Pac-12 relegation model in college football becomes last hope for George Kliavkoff to sustain Power 5 status and revive Pacific-12

The Pac-12 is looking at a relegation model to save the conference. The conference has been decimated by realignment as the conference is down to Oregon State and Washington State. Since the conference lost Stanford and Cal to the Atlantic Coast Conference, there hasn't been a lot of talk about the conference's future.

A few weeks ago, it was expected that the Pac-12 would reverse merge with the Mountain West Conference. But, that hasn't come to fruition yet, and Seattle Times reporter Jon Wilner now claims that Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff is interested in a relegation model.

If the relegation model does happen, it's not 100 percent sure how it will look. To make his point, Wilner said,

"Major issues within the 12-team Mountain West require super majorities (i.e., nine votes)," Wilner said. "Would the schools at the lower end of the conference’s food chain (San Jose State, Wyoming, New Mexico, Utah State) agree to a system in which they were cast down to the second division and likely to receive lower revenue shares than in a traditional conference structure?

"In other words, a promotion-and-relegation system that offers the upper division schools more cash, better TV exposure and stronger competitive matchups (think: ticket sales) doesn’t necessarily work for enough Mountain West members to clear the voting threshold," he said.

A relegation model would be very interesting in college football, as it does work in European soccer. The relegation model adds intrigue to games late in the season between two teams who are way out of the picture to win the conference championship.

However, as Wilner writes, it's uncertain if the lower-end schools in the Mountain West would agree to merge with the Pac-12 if it meant they would go in a lower division.

What does the future hold for the Pac-12?

If the Pac-12 doesn't merge with the MWC, George Kliavkoff's conference would likely be over.

Oregon State and Washington State could try and make their own schedules for two years and allow Kliavkoff the maximum amount of time to try and add more schools.

But, for now, the conference has yet to add any more schools or reach a deal with any other conference to save the conference.