The Big 12 expansion groundswell

[Art Vandelay]

Ha! For all of atheist's gesticulating about his perceived persecution, this thread has turned into a veritable ex-mo convention. Woo hoo, terrestrialites heart the B12ish.

[dabrockster]

Not sure if this was posted or not (I have not been on today) But the local radio was talking about the SEC websit blunder of the announcement of Mizzourah to the SEC.. Then they took it down when the SEC offices got bombarded with media calls etc.. Looks like their webmaster has some explainin to do..

http://outkickthecoverage.com/sec-ac...uri-to-sec.php

[SeattleUte]

The new league name should be Eawts. Nice fusion of East and West. Congratulations BYU.

As a Hoya fan I can say I'm delighted with the poaching of Big East teams by football first conferences. To quote Salieri, too many teams.

[TripletDaddy]

The B12 better hurry up and pick BYU. This is their last shot before BYU is gonzo.

[Viking]

The B12 better hurry up and pick BYU. This is their last shot before BYU is gonzo.

Go meltdown elsewhere you pussy

[Jacob]

This thread should die.

And no thanks to the big east.

[Flattop]

Yeah, I was curious about that double standard myself?!?



Oh...this must be it...BYU fans don't have LA Ute to sic on people...

I figure I still haven't been here long enough to call anyone a vomitous mass.

[jay santos]

I figure I still haven't been here long enough to call anyone a vomitous mass.

you're not following the Pac 10 rule. No posting in BYU threads till you get a Pac 10 win.

[Jarid in Cedar]

you're not following the Pac 10 rule. No posting in BYU threads till you get a Pac 10 win.

Who made you thread master?

[Flattop]

you're not following the Pac 10 rule. No posting in BYU threads till you get a Pac 10 win.

Dumb rules should be broken.

[Uncle Ted]

Big East has no plans to let WVU out of their contractual obligations...

West Virginia is resolute that it will enter the Big 12 on July 1, 2012, despite the Big East’s 27-month exit period that Pittsburgh and Syracuse are begrudgingly adhering to. The West Virginia president, James P. Clements, has indicated negotiations were under way with the Big East on how the university could leave after this year.

“Our team and their team are in discussions about how we make that happen,” Clements said at a news conference.

The Big East denied that discussions were taking place and said it had not heard from anyone on West Virginia’s team as of late Friday. The Big East has no plans to give West Virginia any leniency. Not only does the Big East have contractual obligations, but it also worries that it would set a bad precedent for Syracuse and Pittsburgh.

While the Atlantic Coast Conference commissioner, John Swofford, was clear that the league would respect the Big East’s bylaws, the Big 12 took a different tactic. The interim commissioner Chuck Neinas unintentionally struck at the heart of the issue when he mentioned how pleased that league’s television and bowl partners were at the addition of West Virginia.

Conferences have to provide enough inventory for their multimillion dollar television deals and enough quality teams that will travel to bowl games. With Missouri on the cusp of leaving the Big 12, the immediate addition of West Virginia would help greatly.

But it also significantly hurts the Big East in those areas. Now every team will have to scramble to find a replacement game for West Virginia on the schedule, and bowl partners will be unhappy because the Mountaineers were the league’s best draw.

Clements said that West Virginia had wired $2.5 million to the Big East on Friday, which is half of the $5 million buyout that they would owe for leaving the conference. Asked why he approached the quicker exit date while Pittsburgh and Syracuse conceded to sticking around for two years, he said, “No comment.”

“West Virginia is fully aware that the Big East Conference is committed to enforcing the 27-month notification period for members who choose to leave the conference,” said the Big East commissioner John Marinatto.

With Neinas saying that further expansion “is not on the horizon at the moment,” the realignment baton appears to be passed to the Big East for its overhaul. Neinas said Missouri had not withdrawn yet, but that seems to be a formality. The Big 12 did not even list Missouri as a team for the 2012 season on its news release.

