Pac-12 Network Brings Another Recruiting Boost To ASU Football

The reasons to play football for Arizona State University are piling up faster than any Sun Devil fan could have hoped for.

From flashy new uniforms to the very real possibility of a new (or highly renovated) Sun Devil Stadium, this offseason was full of surprises and curveballs.

Another big one came down the pike yesterday as Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott announced the Pac-12 Network, which will begin broadcasting in the fall of 2012.

This network is on the cutting-edge for a conference that, just a few years ago, felt like it was in the stone age. The last Pac-10 Comissioner, Tom Hansen, often failed to negotiate favorable television deals or glean prime time slots for his member institutions. As a result, schools like ASU missed out on important exposure and money.

Scott, formerly the president of the Women's Tennis Association, has had no such trouble.

Since coming on board in July of 2009, he has expanded the conference by adding Colorado and Utah, locked up huge television contracts with ESPN and Fox, and also put together the most ambitious college conference television plan in the history of amateur sports with four major cable providers.

The Sun Devils just got another huge shot in the arm, and a successful season in 2011 will bring a large amount of national exposure to a program that so desperately needs it.

Basically, the members of Sun Devil Nation need to write Larry Scott a big thank you card, and maybe send him a basket of snickerdoodles at Christmas. Great times are ahead for ASU and the Pac-12.