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Realignment talk not going away


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28 minutes ago, camel at sea said:

UConn agreeing to overspend on football for a while isn't far-fetched.  That school has money.  They're also arguably the premier program in men's basketball currently, with 5 natties since '99.  Dan Hurley is young, too, so they could keep things rolling for a while if they can afford to keep him (Big 12 money > Big East money in that respect.) 

My assumption is that the Big 12 is aggressively pursuing expansion with the blessing of its media partners.  Somehow an expanded Big 12 saves ESPN/FOX money.  Getting enough PAC inventory into the Big 12 that ESPN can 1) not bid on that PAC contract, and 2) continue airing "After Dark" inventory makes sense to that end.  The Big 12 expands, makes money, and its partners save money by paying for the inventory of fewer overall schools.  Maybe FOX and/or ESPN intend to shuffle east cost inventory in a similar way, for similar reason.

BC, Wake, Duke, etc., could be facing a Stanford/Cal/Washington State-ish future.       

Agreed.

The other possible factor here is that ESPN is based in CT.  We've seen politics affect realignment before.

There could be some tradeoff where the state of CT gives ESPN a financial incentive (preferential treatment on taxes/tax rebates/etc)  in return for ESPN getting UConn into a conference with a much bigger payout and a bigger national spotlight.  

If athletics is the "front porch" of the university, the state could see that tradeoff as a marketing spend for their flagship school.

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27 minutes ago, Hurtlocker said:

Haha, never heard this one before:

 

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LOL - What on earth.  I'm pretty sure Iowa State and Kansas State don't have medical schools.  UT-Austin didn't have a medical school until recently (although there are obviously medical schools in the system).

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30 minutes ago, Josef Pwag said:

Have you considered the advantages of Big 12 branded aluminum siding for your home?

Many people aren't aware of the insulating properties of loose tortillas. It will save you dozens.

Don't ask yourself if you can afford to have it, rather can your family afford not to have it?

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3 hours ago, TKthunder2 said:

Anything to get clicks. However, Memphis was number 5 in the Big12 sweepstakes 2 years ago. The hold back then was they just didn't have a plan for facility improvements. But, At the end of 2022 they announced a 200 million dollar Liberty Bowl improvement package. I went to the Tech-Mississippi State Bowl Game there at the end on the 21 season. $200 million is about 1/3 of what's needed to upgrade the place. You all prolly know what a dump Jones Stadium here in Lubbock was 20 years ago. The Liberty Bowl is far worse than the Jones ever was and Tech to their credit has spent about $700 million (counting the current project) to make the stadium really nice. Spending 200mill on that dump will make their place about the fifth best in the American Athletic Conference.

It would indeed be strategically good for the BIG12 to have a school right in the middle of SEC country. However, there is NO way they are ready to be in the number three conference. I mean they legitimately lost out to Coug High!!!

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2 hours ago, hawkfan said:

I find the timing of Notre Dame's invite to be interesting.

Miami and ASU also caught my eye.  

BIG schools clearly hold a lot of influence with the AAU, and we can take it one step further.  

The Chair of the AAU Board of Directors is none other than USC President Carol Folt.

BIG putting pieces in place for teams they want to add over the next 2-12 years ?

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3 hours ago, Gidnik said:

 

I still think the SEC is negotiating for more money, but yes it creates a stupid fing talking point that every asshole in the Midwest and West Coast will repeat over and over again in 2024. I can almost hear Plaschke single pecking away at his keyboard. 

I would suggest Texas schedule an additional bowl eligible team from the ACC, Big 12, or PAC 10 in 2024. 
 

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9 hours ago, Park Gothic said:

UConn just doesn't make sense to me. The closest Big 12 school is WVU, approximately 500 miles away, and WVU is already on an island. It's also a terrible fit culturally and for non-basketball sports. I get that Yormark wants the premier basketball league but it is seems like such a bad idea in every other respect. My only thought is that maybe he's using the threat of adding UConn to encourage another school (like ASU or Arizona) to jump in? 

