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Realignment talk not going away


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22 minutes ago, joeycovers said:

Love this idea. All the B12/P12 matchups in week 1.  Look something like this. 

USC @ Texas       Sunday Night ABC

OU @ UCLA          Labor day Fox

WVU @ Oregon     Sat Primetime 

Stanford @ Ok St   Thurs Night

Wash St @ TT     Late night Sat

TCU @ Wash

Baylor @ Cal

ASU @ KST        Friday Night

Iowa St @ Utah

Kansas @ Colorado  

 

This would be talk of CFB opening weekend. 

I'd love it.

Then do your FCS game SEC style like Nov 10th or something.

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49 minutes ago, BarkingSpider said:

What could work is the Big 12 and Pac 12 both contracting and reforming as a new conference.  That way they would be able to drop all the dead weight

I agree, although I have never thought of a XII-PAC merger, without wanting root beer...

(get it..? 6 pack, ahh nevermind) 😎

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5 hours ago, Lidig8r said:

I have an attorney colleague in Chicago who works with the Alliance.

The only words in your post which are accurate appear to be, "The ... and ... The ... "

You need to find a better source.   They are working very hard to make it easier for the universities to communicate and share between them, but they are not a clearinghouse.  

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10 hours ago, Lidig8r said:

I have an attorney colleague in Chicago who works with the Alliance.

The only words in your post which are accurate appear to be, "The ... and ... The ... "

The BTAA is currently, or has worked in partnership with non-B1G members as:

Virginia Tech/ Auburn/ Missouri/ Oklahoma/ Colorado/ Utah/ California, ect...

The merits of each grant awarded to participants who the B1G helps to find grants to apply for monies, must still be won soley on the qualification of the school, not a group of schools themselves...

Otherwise, note that Virginia/ North Carolina/ Georgia Tech/ Vanderbilt/ Kansas/ Texas/ Arizona/USC/UCLA, survived for over a century without B1G membership...

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On 12/12/2018 at 10:11 AM, joeycovers said:

Love this idea. All the B12/P12 matchups in week 1.  Look something like this. 

USC @ Texas       Sunday Night ABC

OU @ UCLA          Labor day Fox

WVU @ Oregon     Sat Primetime 

Stanford @ Ok St   Thurs Night

Wash St @ TT     Late night Sat

TCU @ Wash

Baylor @ Cal

ASU @ KST        Friday Night

Iowa St @ Utah

Kansas @ Colorado  

 

This would be talk of CFB opening weekend. 

I'd do this only if the CFP expands to 8 teams in the future. Texas would put itself behind the 8 ball if it continues to schedule how it has plus this type of set up.  Games at night on the westcoast "scares me to death"

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2 hours ago, LTtxfan said:

Just passing along..... Don't shoot the Messenger

 

Inside College Football (CBS Sports) Bowl Preview Panel

Discussed UCF being added to B12.... All were in favor of it

Hope David Boren wasn't watching.  That dipshit almost got Louisville in the conference a few years ago because of stuff like that.

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4 hours ago, LTtxfan said:

Just passing along..... Don't shoot the Messenger

 

Inside College Football (CBS Sports) Bowl Preview Panel

Discussed UCF being added to B12.... All were in favor of it

If it makes the B12 money they will do it. It would be funny if this was the East Coast school we added for West Virginia. "There you go hillbillies, a local rival for you!"

Personally I hope we stay at 10 (or less) forever and ever amen.

Edited by Valmy77
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An expanded CFP bracketed system would allow for the majority of current conference affiliations to remain as is...
The XII, is rumored to be in (intermittent) talks with the PAC on having a "scheduling alliance" and possible combining 3rd tier rights for future contracts...

Quote
Jan 4, 2017 - While the Big 12 went through a will-it-or-won't-it dance last summer over expanding ... ultimately didn't), the conference discussed a “scheduling alliance” with the Pac-12, ... The Pac-12 has 12 teams, and the Big 12 has 10.

The easiest way to do so in keeping current configurations may be in dropping Baylor/ add Rice, allow WVU to join the ACC for the upcoming ACCN:

Best of PAC & XII- ISU/KU/OU/OSU/UT/TT/TCU/Rice+, UW/UO/UC/SU/UCLA/USC/UA/ASU/UU/CU, 20 teams...

