even with the longstanding affiliation with the PAC12 and Rose Bowl would forsake the playoffs to throw a life line to the PAC12. The Rose Bowl while a NYD6 Bowl largely retains its relevance these days from the tie to the playoffs more than its PAC12/Big 10 partnership. The Rose Bowl no longer enjoys the prominence and stature it once did from a historical perspective. It has largely already lost its luster for players outside of the PAC12. Kids in the Big 10 hold it in no where near the same regard as a Top 4 spot in the CFP and the PAC12 kids have an attraction for two main reasons. One is geography and the second, most importantly, it really is their last option to play in a nationally relevant game given the fact that they are generally out of the serious playoff discussions by late October each year.

The PAC12 is rapidly careening toward life support, if not already on it in terms of revenue sport relevance. They have 1 national championship in football or basketball in the last twenty years and even that one was shared. More importantly, a number of their programs are being propped up by substantial subsidies from the university side, with the University of California-Berkeley being the most dire having received approximately $110 million in subsidies in the last 5-7 years. Its two historically marquee programs, UCLA and USC, are hot messes at present. In reality, only Stanford with its war chest endowment, and Oregon, with Nike as its white Knight(pun intended), are competing from stable positions and, if by some chance the Canes back up the money truck for Cristobal and he takes it, that would be another flashing red light regarding the conference as a whole. I think the PAC12's issues are far more significant than even a continuing Rose Bowl affiliation can solve or compensate for in the long run. The longer the situation runs with Larry Scott in charge and the university Presidents failing to demand a concrete and verifiable plan as opposed to pie in the sky equity plans only makes the situation worse. Of course, they could also be the smartest guys in the room and have concluded that college athletics as we currently know it is already dead and why make any further decisions until they get a better read on where the future is going. ;-)
[Post edited by 2hhoop3 at 02/13/2020 10:57AM]