Paul Finebaum believes the Pac-12 collapsing by 2026 is inevitable

There have been a lot of questions about the status of the Pac-12 and where the conference fits in the future of college football, and while there are reports as recently as Tuesday indicating expansion is expected to happen, one analyst isn't confident that the Pac-12 will stick around.

SEC Network analyst Paul Finebaum joined McElroy in the Cubelic in the Morning to discuss various topics, one of which being the future of the Pac-12. Well, not really sure if the term future applies to the Pac-12 in this sense, as when McElroy asked Fienbaum if the Pac-12 will still be around by 2026, which he explained that he doesn't think it will.

“I don’t believe so. I don’t know how it can, Greg,” Finebaum explained. “Because it’s — the situation is so fragile right now. The leadership is better than it was. It’s still not very good. And, you know, I think you give the new commissioner, George Kliavkoff, a pass because maybe a year, a year and a half ago, his predecessor literally ran this thing into the ground. But he’s had enough time and I think, so far, you have to give him a failing grade.”

He later explained that while other conferences may be done with expanding, that they may as well just continue adding programs since the Pac-12 schools will be available.

“And ultimately, as much as big conferences don’t really want to expand at the moment, I think they’ll be forced to take the cream of the crop out there, whether it’s the Big Ten going after the northwest schools, whether it’s Colorado or Arizona or somebody else just deciding to go to the Big 12 — I do not believe the Pac-12 can exist.”

Whether Finebaum is correct or not will only be able to be determined after we see what happens with the conference in the immediate future. The conference is in the process of securing a media rights deal, and possible expansion.