PAC-12 Conference leader Larry Scott continues to amaze with his creativeness and aggressive approach for making the league the premier athletic conference in the country. Last week, Scott and Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany announced a commitment to schedule more competition, in all sports, between the 24 schools in the two conferences. In football, the goal is to create 12 inter-conference games by 2017.
The concept makes sense to the average sports enthusiast. Unfortunately the press release did not. For example it stated:
• “Collaboration will feature more games between the two conferences in an effort to enhance the experiences for all student-athletes, fans and alumni while broadening the national scope of both conferences.”
• “We believe that both conferences can preserve that sense of collegiality and still grow nationally by leveraging our commonalities in a way that benefits student-athletes, fans and alumni. This collaboration can and will touch many institutional undertakings, and will complement our academic and athletic missions.”
• “Through numerous conversations over the past several months with stakeholders from the Big Ten and Pac-12, we decided there would be great value in building upon the history and collegiality that exists between our member institutions, by initially committing to an increased frequency of play between our schools in all sports.”
The four sentences in these three bullet points were written at a Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level of 18.3. In other words, they are understandable by an average person with 6.3 years of college, i.e a college professor.
As well, the four sentences have a Flesch- Reading Ease score of 19.7. A score of 90 to 100 is understandable by an average 11 year old. A Reading Ease Score of 60 to 70 is easily understood by a 13 to 15 year old. As a point of reference, Time magazine is about 52 and the Harvard Law Review is in the low 30s (Wikipedia).
The press release was posted on the PAC-12 website on December 28 (when school is not in session). It was written at a level designed to appeal to only the academic-types at the 24 member institutions. Was this announcement made in this fashion because Scott and Delany expect to receive serious backlash from faculty members and the university communities?
In a nutshell, Scott and Delany said:
• This is a business venture between two of the country’s top athletic conferences.
• It is intended to generate more revenue for our television networks.
• It is intended to generate more revenue for both conferences and their member schools.
• We have a history of competing in the Rose Bowl.
• We want to build on the distinctive competency of past Rose Bowl competition.
• It will be easier to build a virtual super-conference rather than one made of bricks and mortar.
• Get your tickets now.
• $$$.
• Let the games begin.
FYI – This set of bullet points were written at a 7.2 grade level with a reading ease score of 63.
The concept is a slam dunk (in more ways than one). It is exciting for the sports enthusiast. And it should make these 24 athletic programs more financially viable.
To read the entire press release or to get more information about the PAC-12 click here or click here for the Big 10 website.
Note: On July 13, 2012 the deal fell apart. In the article “Pac-12 and Big Ten Partnership Falls Apart,” the New York Times reported, “The fundamental fissure between the leagues was the Big Ten’s preference for 12 games with the Pac-12 every year. Larry Scott, the Pac-12’s commissioner, said in a telephone interview that it ultimately became a “flexibility” issue for his teams, which play a nine-game conference schedule and have longstanding scheduling agreements with other teams, like those of Southern California and Stanford with Notre Dame. The Big Ten teams play an eight-game league schedule, making the addition of an annual marquee game outside the league easier.”
Bummer!