Colorado To the Pac-10: Why It's Both Good and Bad for the Buffaloes

The Pac-10 announced Thursday that the University of Colorado has accepted a bid to join the conference, leaving the Big 12 ready to crumble.

The move comes after weeks of speculation and bargaining and should be the start of serious expansion for the Pac-10 to transform itself into the mega conference to be known as the Pac-16.

With Colorado's departure, other Big 12 teams are expected to follow suit shortly. It appears to be only a matter of time before powerhouses like Texas and Oklahoma join up with the Pac-10 as well.

With Nebraska expected to leave the conference as well for the Big Ten, the move by Colorado appears could have triggered a domino effect that could mean the end of the Big 12 conference.

It's a solid move for the Buffaloes and one that should come with significant financial gain, but with all good things, it comes with a price as well.

The Buffaloes made the right call on Thursday, but it's not all good in Colorado. Let's take a look at the positives and negatives of the move.

The Good: Lucrative Television Contracts

The main reason college athletic conferences are looking to expand is massive amounts of money to be made by creating lucrative championships, new regional sports networks, and huge television contracts that will greatly expand revenue.

Colorado earned their offer to join the Pac-10 because it gives the conference access to the television market in Denver, one of the biggest in the nation.

The Pac-10 also plans to invite Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Texas Tech to join its conference in the next few weeks and create a massive area of television coverage.

The mega deal would add the nation's fifth, 10th, and 16th television markets to the conference in Dallas, Houston, and Denver, respectively. The Pac-10 already has the second, sixth, 12th, and 13th markets in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Phoenix, and Seattle.

Based on this projection, the conference would bring in some of the highest revenue totals in new television contracts that would be worth nearly double what Colorado was making in the Big 12.

Each team in the Pac-16 would make an estimated $20 million, as opposed to $7-10 million in the Big 12.

The Good: Prestige and Exposure

By joining the Pac-10, Colorado can now associate itself with some of the most prestigious universities in the country, as well as a much higher number of great football teams—especially if Texas and Oklahoma join, as is expected.

The Pac-10 is one of the most respected organizations in all of college football, but this is about more than sports. The conference has a superb academic reputation. Colorado instantly becomes more relevant on a number of different levels; that's the beauty of joining such a prestigious conference.

Marketing and fundraising possibilities that didn't exist before will suddenly become much more available and likely will bring significant amount of money to the school as well as the athletic programs.

The Good: Recruiting and Booster Advantage

Joining the Pac-10 also gives Colorado the foothold in California they so desperately need. The school has a much stronger alumni and booster base on the West Coast.

Colorado has under 5,000 alumni in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Oklahoma combined, and just over 6,000 alumni in Texas.

Compare that to over 20,000 alumni in California, nearly 4,000 in Arizona, nearly 3,000 in Oregon, and over 5,000 in Washington. That's a total of nearly 35,000 alumni in Pac-10 states.

It is an increase of nearly 24,000 in-conference alumni now that Colorado has ditched the Big 12.

Those numbers mean dollars, they mean fans at away games, boosters, and supporters.

It also means better recruiting. Being in the Pac-10 will allow Colorado to pursue a better talent base of athletes outside of their local region with the help of thousands of new active supporters in the area.

The Good: Revitalization

This move should definitely reignite the fanbase that's grown tired and hopeless over the last few years, as the programs shrunk from the national stage into utter irrelevance.

People from all over Colorado should jump on the Buffaloes bandwagon in a hurry now though and expect to see improvement from the team. With donors opening up their wallets, fans filling seats, recruits giving the program more interest, and facilities being added and renovated, the Buffaloes should expect a major all-around boost.

Joining the Pac-10 is basically a shot of adrenaline to the heart for Colorado.

It's going to wake them up in a hurry.

The Good: Potential BCS Bowl Bids

This may be of more concern to the big dogs of the conference, but with the expected expansion of the Pac-10 to 16 teams, there's a good chance that the conference will pursue an automatic BCS bid for both of their proposed eight-team divisions.

That could theoretically allow two teams from the Pac-16 to compete against each other for the National Championship as early as 2012, when play in the new conference would begin.

More chances at BSC bowls means more chances of making money.

And it's really all about making money.

The Bad: Cost of Leaving

While there is a lot of talk about potential money to be earned, none of that is actually guaranteed. While it seems like a near certainty, the future can never be completely certain.

What is certain is that membership in the Pac-10 will come at a significant cost to Colorado.

Under Big 12 rules, Colorado must give two years' notice if it plans to withdraw from the league, which they did on Thursday in their proposed 2012 move. By rule, when doing so the school must forfeit 50 percent of its conference distribution money for both 2010 and 2011.

This figure would total an estimated $9 million.

That's no small fee for an athletic department with a budget of just over $45 million.

The Bad: Can You Say Big 12 South?

If the Pac-10 does expand to 16 teams with the expected arrivals of Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State, the new conference realignment will essentially move Colorado into the Big 12 South Division.

The Pac-16 East would likely consist of Colorado, Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, Arizona, and Arizona State.

From a financial standpoint, this move will be very good for all the schools involved, but from an competitive standpoint, Colorado will have a difficult time matching up with a lot of these teams.

Considering Colorado has struggled in the Big 12 North for the last few years, essentially joining an expanded Big 12 South that consists of much stronger opponents will be an uphill battle.

The Bad: Travel Time for Away Games

One of the drawbacks of joining the Pac-10 is the serious increase in travel time for away games. Colorado is now part of a conference spread from Seattle to Los Angeles to Texas?

The Buffaloes will be abandoning their traditional rivalry with Nebraska and instead have to form new rivalries with opponents that range from a few hundred miles away to over a thousand.

Travel time will be long and expensive for not only the football team, but all of the athletic programs.

Still, the move is one that will greatly benefit the program. Long plane rides might be an issue, but they'll be to games with a much higher number of Colorado fans already living in on the West Coast.

It's just one of the prices to pay to be part of the Pac-10.

And it's worth it.