If the Pac-12 collapses after Tulane joins, Green Wave athletics could be left in a much worse spot.Įven in a perfect world where the Pac-12 figures out its media rights deal, retains all its current schools and expands to include Tulane, moving to the Pac-12 is still a terrible idea.Ĭonsider the student-athletes, especially for sports not named football - they would have to travel across the country to play their games, which are potentially in the middle of the week. Tulane was lucky that the AAC turned out to be a good, well-established conference. Meanwhile, the remaining schools rebranded the old conference as the AAC. Seven basketball-playing Catholic schools split off and became the “new” Big East. In that case, the departure of the University of West Virginia, University of Louisville, Rutgers University, Syracuse University and the University of Pittsburgh hastened the collapse of that conference. The situation mirrors the early 2010s when the Big East Conference- in an act of pure desperation - added Tulane. Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley are two other schools that could also move to the Big Ten. If these dominoes fall, the University of Oregon and the University of Washington could jump to the Big Ten. Currently, the Big-12 is eyeing adding Pac-12 members University of Colorado-Boulder, University of Utah, University of Arizona and Arizona State University. The problems start with whether or not the Pac-12 will survive as we know it. That being said, its new deal will still likely be more lucrative than Tulane’s current situation. As for the Pac-12, its $3 billion deal, which pays schools $21 million annually, is set to expire next year.Ĭurrently, the Pac-12 is struggling to renegotiate their media rights deal after the departure of two marquee programs to the Big Ten Conference: the University of Southern California and UCLA. The deal promises $1 billion dollars over 12 years, working out to $7 million dollars annually to each school. Currently, the AAC has a media rights deal with ESPN set to expire in 2032. The primary incentive for a Tulane conference move is money. While those speculations are unlikely, there are several reasons why Tulane, a school on the Gulf Coast, should not join the Pac-12, a conference along the Pacific coast. Rumors that Tulane University would leave the American Athletic Conference and join the Pacific-12 Conference recently resurfaced.

Tulane CB Jarius Monroe defends a pass intended for a USC receiver during the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic.

Tulane conference realignment