Big 10 Report: Conference Realignment

[Mr. Laz]

A source in St. Louis familiar with the situation told NewsCenter 16 Thursday afternoon that Missouri will leave the Big XII and soon join the Big 10. Other schools expected to follow the Tigers are Syracuse, Pitt, Rutgers and Nebraska.

Many have speculated that such an expansion would include Notre Dame but ND athletic director Jack Swarbrick told me today that the Irish prefer to stay independent in football and in the Big East for other sports. Swarbrick said maintaining football Independence is such a part of what Notre Dame is.

He went on to say the Big East is a great partner for the University in other sports.

"We do have to monitor what is going on," Swarbrick said. "There will be significant shifts. "Hopefully we can navigate them by keeping our football independent and keeping our Big East affiliation because that is what we care about."

The move of Syracuse, Pitt and Rutgers to the Big Ten from the Big East could categorically change the landscape of the Big East itself. Thus, what Swarbrick is referring to when stating the University must continue to monitor what is going on.

The interview with Swarbrick was done before the late afternoon announcement.

http://www.wndu.com/sports/headlines/92447574.html

[Bugeater]

Originally Posted by luv

I can't wait until Friday gets here.

If anything even happens on Friday, it may only be the beginning.

Originally Posted by billay

Yea Nebraska/Ohio State won't be a good rivarly game

They may not even be in the same division, kinda hard to have a rivalry if you're not playing every year. With that said, it would make things interesting for me, the wife's family has very strong ties to Ohio State. I asked her tonight who she'd root for if/when the two teams played. She said Nebraska, but she had to think about it first.

[ArrowheadHawk]

Is Texas still fighting to save the big 12?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/10/sp...0colleges.html

Nebraska Said to Be Leaving; Officials Scramble to Save Big 12
By PETE THAMEL
Officials from Texas and Texas A&M will meet Thursday morning in Austin in a last-ditch effort to save the Big 12 Conference. The regents, presidents and athletic officials from the universities are scheduled to meet with the hope of figuring out how to keep the conference together now that the departures of Nebraska and Colorado appear imminent.

Two Big 12 athletic directors, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to discuss the topic publicly, said that Nebraska was expected to join the Big Ten Conference when its board of regents meets Friday. The agenda of that meeting was amended to include conference realignment.

Nebraska’s departure would leave the Big 12 in a fragile state. League powerhouses like Texas and Oklahoma have reiterated that they would prefer to stay together. But the loss of Nebraska to the Big Ten and perhaps Colorado to the Pacific-10 would leave the conference vulnerable.

In a telephone interview Wednesday evening, Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe said there was “nothing official” to report on Nebraska. He said there had been a lot of misinformation throughout the months of rumblings of conference realignment and said there was a will within the conference to remain together.

“I think there’s a strong, strong interest to ensure that the Big 12 exists, regardless of any kind of possible departures,” Beebe said.

He added that the conference would not rule out carrying on without a conference football title game; N.C.A.A. rules require 12 members for such a game.

“It would be one less obstacle to getting into the national championship,” Beebe said. “I think television value would still be there. I’m not talking about any specific school that would be departing. It would still be an extremely strong conference and player in the national landscape.”

The Big Ten declined to confirm if it had issued an invitation to Nebraska. The Big 12 issued the Cornhuskers a deadline of Friday to essentially declare their interest in staying in the conference. That deadline and the imminent threat of the Pac-10’s expanding to 16 teams has seemingly made the colleges involved hurry.

“Everyone is picking up the pace,” the Ohio State president, E. Gordon Gee, said in a telephone interview Wednesday evening. “We can’t sit there in uncertainty.”

He added, “There’s no sense to how this ultimately will be resolved.”

Nebraska had emerged as the linchpin of the future of the Big 12, and now it appears gone. Colorado’s potential move to the Pac-10 would not cause frantic meetings, because its value as a member in football is limited compared with that of Nebraska.

If Nebraska departs as expected on Friday, that would force the remaining teams in the Big 12 to decide their next steps. The Pac-10 is expected to invite Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Colorado and Texas Tech to its league. With those invitations yet to be issued, the remaining teams in the Big 12 are scrambling to see if they can salvage their league.

“I think people realize that there’s something still viable, whether it remains at 11 or 10 or we look to expand back to 12 to keep this going,” a third Big 12 athletic director said. “We have a lot of equity and prestige and competitive balance.”

Beebe said that he was doing everything he could to save the league.

“It’s certainly been the most challenging time of my career,” he said. “Whatever occurs, and hopefully it will be a good result, I will have wanted to have left it all on the field. There’s no stone left unturned or bullet in the chamber. I’m doing everything that I can.”

Maybe they can still get that TV deal if they add the right schools. Since this is Football Driven why not add a couple of Boise State, BYU, UTAH, TCU, Houston and see if you can still get that TV contract.

[baitism]

If Texas really wanted to save the Big 12 they would offer equal revenue sharing....

We all know that won't happen.

[healthpellets]

Originally Posted by Bugeater

I asked her tonight who she'd root for if/when the two teams played. She said Nebraska, but she had to think about it first.

The choice of a lawyer is an important decision and should not be made based solely on advertisements.

