As you probably remember, Ed O’ Bannon defeated the NCAA in his recent case with profound implications for the way the NCAA operates.

But not just yet.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has granted the NCAA’s wish to stay the injunction until the appeal is finished.

It’s really an extraordinary time in college athletics with change inevitable but just what that amount to is really uncertain.

Not that the PAC-12 is waiting.

As we already know, the television income college sports rely on is getting shaky as cord cutting picks up steam and the money ESPN and competitors rely on which is going to force everyone to seek out different sources of income.

The PAC-12 has moved ahead on that front with a deal that makes adidas the “official athletic apparel and athletic footwear partner of the conference and for all Pac-12 championship events.”

As we understand it, this refers to advertising, not to the actual products athletes wear. But it’s a smart deal for the conference in many respects and could get more lucrative.

We could easily see – and we’ve actually suggested this for the ACC previously – a conference signing a top to bottom deal with a shoe company so that each school in the conference has a year-round deal with said company.

In the ACC’s case, with such a large footprint, it could be very lucrative.

Not that everyone would want that.

Duke and UNC are Nike, but NC State  and Louisville are adidas. Maryland is gone, but the Terrapins have very close ties to Under Armour.

It would be hard to persuade coaches and schools to make a change, and the way summer ball works players tend to fall into adidas or Nike camps.

That’s a problem. But shoe money is real money and if you can deliver a major conference, our guess is some company would be happy to wrap its logo around it.