TEMPE, Ariz. — Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott would like to keep the conference the way it is.
Speaking to reporters at the Arizona State-Missouri game late Friday night, Scott said he would prefer to make the 12-team model work instead of trying to expand it to 16.
“Our hope is that there is no expansions and all conferences that are at 12 stay at 12. That would be our vote,” he said.
The Pac-10, as it was known, was in the thick of the race to expand last year, trying to lure what seemed like half the Big 12 away. The conference ended up getting Colorado and Utah.
The conference has remained watchfully idle in the newest round of expansion shuffling, listening to prospective schools, but not actively pursuing them this time.
While intrigued by the latest round of expansion rumors, Scott has decided to sit back and watch, concentrating instead on what the conference needs to do to make its new venture become successful.
“It’s when all this discussion started happening in the Big 12 and it seems like the SEC is going to go beyond 12 and teams started approaching, let’s take a step back and look at the future — if the landscape is going to change,” Scott said.
The Pac-12 signed a TV deal worth about $3 billion with Fox and ESPN, and plans to launch its own network next year. Scott said the conference did look at various models while trying to expand last year, including the possibility of a 16-team megaconference, and has provisions in the TV deals if expansion occurs.
That part will be taken care of, but Scott said there would be a great deal of work involved if the conference does expand, from scheduling to creating divisions.
But, until then, he’s just going to sit back and wait and see what happens.
“We think 12 is a good number and when we look at our peer conferences, they’re at 12 too, so we think it’s an evenly balanced, competitive landscape,” he said.