Marinatto and the Big East associate commissioner Nick Carparelli Jr. visited Air Force and Boise State on Wednesday and Thursday, making presentations to university officials about the league’s 12-team model. The key to luring Boise State, which is paramount in the Big East’s keeping its automatic qualifying status with the Bowl Championship Series, will be giving it a western partner. That could be Air Force, but Brigham Young could move into the picture now that they are officially out of the Big 12’s mix.

It sounds like WVU is going to need to dig deeper into their pockets if they want to be in the Big 12 starting in 2012.

[Hot Lunch]

you're not following the Pac 10 rule. No posting in BYU threads till you get a Pac 10 win.

This isn't a BYU thread. This is a thread about Big 12 expansion and it is clear that BYU is not involved.

[LA Ute]

So picked on!!!

I'm not participating in this thread so don't try to bait me.

[Green Monstah]

This isn't a BYU thread. This is a thread about Big 12 expansion and it is clear that BYU is not involved.

Oh, that stings.

[Uncle Ted]

Some interesting tidbits about WVU via Chip Brown...

West Virginia president James Clements said his university views "the Big 12 as very solid and very stable and a perfect fit for us. So we are not concerned at all (about instability). We are thrilled with the opportunity."

Clements and West Virginia athletic director Oliver Luck as well as Big 12 board of directors chair Burns Hargis (president of Oklahoma State) and Big 12 interim commissioner Chuck Neinas were part of a conference call this afternoon.

****Clements said he sent a letter notifying the Big East WVU would be joining the Big 12 in July of 2012.


****Neinas said West Virginia would have the same phase-in revenue sharing model that TCU is getting. Both will not be full revenue-sharing members to start.


****Neinas said the holdup over the announcement of West Virginia (after Big 12 presidents voted Monday to approve the Mountaineers) was because of the possibility that Missouri may not leave for the Southeastern Conference, thus causing the Big 12 to be an 11-member league.

Neinas said the Big 12 is prepared for that, although Big 12 officials widely believe MU is headed for the SEC.

In fact, Missouri chancellor Brady Deaton is scheduled to leave the country on a business trip Tuesday, so there is speculation the SEC and Mizzou will make an announcement before then.


****Neinas and Hargis declined to address discussion of Louisville. Neinas would only say the Big 12 expansion committee recommended West Virginia, and that Louisville also has a great program. Hargis said Louisville would be on anyone's short list.


****Clements and Luck, when asked about the Big East's 27-month waiting period to leave the conference, said their legal team was working on it with the Big East.

Clements said WVU wired $2.5 million of its $5 million exit fee to the Big East office today. Clements said WVU would pay the full amount.

Other WVU officials have commented publicly that the Big East is not in the shape it committed to originally and wondered aloud if the 27-month waiting period should be valid anymore.


****While it was initially believed TCU would inherit Texas A&M's football schedule, when Neinas was asked if WVU would inherit Missouri's football scheudle, Neinas said, all of Big 12 football scheduling will need "some work."

"There will be some recalculation," Neinas said. "Even when we had TCU come in after Texas A&M. I’m not going to say we’re going to start from scratch, but there’s going to have be some work on the schedule."


****West Virginia sells beer in its football stadium, and Luck said that policy would be reviewed at the end of the academic year, but he pointed out that the Big 12 does not have a policy against beer sales in football stadiums.


****Neinas said the Big 12 does not currently plan to expand beyond 10.

"I don’t wish to indicate we will not expand, but expansion is not currently on the horizon," Neinas said.

On being a 10-member league, Neinas said, "Right now, there is no sentiment for the Big 12 Conference going back to a championship game. We have 10 and a round-robin football schedule, and we have a true champion. Every member plays the other."


****Neinas had said previously that geographic proximity was important to the Big 12 when it came to expansion. Asked about the fact WVU is 800 miles from the closest Big 12 school, Neinas said, "The landscape has changed."


****I asked Neinas if adding West Virginia was his last job as interim commissioner, and he said he would continue to serve at the discretion of the Big 12 Board, adding that a selection committee had not yet been formed to find a new commissioner.