New Conference re-alignment thread

[Saulbadguy]

The old one has AIDS.

Anyways, Chip Brown from Orangebloods.com reports OU may apply to the Pac-12 by the end of the month.

Oklahoma will apply for membership to the Pac-12 before the end of the month, and Oklahoma State is expected to follow suit, a source close to OU's administration told Orangebloods.com.

Even though Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott said Friday the Pac-12 was not interested in expansion at this time, OU's board of regents is fed up with the instability in the Big 12, the source said.

The OU board of regents will meet within two weeks to formalize plans to apply for membership to the Pac-12, the source said.

Messages left Sunday night with OU athletic director Joe Castiglione and Oklahoma State athletic director Mike Holder were not immediately returned.

If OU follows through with what appears to be a unanimous sentiment on the seven-member Oklahoma board of regents to leave the Big 12, realignment in college athletics could be heating back up. OU's application would be matched by an application from Oklahoma State, the source said, even though OSU president Burns Hargis and mega-booster Boone Pickens both voiced their support for the Big 12 last Thursday.

There is differing sentiment about if the Pac-12 presidents and chancellors are ready to expand again after bringing in Colorado and Utah last year and landing $3 billion TV contracts from Fox and ESPN. Colorado president Bruce Benson told reporters last week CU would be opposed to any expansion that might bring about east and west divisions in the Pac-12.

Currently, there are north and south divisions in the Pac-12. If OU and OSU were to join, Larry Scott would have to get creative.

Scott's orginal plan last summer was to bring in Colorado, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State and put them in an eastern division with Arizona and Arizona State. The old Pac-8 schools (USC, UCLA, Cal, Stanford, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington and Washington State) were to be in the west division.

Colorado made the move in June 2010, but when Texas A&M was not on board to go west, the Big 12 came back together with the help of its television partners (ABC/ESPN and Fox).

If Oklahoma and Oklahoma State were accepted into the Pac-12, there would undoubtedly be a hope by Larry Scott that Texas would join the league. But Texas sources have indicated UT is determined to hang onto the Longhorn Network, which would not be permissible in the Pac-12 in its current form.

Texas sources continue to indicate to Orangebloods.com that if the Big 12 falls apart, the Longhorns would consider "all options."

Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe held an emergency conference call 10 days ago with league presidents excluding Oklahoma, Texas and Texas A&M and asked the other league presidents to "work on Texas" because Beebe didn't think the Pac-12 would take Oklahoma without Texas.

Now, it appears OU is willing to take its chances with the Pac-12 with or without Texas.

There seemed to be a temporary pause in any possible shifting of the college athletics' landscape when Baylor led a charge to tie up Texas A&M's move to the Southeastern Conference in legal red tape. BU refused to waive its right to sue the SEC over A&M's departure from the Big 12, and the SEC said it would not admit Texas A&M until it had been cleared of any potential lawsuits.

Baylor, Kansas and Iowa State have indicated they will not waive their right to sue the SEC.

It's unclear if an application by OU to the Pac-12 would draw the same threats of litigation against the Pac-12 from those Big 12 schools.

Stay tuned.

[Mr. Plow]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

2011-15=1996

I can see that you're not good at math.

Do whatever you need to do to make yourself feel better. I'll just look at the history rather than select # of years to prove a point.

[tomahawk kid]

Originally Posted by Reaper16

Never associate an Auburn catchphrase with the University of Alabama again. That's the kind of rookie mistake that will get you laughed off of SEC boards.

My bad.

[veist]

Originally Posted by DeezNutz

It's a money deal from both sides. Mizzou brings two major television markets, solid athletic programs, with exceptional facilities, and a strong academic reputation.

In many ways, A&M and Mizzou are comparable entities.

"Missouri’s $53.2 million athletics budget in 2010 would rank 11th in a 14-team SEC — ahead of Mississippi, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt." "Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana State, Florida, Auburn, South Carolina and Tennessee — raked in more than double the $25.4 million in revenue MU generated in 2010." And finally "Alabama poured $65 million into renovating Bryant-Denney Stadium last summer — the third major expansion in a dozen years." Your facilities are going to be right up there with Vandy and the Mississippi schools. Even Kentucky which is a basketball school is dumping $150M into their stadium this year.

But you are right about the second part, aTm while outspending Mizzou by about $16M would only rank one spot ahead of you in the SEC in spending! Seriously, its a crazy arms race down there and you guys are like 10 years behind the curve.

[DeezNutz]

Originally Posted by Pants

You're not generally shitty and you do have a lot of TVs and you're academically sound. You're a much better prize than Kansas when it comes to conference expansion. Congrats! Are you making a trophy?

Nope. When all of the emotion settles down, we (in the corporate sense) actually should be able to discuss SEC/new Big 12 more sanely.

