Tucson Citizen.com

Wild About AZ Cats

A different slant on Wildcat athletics

Utah scores touchdown by accepting Pac-10′s invitation

by on Jun. 16, 2010, under Sports

UtahUtes

The Salt Lake Tribune proclaims simply yet boldly, “Touchdown!” concerning Utah’s likely acceptance to join the Pac-10 (which will become the Pac-12 in 2012).

Utah is expected to accept the invite at a Board of Trustees meeting at 12:30 p.m. Thursday. A press conference is scheduled for 1 p.m.

An editorial in the Salt Lake City newspaper states: “To join the Pac-10, the self-proclaimed and undisputed ‘Conference of Champions’ is to find the Holy Grail for Utah. The benefits are so numerous that a list is in order.”

The most impressive benefit is increased revenue. As a member of the Mountain West Conference, Utah received just $1.2 million last year in television revenue. Pac-10 teams earn $8 million-$10 million, and that figure will increase as the conference negotiates a new TV deal.

ESPN displayed Utah’s football record vs. Pac-10 opponents and Arizona stuck out like a sore thumb. The Utes are 19-15-2 against the Wildcats. Utah has won the last two meetings, most recently at home in 2005.

The UA men’s hoops team also has a losing record against Utah (20-28), including a 76-51 loss that Mike Bibby and Miles Simon would rather forget in the 1998 NCAA West Regional final that denied the Cats a chance to repeat as national champions.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 16th, 2010 at 6:02 pm and is filed under Sports. Tags for this post: . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

RSS feed for this post (comments)
  • http://landrovergirls.blogspot.com/ Land Rover Girl

    Without getting Texas, still wondering if this is a good thing for Arizona and the Pac-10 or not… Utah seems to bring little to the table.

  • fraser007

    Somebody tell me WHY? All of this has been sprung on us all of a sudden. When did we start this process? I smell a money trail. Like we are going to drive to Utah for a game?

  • http://www.wildaboutazcats.com Javier Morales

    Land Rover Girl and fraser: Utah and BYU for the longest time — since the early 1990s — have been rumored as potential expansion schools for the Pac-10. So Utah’s inclusion is not entirely surprising. BYU does not want to join another conference. According to reports, BYU officials would rather be independent like Notre Dame before joining a mega conference.  So given the circumstances and Salt Lake City being a top 35 market, it makes sense to add Utah. The Utes have also traditionally been competitive in the to major sports: football and men’s basketball.

  • fraser007

    Javier:

    Thanks for the update. Utah always has been good in football. So somebody tell me just WHY we are adding these teams. The PAC is a good conference.

    • Ferraribubba

      Hey 007: The answer is simple. It’s the charter airlines in Utah that are behind the expansion.
      It’ll take at least 2 jumbo 747s to haul all the Mormon wives to away games. Maybe more if you include staff and school officials.
      A few pay-off bucks into the sweaty palms of the PAC-10 Commish, and the evil deed is done. Get it?
      I was born at night . . . but not LAST night!
      Yer pal, Ferrari Bubba

  • http://www.wildaboutazcats.com Javier Morales

    fraser007: The best explanation — adding large markets give the league a better chance for a cable network for the conference. Expect that to come about by 2012. A Pac-12 cable network would be ideal. Imagine all the replays of some of the UA’s greatest games that could be aired, plus a better chance for alumni nationwide to watch developments concerning the Cats.

  • psknapp

    And don’t forget, with 12 teams, now there is a real conference championship, which means more money.  I am fine with the expansion.  At least these teams are Pacific-ish, unlike Texas and Oklahoma…

  • fraser007

    Thanks for the updates. Appreciate the time to write back.

«
»