The Big 12 expansion groundswell

[Viking]

Viking you should be nice.

Our "community college" is already in the PAC you propose... you may need our vote.

[Green Monstah]

Utah Ute fans are going to watch Ute sports, as are a significant amount of BYU Fans. The same will be true tommorrow as many Ute Fans will be tuning in to watch BYU vs. Ole Mis.

You simply don't need both schools.

FWIW, i watch no more than 12 quarters of Ute football per season (and often less than 10).

[Gaffords]

That's odd. I bought tickets from SLC->AUS->SLC two weeks ago for $266 each (plus tax).

How much is airfare to San Anton + car rental? Austin isn't far from there...

[Viking]

You who are arguing for independence are arguing for total obliteration in the age of super conferences. Scheduling options will dry up because the super conference era is a precursor to a playoff era and there will be little to no scheduling space with seven opponents for each team, championship games, and tournament.

We will be the "play in" team, if we still have a program due to the massive money loser itnwill ultimately become.

[LA Ute]

No fuckwad, it goes from "this is now a possibility" to, "I think this is what happens"

Go back to cougarbored you goat shit slurping prick. And I say that with love.

Stay classy, Viking.

[Viking]

Stay classy, Viking.

You still don't get it, LAUte? I thought I've made myself clear as to these sorts of posts.

[Green Monstah]

Im extremely skeptical about any BYU in the PAC X talk, but hear me out. We have two potential allies with the PAC: Utah (maybe?) and ESPN. What if ESPN reels in UT, OU, OSU and BYU, but BYU agrees that it will only take the money from its current ESPN deal, which makes the pot all the sweeter for the rest of the PAC X (although once the "savings" is cut 15 ways, its not a huge amount of cash). Its not dispositive, but a potential positive spin.

[LA Ute]

You still don't get it, LAUte? I thought I've made myself clear as to these sorts of posts.

Remind me why they're OK.

[Viking]

Remind me why they're OK.

Someone has to drive the cougarboreders away. Consider it my civic duty.

[Devildog]

Someone has to drive the cougarboreders away. Consider it my civic duty.

Good on ya. Get it done.

[Green Monstah]

Someone has to drive the cougarboreders away. Consider it my civic duty.

And you have to admit, LAUTE, hes damn good at it.

[Uncle Ted]

So I go watch some Friday HS football and this thread goes all to crap. Take your travel planning to some other thread.

Chip is saying Beebe is going talk sense into OU...

Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe convened a conference call late Friday afternoon with a handful of his conference’s presidents to discuss the increasing possibility that Oklahoma wants to bolt the Big 12 for the Pac-12, multiple sources said.

Texas president Bill Powers, Oklahoma president David Boren and Texas A&M president R. Bowen Loftin were excluded from the call, sources said. But Beebe advised the other presidents in the Big 12 to “work on Texas” to get the Longhorns to stay in the Big 12, sources said.

It’s Beebe’s belief that if Texas refuses to go to the Pac-12 that Oklahoma would not get a bid from the Pac-12, sources said. But another source close to the situation said if Oklahoma and Oklahoma State indicated to the Pac-12 that they wanted to be a part of that league, they would be admitted.

Beebe released a statement to Orangebloods.com Friday night that said, “We continue to work hard for the long-term stability of the Big 12 Conference.”

Boren dropped a bombshell on Friday when he said no one has been more active than the Sooners in surveying their options for the future and that OU would be no wallflower.

“At this point in time, I’ll be very honest with you in saying I do not know with certainty, or perhaps even can’t hazard a totally intelligent guess as to what our final decision will be,” Boren told reporters. “But we are carefully looking over all the options. We are … there’s no school more active in the Big 12 more active than we are right now.”

Sources said the Longhorns have been actively working to hold the Big 12 together. Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds and OU athletic director Joe Castiglione are on the five-member Big 12 expansion committee charged with looking for new members to join the Big 12. But if Oklahoma bolts, Texas would consider the Big 12 dead and probably follow the Sooners to the Pac-12.

