THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: Conference realignment, WSU and separating perception from reality

“Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”

—Philosopher Mike Tyson

YES, I had a plan for this holiday weekend.

So did Kirk Schulz, esteemed president of Washington State University.

You’d have to guess that Pat Chun, WSU’s athletic director, had something set up for a Fourth of July celebration, as well.

Oh, and let’s not forget George Kliavkoff, commissioner of the Pac-12 Conference.

Whatever HE was planning for the weekend was damn sure interrupted.

The stunning news that USC and UCLA had decided to bolt from the group in 2024 shocked everyone — and left the other 10 conference schools wondering what to do next.

Here in the Inland Northwest, our thoughts naturally turn to Wazzu, which because of money, national exposure, recruiting, TV appeal and so many other things …

You’d have to call the Cougs one of the Pac-12’s “have-nots.”

As such, WSU will be somewhat at the mercy of others when it comes to rearranging (or blowing up) the 107-year-old Pac-12.

SINCE the decision of the Los Angeles schools to depart for larger paychecks in the Big Ten was about greed, pure and simple …

The only way to predict what comes next is through that prism.

Don’t bother with coaches or ADs.

Call the CFOs.

For what it’s worth, yes, I’ve already received a ton of your emails about the fate of the Pac-12, and everyone has questions.

I’m going to write a proper Q&A column for Tuesday, addressing the most obvious issues you’ve brought up and how they might be resolved.

For today, though, I thought I’d share a few things that we either know or suspect.

And that brings me back to Washington State.

There are plenty of programs at risk with the Pac-12 being shredded — even as we wonder if the departures are finished?

WSU has to be near the top of that list.

History, success, rivalries and everything else goes out the window in predicting how this mess eventually will come to a stopping point.

Where schools might wind up, who they’ll play, how much revenue they can bring in and all of that comes down to one — and ONLY one — overriding issue.

What is your brand worth to rival national media organizations?

Trust me …

I can’t type that sentence often enough.

USC and UCLA are off to play in the Midwest because they are big-name brands — and the Big Ten ran the numbers to make absolutely sure.

The Big Ten hopes that the two L.A. schools will help rake in more money in media deals than it will cost adding two extra slices to the payout pile.

BELIEVE it or not, Washington State — even in a worst-case, hello to the Mountain West scenario — isn’t in the Pac-12’s most precarious position.

If the conference were to collapse entirely, or its media rights drop to untenable levels, we might see the end of Division I football at Stanford, at Cal, or both.

Yes, really.

The Bay Area schools do not have massive football brands because touchdowns do not match the primary goals of those universities.

Silly, I know, but Stanford and Cal are almost entirely about higher education.

Much higher.

Anyone wondering why the University of California regents would let one of its schools (UCLA) feather its athletic nest at the expense of a brother in Berkeley, well …

That might be your answer.

Meanwhile, everyone is assuming that Washington — which DOES have a healthy football brand (recent Apple Cup humiliation notwithstanding) — will be in great demand.

Same with Oregon.

Surely, those two schools can quickly find homes in bigger and wealthier conferences.

That notion is very, very premature.

Neither school means all that much to folks outside the West — despite what the population of Seattle and Phil Knight might think.

ESPN viewers in New Jersey probably don’t know the difference between Washington and Washington State.

I’ve lived in other parts of the country, and I PROMISE you that most football fans — the people those media giants are targeting — know almost nothing about West Coast teams.

They think Utah has a border on the Pacific Ocean.

USC and UCLA were different because Los Angeles is different, a monstrous media and glamor center that DOES reach into the heads and homes of folks in Georgia and Michigan.

Grasping the realization that USC and UCLA have been part of a different universe all along, hey …

That’s where you should start if you’re trying to puzzle out how the Pac-12 got to this spot.

It’s also where you begin while wondering if ESPN might throw a lifeboat to the current Pac-10.

But all is not lost, believe me.

More on Tuesday, gang.

Email: [email protected]

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press three times each week. He also writes Zags Tracker, a commentary on Gonzaga basketball which is published monthly during the offseason, and weekly beginning in October.

Steve suggests you take his opinions in the spirit of a Jimmy Buffett song: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.”