The Big 12 expansion groundswell

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

http://texas.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1148672

Texas is going to get $12 million from ESPN on top of what they get from the Big 12 deal. Is Mack Brown underpaid at $5 mil a year? Honest question.

I don't even think they have an HD truck!

[MarkGrace]

Big 12 football: Expand to BYU, Louisville

Posted by berrytramelon November 29, 2010M at 10:30 am

TCU apparently is headed for the Big East, which makes no geographic sense, but that long ago quit mattering. Tampa, Fort Worth and Syracuse, N.Y. That’s not the Big East. That’s the Big America.

But anyway, TCU’s apparent decision to join the Big East is a clear indication that the Big 12 meant its stated intention to NOT expand with a Texas school. I personally think that if TCU had made the national championship game and won, the Big 12 would have been under intense pressure to invite the Horned Frogs.

How could a league with a couple of openings NOT invite a school 20 miles from the conference office that wants to join and has just won a national title? I think the Big 12 might have had to pull that trigger; invite TCU and BYU and hope BYU’s strong television presence would be enough to offset the Frogs’ lack of TV prowess.

All this conference realignment — Big Ten and Pac-10 expansion to 12 teams, allowing for a league championship game; BYU, Utah and TCU fleeing the Mountain West — leaves the Big 12 vulnerable.

I know the Big 12 likes the idea of the same amount of money split among 10 mouths rather than 12, but the conference appears weak falling back to 10 and losing a championship game.

I think, more than ever before, the Big 12 has to get back to a dozen. And I say BYU and Louisville are the way to go.

Louisville has a strong athletic program, and its football program is coming back under first-year coach Charlie Strong. UL has a good fan base, and Louisville would provide a good TV market. It ranks in the 40s, around Oklahoma City.

And BYU is a home run, except for the proximity. It’s 1,000 miles from Kansas City to Provo, Utah. The Cougars play big-time football, despite this season, and are a basketball force, too. BYU has a great TV market (top-50) and even better, a national television presence.

BYU and Louisville are the way to go.

http://blog.newsok.com/berrytramel/2...ad_story_title

[Surfah]

The TCU move to the Big East was a good thing for BYU.

[TripletDaddy]

The TCU move to the Big East was a good thing for BYU.

I hope you are right, hermano. And I can see the logic, I suppose. But when Villanova gets a football invite, when Southern Florida gets a football invite, etc...I am more than cautious about any optimism.

[MarkGrace]

The TCU move to the Big East was a good thing for BYU.

I hope so, because independence still concerns me a bit.

[Flystripper]

I hope so, because independence still concerns me a bit.

It still concerns me greatly.

[LA Ute]

Does BYU's contract with ESPN have an out clause if BYU joins a BCS conference? I am pretty sure it does but was wondering if anyone knows.

[SeattleUte]

Does BYU's contract with ESPN have an out clause if BYU joins a BCS conference? I am pretty sure it does but was wondering if anyone knows.

I am sure it's next to illusory.

The problem with the author's logic is that there are a number of other schools besides BYU and Louisville who athletically would be a good fit for the Big 12, would probably accept a Pac 12 invitation, have decent fan bases, and don't bring all of the religious baggage, geographic problems, and high maintence requirements that BYU does.

[Blueintheface]

I am sure it's next to illusory.

The problem with the author's logic is that there are a number of other schools besides BYU and Louisville who athletically would be a good fit for the Big 12, would probably accept a Pac 12 invitation, have decent fan bases, and don't bring all of the religious baggage, geographic problems, and high maintence requirements that BYU does.

About a 7.

[statman]

I am sure it's next to illusory.

The problem with the author's logic is that there are a number of other schools besides BYU and Louisville who athletically would be a good fit for the Big 12, would probably accept a Pac 12 invitation, have decent fan bases, and don't bring all of the religious baggage, geographic problems, and high maintence requirements that BYU does.

Such as?

Granted, there are a couple - Louisville, Memphis, Southern Miss, etc. BYU's better at sports than any of them, but don't have BYU's "baggage."

The problem - even with the TCU add, I don't see the Big East surviving the steamroller that's coming toward them - the expansion of the SEC, Big X and ACC to 16-team super-conferences that will be fed by the Big East and a few scattered others - a few Conf USA teams. To all expand, they'll need 12 teams. And the Big 12 still needs 2, making 14 teams needed total. Looking East, the Big East provides 9 teams (including TCU). ND will be another. Memphis, Southern Miss & East Carolina or perhaps Central Florida would round it out.

