Pac-10 Expansion Winners and Losers

Now that Utah has joined the Pac-10, talk of expansion and realignment has finally died down.  With all of the invitations either accepted or rejected, it's time to figure out who has won and who has lost in the race to greater revenue.

Winner: Texas - They drew their guns faster than any of the other Big 12 schools, and then decided to stick around when they realized that they could control Dan Beebe like a marionette.  They will be able to generate a ton of revenue while demolishing most of the poor competition who just want to be in a BCS conference.

Losers: Baylor, Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State and Missouri - Remember in high school when the losers would cowtow to the cool kids just to be in their company?  Well, these five schools are willing to sacrifice almost anything just to continue getting pounded on a regular basis by Texas and Oklahoma.  Yes, it could have been worse if they had ended up in the Mountain West.  But, then again, don't you want to compete with peers rather than people who bleed you for all you're worth, only to dump you when a better deal comes around?

Winners: Utah and Colorado - Both schools are a natural fit for the Pac-10.  Colorado will be able to recruit not only athletes, but applicants as well, from well-populated California.  Same for Utah, who also gets to move into the BCS.  The prestige factor that Texas trumpeted about association with the Cals and Stanfords of the world will mean even more for these schools, as they shrug off current peers like Texas Tech and UNLV.

Losers: Arizona and Arizona State - They may have griped for a few years about being placed in the Pac-10 South [or whatever it would have been called] with the former Big 12 schools, but it would have been beneficial in the long run.  The two schools already have exposure to the West Coast, but could also have taken advantage of fertile recruiting territory in Texas.  The pitch would have been simple: Move to Arizona and you'll think you never left Texas!

Winner: Orangebloods.com - Nobody outside of Texas probably knew this website existed until the realignment fiasco began, but now they'll probably have subscribers all over the world.  They got everything right, almost as if their source were the almighty Texas president William Powers Jr. himself.  Hm... is it so far-fetched?

Loser: ESPN - Their guys, especially Joe Schad, were always a step behind the news cycle.  Twitter proved to be a more reliable medium than Sportscenter, which pretty much says it all.

Winner: USC [football only] - After the debacle that is their NCAA sanctions, USC gets to remain top dog in a conference looking to create a bigger brand.  Expect USC to get even more exposure when the Pac-10 launches a network.  Oh, and they don't have to play Texas or Oklahoma in football.  Not that they wouldn't beat them anyway...

Loser: UCLA [basketball only] - It is still not entirely clear how the conference will be split, but UCLA may not have a single decent conference competitor in their division.  USC is down, Arizona is down, and the new schools don't bring much to the table in terms of basketball these days.  They will win games, but their strength of schedule will weaken them overall.

Push: Pacific Northwest/Northern California - They don't have to deal with USC in certain years, but they may miss out on some of that prime recruiting territory in Southern California.  They benefit, however, because the northern section of the conference will give them more exposure.  Had all of those Big 12 schools joined, it would have diluted their brand and each college would be just another team in the conference of Texas, USC, and Oklahoma.