DoEQiHqUUAEvqlQ.jpg:large

Edited by kopp0e
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On 12/14/2018 at 2:36 PM, Valmy77 said:

If it makes the B12 money they will do it. It would be funny if this was the East Coast school we added for West Virginia. "There you go hillbillies, a local rival for you!"

Personally I hope we stay at 10 (or less) forever and ever amen.

With the less part being Baylor shown the door.

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So misleading.  I mean it was right there in the sub-headline:

Quote

The Big 12 has apparently also had similar conversations with the SEC and ACC

...Any talk of a Pac-12-Big 12 merger during that time "is not accurate," according to Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby.

"We talked over probably three years about things we might work together on [with the Pac-12]," Bowlsby added. "I had the same conversation about the SEC and the ACC. We're always looking for those kinds of things. There's probably a dozen topics about whether aggregation might make some sense."

https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/big-12-discussed-scheduling-alliance-with-pac-12-during-recent-expansion-talks/

Edited by clapclapclap
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On 12/16/2018 at 6:19 PM, kopp0e said:

An expanded CFP bracketed system would allow for the majority of current conference affiliations to remain as is...
The XII, is rumored to be in (intermittent) talks with the PAC on having a "scheduling alliance" and possible combining 3rd tier rights for future contracts...

The easiest way to do so in keeping current configurations may be in dropping Baylor/ add Rice, allow WVU to join the ACC for the upcoming ACCN:

Best of PAC & XII- ISU/KU/OU/OSU/UT/TT/TCU/Rice+, UW/UO/UC/SU/UCLA/USC/UA/ASU/UU/CU, 20 teams...

DoEQiHqUUAEvqlQ.jpg:large

Nothing like a bunch of 2-year-old articles to keep a hot discussion going...

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 5 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...

https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/02/26/former-big-12-president-proposes-strategic-alliance-with-the-pac-12-the-conferences-should-embrace-the-future-together/

Former Big 12 president proposes strategic alliance with the Pac-12: The conferences should embrace the future together
 

Quote

Imagine a world in which Oklahoma’s non-conference lineup consists of Arizona, USC and Utah — yes, all in the same season — while Washington’s three out-of-league opponents that year are Oklahoma State, TCU and Iowa State.

Meanwhile, Texas plays Oregon, UCLA and Colorado.

The Ducks? They get Texas, Kansas State and Texas Tech.

In this world, the Big 12 and the Pac-12 are bound together by a strategic alliance in which all available non-conference dates are filled by teams from the other league.

No more FCS cupcakes.

No more Group of Five opponents.

It’s one Power Five against another: 30 head-to-head matchups, season after season.

The plan is radical enough that it would be easy to dismiss categorically, save for the identity of the author (a former Big 12 president) and his inspiration (a current Big 12 president).

Jon Wefald, who ran Kansas State for 23 years — he hired Bill Snyder — said he devised the strategic alliance after being asked by current West Virginia president Gordon Gee, in the fall of 2017, to consider ways to “strengthen” the Big 12.

“My first idea was to figure out a strategy to convince Arizona and Arizona State to become the 11th and 12th members of the Big 12,” Wefald told the Hotline via email. “I rather quickly dismissed that idea.”

Wefald, who was not working for the Big 12 in an official capacity, concluded his pet project months later with an 11-page document titled, “A Proposal to Create A Strategic Alliance Between The Big 12 And The Pac-12.”

In it, he writes:

“This alliance of 22 universities from the Great Plains to the West Coast would provide the vital content of big-time football games that dovetail nicely with the new developing platforms of information.”

Wefald’s proposal calls for all 30 of the Big 12’s non-conference games and for 30 of the Pac-12’s 36 out-of-league games to be played against each other.

The matchups would be spread evenly across the season (10 per month) with the winners of each conference meeting at the end of the regular season for a championship game, which would rotate between the Rose Bowl and AT&T Stadium.

Gee called the proposal “brilliant,’’ according to Wefald, but declined to comment.

“Dr. Gee is not prepared to discuss President Wefald’s proposal,’’ a university spokesperson said in response to an interview request.

Before anyone sounds the super-conference alert, let’s be clear: Both a trove of emails between Gee and Wefald shared with the Hotline and a lengthy interview with Wefald make it clear his project did not stem from concern that either conference is on the verge of getting poached or embarking on an acquisition spree.

(There is no indication a realignment wave is forming across major college football.)

Instead, the motivation appears to be straightforward.

