Pac-10 Football: League's Sunday Plan a Win for Larry Scott, Fans Everywhere

We all knew that the Pac-10 (soon to be the Pac-12) would figure out a way to come up with some brilliant ideas to promote itself under new chairman Larry Scott. After all, the man had helped turn the WTA into one of the most successful and marketable leagues on the planet, and tennis is hardly the juggernaut that college football is on the American sporting landscape. 

But who knew the brilliant idea would be this simple? 

We all know that the NFL lockout continues to eat into the summer and that with each passing day of litigation (and no negotiation from either side), it becomes increasingly likely that we're going to miss out on an NFL season. However, thanks to the Pac-10, we could still have football on Sundays. 

Commissioner Larry Scott told KTAR in Phoenix that the league has been looking into potentially playing its games on Sundays come the fall, assuming the NFL lockout continues. Per Scott's comments:

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“We certainly have an eye on it, and I think we’ll be flexible and opportunistic if the situation presents itself,” Scott said.

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Frankly, I can't think of a better idea. The league recently struck a new television deal with Fox and has Gus Johnson calling its games, but it could still use a boost in national recognition. 

By becoming the first (and potentially the only) league in college football to take advantage of the NFL's potential absence, the Pac-10 sets itself up to land a major boost in popularity. The league is positioning itself beautifully to take over the NFL's slot on Sundays (along with what figures to be a solid chunk of the NFL's good ratings) in the fall.

But the Pac-10's schools aren't the only ones who score a victory here. You, the average football fan, also manage to make out like a bandit.

Think about it: Should the lockout continue into the fall, there would have been a good chance that Sundays would have gone without football this fall (no, the UFL still does not count). 

But now, you can still watch football on the days it was meant to be watched. We know that Sundays from September through December are meant to be filled with football, and now, the Pac-10 has ensured that they will continue to be. 

On top of that, this is a low-risk venture for the league. If the NFL resumes normal football activities, the Pac-10 simply maintains the current status quo, according to Scott.

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“But we’re not spending a lot of time on it,” Scott added. “I personally expect that the NFL is gonna settle if not by the beginning of their season early into their season. So I don’t think that’s a long-term strategy for us, but I think, yeah, we’ll be nimble and we’ll be opportunistic if there’s any opportunity to get big exposure on Sunday, why not?”

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See? The Pac-10 wins because it gets a big boost in visibility and ratings from a Sunday move, while you, the fan, win because there will still be football on Sundays and on Saturdays. 

So while it may not be the NFL, you can rest easy tonight knowing that the Pac-10 will ensure that you can watch football on your regularly scheduled cycle this fall. Although there's still no plan for someone to take over Monday Night Football, at least we know our Sundays are safe, thanks to the simple genius of Larry Scott.