When it first began, in 2011, the Pac-12 Championship had the best atmosphere of all the conference title games -- better, even, than the SEC. Sure, the It Just Means More crowd is always juiced to play in Atlanta, but nothing beats the on-campus experience, as the Pac-12 had from 2011-13.
And then the Pac-12 game moved to the Bay Area, and it became the worst.
Sure, San Francisco is technically the midpoint of the Pac-12's geographic footprint, but a quick view of any Stanford game will tell you Silicon Valley is not exactly teeming with college football fans. And the game wasn't even really in San Francisco proper, but way out in Santa Clara. Now add in the fact that the game typically kicked at 5 p.m. local time on a Friday, thereby making it as difficult as possible for both traveling fans and locals to get to the stadium, and you get this.
Simply put, it's a lot to ask of Utah and Washington fans to get to a San Francisco suburb... on a Friday... on short notice. And it may be easier to get from Salt Lake City to Santa Clara by 5 p.m. on a Friday than it is for most actual Bay Area residents. That's almost as bad as the time the ACC staged a title game between Boston College and Virginia Tech in Jacksonville. On Wednesday, the Pac-12 has announced it will play its 2020 and '21 title games in Las Vegas. Brett McMurphy
Future Pac-12 title games will be at Los Angeles at Hollywood Park Stadium in 2020 & Las Vegas’ new stadium in 2021, sources told @Stadium
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) July 24, 2019
">originally reported the 2020 game would be in Los Angeles, but added Wednesday that talks between the two sides broke down, allowing Vegas to get both games.
When you've got a conference as far flung as Washington to Arizona, Los Angeles to Colorado, your best bet for a full house is always going to be on-campus, but now the Pac-12 is trying its hand at title games in the next place. No one needs an excuse to go to Las Vegas.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.