After so much tumult, the Big 12 is stable and prosperous. Gee was simply seeking ways to secure that existence into the next decade and beyond when he asked Wefald “to think of ways to further strengthen the Big 12,” according to an account of their exchange.

Rather than fending off dissolution or expansion, the alliance is designed to appeal to media partners of the future and deepen fan engagement by creating a barrage of quality matchups. (Wefald devised the alliance with the help of Dick Robertson, the former president of Warner Bros. Television Distribution.)

But before digging deeper into the matter, context is required on several fronts.

Wefald “is not an emissary of the Big 12,” commissioner Bob Bowlsby told the Hotline. “He is a former president with an interest in our conference, but he hasn’t been authorized to serve in any outreach role whatsoever.”

Other Big 12 presidents are aware of the plan, according to Wefald.

“President Gee did talk to all of the other 9 Big 12 Presidents (on) the merits of our Strategic Proposal,” he explained via email.

“He also talked to Commissioner Bob Bowlsby. Of course, the Commissioner has to listen to all 10 of the Big 12 Presidents. How many of the other 9 CEOs liked it, I do not know.”

While creative and bold, Wefald’s strategic alliance is considered impractical by the schools on multiple levels:

*** For competitive reasons, the head coaches wouldn’t agree to play every non-conference game against Power Five opponents.

Nor would the Big 12 athletic directors agree to commit every non-conference opening to teams from the Pac-12, and vice versa.

Why would Texas, for instance, remove from its schedule potential dates with the likes of Alabama, Notre Dame or Texas A&M?

*** Many teams have scheduled home-and-home series against other Power Five opponents through the 2020s, with contracts that carry hefty buyouts.

Oregon, for example, has dates with Michigan State in ’29 and ’30.

*** Financially, the alliance simply won’t work.

Most athletic departments need seven home football games per year to generate the revenue (through ticket sales and gate receipts) to meet budget requirements.

In an inter-conference alliance, the seven-home-games math doesn’t work.

“We can’t possibly all our non-conference games against the Pac-12,” Bowlsby said, “and they can’t do it against us.”

On a broader level, however, a limited partnership between the conferences has merit at the turnstiles and in the homes.

Selling tickets to watch second-rate opponents is increasingly difficult, even for the powerhouses in the football-crazed SEC.

“I’ve always been an advocate of playing all Power 5 schools,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said in 2018.

“I think we need to have more really, really good games on TV for the players. We can’t have fans who pay a lot of money for tickets and boxes and loges who support our programs to pay for games that no one is interested in watching.”

With so many options for content delivery and consumption, quality is king. The Pac-12’s current Tier 1 media rights contracts with ESPN and Fox expire in 2024; the Big 12’s deals are up the following year.

Bowlsby is one step ahead, having discussed consortiums with Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott and officials from other Power Fives.

“(Scott) and I talk frequently about ways we can collaborate on different things,” Bowlsby said, adding that a scheduling partnership in a greatly reduced form (compared to Wefald’s version) “is not far-fetched” for the Big 12.

Nor is it for the Pac-12.

In the late 2000s, the conference played the Big 12 in the Hardwood Series, with games in late November and early December.

And in the early 2010s, the Pac-12 discussed a partnership with the Big Ten by which each team from one conference would play a team from the other. (The plan ultimately fell apart.)

“In collaboration with our members,” Scott told the Hotline, “we regularly discuss scheduling opportunities with other conferences where we can help our programs and our fans.”

A football scheduling partnership between the Big 12 and Pac-12 would do more than provide quality content for future network partners. It would do so across the canvass of broadcast windows, potentially increasing the value of the package.

Because of campus geography, a partnership would cover all four times zones with desirable kickoff options: Games could start as early as 12 p.m. Eastern on Big 12 campuses and as late as 10:30 p.m. Eastern on Pac-12 campuses. In other words: a quadruple-header.

Instead of filling every non-conference date with an opponent from the other league, as Wefald proposed, what if just one spot was filled each year.

Instead of all 22 schools participating each season, what if six from each conference were involved on a rotating basis?

Maybe a dynamic scheduling component could be included within the broader alliance, with teams told in advance to block off certain Saturdays in a given year.

Each spring, after rosters were set and expectations established, the conferences would announce the matchups.

It could be like the World Cup draw, without the Group of Death.

However unrealistic the specifics of Wefald’s plan, the Big 12 and Pac-12 might be stronger venturing into the future side by side.

 

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That's not happening.  The Pac 12 needs it a lot worse than the Big 12 does.

