My CSU buddy has this dream. In it, Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff rings the Rams up and invites them to fill one of the slots abandoned by — irony of all ironies — the CU Buffs.
Lordy, what a party. Cam and company happily accept, finally giving Power 5 status to a campus that’s poured dump trucks full of cash into Power 5 facilities. And the wacky part of this dream? There’s a twist ending, one co-written by M. Night Shyamalan and former CSU AD Jack Graham, in which the pages from the calendar on the wall fly away, as if in an old movie.
It’s suddenly July 2029. Deion Sanders is coaching the Dallas Cowboys. The Big 12 implodes. CU’s still-chancellor, Phil DiStefano, swears he’s never, ever, ever, ever stopped loving the Pac-12. And the Rammies are swimming in dough above it all, a Little Brother immune from the chaos and strife.
Reality, sadly, is a little more complicated.
Buzz on the street (and whatever Elon Musk is calling Twitter these days) says the Pac-12 has CSU on stand-by. Which could mean anything. Or nothing at all. Oregon and Washington — and the Ducks, especially — hold all the cards now.
Still, if I’m Rams AD Joe Parker, I’m texting Big 12 commish Brent Yormark at the top of every hour. I’m messaging Kliavkoff every 25 minutes.
If we’ve learned anything from the last 18 months, it’s this: Rest on your laurels, and there’s a good chance you’ll wind up sleeping through the revolution.
Although, if nothing comes of said buzz, it’s probably not the Rams’ fault, either. If the Pac-12 is really into Denver as a market and the Front Range as a target audience, they’ve sure had a funny way of showing it.
For all the talk about market size (important) and brands (very important), football success (extremely important) and academics (not as important as they say), I’m not sure Kliavkoff could find Fort Collins without an intern calling it up on Google Maps, based on our exchanges since he took office in 2021.
Despite being what is — and soon won’t be — the largest eastern outpost in its conference, the Pac-12 in recent years often acted like it didn’t give a rat’s patootie about Denver.
Pac-12 Network penetration continues to be spotty here, much to the frustration of CU faithful. Yes, Buffs football, 2016 and some of 2020 notwithstanding, has been historically irrelevant for a decade, and much of the blame for that lands squarely at the feet of the wingtips in Boulder. But neither Kliavkoff nor his well-heeled predecessor, “Luxury” Larry Scott, went out of their way to try and bridge that gap, either.
That said, given the last 18 months, everything has to be on the table now. Everything. Funny enough, the powers that be have been especially careful as of late. CSU and CU officials were quite chatty last summer, when USC and UCLA chucked a spanner at logic and tradition by fleeing the Pac-12 for the Big Ten. But as of Saturday afternoon, administrators have declined requests from The Post to talk on-record about what the heck is going on.
The Big 12 announcement in Boulder on Thursday came off as remarkably muted compared to the pomp and circumstance of 2010, when Luxury Larry flew into Boulder, with Folsom Field as his backdrop, to announce a brave new Buffs world.
Yormark, comparatively, was nowhere near Front Range scribes, and AD Rick George and chancellor Phil DiStefano, at times, sounded more resigned than celebratory as they welcomed the Big 12 back into their collective embrace.
Come to think of it, Thursday’s media scrum, which was announced by Buffs brass only a few hours before it kicked off, felt more like a news conference for the canning of a football coach — something George and DiStefano have plenty of practice with — than the fire, brimstone, cheerleaders and celebration that came with the introduction of Deion Sanders. Crew members shooting and editing Coach Prime’s reality TV series almost outnumbered reporters. Since the Deion Media Circus began pitching its tents in BoCo, that was a first.
And we get it. Privately, CU officials didn’t want to rub it in the faces of the Pac-12, which is completely understandable, given relationships and politics going forward. But they also just tire-ironed Kliavkoff in secret only a few days after he’d publicly dismissed the idea of schools leaving for the Big 12 before a slew of reporters in Las Vegas, so — sorry, fellas. The damage was already done. Own it.
But the Rams have also circled the wagons in recent days, which is weird, with a response for Parker’s take coming via a canned statement. Although what he told me last summer still applies:
“I think I’ve always consistently said, we have a desire to play at the highest level possible for our athletic department,” Parker said. “But I think if you’re really paying attention to what’s happening there, there is a consolidation and separation that’s taking place … I think we’re moving in a direction where there’s probably going to be certainly 32, but maybe 40 or so schools, that are really moving in a much different direction, just by virtue of the way they’re valued by TV. And that’s not a bad thing.”
If there’s comfort for the Rammies as the Pac-12 starts shopping, it’s that the other potential Mountain West expatriates have warts, too. San Diego State ticks the most boxes: It’s had football and men’s hoops success, brings a good market, SoCal and a swanky stadium, but also appears to be getting its legal advice via the Gumbys from “Monty Python’s Flying Circus.” Boise State’s problem is that it’s in, well, Boise.
If nothing else, at least Ralphie running back to the Big 12 creates more Rocky Mountain Showdown windows! Well, potentially. The Buffs find themselves with at least six non-conference slots to fill, presumably, between 2025 and 2037 — home-and-homes with Houston (’25 and ’26), Kansas State (’27 and ’28) and Oklahoma State (’36 and ’37), now league opponents, need to be replaced.
Which is interesting, because the Rams reportedly still haven’t booked the weekend of Sept. 16, 2028, which could fill one of those K-State slots; or the weekend of Sept. 13, 2036, which could account for one of the Cowboys’ slots. CSU is scheduled to play big brother this fall in Boulder on Sept. 16 and host the Buffs on Sept. 14, 2024.
But the series is slated to take another long pause after that, resuming in 2029-’30, ‘33-’34 and ’37-38. Why not a throw one more home-and-home into the mix, just for old time’s sake? A man can dream.
