve got an 11-team football schedule for next year teed up,” Scott said at Memorial Stadium shortly before kickoff. “If it turns out they come in next year, we’ve worked on a 12-team schedule as well.”
Colorado’s entry to the Pac-10 is contingent on negotiating an exit fee with the Big 12. It is believed the fee is about $9 million, which is currently under negotiations. Scott said he was not “privy” to discuss the progress, and DiStefano is under legal obligation to stay quiet, but sources say the Big 12 isn’t budging much.
Scott wants an answer in the next month in order to organize a football championship game if the conference goes to 12 teams. He said he could move the deadline back if necessary.
Another pressing matter for Scott is division alignment. He said he is working on about half a dozen models, including one with Colorado and Utah, the other new member, in a South Division with the Arizona and Los Angeles schools.
However, alignment remains a hot-button issue with the rest of the schools that want regular trips to Los Angeles and its rich recruiting grounds.
“There are a lot of different factors,” Scott said. “Whether Colorado has both L.A. schools in their division or one L.A. school in their division or they don’t have either school in their division but play four of six interdivisional, what we realize in this process is if we stick with nine conference football games there’s no issue. Access to L.A. is mitigated.”
Scott said it hasn’t been determined if the conference will use divisions in basketball but said a 22-game league schedule is not feasible.
On other matters, the commissioner was pleased to see 7,000 Colorado fans at the game. The Pac-10’s biggest appeal to Colorado is that California has the school’s largest out-of-state alumni base.