Let the Pac 12 continue to struggle and poach off any schools that give a shit about football.  The Big 12 is currently in a much better place.  The Pac is proving that population is pointless when they don't give a shit.

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Talk sounds as if it could have legs, of course anything can change; but a "joint" ESPN/DAZN deal, could lay the foundation for a conference-wide network...
The same idea that Tramel (and other in media) have spoken of before, is rehashed; or gaining traction (in editorials in Seattle/ San Francisco/ Dallas, ect.)...

Spoiler

Jon Solomon


@JonSolomonAspen
Big 12 discussed scheduling alliance with Pac-12 during recent expansion talks (via @dennisdoddcbs) http://www.cbssports.com/college-foo...pansion-talks/

11
4:03 PM - Jan 4, 2017
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Big 12 discussed scheduling alliance with Pac-12 during recent expansion talks
The Big 12 has apparently also had similar conversations with the SEC and ACC

cbssports.com
See Jon Solomon's other Tweets



Berry Tramel
@BerryTramel
Tramel: Merger with SEC or Pac-12 is the Big 12's only chance for stability http://bit.ly/2bfZ71b

44
5:03 PM - Aug 13, 2016
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Tramel: Merger with SEC or Pac-12 is the Big 12's only chance...
AUG 13, 2016 - Since the departures of bedrock members, the Big 12 has no ideal. Some would say no idea, either, but the real problem has been no ideal. All the options are poor.

newsok.com
58 people are talking about this



John E. Hoover

@johnehoover
A Big 12/Pac-12 alliance? This plan would need a LOT of work (as in, in this format it wouldn’t work), but there are elements that might make sense.

Jon Wilner

@wilnerhotline
A current Big 12 prez asked an ex-Big 12 prez to find ways to "strengthen" the conference. The result: A proposed strategic alliance with the Pac-12:http://bayareane.ws/2GZW5R0

1
10:34 AM - Feb 26, 2019
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Berry Tramel
@BerryTramel
Ex-Kansas State president Jon Wefald recommends hard-core Big 12/Pac-12 scheduling alliance. https://newsok.com/article/5624121/e...ac-12-alliance

4
5:01 PM - Feb 26, 2019

 



Big 12, Pac-12 strategic alliance would make both stronger

https://www.mercurynews.com/.../former-big-12-president-proposes-strategic-alliance...
10 hours ago - A former Big 12 president has proposed that each team play three non-conference games against teams from the other league. That might be ...


And it's pretty similar to the scheduling alliance talks of the 1990's that came to createw the XII from the Big8 & SWC:

Big 12 expansion: Oral history of Big 8-SWC merger | SI.com


https://www.si.com/college.../2016/.../big-12-expansion-oral-history-big-8-swc-merge...
Aug 16, 2016 - In 1991 and '92, conversations among Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech led to several attempts at compromise, none of which appealed to the schools or the legislators who were by then involved. Could Texas head to the Pac-10 and Texas A&M to the SEC? No. Could Texas Tech and Texas both go west? No, the Pac-10 wasn't interested in the Red Raiders.

Meanwhile, members of the Big Eight faced their own set of concerns about television market size and the viability of their conference. Wefald was especially concerned, and at a 1990 National Association of Land Grant Schools meeting, he initiated a conversation between the Big Eight and SWC. As the chairman of the Association of Big Eight Universities, Wefald felt his title gave him the power bring up a potential merger, but he lacked clout due to Kansas State's subpar athletics.



I doubt the networks would be willing to pay for all 22 schools, but that may be null & void; depending on how the Alston case is determined in judgement...
 
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that is probably one of the dumbest ideas yet as Chase said above the Big 12 does not need to tie shit to the PAC 12

forget even the idea of "wait until they collapse first" because there is little chance that happens, but the PAC 12 has major issues in general that are way deeper than on the field

they are the only conference where close to if not a majority of their programs have shrunk their stajiums recently

their network barring dumb luck (or adding UH of course 🤣 ) is stagnant

they have extremely high debt for a number of their programs

they run extremely high academic side subsidies for a number of their programs and even with those they still have the most programs with the least total revenue

the scheduling times issue

a population that is not college sports focused and only follows college sports when programs are winning big

there is ZERO reason the Big 12 needs to get in a scheduling deal with them......9 conference games is STUPID and is dragging the Big 12 down and the PAC 12 knows 9 conference games is stupid, the Big 10 is finding out 9 conference games is stupid and the SEC SEC SEC and ACC already know it is stupid

