Big 12 may be raided by Big 10 and Pac 10 expansion plans

firesloth wrote:
Enix wrote:

ADs don't care a whole lot about institutional peer groups, but college presidents do. This is why you might see a UConn or a Pitt or a Syracuse or a Rutgers in the Big 10 or the ACC but probably not a West Virginia or an East Carolina.

This is a very good point.

I read recently that the last time the Big 10 tried to get Notre Dame to join, the faculty voted to urge the administration to join the conference for academic reasons. (I think the official text asked the administration to join the academic portion of the conference or some such...not even sure what that means, but I think they were trying to say they wanted to be part of the Big 10 without saying much about athletics).

There are some good schools in the Big East, but the Big 10 schools have a huge reputation as top quality research universities.

And my understanding is that they enhance that advantage with a strong program of sharing research funds, which keeps everyone at a high level.

The Big 12 may still have some life left in it. Texas refuses Pac-"10" invite.

Rat Boy wrote:

The Big 12 may still have some life left in it. Texas refuses Pac-"10" invite.

Hang in there, Big 12. Need you to stay together so the Mountain West Conference has to look elsewhere for their next expansion. LIKE FRESNO DAMN IT.

Ug. Why is this stretching out? We all know if teams are getting poached now we know its doomed, just accept it and give us a podcast topic.

boogle wrote:

Ug. Why is this stretching out? We all know if teams are getting poached now we know its doomed, just accept it and give us a podcast topic.

I think it is over.

“University of Texas President Bill Powers has informed us that the 10 remaining schools in the Big 12 intend to stay together,” Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott said in a statement. Powers is the chairman of the Big 12’s board of directors.

If I'm Beebe, I'm sending an invitation to Memphis yesterday. Apparently they bring a bonus of $10 million dollars a year, and a basketball program that would make the Big 12 as elite as you can get. Then lure Cincinnati or Louisville, and you add a couple of great basketball programs that also feature improving football programs. Heck kick Missouri out and bring them both in.

Regardless, I'm glad the musical chairs is over for the Big 12 for now. As it stands, the big 12 has ten teams, and the big 10 has 12 teams. What a frickin' mess.

This makes me absolutely god damn furious. Texas A&M had a chance to go to the SEC and we knuckled under to Texas again.

Son of a Female Doggo.

Worst part of it is that the BCS will stay in place until the Big 12ish gets choked out for money again and we repeat this process until the Pac-"10" turns into a megaconference and will finally allow for a playoff system.

I think this might be a good time for California to sink into the Pacific. And to sell Texas back to Mexico.

I'm just disappointed, we could've had some really fun shake-ups, now it's business as usual except the Pac-11 now has Colorado.

Well I guess speculation about that is over but what happens with the Pac-11(Who is the missing team? Utah?) and what will be the split of the new mid-west Big 12?

Ha ha! Big Ten is winner!

iaintgotnopants wrote:

Ha ha! Big Ten is winner!

T. Boone Pickens would like to thank you. If you could please take Missouri off our hands next, it would be appreciated.

Jayhawker wrote:

I think this might be a good time for California to sink into the Pacific. And to sell Texas back to Mexico.

Much like in terms of conferences, I fear Oklahoma would go with them.

Jayhawker wrote:
iaintgotnopants wrote:

Ha ha! Big Ten is winner!

T. Boone Pickens would like to thank you. If you could please take Missouri off our hands next, it would be appreciated.

Uh. No thanks.

Memphis makes some sense, but Louisville? TCU deserves to be brought back into the fold.

I almost still expect the Pac-10 to make a play directly for Oklahoma and/or the SEC to counter offer the Aggies and try and force Texas's hands that way, but reportedly the buyouts for leaving the conference as is are very large and will be enforced. Pay up Nebraska and Colorado.

I'm not sure I see a winner in this other than Texas and the non-football power members of the Big 12.

Anywho, if the Big 12 teams are truly off the table, then the Pac 10 will likely grab Utah, and I have heard rumblings that Memphis and Louisville will be targeted by the Big 12 so that they can get back to 12.

The one small positive of this regarding the BCS is that now at least all of the Big 6 conferences will have conference championships, providing a more equal landscape in trying to determine who plays for the whole shebang.

So Texas is the new Notre Dame?

Wonderful.

Badferret wrote:

I'm not sure I see a winner in this other than Texas and the non-football power members of the Big 12.

