Pac-10 finally unloads their commissioner.

[Conan]

It's about done now (July 1 the change happens) and Tom Hanson's successor has finally been named. Now all of you smart asses who like to put down the P-10 for having lousy TV deals and worse bowl deals will have to accept some changes whether or not you like them.

NOBODY could have been worse for CFB and the Pac-10 on the West Coast than the guy that has, at long last, been put out to pasture. Now maybe, just maybe, the rest of CFB (except perhaps the B-11) will unite and get what they want and what most of us want which is a playoff. Maybe the SEC and Pac-10 will get to sqare off against each other at least once a year in a bowl game instead of watching BS SEC teams play the ACC and other conferences twice and the Pac-10 zero times.

Hopefully the new P-10 commish will bring come badly needed changes with him... I admit that Hanson was responsible, at least in part for the lousy bowls people get stuck with after the season is done. Nobody, especially no Pac-10 fan has thought much of their bowl lineup and Tom Hanson was a big reason why. Everyone should be a little happier about this change.

********************************************
Scott leaving WTA for Pac-10

<script type="text/javascript">var stobj = SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title:"WTA%20CEO%20Scott%20named%20Pac-10%20commissioner", url:"http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=4012974", published: "2009-03-24" }); stobj.attachButton(document.getElementById("espnstlink")); </script> <cite class="source"> By Ted Miller
ESPN.com

</cite>
<!-- end mod-article-title --> <!-- begin story body --> Larry Scott, chairman and CEO of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), will be the next Pac-10 commissioner, replacing the retiring Tom Hansen on July 1, the conference announced Tuesday.
Scott will remain with the women's professional tennis circuit into June, the tour said Tuesday. He will work with the tour board to select his successor.Scott started with the WTA in 2003 and helped transform the tour, including engineering the largest-ever sponsorship deal in women's sports, a six-year, $88 million title contract with Sony Ericsson. Under his leadership, the WTA also obtained the largest television agreements in women's tennis history, both nationally and internationally.
"With women's professional tennis more popular than ever, the Tour in the strongest business position in its history and a fantastic senior management team in place, now is the right time for me to embrace a new challenge consistent with my family and personal goals and leave room for the next generation of Tour leadership to take on new responsibilities," Scott said in a statement.
That skill developing business and media partnerships likely helped Scott's candidacy. Many in the Pac-10 have been unhappy with the conference's bowl and football television contracts, which are less lucrative and provide less exposure than the SEC and Big Ten.
Scott's background as a tennis player and leader of a women's pro sports organization probably eased fears among women's and non-revenue sports advocates that the next commissioner would be all about football.
"Our search committee was most impressed with Larry's broad range of leadership experiences in both men's and women's sports, as well as his extensive success in representing the commercial interest of men's and women's tennis," Bob Bowlsby, athletic director of Stanford and head of the search committee, said in a statement.
"He was the architect of a highly-effective turnaround of women's tennis over the last six years and created a compelling vision that has served the sport and its athletes extremely well. We are also very pleased to bring on such a great advocate for both men's and women's sports."
Bowlsby said his committee began work last August and forwarded the names of four candidates to the conference presidents.
Other reported candidates included Sandy Alderson, outgoing CEO of the San Diego Padres and former executive vice president for Major League Baseball operations, and Greg Shaheen, the NCAA's Senior VP of basketball and business strategies, who turned down the job in January, according to the Sports Business Journal.
Scott, a former Harvard All-American in tennis, played professionally for three years and won one tournament on the men's tour. He then spent a decade working as an executive for the ATP, serving in the posts of Chief Operating Officer, President of ATP Properties and Executive Vice President of the International Group.
"Under Larry's leadership, the tour and our sport have grown over the past six years beyond anyone's wildest expectations," said Steve Simon, tournament board representative and chairman of the tournament council.
Scott will be the Pac-10's sixth commissioner. Hansen is stepping down after 26 years atop the conference.