but the cure for the Big 12 dragging themselves down with 9 conference games is not to add shitty G5 programs and going to 8 games nor is it playing fewer conference games so that they can LOCK THEMSELVES in with the PAC 12

the answer is to simply stop playing 9 fucking conference games and then schedule for the needs of each individual program in the Big 12......programs like Texas and OU would get the shit end of the stick in a deal with the PAC 12 because Texas and OU can schedule top teams from the PAC 12 or any other conference now without having to be tied to playing the shit teams in that conference as well

and the answer for Texas and OU and any other Big 12 program to have a better schedule is to play fewer conference games and schedule well in the OOC instead

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6 hours ago, ButtFumble said:

that is probably one of the dumbest ideas yet as Chase said above the Big 12 does not need to tie shit to the PAC 12

forget even the idea of "wait until they collapse first" because there is little chance that happens, but the PAC 12 has major issues in general that are way deeper than on the field

they are the only conference where close to if not a majority of their programs have shrunk their stajiums recently

their network barring dumb luck (or adding UH of course 🤣 ) is stagnant

they have extremely high debt for a number of their programs

they run extremely high academic side subsidies for a number of their programs and even with those they still have the most programs with the least total revenue

the scheduling times issue

a population that is not college sports focused and only follows college sports when programs are winning big

there is ZERO reason the Big 12 needs to get in a scheduling deal with them......9 conference games is STUPID and is dragging the Big 12 down and the PAC 12 knows 9 conference games is stupid, the Big 10 is finding out 9 conference games is stupid and the SEC SEC SEC and ACC already know it is stupid

but the cure for the Big 12 dragging themselves down with 9 conference games is not to add shitty G5 programs and going to 8 games nor is it playing fewer conference games so that they can LOCK THEMSELVES in with the PAC 12

the answer is to simply stop playing 9 fucking conference games and then schedule for the needs of each individual program in the Big 12......programs like Texas and OU would get the shit end of the stick in a deal with the PAC 12 because Texas and OU can schedule top teams from the PAC 12 or any other conference now without having to be tied to playing the shit teams in that conference as well

and the answer for Texas and OU and any other Big 12 program to have a better schedule is to play fewer conference games and schedule well in the OOC instead

I share every point you made. Though, I wish there was a way to poach the two Arizona schools. And drop back to 8 conference games.

Unfortunately it is almost impossible to talk about this without CR’ing the thread. But, from my point of view those who believe that we have a common philosophy with any of the PAC schools would find themselves hugely disappointed getting in bed with them. 

Especially those that are not only naive enough, but honestly believe that Texas hasn’t enjoyed using both its financial and political muscle when necessary in the past. That leverage would immediately cease to exist in any arrangement with the PAC, and why I don’t believe it would ever happen.

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11 hours ago, ButtFumble said:

the answer is to simply stop playing 9 fucking conference games and then schedule for the needs of each individual program in the Big 12......programs like Texas and OU would get the shit end of the stick in a deal with the PAC 12 because Texas and OU can schedule top teams from the PAC 12 or any other conference now without having to be tied to playing the shit teams in that conference as well

and the answer for Texas and OU and any other Big 12 program to have a better schedule is to play fewer conference games and schedule well in the OOC instead

Read at the bottom, as I agree with your theory, this will be "slimmed down" a bit...

10 hours ago, maninblack said:

Would gladly dump Baylor/WVU for Colorado/Utah/AZ/ASU and go back to 12

Agreed... It would create a real "Southwest Conference", for Texas/ Oklahoma/ Kansas/ USC/ UCLA/ Arizona & all western flagships...

Dep3OYCUcAA0Ij0.jpg

6 hours ago, LTbear said:

Meh, I think the Arizona schools would be alright adds to the Big XII. Though as a PAC fan I honestly hope it stays as is/ never disbands or adds teams.

Agreed, it sounds far too similar to the former "scheduling alliance" of the Big 8 & SWC:
 

Quote

SWC Weighs Big 8 Alliance - NewsOK

https://newsok.com/article/2319646/swc-weighs-big-8-alliance
Jun 4, 1990 - SWC president James Vick would not confirm or deny that a Big Eight-SWC alliance was discussed, but a league source said it was, The News ...


