"Decisions are gonna be made for business reasons" - Top SEC coach has a cold-hearted response to Pac-12's fallout

The implosion of the Pac-12 is undoubtedly one of the main highlights of the college football landscape in 2023. The age-long athletic conference will see 10 of its 12 members officially move to other leagues in 2023, creating a possibility of the league going into extinction.

Nick Saban has been a college football coach for five decades and has seen the landscape go through a lot of changes. Speaking on the Pac-12 situation, the Alabama coach believes decisions within the landscape will be much influenced by business reasons henceforth.

“The traditionalists who think there should be a Pac-10 and a conference that used to be, that ship’s already sailed,” Saban said at a press conference on Wednesday ahead of the Rose Bowl. “It’s never gonna happen again. Decisions are going to be made for business reasons, not traditional reasons.

“And I’m not saying that’s bad, either. I’m just saying it is what it is. That’s the landscape of college football, [it] has changed dramatically. We all have to adapt to it and be able to continue to compete at a high level.”

Nick Saban believes college football is threading the professional route

Furthering his comments on the Pac-12 situation and how the landscape has evolved, Nick Saban added that college football is fast becoming like professional sports. This is considering the advent of NIL, which offers players financial rewards.

“We’re moving in the sort of semi-pro direction in terms of, there’s pay-for-play now. We call it name, image, and likeness, but that’s pay-for-play, basically — and I’m all for the players sharing in what’s happening,” Nick Saban said Wednesday.

The Crimson Tide coach further proved his point by citing the transfer portal and its recent usage by players as well as the new 12-team playoff, which is set to kick off in the 2024 season.

“You’ve got guys transferring from one team to the next at will with very little guidelines as to how to control any of these things, and we’re gonna have a playoff very similar to the NFL."

Will the Pac-12 survive the implosion?

The Pac-12 will enter the 2024 college football season with just two teams, Oregon State and Washington State. This pretty much places the conference on the brink of collapse.

However, the two-year grace period from the NCAA gives the conference a survival opportunity. The league will work on expansion in the next two college football seasons and should be back on its feet in 2026 if it gets a new television partner for its new-look conference.