I was replying to Al, once again, bemoaning that the IR8 had the rotten luck of not getting to be in the B1G or SEC, as the reason they have to sweat major conference membership. I know that nobody in the IR8 wants to ever reflect that their marginal position may be due to decisions they made, and not just pure bad luck. But, this is a Texas board, so I wonāt apologize for not sharing the IR8 perspective.
So, in arguing for the B12 and its continued relevance, youāre going with stadiums. Uh-huh. First, OSUās stadium, may be āupdatedā, but while putting in boxes, they forgot to fix its biggest flaw- the ridiculously unsafe sidelines. Thatās not an endearing trait, like a beauty flaw. Itās a cleft palate that has horribly not been repaired.
Oh, and Baylor. Thatās a new stadium, built on the heels of the Briles run. They canāt fill the upper deck against anyone but Texas or OU, and those teams are not on the schedule anymore. (Did I mention that Baylor games were on streaming five weeks in a row last year?)
Funny thing about those stadiums- theyāre not that big. They donāt need to be. The PAC refugees will be bringing in the leagueās biggest stadiums. Shoot, right now UTSA plays in a stadium larger than any IR8 team. Those SEC and B1G bottom dwellers all have bigger stadiums than the biggest B12 stadiums.
Itās ok. You matter. Youāre a big deal. Itās just bad luck that youāre not pulling $60M or $100M per year like an SEC or B1G team.