Regardless of not profitable a nationwide championship, there’s an argument that the Gonzaga males’s basketball program has been the usual for the final 5 to 10 years, excluding Villanova. Mark Few has produced a stage of consistency that’s tough to match. Regardless of this, the potential transfer to a Energy 6 convention appears to be too large of a carrot for the Zags basketball program to disregard.
Massive 12
A number of stories say Massive 12 commissioner Brett Yormak is aggressively courting Gonzaga. Final month, Sports activities Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger reported, “The convention has aggressively courted a number of Pac-12 faculties, in addition to Gonzaga, in a bid to additional develop.”
Gonzaga’s present West Coast Convention rival, BYU, has already accepted a bid to hitch the Massive 12 subsequent faculty yr. Texas and Oklahoma will head to the SEC in 2024. The Massive 12 additionally provides Houston, UCF, and Cincinnati in response.
The chance of Gonzaga having a number of wars a season with basketball powerhouses Kansas, Baylor, and Houston may be very compelling. The Massive 12 has been the most effective and deepest convention in basketball the previous few seasons, and the hole would solely widen with the potential addition of Gonzaga.
It’s straightforward to see why Gonzaga could be a draw for any convention. In a 2021 report, the lads’s and girls’s basketball packages earned $20 million in income. Nevertheless, a union with the Massive 12 would create large journey bills for the opposite sports activities groups.
Pac-12
The Pac-12 would appear to be a pure geographical match for Gonzaga. Along with the benefit of journey, there could be a seamless transition for the opposite sports activities Gonzaga affords. The key roadblock is on the Pac-12’s facet. They’ve but to comply with a dedication with a TV community or streaming service to broadcast their video games, which can doubtless prioritize soccer. Apple is reported to be contemplating buying the published rights for Pac-12 sports activities.
With its two most distinguished manufacturers leaving the convention, the Pac-12 is in disarray. In the end, this causes some hang-ups in any potential deal between Gonzaga and the Pac-12, however the voids left by USC and UCLA nonetheless must be stuffed.