I honestly think this whole situation might end up in a win-win for all universities involved.

[veist]

Originally Posted by Spott

Better late than never. The longer they wait, the more behind the curve they would be.

The issue is, how are you going to catch up? You're chasing schools that can throw around almost as much coin on training facilities (Tenn is opening a $48M football facility next year) as you spend on athletics as a whole on a year to year basis? A&M has almost a third more money to throw around on athletics than Missouri and they're going to only be ahead of Missouri, Vandy and the Mississippi schools if you join. Let me quote the great college football guru Bruce Feldman on this “You’re closer to a have-not than you are to a have in the SEC, where in the Big 12 you’re closer to the top than you are to the bottom of the batch.” I mean this sincerely and without venom, good luck with all that.

[Saul Good]

Originally Posted by veist

The issue is, how are you going to catch up? You're chasing schools that can throw around almost as much coin on training facilities (Tenn is opening a $48M football facility next year) as you spend on athletics as a whole on a year to year basis? A&M has almost a third more money to throw around on athletics than Missouri and they're going to only be ahead of Missouri, Vandy and the Mississippi schools if you join. Let me quote the great college football guru Bruce Feldman on this “You’re closer to a have-not than you are to a have in the SEC, where in the Big 12 you’re closer to the top than you are to the bottom of the batch.” I mean this sincerely and without venom, good luck with all that.

Perhaps they have more money to spend because they have better television contracts and aren't forced to make due with whatever crumbs are left over after Texas is done.

[mikeyis4dcats.]

nice $300mil expansion Arky is starting...

[Bambi]

Originally Posted by mikeyis4dcats.

nice $300mil expansion Arky is starting...

those people are insane

[kstater]

Originally Posted by mikeyis4dcats.

nice $300mil expansion Arky is starting...

Over 30 years. It's a master plan. Only confirmed upgrade is a Football office space.

[tk13]

Originally Posted by kstater

It's a master plan. Only confirmed upgrade is a Football office space.

I hope they bring in the guy who loves the red stapler. He's pretty funny.

[mikeyis4dcats.]

Originally Posted by kstater

Over 30 years. It's a master plan. Only confirmed upgrade is a Football office space.

shhhhh.....don't ruin it.

[Saul Good]

Mizzou won't be able to compete with their office space. Its like a corporate arms race. Arkansas is Staples, and Mizzou is Dunder Mifflin.

[tomahawk kid]

Originally Posted by veist

The issue is, how are you going to catch up? You're chasing schools that can throw around almost as much coin on training facilities (Tenn is opening a $48M football facility next year) as you spend on athletics as a whole on a year to year basis? A&M has almost a third more money to throw around on athletics than Missouri and they're going to only be ahead of Missouri, Vandy and the Mississippi schools if you join. Let me quote the great college football guru Bruce Feldman on this “You’re closer to a have-not than you are to a have in the SEC, where in the Big 12 you’re closer to the top than you are to the bottom of the batch.” I mean this sincerely and without venom, good luck with all that.

I don't think any Missouri fan worth their salt won't tell you EVERYONE (AD, coaching staff and fans) will need to step their game up.

We're potentially moving to the "big boy table" - and that will take a bigger commitment on everyone's part.

Having said that, there's a real possibility that our athletic budget could be +$15 with a move to the SEC. That's alot of coin YoY that can be put into facilities etc.

In my experience, the "tough" thing to do and the "right" thing to do are (in most cases) the same course of action. I don't view this potential decision for Missouri as anything but that......

[duncan_idaho]

From what I hear, the athletic department is fully aware of the need to play major catchup in the arms race and has been working behind the scenes to make sure there are pushes to get contributions from big donors and also an effort to expand the small donor base.

There are a pair of basketball boosters who live in Columbia (one is a bar owner, the other married into money) who supposedly are very excited about the prospect of playing in the same conference as Mike Anderson again and are ready to donate some big money.

I have a buddy who works in the fundraising office. He keeps hinting that there is "a plan" for Stan Kroenke's big donation (which I would expect to trump the donation of Bill Laurie for the basketball arena). It honestly wouldn't surprise me if that comes in shortly, either.

[evenfall]

Everyone most certainly will have to step up, from the fans to the AD to the head coach on down.

You know what I don't get? Mike Alden. Aside from hiring Pinkel, you'd be hard pressed to list accomplishments. The basketball program has mostly been a fire drill aside from Snyder's loaded but underachieving early teams. But Alden got the biggest decision right, so he survives. Reminds me of Carl Peterson. He hired the right coach and lived a long time off getting that right, though his overall batting average was not so good.

Look at the basketball coaching search, humiliation, and the subsequent desperation hire. If his continued position isn't proof that football is about 80% of it...