Pacific-10 and Big Ten Step Toward Expansion
By PETE THAMEL
Two meetings of university presidents on Sunday, the Pacific-10’s in San Francisco and the Big Ten’s in Chicago, could go a long way toward reshaping the alignment of major college athletics.
The most significant news came from the Pac-10 meetings, where presidents voted to give the first-year commissioner Larry Scott authority to move ahead with expansion. With the Pac-10 seriously considering a move to 16 teams, the conference essentially gave Scott permission to hand out invitations to potential new members without consulting its university presidents.
The potential for Pac-10 expansion forced Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany to acknowledge that the Big Ten’s timeline for growth, which had been set at 12 to 18 months in December, could be expedited.
With television money as the biggest driving factor and little regard being given to geography or tradition, the chain reaction could reverberate from coast to coast, although there is still a chance that there could be little or no movement.
The biggest keys to stopping a drastic overhaul of college sports appear to be Missouri and Nebraska, which have been given a two-weekend deadline by Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe to commit to the league long term. (Both have been considered objects of desire for the Big Ten.)
With Texas as his focal point, Scott is expected to attempt to lure six teams from the Big 12 to create the first 16-team superconference. That could produce a domino effect with major college sports featuring four 16-team leagues.
But Texas and other Big 12 powers would prefer to stay together, which is why Nebraska and Missouri are situated in such a key spot. If the Big 12 stays intact, the Pac-10 will probably not expand significantly. If the universities leave, college sports will inevitably change drastically.
“Larry Scott wants to fire the first bullet,” said a Big 12 athletic official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk publicly about the topic. “The pressure is being put on Nebraska and Missouri. Over the next two weeks, we’re going to know where we stand.”
As for the Big Ten, Delany did not reveal much to reporters in Chicago on Sunday, other than to say that the “timeline could be affected.” What is unknown is how hard the Big Ten is pursuing Notre Dame, a football independent that brings considerable value.
Notre Dame wants to maintain its independence, but if it did jump to the Big Ten, which already has 11 teams, it would prefer the league stay at 12 for revenue-sharing reasons.
Publicly, Big 12 athletic directors and officials are saying they hope the status quo remains, because they have built a strong league in football and basketball. Privately, they are scurrying to best position themselves for a potential spot in the Pac-10, which could become the Pac-16.
If the Big 12 does not receive strong commitments from Nebraska and Missouri, the strongest possibility is that Scott will attempt to lure six teams from the Big 12, with Texas as the obvious key. It is unknown when Scott would issue those invitations, but Sunday’s developments appear to speed up the timetable for considering conference expansion.
In the initial report of this proposed expansion, which was first reported by the Texas fan site OrangeBloods.com, Texas would be joined by Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Colorado.
But a Big 12 athletic official with direct knowledge of the conversations with the Pac-10 said Baylor could end up in the league instead of Colorado. Although Colorado brings the coveted Denver television market and significantly more academic prestige than Oklahoma State or Texas Tech, Baylor could move instead.
“Texas is the linchpin,” the athletic official said. “If Texas is to go to the Pac-10, they’re going to have a lot of influence. What we’re being told is that Baylor would be included in that group, probably at the expense of Colorado.”
There is precedent to political sway helping Baylor. When the Big 12 began taking shape in the mid-1990s, Baylor shoehorned its way into the conference, in part, because of the power of Ann Richards, the governor of Texas at the time, who is a Baylor graduate.
If the Pac-10 swiped six teams from the Big 12 and Missouri or Nebraska went to the Big Ten, the Big 12 would become defunct. Under N.C.A.A. guidelines, a conference needs at least six universities that have played together for five years. The Big 12 would lose its Bowl Championship Series bid and automatic bid to the N.C.A.A. basketball tournament. That could leave colleges like Kansas and Kansas State to be snapped up by the Big East, which could be its best bet to continue using the lure of a B.C.S. bid for football recruits.
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