 

[Conan]

New commish Scott energized for Pac-10's challenges
March 24, 2009 9:05 PM
Posted by ESPN.com's Ted Miller
Larry Scott might be the new Pac-10 commissioner because he tried -- and ultimately failed -- to revolutionize tennis.
Scott, chairman and CEO of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), last year suggested that the men's circuit -- the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) -- should merge with the women's tour.
"I thought tennis would be stronger if we could reorganize the sport," he said.
That was a Sisyphean task, considering all the competing political bailiwicks involved, but his enthusiastic effort made an impression on folks in the room who also happened to be involve in the Pac-10's search for a commissioner to replace the retiring Tom Hansen.
When it was first suggested he consider the Pac-10 job, Scott admitted it felt pretty random. And it was just before the holidays and his head was swirling after his abortive effort to push through a tennis merge.
Perhaps the idea tasted better with some eggnog.
He met with Stanford athletic director Bob Bowlsby, head of the search committee, and suddenly found himself energized by the job description, its challenges and complexities and its often competing interests.
Sounded familiar but also new.
"It unlocked for me a personal connection and passion from my own experience as a student-athlete," said Scott, 44, who was an All-American tennis player at Harvard.
Scott is not a man of few words, but his message was clear when asked about his chief challenge when he officially starts on July 1: Does he believe the Pac-10's bowl arrangements and television contracts can be improved in terms of increasing revenue and exposure, particularly in football and basketball.
"I do," he said.
And so a marriage begins.
Scott, understandably, is short on specifics. But he did say that he's not necessarily interested in following the model of other BCS conferences.
"What the Big Ten has done is admirable and impressive; what the SEC has done is incredibly impressive," he said. "But I don't tend to approach things like, 'How can we do things the way other people have done them.' What attracts me about the Pac-10 is its own unique assets."
That's why he looks at the challenge of the Pacific Time Zone as a "potential advantage." That's why he ticks off Los Angeles and Silicon Valley and opportunities in digital media as areas where he's sees possibilities.
He said his first priority will be acting like a "sponge." He plans to visit every Pac-10 campus and talk to presidents and athletic directors and women's sports administrators.
He wants to hear what folks have to say before he begins another Sisyphean task.
"I'm not the sort of person who starts on day one with answers," he said. "I'm going to do a heck of a lot of listening."

 

[FairWarning]

B-11 will only agree to playoffs if they get some home games.

 

[Conan]

B-11 will only agree to playoffs if they get some home games.

I wouldn't mind a BCS playoff bowl in the RCA dome in Indy or something in the neighborhood. That even sounds classy. But they've got a kush deal at the Rose Bowl they way it is and it's bigger money than any of the other BCS bowls with its own TV deals etc. I'm sure the B-11 would like to find a way to hang onto that if they can, but they may have to give it up if they want a different big BCS bowl to play in that's nearby. Doesn't anyone in Michigan like the idea of spending a week in sunny Calif. in the dead of winter?

 

[Conan]

Geezus... I forgot they blew up the RCA Dome. How wierd. I was there before. Well I guess the B-10 is stuck with the Silver Dome in Michigan as far as I know, but Detroit basically sucks. I'm sure someone's got a domed stadium around there to play in. Can't think of one off hand. There must be something.

 

[FairWarning]

Geezus... I forgot they blew up the RCA Dome. How wierd. I was there before. Well I guess the B-10 is stuck with the Silver Dome in Michigan as far as I know, but Detroit basically sucks. I'm sure someone's got a domed stadium around there to play in. Can't think of one off hand. There must be something.

Ford Field - Detroit
Lucas Field - Indy
Metrodome - Minn.

B-11 isn't opposed to Rose Bowl, because it is one game. They don't want to go south or west as part of a playoff and have to play 2-3 road games while everyone else gets "home" games.

 

[FairWarning]

I wouldn't mind a BCS playoff bowl in the RCA dome in Indy or something in the neighborhood. That even sounds classy. But they've got a kush deal at the Rose Bowl they way it is and it's bigger money than any of the other BCS bowls with its own TV deals etc. I'm sure the B-11 would like to find a way to hang onto that if they can, but they may have to give it up if they want a different big BCS bowl to play in that's nearby. Doesn't anyone in Michigan like the idea of spending a week in sunny Calif. in the dead of winter?

Believe me, we do. When coaches jobs rely on post season success, three road games are far different then the cash grab in Pasadena.

 

[UoweDucks]

I have heard that you can expect a Pac-10 network in the not so distant future.

