The Pac-12 is dead; long live the Pac-12.
One of college football's most durable conferences passed (in its current state) into history Friday evening as Washington defeated Oregon 34–31 to win the league’s final championship game. The well-played contest was a fitting sendoff to the century-old hub for power-conference football on the West Coast.
It was also, a Saturday ESPN release revealed, destined to become a bitterly ironic trivia answer.
The network announced that the final championship game in the history of the Pac-12—a conference torn asunder largely in the name of TV revenue—was the most watched ever. ABC's viewing audience peaked at 11.1 million viewers, an astounding figure for a Friday night even with the game's top-five matchup.
The final Pac-12 championship game was the most watched ever. pic.twitter.com/VnJegmAzIR
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) December 2, 2023
Amazingly, the game drew nearly 50% more viewers than it did in 2022—even accounting for the fact that last season's game between USC and Utah was closely watched for CFP purposes by Ohio State's sprawling fanbase.
Guess we'd better get rid of it!! https://t.co/1a2yoM6xLV
— Jason Kirk (buy my novel) (@JasonKirk_fyi) December 2, 2023
It’s a disgrace that the conference is over https://t.co/uM8pQKsxaY
— Chris Dokish (@ChrisDokish) December 2, 2023
Look at this viewership number.
— Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) December 2, 2023
An epic disaster that this conference dissolved. So many suits to blame. https://t.co/2OOCn1x9nn
If only those negotiations were taking place now ... https://t.co/C2cGDu3fRC
— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) December 2, 2023
If TV networks only had an inkling of how compelling a conference the Pac-12 would turn out to be in 2023, perhaps the league would have survived. It wasn’t to be, however, and its schools are destined to link up with Rutgers, UCF and Boston College in 2024 and beyond.
