The Pac-10 has officially been re-mapped.
On Wednesday, conference Commissioner Larry Scott announced that a decision had been reached concerning the alignment of the new-look Pac-12, which will incorporate Utah and Colorado beginning next season.
The biggest news coming out of the announcement was the installation of a new division format. UCLA will be placed in the Pac-12 South, along with USC, Arizona, Arizona State, Utah and Colorado. That leaves Stanford, Cal, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington and Washington State to comprise the Pac-12 North.
Discussion swirled during the build-up to the new alignment, with much of the controversy caused by the fact that most schools did not want to be separated from their California brethren for recruiting and exposure purposes. Thus, the conference made sure that there were two California schools in each division.
Although UCLA is now separated from traditional rivals Stanford and Cal, the teams are still guaranteed to play every season. That stipulation means that ““ because each team will continue to play a nine-game conference schedule ““ UCLA will play the five other teams in its division plus Cal and Stanford each season, with the remaining two games rotating between Oregon and Washington.
With a 12-team conference comes the big ticket: a conference championship game to be played in December at the stadium of the team with the best conference record. The motive for that, as Scott announced, was to maintain an exciting atmosphere for the game, as well as to ensure that the top finisher was properly rewarded.
For basketball, each team will play its geographical rival and six other teams twice. Teams will play one game apiece against each of the other four teams. Outside of the geographic rivals, the six-and-four setup will rotate on a yearly basis.
Immediately following the establishment of the new division format will be the beginning of the conference’s new TV contract, which will begin in September of 2012.
UCLA and USC will be affected by the new deal, which will distribute revenue on an equal basis instead of rewarding the two Los Angeles schools more money. That said, should media revenues end up being less than $170 million, UCLA and USC will both earn a $2 million bonus.