The new Pac-12 doesn’t need a football media day to prove it belongs. If anything, skipping the whole production might be the smartest thing it does all summer.
A lot of the reaction has been overblown, as if the league had somehow pulled the plug on the season. Some took the decision as proof the rebuilt conference isn’t ready for the spotlight.
Others called it a missed chance for a league trying to reset its image. Neither read really holds up.
Media days have become one of college football’s most overrated rituals. They look good on TV, they feed the social-media machine and they help fill out preseason coverage.
But actual news? Not much.
The usual script is familiar: coaches talk up their teams, quarterbacks say they’ve taken “the next step,” and every defense is supposedly bigger, faster and deeper than before. Most of the players hauled in for the event don’t say anything that sticks.
It’s coachspeak, just with better lighting.
The Pac-12 was the conference that first came up with the media day concept in 1991, replacing the old Skywriters’ Tour. So there’s a certain irony in the idea that the rebuilt league may be helping push college football toward a new version of the same thing: less ballroom pageantry, more actual football.
Could the conference have rented a venue, flown in coaches and players, spent $1 million and put on a polished show with bags, baubles and all the rest? Sure. But what would that really have solved?
The important stuff still happens on campuses. Beat writers can still get interviews.
TV crews can still get their sound bites. National outlets can still request access.
Fans can still hear from coaches and players. The only thing missing is everyone in conference-logo polos standing under the same set of lights.
And when you look back, the memorable moments from Pac-12 Media Day were never really about the football anyway. One of the most talked-about recent headlines came when Arizona coach Jedd Fisch brought quarterback Jayden de Laura as one of the Wildcats’ representatives even though de Laura had a pending sexual assault case.
That’s the kind of thing people remember. Not who picked first in the North or South.
The same pattern showed up this week at Big 12 Media Days, where one of the biggest talking points wasn’t about playoff contenders. It was a Texas Tech media personality confronting Commissioner Brett Yormark over what was seen as disrespect toward the Red Raiders.
The Pac-12 says the money it saves will go toward promotional campaigns and local media events in the months ahead. That makes sense.
College athletics is in a cost-cutting mood everywhere, even as conferences try to squeeze out more revenue. Spending heavily on an event that mostly generates recycled quotes doesn’t exactly scream discipline.
There is, to be fair, a case for a splashy event. The Pac-12 is trying to introduce itself all over again - new schools, new identity, new future. A big media day could have created a burst of attention.
Probably for about 24 hours.
That’s the limit of the hype. The real attention comes from the field.
If Washington State, Oregon State, Boise State and the rest of the league put an entertaining, nationally relevant product on the field, people will notice. The TV ratings will follow.
The storylines will follow.
If the football isn’t compelling, no July showcase is going to fix that.
One thing the conference should still do is make commissioner Teresa Gould available. Reporters should be able to ask about media rights, scheduling, expansion and the league’s long-term vision.
But that doesn’t require a ballroom or a buffet lunch. A Zoom session gets the job done for a lot less money.
Would a Pac-12 media day have been nice for fans? Sure.
Necessary? Not even close.
The conference doesn’t need a made-for-TV pep rally to prove it’s legitimate.
It needs good football.