 

Quote

Rumor Mill Swirls With The Winds of Change Big Eight/SWC Alliance ...

https://newsok.com/rumor-mill-swirls-with-the...big-eightswc-alliance.../2382808
Jan 24, 1992 - Talk of a Big Eight/Southwest Conference alliance sprang up again last week, and as usual, the wind was blowing out of the south.



Which of course, eventually gave way to a full "merger"; I expect the networks would want the best content (i.e., matchups), for the "agreement"...
And as pointed out, I doubt ESPN/ FOX, ect. have interest in paying 22 schools P5 monies; plus OU/ UT to visit Wazzou, USC/ Cal to visit K-State..?

imgur>


No, as mentioned before, (I think) Oklahoma & Texas would rather remain league mates, while earning SEC/B1G pay; by merging with USC & UCLA... Edited by kopp0e
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I would hope they make the tough decision to cut back on a 16 school conference.  If there is 8 schools in your division, you only play one opponent from the other once every 8 years? Longer?  Still believe that 12 is the perfect number.. deciding on which 4 would hit the cutting room floor is gonna be tough.. (Cal, Utah, TCU, Iowa St)?? They would most likely compromise at 14 (Bye Utah, TCU?)

Regarding Pacific time.. I live on the east coast, I hated the start time of the Cal game a few years ago (around 10:45 pm EST).  However I can live with one game in a time slot like that for Texas once a year if need be. I still think the marquee match-ups will still have kick off times of 8/8:30 pm EST.  I also wonder if TV viewership will change a little with the additions of the Big 12 schools.  Will more people in the EST regions be tuning in at 10 PM to watch UCLA vs Oklahoma St ?

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6 minutes ago, Al_4_ISU said:

Rather than play 8 conference games, they should force all conferences to play 9.

Round robin is awesome, other than the disadvantage it creates vis a vis the ACC/SEC set up.

That's what I'm saying ..in an event of a 16 school conference.. you play an eight game division schedule and one cross division school for the ninth game.  So, outside a CCG you may only play Stanford once in a decade?

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That's what I'm saying ..in an event of a 16 school conference.. you play an eight game division schedule and one cross division school for the ninth game.  So, outside a CCG you may only play Stanford once in a decade?

I guess you’re counting the spring game in your divisional schedule.
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One question to open up: what do we currently have in the Big 12 that you want to preserve in our next conference? Can be anything-- the name, the mostly geographically consistent alignment (minus WVU), etc.

For me, there's not much. The Big 12 without Colorado, Nebraska, A&M, and to a lesser extent Missouri, isn't the Big 12. I don't care if we ever play most of the B12 again-- Kansas State, OSU, etc. However, I'm not altogether sure a good alternative exists. We're not going anywhere without OU, and since the Big Ten is already too big and unwieldy, adding two more schools to the Western Division doesn't do much for that. A Big Ten with 12 teams TOTAL, including UT and OU, would be OK-- travel would be expensive and it would be weird to not have geography in common.

The Pac-12 has too much deadweight. I don't really want to play Oregon State or Washington State on the regular. I would say that if we can do a 16-team Pac, maybe bolting the Texoma schools to it, then OK, but as someone else pointed out, it's 2019. We're no longer, as a populace, willing to allow states to independently decide social issues. Joining a conference with four California schools is just asking for trouble the first time either state passes a social issue statute that the other state's legislature wants to boycott.

If we pursue the NFLization of CFB further, you could say "Stanford, USC, UCLA, Colorado, and the two Arizona schools plus Texas, Tech, OU, OSU" playing a round-robin. But that's cherry picking, first, because Stanford probably isn't going to want to be a part of NFLization and isn't going to leave Berkeley. Also, UCLA is one of the most overrated properties in CFB. Other than winning a bunch of Rose Bowls they shouldn't have, 30-40 years ago, they have accomplished nothing in the color photography era. 

If you look further north, Washington's a program and school I wouldn't mind being associated with but that's 2000 miles away. Oregon is dirty as fuck and their complicity in the AAU/shoe company trashing of college basketball makes me want nothing to do with them.

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I want the Big 8 back, but that's never going to happen.

I don't really care about playing the Texas schools other than we've been doing it for almost as long as I can remember.  I'm used to that.  I'm not worried about ISU "being in" in the future at this point, but I don't want to play in a league with bad geography and no history with the other schools.  The Kansas and Oklahoma schools are close to ISU, and we've played them forever.  The Texas schools are no worse than the far flung road trips in any other league, and we've played them long enough to have established familiarity and feel.

