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Pac 12 Logo

July 28, 2010 by · Comments Off on Pac 12 Logo 

Pac 12 Logo, NEW YORK – For years, people in the Pac-10 – from players to fans – have complained of a lack of recognition and so-called East Coast bias that caused the conference to be underestimated at the national level.

Commissioner Larry Scott, who grew up in New York on Long Island, he decided that instead of complaining that it was time for the league to do something about it.

Say goodbye to the old Pac-10. The league has a new logo, a new aggressive attitude and two new members are expected to arrive in 2011. And when Colorado and Utah officially join the conference will also have a new name.

The Pac-12 is underway.

“We will be mathematically correct forward,” Scott said Monday at a news conference at a Manhattan hotel.

Scott brought all football coaches and some of their star quarterbacks – including Washington Jake Locker and the fate of Stanford, Andrew – to the Big Apple for a couple of days to call attention to a little over a conference that has been doing a lot of headlines this offseason.

In June, Scott nearly turned the Pac-10 in the Pac-16 – and in the process nearly killed Big 12.

But Texas, Oklahoma and three other Big 12 teams, decided to stay and Scott had to settle with the addition of Colorado and Utah.

It was a bold move by a conference known for being quite the opposite. Scott, about to begin his second season as commissioner, says he received a mandate from the university presidents working to rebuild the league and that included the task.

“I spent my first three months of listening rate,” he said. “The common refrain that kept hearing everyone recognizes excellence in the Pac-10 here on the West Coast, but do not feel like getting the respect we deserve nationally.

“He seemed a bit of an excuse and that the Pac-10 in my opinion was very quiet and passive in terms of how they went about telling his story and promoting itself,” he said.

“For me it was the disconnect people concerned about that, but they were not really doing much about it.”

The Pac-10 has been carrying out its preseason football media event at an airport hotel in Los Angeles for years. The one-day event drew attention to just west of Arizona, especially in comparison with the media circus days of lectures by another power, such as the Southeastern Conference, Big 12 and Big Ten.

Scott attended his first half Pac-10 football days last year and was less than impressed.

“This can not be how we are promoting,” said his reaction.

It is difficult to imagine the coaches in the SEC or Big Ten pack for a few days just before the start of training camp and travel to New York City, just to meet the media, but coaches embraced Scott idea.

Oregon coach Chip Kelly, one with roots in northeastern New England, loves the idea of the outreach program of the Pac-10.

“I think it is smart. I have friends in the Northeast who want to see us play, but they’re getting 12 great games,” Kelly said. “Why are not receiving the Pac-10 games?”

And that will be the biggest challenge of Scott. The Pac-10 will be in the market for a new television contract starting next year. Scott goal is to reach an agreement that will allow it to compete with the SEC and the Big Note, they are paying their members about twice the Pac-10 teams make offers based mainly on television more profitable.

The new logo – an elegant looking shield with pictures of the waves and the mountains surrounding the number 10 (for now) – a new website and a new video that refers to Lewis and Clark exploration are welcome first steps, but that the Pac-10 needs, above all, its games on television in the slots better and reach more homes.

But for now, the Pac-10 is done complaining about not paying attention and deal with this issue to ensure that it shows.

“The response has been incredible,” said Scott. “People are the change of desire, are energy will.”

Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press

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