With Colorado now being granted clearance to leave the Big 12 after this season to join Utah in the Pac-12 conference, there are two issues that will hopefully be resolved for the conference after a couple of meetings this month.
One issue is how to split the conference into divisions.
The other is to determine where to play the conference championship game.
The current line of thought on issue number one is that the conference is going to go with a North/South split and have a rotational pod system to ensure that the other schools will have access to California at least twice a year. You can't let that fertile recruiting ground go.
I personally, am in favor of more of a "zipper" process which would still allow for the multiple visits to California every season.
What I want to focus on, though, is the second issue. Where should the Pac-12 play their newly minted title game?
Glendale, Arizona, San Francisco, Seattle and Oakland have all been mentioned as possible sites for the game. Additionally, having the higher ranked school host the game at their home field has been brought up as an option to consider as well.
One other location has been mentioned as a possibility. It's the location that I am willing to get behind, as are others.
Las Vegas.
Sam Boyd Stadium, home of the UNLV Rebels. Okay technically, Sam Boyd is in Henderson, NV (about five miles or so from my house actually), but it is part of the greater Las Vegas Valley.
Sam Boyd Stadium, in its current configuration, seats about 36,000 although it can hold around 45,000 as it has for Las Vegas Bowls in recent years.
Now, this might seem small in comparison to some of the other stadiums that house the neutral site conference championship games in football.
However, there is no way that the Pac-12 would want to go to a large stadium and have shots of empty seats. There's a picture that you can find on the internet if you Google "ACC Championship Game Empty Seats."
Do that and look at that picture. See all of the empty seats? There is no way, given the risk that Larry Scott took this summer with the wacky Pac-16 plan, that he can sell a half-empty stadium to his constituents.
Sam Boyd Stadium makes sense because of venue size. It makes sense as a destination city with hotels galore. The weather, while it can be dicey in early December, still has a chance of being good.
Sounds like a win to me. Go ahead, Larry Scott and Pac-10 officials: roll the dice on Vegas.
