Vegas, Baby? Pac-12's Larry Scott Keeps Changing the Face of College Sports

A few years ago the college sports world looked askance at what was then known as the Pac 10 Conference as the presidents announced the naming of Larry Scott as their new commissioner, replacing longtime leader Tom Hansen. Scott was not a college lifer, as most commissioners were and still are. He was more in the mold of newer athletic director hirings, coming from varied backgrounds to lead schools like Notre Dame and Michigan.

Now a few years into his tenure, Scott may have himself cast a new mold for what conference commissioners should be. The only constant these days in what is now the Pac 12 is change, and most of the change is for the better.  He started the expansion craziness by adding schools like Nebraska and Utah, and woke up other conferences by doing a dance with the University of Texas.  He has expanded the conference's TV, social media and marketing presence by conducting awareness programs not just with alumni but with Madison Avenue, looking to further explain the breadth and scope of a major conference that sometimes got lost in its late-night West Coast action while most of the East Coast was off to bed.

Most recently, Scott has looked even farther west, intimating with a trip to China this week that the Pac 12 could be a television and marketing platform for brands and millions of fans looking to engage in American sports even more than they do today. The Pac 12's relative proximity to Asia gives it a footprint not only for students, but for a new brand of fans, he has suggested. All in a year's work for a man who came to the job with no prior intercollegiate experience but a ton of negotiating and decision-making chops in the tennis world as second-in-command of the ATP and then jumping to the WTA as their CEO.

So what's next for Scott and the Pac 12? More change, as the league looks to launch its own TV network, further grow its marketing platforms and, according to a feature in this week's Bloomberg BusinessWeek, maybe move its men's hoops tournament from its regular home base at the Staples Center to Las Vegas, breaking a tradition of a March Madness lead-up in L.A. (one that has had less than full crowds almost every year). The move would make lots of sense, as Vegas continues to expand its sports footprint on the collegiate and pro level.  The Orleans Arena already hosts two postseason hoops events, so going to Vegas—even the MGM Grand—would be a big step in visibility and fan interest for the Pac 12 tourney.

And the worry of gambling and the bright lights of the strip influencing the impressionable Pac 12 student hoops athletes?  No need to worry under the leadership of college athletics' most forward-thinking leader these days.