Well Gonzaga is a worse idea.  There's no reason to expect Gonzaga to continue to be elite after Few retires.  They aren't Marquette or Georgetown or Villanova who have decades of history as well as titles.  They're a small school in the middle of nowhere.

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6 hours ago, CustersDoctor said:

Anything to get clicks. However, Memphis was number 5 in the Big12 sweepstakes 2 years ago. The hold back then was they just didn't have a plan for facility improvements. But, At the end of 2022 they announced a 200 million dollar Liberty Bowl improvement package. I went to the Tech-Mississippi State Bowl Game there at the end on the 21 season. $200 million is about 1/3 of what's needed to upgrade the place. You all prolly know what a dump Jones Stadium here in Lubbock was 20 years ago. The Liberty Bowl is far worse than the Jones ever was and Tech to their credit has spent about $700 million (counting the current project) to make the stadium really nice. Spending 200mill on that dump will make their place about the fifth best in the American Athletic Conference.

It would indeed be strategically good for the BIG12 to have a school right in the middle of SEC country. However, there is NO way they are ready to be in the number three conference. I mean they legitimately lost out to Coug High!!!

While not sure about that medical school claim, I'm pretty sure the B12 required any prospective member have on campus venues.   I think what held USF/Memphis back was those didn't exist.   

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1 hour ago, Hurtlocker said:

While not sure about that medical school claim, I'm pretty sure the B12 required any prospective member have on campus venues.   I think what held USF/Memphis back was those didn't exist.   

Pretty sure there are no hard and fast requirements but on campus stadium shows a greater commitment. We would’ve taken Pitt for sure if they wanted in with WVU. If the Liberty Bowl was state of the art and regularly sold out it’d be fine that it’s not on campus. The fact that it’s a complete dump is a sign of a lack of commitment to football. It’s a tough sell “if you let us in we’ll do better.”

Edited by 'stache
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10 hours ago, Josef Pwag said:

They have a factory that makes magic underwear which is what people in Utah rely on instead of a hospital. 

Good one...

Just FYI the current president of the LDS Church is a former heart surgeon that was a pioneer in his field, was a director of the American Board of Thoracic Surgery, and was offered the job as head of the dept of thoracic surgery at the University of Chicago, but turned it down. 

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30 minutes ago, camel at sea said:

It's interesting that he left out ASU.    

Or the B1G/SEC could just poach KU & AZ for more money and tell the rest of the Big 12 to fuck off. Seems like that'd work if that's the route they wanted to go, but I'd be surprised if that's what they were thinking.

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When they did the original remix it was supposed to hit $50m by the end of the contract, which I think is '25.   Granted, its going to be off a bit, but the next contact should show full payout around $530-600m if it was a baseline continuation of the last deal from a per team standpoint.

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...My guess on Big 12 targets: Colorado (because of Deion), UConn, Arizona + Gonzaga/SDSU

This idea that the Big 12 is hot for CU because of Deion is ridiculous. He's just short-term gravy that makes them sexy now. I doubt he has any influence on the CU board's decision, either.

Since we're guessing, mine is CU, AZ, ASU, and Utah/SDSU

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27 minutes ago, hook me said:

Or the B1G/SEC could just poach KU & AZ for more money and tell the rest of the Big 12 to fuck off. Seems like that'd work if that's the route they wanted to go, but I'd be surprised if that's what they were thinking.

The problem with that is the bar to grow the B1G/SEC pie enough to make everyone richer is a lot higher than it is in the Big 12.  We're already seeing both super conferences run into financial hurdles, with the B1G needing to iron out some TV details to make NBC whole and the SEC unable to get a raise from ESPN in exchange for a 9th conference game.  Schools like Washington and Oregon and Florida State and Clemson would struggle to make the super conferences wealthier.  Arizona, Kansas and UConn have little to no chance, even if the March Madness media deal gets a hefty raise and the tournament payout structure is changed to favor the bigger conferences.  Those basketball powers still need a home and it looks like adopting as many of them as possible is Yormark's plan, which I think is a good strategy for them.  It's the kind of unconventional plan necessary when the conventional plan (maximize football dollars) is already owned by stronger competitors.

