Quote:
Originally Posted by Carr4MVP
Cultural fit, while not the paramount attribute, still places a large factor in decisions. Athletic conferences are country clubs. Presidents prefer to hang out with similar minded members. Colorado fits the west coast culture. That is why they left even when the rest of the supposedly departing Big 12 members stayed. BYU should have been in years ago. It took the departure of Texas/Oklahoma for the rest of the BIG 12 presidents to put away their disdain for Mormonism and say, "We need BYU." Decisions are fueled by culture and money until desperation comes.
You said it is all about money. Fine, then why would Colorado leave a financially stable PAC 12 for a BIG 12 whose new deal is still speculation? They wouldn't. They left and they aren't coming back. Reminder, they left a Big 12 that had Texas and Oklahoma anchoring it. But somehow they are going to want to return to a BIG 12 without its two premium brands?
Colorado doesn't care about BYU, Boise, Wyoming, or their supposed rival CSU. They certainly aren't dumping the academic cache of the PAC 12 to play old time MWC/WAC members. They don't even want to really keep the CU-CSU rivalry going.
Again, P5 conferences don't take basketball only members. That is bush league in their eyes. And Memphis football currently is way above Kansas' level.
"All KU has to do is start winning again." Well, not to be cruel (I am an Army fan so I know how long the drought of defeat can last) but that is easier said than done for sure and Kansas has a long barren history. The last conference title was in the 1960s, I believe. Yes, the Orange Bowl was awesome but Kansas that year didn't have to play Texas/Oklahoma. That is where the return of divisions might assist Kansas.
USF is located in Tampa not Miami. FIU is in Miami.
TV markets play a role but so does fan support. All four additions have strong fan bases. USF is struggling in that department right now. I do think if USF kept their Big East momentum they would be in the Big 12 but UCF seized the chance.
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KU will become a .500 football team soon, in the next 5 yrs, it will become a solid draw to basically any conference it chooses then. However, KU is not joining the Big 10, ACC, any other con. as long as they are part of the B12, 16, whatever they call themselves. They have it all too well in basketball and that is enough for them, however KU does & will always be in a Power % conf. for that reason if their football becomes a trace of the Mangino days.
Now for putting words into what I said, I never said USF was in Miami, but it does have a large TV market in Miami. This is all about driven TV markets. UCF does has a lot of Central Florida covered, even a large part of Miami too. To put it bluntly, U of Miami has a lot of the TV market in Miami with alumni, as well as Florida. Likewise, so too does UCF and USF in the Miami area. I was referring USF to help corner a larger Miami market. Same for Colorado and CSU with Denver, TV markets is the ticket, viewership is what is going to attract TV contracts for the league. If the B12 wants to attract a bigger TV contract, it has to be able to sell viewership's to the Networks.
Plus any larger metro area is going to also give you 1 up on recruiting, rather it's football or basketball!
For some reason you want to add to what I keep hitting on here. You are a smart guy, sol let's make this simple ....
1. Exposure
a. Viewership for networks
b. Recruiting
c. All of the Above.
2. Conference Stability
a. Exposure
b. High level of viewership
c. Recruiting
d. All of the Above
As I said, you are a smart guy, you can see the correct answers!
It boils down to doing a great job of salesmanship, if you are not taking steps now in the B12 to attain stability and keep this shit from happening again, you are setting yourself up for failure! Reason I say the B12 needs to go ahead and become a the B16, branch out now, get what you can before the others move to it. I do not see the Pac12 or B10 moving to a 16 team conference anytime soon. If the B12 don't take steps now to secure themselves, they will be left behind.