The Pac-12 is now headed for potential dissolution, thanks to Friday’s expected but still startling move of Stanford and Cal to the ACC along with SMU — extending the wildest round of conference realignment in college sports history.

Despite stated objections from existing members such as North Carolina and Florida State over revenue-distribution concerns, the ACC will become the latest, coast-to-coast conference with a geographic footprint from Florida to California, beginning with the 2024-25 academic year. 

The Pac-12 now has only two members for next year and beyond, Oregon State and Washington State — and both schools are actively being sought by the Mountain West Conference.

A pair of prevailing options are now in front of Oregon State and WSU:

• The schools could join the MWC in a straightforward shift. The AAC — which had previously shown interest in adding Oregon State and WSU — said Friday it will no longer consider schools in the Pacific time zone, citing travel concerns.
• They could seek to rebuild the Pac-12 by recruiting other schools or executing a reverse merger with the MWC.

WSU president Kirk Schulz said earlier this week that his school prefers the latter option, but that remains by far the most complex scenario. Also, it will be impossible for a rebuilt Pac-12 to land the lucrative media rights deal crucial to its survival without first solidifying a critical mass of members.

“Our market size, eyeballs on television, did not create the leverage needed to be in a different circumstance,” Scott Barnes, Oregon State athletic director, said Friday. “That said, we will find the right place for our student-athletes, and the highest and best place for them to compete.”

Already facing a wide range of mounting internal and industry challenges, ESPN and parent company Disney are now dark on the country’s second-largest cable carrier due to a nasty distribution dispute with Charter Spectrum.

Nineteen Disney channels — including ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPNU — went dark on Charter Spectrum late Thursday, removing those networks from 14.7 million subscribers across 41 states, including many in key media markets such as New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Atlanta, with sports standing as a central component in the battle.

Perhaps most jarring, the channel removal happened Thursday evening in the midst of the U.S. Open — a key event for ESPN — as well as coverage of a Florida-Utah college football game. And the dispute is now set to extend into what will be a jam-packed sports weekend that will include more tennis, college football, and baseball, plus other programming on ESPN networks.

And without immediate resolution, even bigger events such as the Sept. 11 start of “Monday Night Football” are at risk.

“We’re on the edge of a precipice. We’re either moving forward with a new collaborative video model, or we’re moving on,” Charter president CEO Chris Winfrey said in a call with Wall Street analysts on Friday. “This is not a typical carriage dispute.”

Disney said it is trying to reach a “market-based agreement,” and particularly blasted Charter’s actions as a “disservice to consumers” in depriving millions from the start of the 2023 college football season and U.S. Open.

“Disney Entertainment has successful deals in place with pay-TV providers of all types and sizes across the country,” the company said. “We’re committed to reaching a mutually agreed-upon resolution with Charter, and we urge them to work with us to minimize the disruption to their consumers.”

The fight arrives as Disney is pursuing a potential equity deal for ESPN and facing an ongoing decline in linear subscriptions and — at least for the moment — in ESPN+ subscribers, as well.

There is seemingly no limit to tennis fans’ fever for what is already the sport’s most lucrative major.

Less than one week into the main draw of the 2023 U.S. Open, the tournament has already set three single-day attendance records — and remains on track to surpass last year’s record-setting total draw of 776,120.

Monday’s single-day attendance of 72,957 set a tournament record that lasted only 48 hours, as Wednesday’s total hit 73,007. That record fell, too, with Thursday’s 73,201.

They Built It, They’re Coming

The impressive figures are no accident. 

The 23,771-seat Arthur Ashe Stadium, the largest tennis stadium in the world, now features a roof to allow for continuous play, as does its companion, the 14,000-seat Louis Armstrong Stadium. 

And though its notoriously long-running night sessions have drawn criticism from fans and players alike, the tournament structure is specifically designed to boost tennis’ accessibility to mass audiences.

The ongoing attendance figures follow a record draw of more than 150,000 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center for the Aug. 22-27 U.S. Open Fan Week, which included qualifying competition. That figure is a 41% increase from a 2022 attendance that had also set an event record.

The fan turnout is helping support a $65 million U.S. Open prize pool, the largest of tennis’ four majors — and which is set for a further increase in 2024.