But given their love of outside TV contracts, ND might think it'd be better off with the Big 12 - one less league game (8 instead of the 9 that are expected in a 16-team superconference), means one more game to sell to NBC on the side. And the Big-12 has shown they're willing to allow teams to do this (Texas - and BYU isn't going to join unless they can do it too). For this reason, I think the Big-12's adds will be BYU and ND. the Big XII and PAC-10 will stop at 12-team leagues. The ACC, SEC and Big-10 will move to 16 teams (all three conferences are on the record saying that they'd consider it if the TV $ made sense).

IMO - TCU ultimately ends up in the SEC with So Miss, So Fla and C Fla (SEC-W TCU, So Miss, Ol Miss, Miss State, LSU, Ark, Aub, & Bama SEC-E - S Fla, C Fla, Fla, GA, SC, TN, Vandy, UK). ACC grabs E Car, WVa, Rutgers & UConn (ACC-N - BC, UConn, ECar, WVa, Rutgers, VaT, VA, MD ACC-S - UNC, Duke, NCST, WF, GaTech, Clemson, FLSt & Miami). Big 10 gets Pitt, Cincinnati, Louisville and Syr (Big10-E - Pitt, Cincinnati, Syr, Louisville, PennSt, OhioSt, Mich, & Mich St Big10W - Ind, Purdue, NW, Wisc, MN, IL, Neb, Iowa).

I think TCU has got to be really happy - this move ensures them a place at the BCS table - something that wasn't so obvious under other scenarios. You know the Big 12 isn't happy that there will be a BCS team recruiting (and playing) in the DFW Metroplex. Think how pissed they'll be when that team ends up being a member of the SEC instead of the Big East...

[LiveCoug]

BYU's hopes and dreams are dashed.

http://www.mwcboard.com/www/forums/i...howtopic=29865

[Surfah]

BYU's hopes and dreams are dashed.

http://www.mwcboard.com/www/forums/i...howtopic=29865

[Flystripper]

BYU's hopes and dreams are dashed.

http://www.mwcboard.com/www/forums/i...howtopic=29865

that's HIGH - larious!

puff puff don't forget to pass!

[Paperback Writer]

Late to this thread; but 25 pages is impressive. A few informed thoughts:

Arkansas is not leaving the SEC. The Big XII is morphing into the SWC II and Arkansas has already experienced that...and opted to leave for the SEC.

If Notre Dame joins a conference for football, and I doubt the Irish do after this last round of expansion, they will join the Big Ten. I highly doubt Notre Dame ever joins the Big XII.

If 16-team super conferences are the future of college football, the Big XII is toast. Kansas and Missouri will be considered by the Big Ten. Oklahoma and Texas A&M will be considered by the SEC. Texas will go anywhere it wants.

Not sure where that leaves BYU. The Big XII needs to take the offensive and add BYU and another team. The ideal team would have been TCU but the Big XII South can't seem to do what's in their own best interests for future stability of the conference. And that has been the Big XII's real problem all along - difficulty in placing the best interests of the conference over that of individual institutions. For example, the best thing that Tech and Baylor could have done was lobby Texas and A&M to include TCU (along with BYU) but those schools are too worried about what it would do to their own recruiting in Texas. Instead, Baylor and Tech could very well be left out of a major conference once all the seats are taken at the table.

[Surfah]

Late to this thread; but 25 pages is impressive. A few informed thoughts:

Arkansas is not leaving the SEC. The Big XII is morphing into the SWC II and Arkansas has already experienced that...and opted to leave for the SEC.

If Notre Dame joins a conference for football, and I doubt the Irish do after this last round of expansion, they will join the Big Ten. I highly doubt Notre Dame ever joins the Big XII.

If 16-team super conferences are the future of college football, the Big XII is toast. Kansas and Missouri will be considered by the Big Ten. Oklahoma and Texas A&M will be considered by the SEC. Texas will go anywhere it wants.

Not sure where that leaves BYU. The Big XII needs to take the offensive and add BYU and another team. The ideal team would have been TCU but the Big XII South can't seem to do what's in their own best interests for future stability of the conference. And that has been the Big XII's real problem all along - difficulty in placing the best interests of the conference over that of individual institutions. For example, the best thing that Tech and Baylor could have done was lobby Texas and A&M to include TCU (along with BYU) but those schools are too worried about what it would do to their own recruiting in Texas. Instead, Baylor and Tech could very well be left out of a major conference once all the seats are taken at the table.

I don't agree with anything in this post except that Arkansas won't leave the SEC.