The Big 12 expansion groundswell

[TripletDaddy]

Shoganai is tweeting that the BigEast has renewed interest in BYU. Supposedly Boise, UCF, and Houston are our big proponents, and that the remainder of the BigEast programs are willing to stick around and make sure the conference survives. A basketball scheduling agreement is also possible. Previous difficulties over TV arrangements can potentially be worked out.

No thanks!

[jay santos]

Shoganai is tweeting that the BigEast has renewed interest in BYU. Supposedly Boise, UCF, and Houston are our big proponents, and that the remainder of the BigEast programs are willing to stick around and make sure the conference survives. A basketball scheduling agreement is also possible. Previous difficulties over TV arrangements can potentially be worked out.

Do it.

[Uncle Ted]

Big 12 to expand back to 12 by summer's end

Big 12 Conference commissioner Bob Bowlsby is apparently diving right into the deep end of the conference expansion pool. I was told that “back channel” contact is currently taking place with five high major schools, with regards to joining the Big 12 conference. These lines of communication have been opened with Clemson, Maryland, Florida State, Georgia Tech, and Notre Dame.

It is anticipated that two of those five will join before summer’s end, two of those five will be invited to join the Big 12. (There is also an outside chance that a combination of Brigham Young for football, with Notre Dame in all other sports could be combined with one of the other four schools. But it’s definitely an outside chance.) Initial contact has been made with all of the schools, and none of the five have closed the door on the possibility. Georgia Tech is a bit lukewarm, based upon the relative academic reputations of the ACC and the Big 12.

[Uncle Ted]

Frank the Tank's comments on this next round of conference realignment...

3. Is the Big 12 raiding the ACC? – I don’t believe so (and you can refer back to my post from February on some of the reasons that I think still stand today).

[...]

Here’s one thing that’s clear to me, though: ESPN has zero incentive to see the ACC get raided. None. Nada. Unlike its contracts with every other power conference, ESPN has complete top-to-bottom control of all ACC TV rights. This means that ESPN has more of a vested interest in the survival of the ACC specifically over every other conference – it’s the one league that the people in Bristol aren’t sharing with Fox, CBS or the Big Ten Network. In fact, think of it in these terms:

The ACC is the single largest content provider to all of the ESPN networks, whether college or pro.

Let that sink in for a moment. The ACC provides more live content to ESPN than the NFL, Major League Baseball, NBA, SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-12. So, do you really think ESPN wants the ACC to lose anyone, much less actually enable another league (the Big 12) to poach Jim Swofford’s gang? Is ESPN going to want to trade an entire slate of Florida State games that’s guaranteed annually in order to receive only a handful of tier 1 Seminole games that’s variable from year-to-year? Well, for all of the talk about how sexy of a matchup Florida State vs. Texas would be, check out the number of times that FSU vs. Miami appears on the list of highest rated games in the history of ESPN. Since many sports fans tend to forget the existence of anything that happened beyond one year ago, they have forgotten how strong the ACC has been as a TV property over the long haul.

No one knows how much ESPN can single-handedly shape conference realignment more than the Big 12. There’s one reason why Texas and Oklahoma aren’t in the Pac-16 today: the Longhorn Network. ESPN was willing to pay Texas $15 million per year alone for bottom-of-the-barrel TV rights just so that its limited tier 1 Big 12 package would be kept alive. So, my educated guess is that ESPN is going to be more than willing to throw at least an extra $30 million per year toward its single largest content provider of the ACC to make it at least revenue neutral on the TV front (where it’s close enough to the value of the Big 12’s TV deal that any difference would be offset by higher travel expenses) or even more to remove any doubt that the ACC is on equal standing with the other power conferences.

As I’ve stated in prior blog posts, I’m not saying this out of any love for the ACC. Personally, there’s nothing that I’d love more than to witness those douchebags from Duke get relegated to the Southern Conference. However, I try my best to separate what I want to see happen from what I believe will actually happen. In this case, I believe that ESPN is going to end up paying the ACC enough to remove TV revenue as a reason for any school to leave that league for the Big 12.


4. Is the Big 12 going to expand with non-ACC schools such as Louisville? – I find this scenario to be much more likely than any type of Big 12 raid on the ACC, but the issue that the options for the Big 12 besides Louisville are limited. BYU has been brought up on several occasions as a possibility, but the Cougars have such stringent requests regarding its own TV packages that even Texas says, “Damn! You’re giving us nothing!” Cincinnati is a geographic bridge between Louisville and West Virginia, yet their fan base size and football stadium situations aren’t making the heads of anyone in the Big 12 turn. Rutgers and/or UConn are intriguing options for the Big 12 in my personal opinion, but that hasn’t been validated by anyone that’s actually associated with the conference.

Unfortunately for Louisville, they need a twelfth school to join them, as the Big 12 isn’t going to add them alone as number 11, and there isn’t anything close to a consensus on who that twelfth school should be.

[...]

If there’s one rule in conference realignment, it’s this: Shit ALWAYS rolls downhill. When you’re at the bottom of that hill, you’re the WAC.

[TripletDaddy]

Another summer of reading that BYU is asking for crazy stuff.

[USUC]

Frank the Tank's comments on this next round of conference realignment...

Good hell. I don't know anyone who watches BYUTV. Give it up!

[kccougar]

Good hell. I don't know anyone who watches BYUTV. Give it up!

IF byutv is an issue, I don't think it is because BYU is demanding too much. The Longhorn Network and other potential 3rd tier television networks or broadcasting arrangements from other schools are now being looked at as potential revenue sources. BYUtv is not going to be a revenue source since they aren't going to sell advertising so in that way BYUtv, while it is great for BYU, doesn't really bring any additional value to anyone else in a conference.

[All-American]

If the Big XII decides to expand, it seems a lot smarter to expand to the east than to the West.

I suspect that BYU's best chances of getting into a major conference is if the PAC decides that it must expand.

I do not think much of BYU's chances.

[TripletDaddy]

IF byutv is an issue, I don't think it is because BYU is demanding too much. The Longhorn Network and other potential 3rd tier television networks or broadcasting arrangements from other schools are now being looked at as potential revenue sources. BYUtv is not going to be a revenue source since they aren't going to sell advertising so in that way BYUtv, while it is great for BYU, doesn't really bring any additional value to anyone else in a conference.

I thought each school gets to keep its third tier rev? Are you saying that they have to share it with the conference?

[Uncle Ted]

I thought each school gets to keep its third tier rev? Are you saying that they have to share it with the conference?

No, I think it has more with the rebroadcast rights. It seems that BYU/BYUtv wants to be able to rebroadcast the game shortly after even it was originally shown on the tier 1/2 network.

[Jeff Lebowski]

No way BYU is holding up a deal that lucrative over stupid issues like that. I don't believe that for a second. If there is anything this saga has taught us it is that rumors, conventional wisdom, and insider info don't mean squat.

[DU Ute]

No way BYU is holding up a deal that lucrative over stupid issues like that. I don't believe that for a second. If there is anything this saga has taught us it is that rumors, conventional wisdom, and insider info don't mean squat.

I believe it.

[TripletDaddy]

No, I think it has more with the rebroadcast rights. It seems that BYU/BYUtv wants to be able to rebroadcast the game shortly after even it was originally shown on the tier 1/2 network.

I was wondering about KCs comment about lack of ad revenue on a tier three network. Why would that be a concern for the conference if the schools don't share tier 3 rev?

[Jeff Lebowski]

I believe it.

Hey, that reminds me of another thing this saga has taught us...

[DU Ute]

Hey, that reminds me of another thing this saga has taught us...

I'm glad BYU and it's fans are learning something from all this