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12 minutes ago, Trojan Man said:

The problem with that is the bar to grow the B1G/SEC pie enough to make everyone richer is a lot higher than it is in the Big 12.  We're already seeing both super conferences run into financial hurdles, with the B1G needing to iron out some TV details to make NBC whole and the SEC unable to get a raise from ESPN in exchange for a 9th conference game.  Schools like Washington and Oregon and Florida State and Clemson would struggle to make the super conferences wealthier.  Arizona, Kansas and UConn have little to no chance, even if the March Madness media deal gets a hefty raise and the tournament payout structure is changed to favor the bigger conferences.  Those basketball powers still need a home and it looks like adopting as many of them as possible is Yormark's plan, which I think is a good strategy for them.  It's the kind of unconventional plan necessary when the conventional plan (maximize football dollars) is already owned by stronger competitors.

Yeah, this.   There are like 10 schools who bring unreal down to massive money: Texas, Michigan, Ohio State, Alabama, Georgia, USC, Penn State, Florida, LSU, and Oklahoma.    If you're not in that list you're not even bringing equal money, let alone growing it.

To everyone else, you're not out of it, you just need to catch up.   Far bigger chance of growth in the B12 and ACC than the Big 2, who are cashing in on the success of the last two decades.

 

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1 minute ago, camel at sea said:

Yeah.  The Big 12 could have member flags planted in San Diego, Texas, Orlando, and Connecticut.

In a couple of years, the Big12 could realistically control 75% of all Sea Worlds.

Someone let the sales department know.

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48 minutes ago, Hurtlocker said:

Also Pearl Street and the Flat Irons

Pearl Street is the most overrated college town downtown I've been to.  We were out on a Saturday night pre-COVID, and during the school year, and were the youngest people out (I was 35 at the time).  No college kids, no wild partying.  Just old hipsters.

Lots of the bars, restaurants, and breweries were really nice though.

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2 minutes ago, Al_4_ISU said:

Pearl Street is the most overrated college town downtown I've been to.  We were out on a Saturday night pre-COVID, and during the school year, and were the youngest people out (I was 35 at the time).  No college kids, no wild partying.  Just old hipsters.

Lots of the bars, restaurants, and breweries were really nice though.

They were all at home smoking doobies.

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15 hours ago, Hurtlocker said:

While not sure about that medical school claim, I'm pretty sure the B12 required any prospective member have on campus venues.   I think what held USF/Memphis back was those didn't exist.   

Baylor had a stadium miles from campus until ten years ago. 
 
I think a lot of these “rules” are just speculation 

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15 minutes ago, Al_4_ISU said:

Pearl Street is the most overrated college town downtown I've been to.  We were out on a Saturday night pre-COVID, and during the school year, and were the youngest people out (I was 35 at the time).  No college kids, no wild partying.  Just old hipsters.

Lots of the bars, restaurants, and breweries were really nice though.

When were you on Pearl? I was there two years ago (during the summer no less) and it was ass to ankles busy on a weeknight. 

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38 minutes ago, SimonBolivar said:

When were you on Pearl? I was there two years ago (during the summer no less) and it was ass to ankles busy on a weeknight. 

February of 2019.  Wasn’t Spring Break either.

It was busy, but 75% of the crowd were Boomers with pony tails 

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Big 12 talks expansion, source says, as commish touts 'plan'

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Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark said Friday that the conference has "a plan" when it comes to expansion, and while league leaders are satisfied with their current membership, they continue to explore "all options and considerations at this point in time."

A source who participated in the meetings this week told ESPN there were no votes on membership, but there were discussions about scenarios.

Yormark, who addressed reporters via videoconference after the Big 12 spring meetings in West Virginia, was asked specifically about the possibility of Gonzaga or another school joining the conference as a basketball-only member.

"We do see the upside in basketball moving forward for all the right reasons," Yormark said without mentioning any specific schools. "We think it's undervalued and there's a chance for us to double down as the No. 1 basketball conference in America, but football is the driver and we all know that.

