The Pac-12’s Parting Gift to the World? Olympians

The Pac-12 Conference will consist of two teams in a matter of weeks. The “Beaver-Cougar Conference,” “the Pacific Northwest Conference,” or even the “Game of NCAA Musical Chairs Losers Conference” would represent a more accurate exercise in branding at this point.

One Pac-12 slogan that is proving accurate, even as membership dissolves from 12 to 2: “Conference of Champions.”

While the Pac-12 never could figure out how to capitalize on marketing its plethora of Olympians present and future, the opening of the 2024 Paris Games on Friday serves as a reminder where the U.S. gets its best athletes.

The leading alma mater of all 2024 Olympians, and not by a little, is Stanford University with 51. Next on the list is future Big Ten power USC with 44. Fifth on the list is Cal, which will soon join Stanford in the Atlantic Coast Conference, with 39. UCLA is ninth on the list, at 24.

All but Oregon State and Washington State will officially depart the Pac-12 on Aug. 2.

If any of this comes as a surprise, the proof has been hidden in plain sight in the list of most NCAA Division I titles each school can claim. Stanford ranks first with 126, followed by UCLA at 123 and USC at 113. Texas is a distant fourth, with 57.

Most NCAA titles, of course, are won in non-revenue sports — the very same that shine every four years at the Summer Olympics. This is where the Pac-12 schools have made a killing in their history. Sure, USC fields a cromulent football team every so often, and UCLA has held its share of basketball dynasties; for the most part, the West Coast schools dominate sports that reap no profits through their media rights — the main source of revenue in college athletics.

The Pac-12 could never figure out how to overcome this logistical hurdle. While the SEC is essentially the top minor league for the NFL, and the NCAA basketball tournaments have made stars out of collegians before they enter the NBA and WNBA, the idea of a minor league for Olympic sports just never seemed as sexy.

To be clear, this is through no fault of the athletes. They’re the best in the world at what they do, and a plurality of them used Stanford as a springboard to achieve global fame at the Olympics.

If you’re just learning of this now, blame the marketing geniuses at the Pac-12 — The Beaver-Cougar Conference, if you prefer.