The 10 remaining schools in the Big, um, 12 get significantly increased TV revenue, if the numbers add up like the Beebe promises they will.

Texas A & M gets a moral victory for poisoning Texas' plans. My view on this is the only thing that kept Texas from leaving was the thought of opening up Texas to SEC recruiters. If A&M plays ball, Texas gets what it wants, if A&M goes to the SEC, Texas loses. So the little guys in College Station layed a woopin' on the big boys from Austin and that must truly sting.

Yeah, I really don't know that I buy the whole magical thinking Fox tv deal. I can see why Texas agreed to this, they get the right to make their own TV deal on top of the Big 12 deal, so they can't really lose, but I am betting that Mizzou and A & M are seething and potentially still plotting.

The 10 team thing also doesn't make sense regarding increased revenue, because you can't have a championship game with only 10 teams.

The Aggies are an especially weird case, they evidently had a coup this past weekend over this, as the school's AD suddenly went "on vacation" in the middle of this, and it was believed that Gene Stallings was smoothing the path to the SEC, and then suddenly last night after Texas' decision Stallings said they are happy in the Big um'12 (their new name as far as I'm concerned) which would be great, except that a large number of the school's boosters are not happy at all.

I think MyBrainHz is right, all of this will be revisited within the next few years.

*Edit* Oh and Texas is already open to the SEC. The SEC recruits where it wants to nationally. Look at how many Texans are at LSU and Arkansas. Bama, Georgia, Florida and Tenn can and do land talent out of Texas consistently as well.

Oso wrote:

Texas A & M gets a moral victory for poisoning Texas' plans. My view on this is the only thing that kept Texas from leaving was the thought of opening up Texas to SEC recruiters. If A&M plays ball, Texas gets what it wants, if A&M goes to the SEC, Texas loses. So the little guys in College Station layed a woopin' on the big boys from Austin and that must truly sting.

I don't know any Aggies that feel that way. As best I can tell everybody feels like we missed our chance for the second time - we could've gone SEC back in the early nineties and didn't do it then either because of political pressure from the legislature.

Do we get increased revenue? Well, yeah, assuming Beebe's magical numbers for TV contracts on freaking Fox Sports Net (*spit*) hold up. But we would have had that in the SEC too. Now, Texas secures the rights to its own network, which is what they wanted all along, and is a net minus for us. Basically, this new conference is Texas + the nine dwarves, and everybody knows it. My only hope is that they will overplay their hand again in the next few years and we can finally get the f*ck away from them. Bastards.

I will be surprised if this new conference lasts more than 5-6 years.

Badferret wrote:

...the Big um'12 (their new name as far as I'm concerned)...

I prefer to call them the Big 12 Lite.

Badferret wrote:

Oh and Texas is already open to the SEC. The SEC recruits where it wants to nationally. Look at how many Texans are at LSU and Arkansas. Bama, Georgia, Florida and Tenn can and do land talent out of Texas consistently as well.

If you ask the Texans - and with me being an SEC alumnus in Austin, it has come up this week - those are UT's leftovers.

Grumpicus wrote:
Badferret wrote:

...the Big um'12 (their new name as far as I'm concerned)...

I prefer to call them the Big 12 Lite.

Since I would be very surprised if the Big Ten changes it's name, I think the Big 12 should keep their name. They can change it to the Big Twelve if they like.

I think they should get two more and be the Big 10-4 (good buddy)

...

Here, let me get that for you: *groan*

iaintgotnopants wrote:
Grumpicus wrote:
Badferret wrote:

...the Big um'12 (their new name as far as I'm concerned)...

I prefer to call them the Big 12 Lite.

Since I would be very surprised if the Big Ten changes it's name, I think the Big 12 should keep their name. They can change it to the Big Twelve if they like.

They could change it to the "Big Ten plus Northwestern and 'insert name of school you want to mock here'."

MyBrainHz wrote:
Oso wrote:

Texas A & M gets a moral victory for poisoning Texas' plans. My view on this is the only thing that kept Texas from leaving was the thought of opening up Texas to SEC recruiters. If A&M plays ball, Texas gets what it wants, if A&M goes to the SEC, Texas loses. So the little guys in College Station layed a woopin' on the big boys from Austin and that must truly sting.

I don't know any Aggies that feel that way. As best I can tell everybody feels like we missed our chance for the second time - we could've gone SEC back in the early nineties and didn't do it then either because of political pressure from the legislature.