The quasi realistic pipe dream is the current P5 breaking away into it's own division and having sensible geographic realignment where you have Northeast, Southeast, Great Lakes, Great Plains, Southwest, and West Coast divisions/conferences.  That's really loose.  You could have 72 schools in 8 9 team divisions.  8 division games, winner goes to the playoffs.  4 non division games that you can use to preserve historic rivalries that might get interrupted, like if UT was in a Southwest division and OU was in a Great Plains division like the Big 8/SWC days.

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I think at this point you just add 2 teams as Football only members.  Boise and BYU. Go back to 8 games and 2 divisions. 

They have been consistently solid programs for a very long time and will viewed nationally as solid wins. 

That then gives the conf flexibility to add 1 P12 games a year for every team in the conf. 

So 8 conf games. 1 P12 game. Then still gives you 3 games to do as you please. 

The National viewpoint is every B12 is playing a P5 OOC game where as now we get 0 credit for playing 9 conf games. 

Fact is nobody cares about any of our conf games anyway other than Red River Game so this gives UT opportunity for 1 P12 game every year. We still Play Ou and can schedule another Blue blood OOC. 

 

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Having a bifurcated conference in that it has a football arm and an other-sports arm could make a great deal of sense from an economic standpoint if travel were too expensive for some more remote schools and from a religious standpoint should BYU, e.g., need to keep Sunday free of athletic commitments. The best numbers for the football side would seem to be 12 or 9, depending on whether one prized playing all opponents annually versus having divisions and a title game. Texas, OU, Tech, and OSU are the core football schools, and Kansas is probably worth keeping in that arm for the money they get and the one win every team needs :). KSU is hard to separate from Kansas, and that makes six. If it were a "Southwestern Conference" we build or join, the AZ schools are the obvious numbers 7 and 8. BYU would probably make sense for a football conference even if not for everything, and that is 9. No Baylor. To add more Texas (the state) flavor and permit a championship game, one could bring along a few more teams such as TCU, ISU, and Rice. The last one obviously would not carry its weight on TV ratings but has some other arguments in its favor. Who is #12 is a discussion I wouldn't try to settle in one message board post, clearly. All of this presupposes convincing Fenves/CDC to contemplate a divorce from the current arrangement and the leadership in AZ to do the same-- unlikely in my mind, but not impossible.

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I think the problem moving ahead is that OU has perhaps the most power, because they are willing (and perhaps eager) to move and they likely have takers. Adding BYU and Boise aren't going to keep OU happy. Adding those teams will mean less money and no one in the conference seems interested in losing money. It is an exercise we have already gone through. Those adds also won't get OU's T3 content a national audience, which is something they greatly desire. While I think OU would love to get down to 8 games, the decline in money makes the Big 12 less competitive than their other options.

OU can pull up stakes and go to the SEC or Big 10 and get everything they can't get from the Big 12 (especially if we move with them). I think OU to the Pac has finally died with the Pac's bad media moves. To make it viable would require a whole lot of breaking and rebuilding that just doesn't seem likely. The Big 12 sell to OU might be improved though with a Pac media relationship of a one-game-per-team deal. It would give them some permanent presence in one of their prime recruiting territories and it makes the TV deal more valuable with guaranteed match ups.

If the T1/2 deal is still competitive and OU needs an unwilling UT to move with them (like when they tried to make a unilateral move out west last time) or they can't leverage OSU into a move with them, that may be enough to hold the current Big 12 together. If it could include a T3 network with national reach, that could seal the deal, but it is unlikely. I think either the Big 10 or SEC takes the risk of offering a solo spot to OU, thereby effectively killing the Big 12. The question then becomes do we move immediately or do we stay in a lame-duck Big 12 to see out the end of the LHN contract and then pick our spot.

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OU and UT aren't going to get better playoff access or control of league affairs by joining someone else's conference. 

The question for OU is would you rather be the current OU program or the current Nebraska or Aggy program.  Because if they join the Big 10 or SEC, that's what's coming.

Edited by Al_4_ISU
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6 minutes ago, Al_4_ISU said:

OU and UT aren't going to get better playoff access or control of league affairs by joining someone else's conference. 

The question for OU is would you rather be the current OU program or the current Nebraska or Aggy program.  Because if they join the Big 10 or SEC, that's what's coming.

Nah.  They're right next to Dallas.  They'll always recruit well, especially in the SEC

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