Partnership between Mountain West and Pac-12 'still conceivable'

The Mountain West has been raided by the Pac-12 and the MWC's commissioner, Gloria Nevarez, has stood up to Teresa Gould and Co. with legal action and strongly-worded statements condemning the rebuilt conference.

Despite the ongoing tug of war between the raiding Pac-12 and the defending Mountain West, though, media consultant Jim Williams believes the two sides can eventually come to a peace agreement and merge to form a megaconference.

"The new Pac applauds their determination to survive, but their failure to add the four AAC schools (Memphis, Tulane, USF, UTSA) and the loss of UNLV to the Mountain West highlights the uncertainty of media deals, which continues to hinder the new Pac as it did the old one," Williams told me. "A partnership between the Mountain West and Pac is still conceivable, but the Mountain West is looking to expand and has several options."

Original Pac-12 made fatal mistake not taking streaming deal the Big 12 took

The original Pac-12's leadership, including George Kliavkoff and his predecessor, Larry Scott, squandered one of the strongest brands in college football by not accepting an Apple TV streaming deal that was on the table.

Williams sees Kliavkoff and Scott's indecision and lack of foresight as a "prime case study" on how not to manage a conference.

Especially since the Big 12 went down the exact path the Pac-12 could've to survive as they were.

"The downfall of a conference that has existed for over a century could become a prime case study in college classes on how not to manage a conference," Williams prefaced before saying, "There are many to blame: college presidents, athletic directors, and Larry Scott, Kliavkoff's predecessor. They misjudged the market and the Pac-12's value compared to the Big Ten and SEC. It was a mistake not to accept the Fox/ESPN deal that the Big 12 took. Although there was an offer from Apple and some linear interest, they never agreed and were reluctant to explore streaming options."

The Big 12 is talking about bringing on private equity groups to expand. The new Pac-12 is attempting to rebuild itself with Group of 5 schools and couldn't even entice UNLV to join its ranks.

There's level to this, and because of poor leadership, the Pac-12's has been lowered drastically throughout the years.