Hill: Las Vegas ban of Pac-12 could help secure UNLV’s future

There is still a great deal of mystery and confusion about the chaotic rebuilding of the Pac-12 that has altered the course of college athletics in the Pacific time zone.

What is clear, however, is that UNLV must do whatever it takes to get off the sinking ship that is the Mountain West.

And the community can help. We’ll get to that.

First off, it’s important to examine what’s real and what’s not.

Ignore the nonsense about UNLV and UNR being a package deal and that somehow the Pac-12 passed on UNLV because it didn’t want to take both schools. That was one regent floating the idea after the fact.

And it’s a nice sentiment. It would be a great boon for the state. But the notion of holding one school back from a big opportunity and financial gain because the other doesn’t have the same chance would be malpractice on the part of the regents. Again, that was never a thing anyway.

But at least that would have been an explanation. Instead, UNLV fans and officials are left wondering how on earth a school with a rising academic reputation, exceptional facilities, a booming media market and even a football program ranked for the first time in history would be left out of the first wave of defections from the Mountain West.

Use city’s leverage

Is it the perceived oversaturation of the sports market, with the NBA and MLB on the way in the next few years to take a city with zero major league teams to four in just about a decade? Maybe, but there was a time people said one team would never work, and two are already doing pretty well.

Was it the fact the regents would have had to approve UNLV making such a move and therefore this whole plan would have become public before it was ready to be announced? Or a recently floated nugget that the stadium deal that gives UNLV little to no control over Allegiant Stadium turned off the Pac-12 and the breakaway four? Yeah, those could certainly be real factors.

My belief is one of the main reasons UNLV got passed over is that the Pac-12 believes it already has the market in its grasp. It has hosted football championship games, conference basketball tournaments and even its media events in Las Vegas.

So when the question is asked as to how Pac-12 officials could pass up the Las Vegas market and all it has to offer, the answer is they don’t think they did because they probably expect to continue those activities.

It should be made clear that they are not welcome until UNLV is included. It’s for the public good.

Yes, T-Mobile Arena and Allegiant Stadium are in the business of putting on events. I get it. But this Pac-12 is not the old Pac-12. It’s not like the days when Arizona fans would travel here and take over the town for a week in March.

It’s not as great of a loss as it once would have been, and it could end up generating even more money in the future should the Pac-12 actually include UNLV and start to resemble a real league again.

Same with the casino properties that host Pac-12 events. Don’t worry, it will be a short-term endeavor.

I believe without unfettered access to the market, the Pac-12 would actually come crawling for UNLV.

It’s at least worth finding out.

Four options

In the end, the reason for the original exclusion really doesn’t matter. What will have a lasting impact is what happens next. There appears to be four potential landing spots for UNLV, including the carcass of the Mountain West or the motley crew of orphan programs that is the American Athletic Conference.

No, thanks.

Priority one should be the Big 12, which could be looking to expand and already has a long-term media rights deal and an automatic qualifying spot in the College Football Playoff. There may be a better chance at this happening than many people believe.

But, obviously, the outcome with the best combination of plausibility and favorability would be to be added to the Pac-12 or Pac-6 or Pac-2-plus-4 or whatever we are calling it.

The wheels are already in motion. This may happen before Halloween. But nothing should be taken for granted, not after UNLV was somehow passed up in the first wave.

So a statement must be made. Ban the Pac-12 from the Strip.

The community at large could also help out. An undefeated UNLV football team will play a home game next week. Everyone who is upset about the snub should buy a ticket and prove how much support really exists.

The visiting team for that game? One of the Pac-12’s chosen four, Fresno State.