Do we get increased revenue? Well, yeah, assuming Beebe's magical numbers for TV contracts on freaking Fox Sports Net (*spit*) hold up. But we would have had that in the SEC too. Now, Texas secures the rights to its own network, which is what they wanted all along, and is a net minus for us. Basically, this new conference is Texas + the nine dwarves, and everybody knows it. My only hope is that they will overplay their hand again in the next few years and we can finally get the f*ck away from them. Bastards.

I will be surprised if this new conference lasts more than 5-6 years.

I agree with that. Texas A & M to the SEC was a winning move for them, I'm not sure this deal is good for them.

buzzvang wrote:

Memphis makes some sense, but Louisville? TCU deserves to be brought back into the fold.

Yeah let them take Memphis and TCU. Rape CUSA. It's been dead since we (Louisville) left with Cincy, Marquette, and the other basketball teams to the Big East.

Now I am hearing that the buyout clause has not changed for the Big um-12, and that should they not be able to land the huge Fox contract in 2 years like they have been promised, we might then see everybody splitsky.

As I see no chance in hell of Fox actually paying SEC TV-contract money for the Big um-12, and equal shares between the schools is supposedly off the table, I still see the conference going kaput, now they just have longer to plan for it.

Love or Hate the SEC, the league's revenue sharing is the right approach in my book. Vandy and Miss State at least have some shot at theoretically competing, Iowa State? Never. The Big um-12's model will just keep widening the gulf between the Longhorns and everyone else, with even the Sooners and Aggies struggling to keep up financially.

Badferret wrote:

Now I am hearing that the buyout clause has not changed for the Big um-12, and that should they not be able to land the huge Fox contract in 2 years like they have been promised, we might then see everybody splitsky.

As I see no chance in hell of Fox actually paying SEC TV-contract money for the Big um-12, and equal shares between the schools is supposedly off the table, I still see the conference going kaput, now they just have longer to plan for it.

Love or Hate the SEC, the league's revenue sharing is the right approach in my book. Vandy and Miss State at least have some shot at theoretically competing, Iowa State? Never. The Big um-12's model will just keep widening the gulf between the Longhorns and everyone else, with even the Sooners and Aggies struggling to keep up financially.

Wishful thinking your part. A&M is actually happy that they will be making about the same as Texas, according to Gene Stallings. Might the league still spit? Sure.

Hell, Missouri is still one foot out the door. But the Big 12 has bought time to actually be proactive now. their problem was sitting around waiting to get picked off.

The SEC may have a nice revenue sharing system, but their TV deal doesn't seem to be all that great. The Big 12 is getting more NOW. What seems clear is that there are some people that are willing to pay to keep broadcast ing games. The Big 12 just needs to follow through. And I expect them to expand between now and then.

I still would not be surprised to see the Big 12 link up with the Big East or Pac 10 on a TV deal that could make the fox deal seem quaint. Before the Pac 10 tried to loot the Big 12 when it seemed like it was done, there were talks about joining forces.

How about this for a weird development.

Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, former University of Arkansas football player and big-time power broker in the world of professional and now college athletics, is the driving force behind a potential move that would make the Big 12 the most compelling conference in the history of college football.

What the article claims is that ND has cooled on the Big 10, especially if the Big 10 raids and breaks up the big East leaving ND nowhere to go.

Arkansas is a great fit, and Jones wants them in a conference where they may actually get exposure. I've pretty much rules out most plans that had Arkansas leaving the SEC, because it seems like going backwards. But if the TV money Beebe is claiming comes through, and adding ND and arkansas increases the odds of that, then the Big 12 would be a much better place for Arkansas.

Damn, now even sportswriters are using "compelling" to the point of annoyance.

I know what Stallings is saying, but the A & M alumni are not happy. Yes, the revenue numbers being bandied around are all fine and dandy for Texas, A & M and OU, but I think those numbers are BS. Yes each school's current split of the pie will go up with fewer teams for the next two years under their current contract, I just don't believe that Fox will pony up Big 10/SEC TV rights for the Big 12 when it comes time for that next contract, especially if they don't have a championship game to offer.

And while A&M and OU will get more money both now and supposedly in the future, they ain't gonna have their own separate network. So what if they will be earning 25 Million a year if Texas is pulling in an additional 20 million a year with the Longhorn Network?

To be clear, I don't have a dog in this hunt. Frankly, adding more teams to the SEC just makes it that much harder for any one team from the league to win the BCS title.