"As we think about the future and ways to create value," he added, "there is always that option to decouple basketball from football to see if there's further value we can create for the conference."

A source told ESPN that UConn and Gonzaga were "certainly talked about" in the meetings, which were held at the posh Greenbrier resort, but the presidents and chancellors are in a holding pattern until the Pac-12 announces its television deal.

The Big 12 is adding four members -- BYU, Houston, Cincinnati and UCF -- in time for the college football season.

Texas Tech president Lawrence Schovanec, who joined the videoconference with Yormark, said the Big 12's current presidents and chancellors have certain priorities they are weighing as expansion discussions continue.

"Our institutions share the same high academic standards and we compete at a very high level athletically, so naturally those sort of criteria enter into our considerations, but also I think we have to open to this changing landscape of athletics," Schovanec said. "That's one of the skills and perspectives Brett brings us. We're taking a very open attitude, weighing all the different issues that are presented, and when the timing is right and the situation is right, we'll make a decision."

Since he was hired in August, Yormark has been outspoken in his desire to make the Big 12 a "national conference in our makeup from coast to coast." He created some friction with the Pac-12 when he announced at the league's media days last year that the Big 12 was "open for business."

Yormark also said Friday that the conference will equally distribute a record $440 million to the 10 members from last year, which means Oklahoma and Texas will each receive $44 million before joining the SEC in 2024.

The commissioner also said the Big 12 will announce a "brand refresh" next year that could include "different colors and applications," but the conference won't change its logo or name.

 

 

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2 hours ago, Hurtlocker said:

Afternoon tweetering:

 

 

Scheer's tweet meshes with the Torres tweet upthread. Assuming they're both right, then the plan for the Big 12 is 1) Colorado + UConn, followed by 2) Arizona + SDSU or Gonzaga.   Maybe Memphis gets into the discussion (per the reports that they're talking with the Big 12) if the PAC gets both SDSU and Gonzaga.

This scenario could mean Oregon and Washington don't move in this cycle.  If the "Big Ten doesn't want the PAC's blood on its hands" reports are true, then I doubt the Big 12 taking CU and Zona is enough to spare the Big Ten that perception.  

 

  

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8 minutes ago, camel at sea said:

Scheer's tweet meshes with the Torres tweet upthread. Assuming they're both right, then the plan for the Big 12 is 1) Colorado + UConn, followed by 2) Arizona + SDSU or Gonzaga.   Maybe Memphis gets into the discussion (per the reports that they're talking with the Big 12) if the PAC gets both SDSU and Gonzaga.

This scenario could mean Oregon and Washington don't move in this cycle.  If the "Big Ten doesn't want the PAC's blood on its hands" reports are true, then I doubt the Big 12 taking CU and Zona is enough to spare the Big Ten that perception.  

 

  

Yes it would because they wont get a media deal with only 8 schools. Plus, Oregon and Washington are making zero attempts to disguise the fact that they are gone the first chance they get. There will be no GOR signed for more than a year if CU and Arizona leave.

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11 minutes ago, Vertigo said:

Yes it would because they wont get a media deal with only 8 schools. Plus, Oregon and Washington are making zero attempts to disguise the fact that they are gone the first chance they get. There will be no GOR signed for more than a year if CU and Arizona leave.

I don't know if that's necessarily true.  1) It's a certainty that the PAC and its prospective partners are talking about contingency expansion plans already, and 2) I don't know how much Apple would actually care about trading Zona and CU for SDSU and Colorado St. or SMU.  My guess is that the PAC commissioner plus the admins at WSU and Oregon St would all be leaking to the press that they anticipated this and still have a deal in the works.  

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2 hours ago, nineliveslost said:

1. what will be our % in first SEC year?

2. when will we get 100%

3. why in the fuck are we getting less?

You just know A$M is crowing about this . . . errr bahhhhhing about this

Happens every time a team changes conferences and never made sense to me. If they bring value why the delay?

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