Thursday was a historic day for the University of Utah when the school was formally invited to become the 12th member of the Pac-10 Conference. Pac-10 Commissioner Larry Scott, who extended the long-awaited invitation to join the league beginning in 2011, spoke at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
Question: Will the Pac-10 divide into divisions and have a championship game?
Answer: "We haven't decided yet. The process now is going to be to go through and dig into all those questions. Do we have a championship football game, and if so, will we have divisions and how will those be organized? All of this expansion stuff has happened at a rapid pace, and now there are a lot of details we will get into."
Question: Will you rename the conference?
Answer: "There are a few conferences out there that have math problems right now. We're one of them. We intend to discuss that internally over the coming weeks, and we expect we will announce that fairly soon."
Question: What about the possibility of a conference television network?
Answer: "There is some significance for the broader exposure of many sports and gaining more national exposure for more programs. We are in the process of developing a business plan but don't negotiate the agreements until next year."
Question: What is the status of Colorado's revenue share? (Utah will become a full member in revenue sharing over three years.)
Answer: "There is an open question about the date that Colorado will come in. When we made the announcement, it was 2012. But when all the dust settles, there is a possibility the timetable will move up to 2011 to start with Utah. When they start in 2012, they will start as a full member in regards to revenue sharing, but if they start earlier we will have to discuss that."
Question: Are there any more plans for future expansion for the Pac-10?
Answer: "We are done. This concludes our activities around expansion for now. I had authority from the presidents and chancellors for several scenarios and got approval for this. These conversations have been going on for a few months. There has been long-standing interest in (Utah) and specifically since the beginning of June. I think we'll see things settling down nationally now, but I think things will get back to a new normalcy."