 

[TOOTIGHT]

Forget playing in a weak-ass dome, play it in Soldier Field! I know it's rediculously cold that time of year but i have had more fun as a fan, freezing my ass off in Chicago, than sitting in a warm stadium down south (never seen a game out west). Maybe I'm crazy and it will never happen but that is just my opinion.

It definately sucks for the Big Ten having to play USC at the Rose Bowl, LSU in the New Orleans (sometimes), SEC and ACC teams in Orlando and Tampa sometimes Miami depending on the Orange Bowl match up, Texas team in the Alamo Bowl (sometimes), ect...

Not that this excuses their bowl performances the last few years but still sucks to not have a nuetral site.

 

[FairWarning]

i have heard that you can expect a pac-10 network in the not so distant future.

 

[Conan]

Forget playing in a weak-ass dome, play it in Soldier Field! I know it's rediculously cold that time of year but i have had more fun as a fan, freezing my ass off in Chicago, than sitting in a warm stadium down south (never seen a game out west). Maybe I'm crazy and it will never happen but that is just my opinion.

It definately sucks for the Big Ten having to play USC at the Rose Bowl, LSU in the New Orleans (sometimes), SEC and ACC teams in Orlando and Tampa sometimes Miami depending on the Orange Bowl match up, Texas team in the Alamo Bowl (sometimes), ect...

Not that this excuses their bowl performances the last few years but still sucks to not have a neutral site.

I think the only problem with the Rose Bowl is that it's UCLA's home field which means that the whole Pac-10 has played there. I don't think it's fair but the location was non-affiliated for a very long time when most all of the Rose Bowls were played. Other than it's location in So. Calif. where it's warm and sunny in January, the only difference between that stadium's location and any other would be the # of frequent flier miles involved in getting there.

When USC isn't in the Rose Bowl, the hotels fill up twice as fast because fans from Arizona or even from N.Calif. need to travel to get there and make accommodations, albeit less travel than someone from the midwest. But even then, it's a nice vacation for anyone from the midwest and I don't think the venue provides a home field advantage, except now its UCLA's home field and more familiar to the rest of the Pac-10. I don't particularly like it but it's not as much of a biased stadium as people make it seem. Sure when USC or UCLA gets a Rose Bowl invite, it's like playing in a local stadium which is of course much more of an advantage to them than any other Pac-10 school. The stress of traveling doesn't exist for them, but only for them.

I'd be all for another BCS Bowl game to be set up in the mid-west at any of the stadiums Fairwarning mentioned. In fact, a game in the Metrodome (twin cities) or Lucas Field (Indy) would be a classy move by the BCS and if it thaws out the B-11's opposition to a playoff system, then so be it. I think it's a fair request, at least it should be considered for a first round game among 2 top 12 BCS teams, perhaps one from the B-11 to make it fair. That kind of thing can easily be handled by seeding the competitors and coming up with a few rules to go by.

Meanwhile, the Pac-10 keeps the Rose Bowl. The ACC keeps the Orange Bowl and the SEC keeps the Sugar Bowl. It would be nice to see the B-12 get either the Fiesta Bowl in Arizona or maybe the Cotton Bowl in Dallas when they get into that new stadium. I think about 6 BCS Bowl sites would do the trick for a playoff system including one in the midwest for the B-11 to call it's home.

Rose, Fiesta, Sugar, Orange, Cotton and Indy or Metro? Top 12 teams go. The top 4 get bye weeks in round 1 and a free ticket to the quarter-finals in round 2. From there it would be an 8-team playoff starting with the 4 major bowls we have now. There could even be a bye week between the semis and NC game.
That works for me. It would take a month to play all the games and end up with a real NC that was decided fair and square.

 

[Conan]

I just read today that there's a bill about to be proposed in congress (Orin Hatch from Utah) from one very pissed off senator that thinks Utah deserved a shot at the NC but was shut out because teams in over half of the Div 1-A are not BCS schools and they are denied the chance for a piece of the pie when everyone else gets theirs. He's got a point.

So part of the bill will involve anti-trust investigations into the validity of the BCS system and there's also a provision to require the NCAA to remove the words "National Champion" from anything referring to anyone being a national champion on the books for at least the last few years.

I think a lot of people will go for that too.

:nohead: