Should the Pac-12 and the American form an alliance?

YouTube creator Bucky Berrix published a proposal this week for a formal alliance between the Pac-12 and the American Conference — two conferences that would remain structurally independent but cooperate on media rights, cross-conference scheduling and playoff advocacy.

The logic is straightforward. The American makes roughly $7 million per school per year from its ESPN deal, and the Pac-12's new media agreement is reported in a similar range. The Big 12, the lowest-earning power conference, makes more than $30 million. Berrix argues a combined media package — sold through partners like the CW, CBS and a streaming platform rather than buried on ESPN+ — would generate more revenue than two separate deals because the combined product is more attractive to a buyer than either piece individually. A unified bloc could also push for both conference champions to receive College Football Playoff bids.

The combined alliance would control the biggest brands in the G6. The American brings Memphis, Tulane, South Florida, East Carolina, Army and Navy. The Pac-12 brings Boise State, San Diego State and two former Power 5 programs in Oregon State and Washington State. The alliance would also include emerging brands like James Madison and UTSA, and programs that have had their moments like North Texas, Fresno State, UAB and Florida Atlantic. Beyond football, the two conferences would combine Gonzaga and Wichita State — elite basketball programs that carry national television weight on their own. Spread across multiple time zones, that roster represents the strongest concentration of non-Power 4 inventory in college sports.

The argument is reasonable, and some version of it has filtered through college football's "best of the rest" conversations for more than a decade.

In October 2011, Conference USA Commissioner Britton Banowsky and Mountain West Commissioner Craig Thompson announced that their two leagues were working to merge football operations by 2013. By February 2012, 16 schools — including UAB — had agreed to dissolve both conferences and form a new league spanning five time zones, with east-west divisions, a conference basketball tournament and a four-team conference football playoff that would have been the first of its kind in FBS.

Banowsky described the vision in Birmingham that April: "The fundamental idea is to develop a collective marketing strategy and take assets over time — not in the short run, but in the long run — to build a brand and be able to market that brand."

The financial argument was the same one Berrix makes now. CUSA's Fox deal was valued at about $7 million a year according to SportsBusiness Journal, and CUSA had a secondary CBS deal worth about $7 million annually, according to the Orlando Sentinel. The Mountain West had partnerships with CBS and NBC/Comcast. Banowsky saw an opportunity to "create new inventory that will bring new value" by combining the two conferences' television assets across five time zones. That $7 million per-school figure is in the same range as what both the Pac-12 and the American earn today — 15 years later.

The merger died because the schools with the most value kept leaving. The Big East raided both conferences while the ink was still wet on the merger announcement. Houston, Memphis, UCF and SMU left CUSA. Boise State and San Diego State initially committed to the Big East for football before ultimately staying in the Mountain West. TCU left for the Big 12. By May 2012, UTEP Athletic Director Bob Stull acknowledged the merged league would cost approximately $6.5 million in lost revenue from NCAA tournament bids and buyout fees. The language had already shifted. "Our position," Stull said, "is to work towards creating a 24-team alliance with a championship football game, east-west divisions."

The word "merger" became "alliance," and the alliance never materialized.

The lineage matters because the conferences Berrix wants to unite are direct descendants of the ones that tried and failed in 2012. The American Athletic Conference formed when CUSA schools joined remnants of the Big East, trying to cut the pie smaller among stronger programs. Houston and UCF eventually moved on to the Big 12. SMU left for the ACC. Memphis stayed in the American. Today's Pac-12 stayed alive when top Mountain West brands — Boise State, San Diego State, Fresno State, Colorado State — joined what was left of the old Pac-12 after its Power 4 members scattered.

These are the same schools wearing different jersey patches, and the conversation cycling back around to the same place tells you something about the structural forces driving it. The gap between the power conferences and everyone else keeps growing. The schools outside that circle keep looking for ways to close it. And the ideas they generate — pooled media rights, cross-conference scheduling, unified playoff advocacy — keep running into the same wall: the schools want each other until they don't. Mostly, they act in their own self-interest, and self-interest can change on a dime.

Banowsky knew it at the time. "That whole BCS AQ status label is very destructive and damaging," he told the Orlando Sentinel in October 2011. "What you can see, it's tearing these conferences apart."

Replace "BCS AQ status" with "Power 4" and the sentence still works.

Berrix raises real strategic points beyond the media deal. The antitrust landscape is worth examining — the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 grants pooling exemptions to professional leagues but not to college conferences, and the Protect College Sports Act includes a provision that could change that with 75% approval from FBS schools. Cross-conference scheduling across multiple sports creates inventory that neither conference can offer alone. A unified voting bloc carries more weight in playoff negotiations than two separate voices. These are legitimate structural arguments, and Berrix makes them well.

The question is whether any of those arguments survive the next time a power conference calls one of the alliance's best programs. That is the test every "best of the rest" proposal has failed, going back through every round of conference realignment this century.

Troy and South Alabama — Sun Belt members in Diehard's coverage footprint — are watching these dynamics from one tier further down, as is Jacksonville State in CUSA, especially as the Sun Belt loses James Madison to the American. What happens at the top of the G6 shapes the options for everyone below it.

You can watch Berrix's full discussion on YouTube.

What do you think? Is a Pac-12/American alliance realistic? Could it survive the same forces that have killed every previous attempt? And what happens to the rest of the G6 if the top two conferences pursue the alliance Berrix advocates?