When I texted a key source close to Texas Friday night if the Longhorns were preparing to head to the Pac-12 with Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech, the source texted back, “Leaning that way.” The source later said there was a “50 to 60 percent” chance those schools would end up in the Pac-12.

Any move by Texas to the Pac-12 would not be an easy one. First, there is the issue of the Longhorn Network. No schools in the Pac-12 are allowed to have their own network. Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott has set up a series of regional networks that partner two schools together to share revenue from third-tier rights with each other and with the Pac-12.

So Texas’ Longhorn Network, which launched on Aug. 26 and still can’t even be seen by most of the Lone Star State, would likely have to be turned into one of the Pac-12’s regional networks (and most likely partner with Texas Tech).

And that would mean Texas basically tearing up the 20-year, $300 million deal it just inked with ESPN and giving up its riches.

An industry source with direct knowledge of the Longhorn Network said turning LHN into a regional network in the Pac-12 would be “very difficult.” When I asked if it was impossible, the source said, “After last year, I don’t subscribe to that word anymore.”

That source doubted Texas was going anywhere. That source also doubted that Oklahoma would go anywhere without Texas.

Sources said Texas officials told them last year the Longhorns were reluctant to go to the Pac-12 because they would lose a lot of the power they enjoy in the Big 12. The sources said Texas feared being out-voted and muscled in the Pac-12 by the power brokers in that conference ? the original Pac-8 (USC, UCLA, Cal, Stanford, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington and Washington State).

But Texas’ move to the Pac-12 would also be difficult because of the legislative heat the Longhorns would likely face. Legislative sources said Friday night that part of the reason Texas A&M was allowed to withdraw from the Big 12 was because of assurances from the rest of the Big 12 that the league would survive.

Now that it appears the Big 12 is in serious jeopardy, lawmakers will not be so passive, sources said.

Two Big 12 sources said if Oklahoma and Texas are preparing to lead a charge to the Pac-12 there would almost certainly be a tortious interference lawsuit filed against the Southeastern Conference. That’s if Texas A&M indeed submits its application for membership to the SEC next Tuesday or Wednesday as expected, according to sources.

“Texas A&M leaving has started this whole thing,” one source said. “There is a big-time lawsuit here.”

The potential of such legal action and the real possibility the Big 12 could collapse prompted another Big 12 source to wonder if the SEC would now hesitate to accept Texas A&M, considering the fallout that could befall the Big 12.

Messages left with officials from Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech as well as Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott were not returned Friday night.

Stay tuned.

Short version: It looks like OU wants to take over for aTm as Big 12 school that always gripes about everything.

[LA Ute]

Someone has to drive the cougarboreders away. Consider it my civic duty.

You're very smart and can find a clever way to do that. And save it for the real offenders. Hsaru's comment was fair.

[Devildog]

Chip is saying Beebe is going talk sense into OU...

Short version: It looks like OU wants to take over for aTm as Big 12 school that always gripes about everything.

You mean like he did with Nebraska, Colorado, and A&M?

My confidence wouldn't be real high given his recent past.

OU sure aint the only one bitchin'

Damn Ted... Beebe is giving Hair Thompson a run for his money this year.

[Scorcho]

Dear Scorcho,

Utah Community College, paragon of academic excellence and the best university in the Avenues, has a following that consists of a few hundred thousand people in a town that should never have been.

Brigham Young, however, is the largest private university in the US, with its own TV distribution in millions of homes and with millions of religiously affiliated followers throughout the US (and non-religious folks like me). To compare the two schools and conclude that one is enough is simply not very intelligent.

I'm no Larry Scott, but it seems logical and reasonable to me that IF a PAC-16 should evolve that it could very well include UT, OU, OSU and BYU. All good choices! It's also plausible that they could substitute Kansas/Missouri for BYU (especially since they passed on BYU once already) and pick up the Kansas City/St. Louis Market. Or maybe BYU is in and OSU is left out.

I have no sources, "buddies" or voices in my head that have fed me any details. I'm just speculating.