[Mecca]

Of course Texas wants to save the Big 12, they have a sweetheart deal and a puppet commish, the league is set up for them to dominate and make the most money.

Not to mention it allows them to do their Longhorn network thing and make even more money, Texas is trying to keep their competitive advantage alive.

[ArrowheadHawk]

Originally Posted by Mecca

Of course Texas wants to save the Big 12, they have a sweetheart deal and a puppet commish, the league is set up for them to dominate and make the most money.

Not to mention it allows them to do their Longhorn network thing and make even more money, Texas is trying to keep their competitive advantage alive.

I sure hope so.

[sedated]

Originally Posted by ArrowheadHawk

Well he did an interview today if you really care what he thinks.

http://theshiver.com/2010/06/kansas-...ts-with-media/

a couple of things

"What's sad to me...we are talking about a program that, in the last 5 or 3 years however you want to count it, that has won a national championship in basketball, been ranked #1 basically all season long except for 3 weeks another year, 3 times been a #1 seeds in the last 4 years in the NCAA tournament, and won the Orange Bowl in football. Florida has obvioulsy done that. Ohio State has rivaled that. How many other schools have performed at that level? And here we are talked about as a school that could be left out. Obvioulsy it has to do with television."

"This almost feels like a monopoly-type deal, and I don't think that anyone in the purest of sport would think thats a good thing."

[ArrowheadHawk]

Originally Posted by sedated

"What's sad to me...we are talking about a program that, in the last 5 or 3 years however you want to count it, that has won a nathional championship in basketball, been ranked #1 basically all season long except for 3 weeks another year, 3 times been a #1 seeds in the last 4 years in the NCAA tournament, and won the Orange Bowl in football. Florida has obvioulsy done that. Ohio State has rivaled that. How many other schools have performed at that level? And here we are talked about as a school that could be left out. Obvioulsy it has to do with television."

"This almost feels like a monopoly-type deal, and I don't think that anyone in the purest of sport would think thats a good thing."

It's all about the Benjamins.

[sedated]

Originally Posted by ArrowheadHawk

Maybe they can still get that TV deal if they add the right schools. Since this is Football Driven why not add a couple of Boise State, BYU, UTAH, TCU, Houston and see if you can still get that TV contract.

That's what I'm saying. There are a ton of football programs that could save and help the Big 12. Add TCU and Houston to the south and move OU and OSU to the north. Or add Boise and Utah/BYU.

Honestly, I don't care about the "Texas rules us all" shit right now. The discrepancy is not that much (2 or 3 million in terms of 10 or 12 million) compared to losing BCS qualification and a historic basketball program.

[sedated]

Originally Posted by ArrowheadHawk

It's all about the Benjamins.

Thats right...dollar signs.

[Mecca]

If they do that Longhorn network thing it's going to be far more than 2 or 3 mill...

Texas biggest problem is schools either hate them and are sick of dealing with their shit or basically blow them and expect Texas to help them out in turn, generally those are shitty schools like say Baylor.

The Pac 10 wants them because with 16 teams Texas won't be able to be the it team or control anything, if the Big 12 does return in some incarnation with Texas leading it the advantage they have now is going to seem like a warm summer breeze in comparison to what they'll have then.

But I guess right now if you're a KU, Kstate, Baylor or ISU fan you'd rather take the Texas ass raping than be in a crappy conference.

[ArrowheadHawk]

Originally Posted by sedated

That's what I'm saying. There are a ton of football programs that could save and help the Big 12. Add TCU and Houston to the south and move OU and OSU to the north. Or add Boise and Utah/BYU.

Honestly, I don't care about the "Texas rules us all" shit right now. The discrepancy is not that much (2 or 3 million in terms of 10 or 12 million) compared to losing BCS qualification and a historic basketball program.

We'll soon know what Texas really wants to do. This whole thing hinges on them.

[Reaper16]

Not entirely unrelated sincere there has been Pac-10 talk in this thread:

@BFeldmanESPN USC has been hit with a two-year post-season ban in addition to the loss of scholarships, among other penalties from NCAA. 34 minutes ago via Echofon

[ArrowheadHawk]

Originally Posted by Mecca

If they do that Longhorn network thing it's going to be far more than 2 or 3 mill...

Texas biggest problem is schools either hate them and are sick of dealing with their shit or basically blow them and expect Texas to help them out in turn, generally those are shitty schools like say Baylor.

The Pac 10 wants them because with 16 teams Texas won't be able to be the it team or control anything, if the Big 12 does return in some incarnation with Texas leading it the advantage they have now is going to seem like a warm summer breeze in comparison to what they'll have then.

But I guess right now if you're a KU, Kstate, Baylor or ISU fan you'd rather take the Texas ass raping than be in a crappy conference.

Most definitely this. Unless of course some kind of miracle opportunity comes along.

[ArrowheadHawk]

Originally Posted by Reaper16

Not entirely unrelated sincere there has been Pac-10 talk in this thread:

@BFeldmanESPN USC has been hit with a two-year post-season ban in addition to the loss of scholarships, among other penalties from NCAA. 34 minutes ago via Echofon

Is that BB or FB?